Karlskrona Two
Trip Start
Apr 20, 2008
1
37
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Karlskrona,
Småland and Blekinge,
Sweden
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Back to Sverige (Sweden) to get back to Karlskrona from Dalarna involved a 2 hour train ride to Arlanda airport, Stockholm and then a 45 minute flight. My uncle Bosse, married to my mum's younger sister Jacqui picked me up from the airport in a small town called Ronneby. It was Jacqui's birthday so we were going in to town for a meal
Dinner at Montmarte - Jacquis b´day
. Bosse's daughter Linn (Jacqui's stepdaughter) was visiting from Malmo with her boyfriend Johan (very common name in Sweden!) Anyway we had a nice dinner and came back home for coffee and cake. Saturday I went to my friend Lisa's house for dinner. Well her parents house anyway, Lisa, like most other's I know here has moved away to study and is just home visiting during summer holidays. We were just a few people from dinner and then some others joined us to continue the party. We eventually left for the purpose of experiencing Karlskrona's 'not so happening' nightlife..!
Despite being peak summer time the weather has been very average and unfortunately not warm enough to hit the so called beach... more commonly known as swimming place as beaches as I know them do not really exist here. Instead it's big rocks/cliffs right to the waters edge or some poor excuse for sand and a slimy bottom. Another surprising thing is that the water isn't salty as it is back home and there are no tides. Karlskrona is made up of a series of islands and out on the water is a very beautiful place to be.
Apart from the for-mentioned I have spent my time seeing family, I have been mainly living at my Farmor's, my dad's mother with frequent visits to various aunts and uncles and cousins
Johan and Linn
!I have stayed at my dad's place a few times but he works during the day and there is not a lot to do where he lives and nowhere to go! My dad lives in a place called Bjallerhult which is about 100kms from Karlskrona. To get to his house, which has been there since 1830 requires driving on a dirt road for the last 5kms. The property which is around 52 acres consists of the old farmhouse which has undergone and is still going through some major restorations, some forest, fields, and two barns plus a large garden. Unfortunately for me my dad has not come as far as having running water or a bathroom. The water comes from a well in the front yard where one has to wind down a bucket to get water. The toilet is out in the barn and is basically a bucket placed under a wooden bench with a hole cut out of fit. The house like so many Swedish houses is made out of wood and painted red. Wood because there's so much forest here that it is the cheapest resource to build from and red was and is the cheapest paint! Back in the day only rich people could paint their house yellow so it became a status symbol but now it's just traditional and therefore popular. My dad's house is wooden on the outside as well as the inside his floor his walls his roof and most of his furniture is all made of wood. He has no stove as yet and cooks either on his BBQ or his 'ved spis' (wood fire stove) which of course requires making a fire in the stove.. it also means that it is really hard to control the heat! The house has been in the family for many generations and was in fact the house that my grandfather was born in and grew up in. Many antique pieces on furniture and farm tools have been found about the place that my dad has fixed up and are now decorating the place. That combined with the stuffed birds and antlers mounted on the walls makes the place rather unique.
