This morning I packed up, ate some more raspberries, and got onto the Inlandsbanan for the last time. I get to the final stop (Mora) at 1:30. I will stay there tonight and then catch a regular train to Stockholm tomorrow. And then it's the end of vacation time and the beginning of school time.
Some impromptu singing on the train:
Taking a break at a "station"
This was supposedly the best kanelbulle in Sweden. It was pretty darn good.
I'm now all the way down south in Svealand, which is considered the heartland of Sweden. It's definitely looking very Swedish. We stopped for lunch in a little town called Fågelsjö which was exactly what I picture when I picture a small Swedish town. There is a farm there (I didn't get to see it but it sounds neat) called The American House. And the story is that back in the early 1800's a Swedish family in the town got a postcard from some relatives in America that had a picture of a house on it. They fall in love with the house, and built one exactly like it. And on Christmas eve they locked up their old house and moved into the new one, taking only some silverware and the clothes they were wearing (they were obviously pretty well off). And their old house remained exactly the way they had left it. Now it's a museum, and you can go inside and see the clothes in the closets and the things laying on the tables exactly how it was were they left. It's neat how it's all one family's things and not just a period recreation. Anyway, that was our lunch stop.
I love the traditional clothes with Crocs
Mora (where I'm heading now) is on the edge of Lake Siljan, which is supposed to be one of the top vacation spots for Swedes. It's also the area that the famous Dala Horse (the brightly painted wooden horse figure) is from. Swedish heartland, here we come!
Mora
Mora main street
A Dala horse
Author's note: All the preceding photos, journal entries, and commentaries were written in August 2010, shortly after this trip was taken. Halfway through this blog post I began school in Sweden. I didn't touch my blog again, until now: June 21, 2011. Unfortunately, the reason I hadn't been keeping up with my blog was that I was doing so many amazing things in Sweden that semester. Which means all of my best travels didn't get recorded. Now that I'm done with grad school and have a little time, I'm going to try to catch up. But this will all be from memories almost a year old, so I can't guarantee the accuracy. Here we go.....
Swimming in Lake Siljan
Mora main street. A typical lovely Swedish downtown
Some creative uses of the Dala Horse. Those things are everywhere!
Another thing Mora is famous for is being the finish line for the oldest and largest cross-country ski race (Vasaloppet) in the world. The course and the history of the race comes from a similar route taken in 1520 by the soon to be king of Sweden that helped Sweden gain it's independence from Denmark.
The Paul Revere of Sweden
They keep the finish line set up all year, and a pile of snow with skis that you can play with. And remember, this is in August.
Dala horses everywhere!!!
Midsommardans by Anders Zorn
Yet another of Mora's claim to fame is being the home and birthplace of the artist Anders Zorn (see example of his work to the left). There was a museum with a collection of his paintings and sculptures (which was too expensive for me to visit), and you could tour his home and gardens (which was also too expensive for me).
The Anders Zorn house
My lunch. The first fish paste/hard-boiled egg sandwich I'd had in a long time.
Looks just like Hanna Anderson clothing!
Yeah, America!
The only Maypole I saw in Sweden
An inviting sign to go swimming
I didn't swim (it was too cold) but I did hang out on this pier for a while. Lake Siljan is really brown due to tannins.
Even though every park in Sweden is amazing, this one by the lake was the best I've ever seen.
These things were awesome! You sit in it and, because of the angle, it spins super fast with hardly any effort. I spend a LONG time on them.
Self-portrait from the top of the jungle gym.
For some reason I was the only person there.
While I was wondering aimlessly around the town (which seemed to be an activity I had done quite a good bit of in the last few weeks), I saw this sign for a free "folkmusik" concert at a church later that evening.
I decided to check it out. It turned out to be incredible! The audience consisted entirely of older Swedish couples. The couple I was sitting next to on the pew was really friendly (and didn't really speak English so I got to test out my Swedish). And when they saw I didn't have a program they insisted that we share and made a big deal of setting it up where we all could see it, and making encouraging gestures for me to look at it. It was funny.
The church we were in was beautiful. The concert began with a women up in the choir balcony in the back of the church blowing a horn (like a real animal horn. Like the kind Susan had in Narnia!), and she was answered by a women singing in the front that sounded almost identical to the horn. It was haunting. Then a procession of men and women dressed in traditional clothing came down the aisle:
The rest of the concert was a mixture of folk dances, singing, and music. It was great!
A cool fountain in the town center
The moon setting over Lake Siljan
I decided to really test Sweden's Every Man's Right to camp anywhere you want, and set up my tent in the middle of the park.
This is the view of the town from my little lakeside camp site.
My tent in the morning. And no one seemed to mind at all. I love Sweden!
Drying my tent on the volleyball net in the park.
Breakfast on the water
The restaurant I went to for breakfast was just me and a wonderful group of old men who were such regulars that they each had a mug with their name on it.
My breakfast: roasted vegetable quiche with fresh veggies.
Good-bye Mora!
This marks the end of my summer vacation (plus thesis data collection) in Sweden. Next objective: Beginning my semester at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences!
