Visit to the Swedish Relatives

I got the train from Interlaken to Zürich and from Zürich to Frankfurt . I arrived into Frankfurt at 3pm and did not have a flight to Stockholm until 9pm. It turned out that RyanAir's Frankfurt Airport is not in Frankfurt, but an hour and a half away. While in Frankfurt I did some laundry and hung out in a hostel. I missed the 5pm bus so I took the 6pm bus.

I finally got to the airport and boarded my plane at around 9pm. At this point I had been traveling about 13 hours. During the flight it started to snow a lot and it looked as if we were going through space at the speed of light with stars passing us constantly, it similar to scenes in Star Wars. It turned out that it was snowing so much that the plan could not land at the airport that was planned and has to head to the Stockholm downtown airport. This was a great thing because once again the RyanAir airport was far away from the center of the city. When I got to the center of the city I headed to the hostel I had stayed at the previous time I was in Stockholm. My plan was to follow someone into the hostel and then sleep on the couch. This plan was good except that the workers at the hostel know backpackers very well. On the door there was a sign that said, "Sorry we are booked for the night, Ps That means no sleeping on the couch". I was a little screwed at this point because I had left my big bag back in Frankfurt along with my travel guide. I ended up walking to the train station and finding a map of the city that included hostels. I turned out that the nearest hostel was almost a mile a way, so I decided to go the nearby Best Western Hotel. It was quite expensive, but I was able to get a good night sleep and a great breakfast in the morning.

After the breakfast (11/10/07) I walked over to the train station where I met Kathy Johnson from Traverse City, Michigan. We boarded the train to Hallsberg and arrived by 12:15. A couple picked us up I don't know they're names, but it was a man in his 70's and his fiancee. They took us right to the reunion at a local church where I got to meet everyone. They were all very kind and I was surprised how many had been to the United States. They had tons of pictures of Cadillac Michigan, Traverse City, and my house I grew up in Bethany Beach and Dundee. I really enjoyed talking to Par Johnson because he knew my parents and my grandparents. He showed me pictures of our Dundee house before the additions and also pictures of Nana and Papa. Kristian then showed me the family tree starting with Karl Johnson, my great great great grandfather. His grand daughter Signe was my grandmother. A little while later the couple that picked me up came out in traditional Swedish dress. They did a traditional dance that was great. He spun her around it looked like they were having a great time. I was especially interesting because they were both around 70. It was interesting to watch this giant man be so focued on this dance, this seemed different from American culture.

The reunion only lasted a few hours and then I was taken to Erik's house. We ate some dinner then they showed me around their city. We saw a castle where the high school had their dances and some businesses were located. After this they took me to Eva's house out in the county side. her house looked right out of Bethany Beach I could see why the Swedes moved to Michigan, it looks the same with all the water forests and farm land. At Eva's house we drank coffee and at cake and they told me hour Erik's son in law was a submarine captain and trained with the US Navy's submarines doing training routines. They were proud of how the Swedes had won the training mission. Later on Eva's husband too me out to his garage where he was restoring two Mustangs, a white 1966 and a blue 1964 and 1/2. This was incredible he had bought the 1964 when he was 18 and had it shipped over to Sweden That finished the night and we headed back to Erik's house. His wife made us soup and we headed to bed.

I woke up early (11/11) because Erik wanted to show me my ancestor's houses and I had to catch a 7pm flight. He took me to Karl Johnson's church and then where he and Signe was born and raised. He made it interesting because he was always reminding me that Signe walked down this road, went to that building, or worked one of those fields. As we were heading to the next place. Erik's decided to take a quick right turn so he braked hard and then there was a boom. I thought the car's axle had snapped, but we had been rear ended. It turned out that the other car was completely destroyed, but Erik's Tank like Volvo had a lot less damage. We headed back to their house with everyone safe and healthy.

At 3:30 they took me to the airport an hour and a half away. I said good by at the airport and thanked Erik for everything.

I really enjoyed my time with them. They were so kind and generous. They feed me well, put so much effort into speaking English, and so happy to show me around. I enjoyed seeing their way of life. They appreciated their family, and were happy with what they had. I guess they don't live in a consumer culture.

At the airport duty free shop I ran into a girl that I had met on my flight to Stockholm. We caught up on each others weekends and then started boarding, she went ahead because she had priority. I was able to still get a seat by her and we ended up talking part of the flight and then I started reading. When we landed we had to run to the bus because we did not want to wait for the next one. Once I was back in Frankfurt I headed to the hostel, had a beer and went to sleep.