Sweden 2024

Another relaxed morning, then off for a hike to the long-finished Sextur mine. Beautiful walk, and the colors in the slag heap are both beautiful, but also terrible for the pollution and a reminder of how hard life was for the miners.  Relaxed rest of the day, sitting by the windows with the beautiful view, naps, laundry and trying more traditional food, including sodd (kind of traditional soup), smoked trout and rakfisk--another kind of preserved fish.

Røros is serious copper mining territory, starting 1646 and ending in 1997. We visited the museum that is in what was the smelting building. Nice display of local traditional clothes and fantastic wooden models of the smelting and the mines. Then a trip down into one of the old mines. Similar, but also different, so nice to see both.  Then home for a wonderful dinner of salmon and rømmegrøt.

After breakfast, more stories and a little fiddling, made out way to Bodil and Torbjörn, in Rugldalen (near Røros). Saw reindeer on the way! Torbjørn built the fireplace from old stones taken from a now defunct mine. He actually built the entire cabin! Relaxed evening of generally catching up.

Started the day with a surprise visit to Beret, whose birthday is today. We parked out of sight from her house and Mats, Ulf and In walked up the driveway playing. She was VERY surprised since she didn't even know we were in Sweden, and fortunately very happy. After another Princess to cake, Ulf went back to work on the trees and we went on to lunch with Karolina. After a visit to the polls (voting in a EU election) where Karin and cousin Morgan were working, nap then surströmming for dinner (it was fine though not something I'd want every day). Then listened to Mats' rehearsal at the new church.