Sweden - Dalarna province

Dalarna is a somewhat northern province of Sweden and is the perfect example of Swedish countryside. It's the sort of place you'd see on postcards - red houses, trees, lakes, horses ... it's just a nice area. It's all considered quite ... yeah Swedish. Also in Dalarna, being mostly countryside, you'll find mostly white people. Blonde hair and blue eyes e'rrwhere. Children of the corn. ha. It's nice though! They're like VIKINGS! Minus all the raping and pillaging of course. Swedish people really are quite beautiful, however, I mostly want to put that down to perhaps sexual selection. Blondes choose other blondes to have blonde children. I do want to say it's not like a country of models - they're very much within the realms of the average - but there's some creedence to the stereotype, yeah?

                           

                             (It's how they chose the colours of the flag.... No it's not)

I travelled to the Dalarna area initially to visit my friend Carolina who I met in Miami. That was back in 2007? That's dedication! A friendship with Kris is a friendship that LASTS!

Carolina was staying in her home town of Leksand. I had never heard of it but miraculously there was a direct (and cheap) train from Gothenburg so I jumped on and persevered through the 6 hour journey to meet her. Leksand is a beautiful town by the lake and as luck would have it (luck is the word I'm using) I arrived during the Classic Car Week. Which in layman's terms is when Swedish enthusiasts of American cars converge on the town to cruise about and make each other feel worthwhile for maintaining mobile chunks of metal. There are more than you think friends. It's a 'thing' apparently.

('Thing' certainly seems like the right word)

I met Carolina's boyfriend, Thomas, and we all spent the day catching up and drinking on Thomas' houseboat which - for the record - is the coolest houseboat I've ever been on. Carolina was staying in a big house right by a lake and the view was just incredible. I really mean it. Incredible. By the time we got to the car show I was in a really good mood. There were a lot of cars and a lot of Swedish being thrown about but I didn't really mind. Carolina and Thomas' friends were all lovely and were more than happy to speak in English. That ol' guilt about being raised to speak English came back for a bit but it seems so natural for everyone that I quickly forgot about it.

(Here they are)

(Go nature! YES!)

The next day we just had a coffee, grabbed some lunch and lay on the roof of the houseboat in the sunshine. However, I had just caught Carolina before she was moving down south with Thomas so my stay in Leksand was quite short lived. A brief sojourn if you will. Later in the afternoon I was on the train over to the slightly larger town (in relative terms) of Falun. I had arranged via Couch Surfing to stay with the Lingemyr family who picked me up at the station and took me to their lovely house not far from town.

(Boat-tastic)

Falun is famous for its' massive copper mine. It used to be the second largest city in Sweden and kept it (the country) going back in the day when it was all about conquering. It's also the reason for the all the red houses in Sweden as the remnants of the minerals were used to create the paint. That's why almost every house in Falun/Dalarna is this burnt red colour! Including the Lingemyr families' house it seems.

(Da mine)

Mona and Torbjorn were so lovely and accommodating. They've accepted exchange students and sent their two boys off overseas many times so they've got their head in that international frame of mind. We had a lengthy discussion over dinner about Sweden and as a consequence I now know a lot more about Sweden than could ever possibly be necessary but that can't be bad can it? It's a pretty cool country after all.

The next day was spent with my friend Daniel and he showed me around to the local sights of interest with his two dogs - Gertrude and Sarah. I actually didn't visit the mine as there were no English tours while I was around but I mean ... I saw the hole dug into the earth ... that's something, right? Instead I got to see some really nice places and have a great lunch in the sunshine. I was able to meet Daniel's horses and finally I went back to the Lingemyr's place and we jumped in a nearby lake at dusk to cool off.

(Dan and Gertrude walking around a botanical garden)

(Best friends)

After Falun I didn't really know where to go so I just went on Couch Surfing to see who was around and ended up heading to the small town of Alvkarleby to meet Joao and his girlfriend. It was a really small town that didn't really have a whole lot to do but that's ok. Turns out Joao is really into his indoor beach volleyball so he invited me to play that with him and some locals. I'm pretty sure the last time I played volleyball was in highschool and let's just say I wasn't exactly Olympics material so I was a bit uhh ... 'rusty' for a while. I am pleased to say though that I got a lot better until I was an actual contributing member of the team.

(Obviously not contributing while taking this photo)

The locals were all lovely! I really had a good time meeting them and it was nice staying with Joao. I think he's used to having people stay because he seemed incredibly at ease with it. I decided to make nachos because why not make nachos? I was able to explore the town on the bike but there wasn't really a whole lot to see. It's always nice to ride around though. It's certainly faster than walking. That it is. Stayed two nights then trained off to Stockholm. Next blog.