September 28, 2006
Good afternoon!
We're back from our trip to Sweden and Denmark and
have managed to eat our way through two more
countries! This makes us painfully aware of England's
gastronomic (a word they use all the time here which,
actually, makes me feel sick when I hear it)
inferiority. The food is fresh and creative in
Scandinavia, overcooked and involving too many organs
in England.
Our trip started with two days and a night in
beautiful Copenhagen. Scatter my ashes there, please!
The architecture is breathtaking: old, romantic
buildings next to modern buildings that manage to be
clean and organic without being sterile and cold. How
do they do that? The shopping was phenomenal. The
playgrounds are gorgeous, like enormous hand painted,
wooden toys. I've never seen anything so well crafted
and sweet. Bicycles rule in Copenhagen. Thousands of
bicycles everywhere. Devoted lanes (very spacious) on
all streets make it easy to get anywhere. We were
skeptical that leaving the city on a Friday at 5:00pm
would bring us no delays, but sure enough, we didn't
encounter one traffic delay over the bridge back to
Sweden even with a lane shut down for repair. Cars
aren't the prefered mode of transportation. Hard for
us Yanks to wrap our brains around that...
Sweden was not unlike Wisconsin save the
undecipherable road signs and the courteous drivers
who used the left lane only for passing. Volvos for
everyone!! A day in Lund, where my cousin lives, made
me want to throw everything I own out and start over
with colorful, modern versions. Even in this ancient
town, that bright, Scandinavian simplicity was
everywhere. One day, we took a ferry to the island of
Ven where we rented bikes. Ven (which, loosly
translated, means something like, don't look now, but
if you lose control of the bike on this gravel path,
for sure, you and that boy strapped to the back of the
bike, will careen off the side of the cliff) is a
picturesque island scattered with farms and cottages
and darling gardens. The blue sky was cloudless. The
sea glittered, broken up only by the sailboats. Ahhh.
It took me all of about two minutes upon our arrival
home to check out rental details for next summer!
The highlight, though, was undoubtedly, my cousin
Cheryl's wedding. What does the wedding of two
environmentalists look like? Heaven! Cheryl and her
husband Stephan wanted a wedding with the smallest
footprint possible and they achieved that with
stunning success. The wedding took place in a small
village church with the groom's father presiding. The
beautiful bride walked down the aisle wearing her
mother's wedding gown past pews decorated with a
single rose held in place with garden twine. All the
flowers were collected outside the night before and
arranged (I thought professionally) by the maid of
honor the morning of the wedding! There were readings
both in Swedish and English. A beautiful service, but
we should have snagged seats closer to the front. I
wanted to knock over all the tall Swedes in front of
me (In fact, my cousin, Mike, the father of the bride,
was up and down the aisle talking to his wife, Sue and
looking quite nervous before the ceremony. I didn't
realize it, but, he hadn't seen us amongst all the
tall guests and the wedding was being held up as he
waited for our arrival! Finally, he saw us and the
bride made her entrance.). The reception was
exquisite. I was honored to sit at the head table and
happy to not have to supervise Aidan near all the
candelabras (Candlelight is everywhere in Sweden, even
our hotel restaurant was bathed in candlelight each
morning.) The food served was locally produced and
organic. So delicious. We ate course after course,
sang songs and enjoyed toasts until probably 10:30pm.
As guests mingled in an adjoining room (Eleven
countries were represented! All their friends are
gorgeous and friendly. I think they should start a
match making service...) the reception room was
overhauled for dancing and more food! Dancing began
and light snacks (hot dogs with light beer or milk-I
love that!) were served. We left after Ryan fell
asleep at the table about 11:30pm and the party was
just getting started! Mike and Sue got home at
3:30am!
It's funny where life takes you. I remember holding
Cheryl for an entire day at a family reunion when she
was an infant. Twenty-some years later, there we all
are (Mike still filled full with the blarney) in
Sweden together. Being a mere 1 1/2 hour plane ride
away, Cheryl, in Sweden, is my closest relative.
Whodathunkit?
Monday, October 02, 2006
Posted by T-Ann at 2:23 PM
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