Our Sunday in Sweden started with more very cold weather at minus 12, feels like minus 14. Even for us Canberrans who are used to frosty and cold Winter mornings, that is damn cold! We had some impressive icicles hanging from the roof!
A Wintery morning
Bjorn had made us Swedish scones with a few different Swedish honeys for breakfast. We watched the sunrise, ate scones and watched the birds out the window.
Still missing our pets, the kids had a snowy play with Björn and Linnea’s chickens. It felt like a long time since we’d seen our chickens and Inti, our alpaca. Our chickens definitely didn’t have to run around in the snow!
There was so much snow on the roof and outside. The kids were in heaven!
Exploring Brunsberg
We were having a lazy weekend. After well over 6 weeks of travel, and constantly being on the go a couple of quieter days were in order. We didn’t have much planned but we still managed an explore of Brunsberg. It was minus 10 outside so the warm clothes and gloves went on and we were off with Björn to explore.
It was a beautiful crisp and clear day, and despite the freezing temperatures there were a few other locals out and about. Brunsberg is indeed very small. There are a total of 16 houses and 34 residents but it is rather picturesque. Especially with all the snow!
The river was partially frozen so we admired all the snow and ice piled up on the frozen surface and the kids enjoyed throwing more snow onto the river.
It was still minus 10 while we were wandering around so we weren’t getting hot in a hurry!
Despite it being after 11am, the sun was so low in the sky and the light on the snow was rather magical.
There had been some warmer temperatures prior to our arrival, so a lot of the snow had partially melted and then re-frozen. This made for a rather solid and crunchy layer of snow which kept the kids amused trying to crack through!
The kids spent most of the time throwing snow onto the frozen river and crunching through the thick but rather solid snow.
Throwing snowballs onto the river and hopefully not falling in was the name of the game. The adults declared we were not keen on getting in that water to rescue any of them!
It was very different to wandering around our local neighbourhood! We also were not keen on taking off our gloves. It wasn’t too bad walking around but your hands got cold rather fast…..
In Björn’s backyard he showed us the trees that were planted a long time ago to build ship masts. They were very tall and straight and rather impressive.
Keeping warm for the afternoon….
After our snowy and scenic wander it was time to warm up and re-fuel. Bjorn whipped us up some waffles with cloudberry jam. Cloudberries are golden berries from the North of Sweden and taste a bit like a cross between a peach and a strawberry. We all approved!
The kids then continued to enjoy playing with the family pets as they are missing our animals! I’m not sure these animals are used to this level of attention.
Between animal cuddles the kids had fun building gravity marble tracks with Björn, in the warm for a couple of hours.
We then thought we should drive into Karlstad (50km away) to do a little shopping … and find some socks for our friend Rose. Rose had lived in Sweden for awhile and all her Swedish purchased favourite socks had now worn out, so we had a mission to go and locate the same ones for her. There was also some souvenir shopping and some purchasing of Swedish honey and snacks. We also had to have our obligatory IKEA in Sweden photo and cinnamon buns.
The sun had well and truly set by the time we’d gotten out of the shopping centre (it had mostly set before we got there at 3.30pm) so Anto got more driving in the dark and snow practice while driving on the wrong side of the road…..
A final dinner together….
Björn cooked us Thai curry for dinner, we were all excited for veggies and home cooking. We’d been traveling for more than 6 weeks now so a relaxed evening with a home-cooked meal was bliss. In honour of his Aussie friends visiting Björn had located a red wine, appropriately named ‘Bonza’.
Then it was movie night to wrap up the day. It was very cold all evening and had hit minus 15 by the time we went to bed. The temperatures were predicted to rise a bit the next couple of days but we will get our last fix of snow and cold in Oslo.
We’d had a great weekend catching up with friends and having some quieter days and rest for the legs leading into the last week of our trip…..
Up next….
From a snowy Sweden to a just as snowy Oslo. We expolored the Oslo city area, checked out many naked statues, a fortress and the harbour, walked on the roof of the Opera House and saw ‘The Scream’ in the Munsch Museum.
