Family is very important to me. My mom’s love of family history has had a profound impact on me. Over the years, I helped Mom gather family history and pictures and make copies and put together a family history book. My mom recently chuckled as she recalled that my dad told her she had more interest in his family history than he did himself. Documenting family history is truly a gift for generations to come. Knowing about my ancestors has offered me a glimpse into my past I never would have had and unlocked a door to my family history. 

 

My parents first visited Sweden when my sister Judy got married on a cold day in March of 1978. My mom reminisced that she was getting her hair done for the wedding  with Ingvar’s Aunt Greta, who is also my dads cousin. Ingvar’s Uncle Gustav was so busy with wedding preparations and the roads were so icy he wasn’t able to pick them up for the wedding on time. In tears, my mom paid a cab driver to get them to the church on time. My dad usually returned from his time in Sweden with a European accent. Ya sure ya betcha. Mom returned three more times, while dad wasn’t interested in getting on an airplane. Judy and her husband and children lived for eleven years in Sällemåla - the same area my grandfather was born and raised.

 

Since I was a girl, I dreamed of visiting Sweden. My husband and I only took a three day honeymoon to Duluth last summer, so we decided this summer to make the trip to the Motherland.  We are both proud of our Swedish heritage. We were able to stay at a home in Ingvar’s (my brother in law) family. We also spent some time with my cousin, Ann Sofie Nilsson and her husband Tommy in Johannishus.

 

We departed Minneapolis en route to Sweden, with a brief layover in Amsterdam and on to Copenhagen, Denmark. 

 

Our first day in Sweden, we travelled six hours to the capital city of Stockholm. We stayed at a quaint hostel named Zinkensdamm for a couple nights. One day, we walked more than 10 miles in Stockholm while sightseeing and enjoyed touring the Royal Palace. The palace is guarded by the Hogvakten, a royal guard of members of the Swedish Armed Forces. While we were touring, there was a changing of the guards, which was very interesting. The guard dates back to the early 16th century. It was more special because my brother-in-law pointed out some cannons near the palace that he had used when he was a part of the Swedish Navy.

 

The Royal Palace has 1,430 rooms, 660 with windows. It is one of the largest royal palaces in the world still in use for its original purpose. My only input was there appeared to be only one way out of the joint, which amused my husband but myself not so much as I’m claustrophobic. Maybe it’s a Swedish custom, as it appears IKEA has the same idea.

 

We were intrigued by the architecture and the cobblestone and granite streets. We noticed the buildings are much older and have so much character. The house we stayed in was built in the 1850’s, for example.

 

We also visited the Vasa Museum, which displays the only almost fully intact 17th century ship that has ever been salvaged. It is a 64-gun warship that sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. It was very interesting.

 

During our time in Sweden, we enjoyed spending time near the Baltic Sea. We did not take a dip in the water since the temperatures hovered in the 60’s most of our visit. The temperature is usually measured in Celsius in Europe; but I didn’t need to do the conversion to Fahrenheit to figure out I wasn’t interested in taking a swim!

 

Near the end of our trip, we visited Karlskrona, in southern Sweden. We went to the market in the square, where  my grandfather sold his goods around 1900.

 

My husband and I found Sweden breathtakingly beautiful. We were surprised at the dense forest and rocks. We visited many unique churches, including the one where Judy and Ingvar and Judy were married. We also visited the graves of Ingvar’s parents and several other relatives, which was particularly special to me. My parents had formed a lifelong bond with Ingvar’s parents and the relatives they had met in Sweden.

 

We went walking daily and picked beautiful wildflowers, wild strawberries and blueberries and enjoyed eating them! A typical Swedish breakfast consisted of cereal, wasa bread, cheese, cucumbers, pickled herring and coffee that will grow hair on your chest (delicious actually). Ingvar offered to prepare us snail, which were abundant, but I declined. I did, however, eat smoked eel. We attended a Midsummer celebration, where hundreds of people danced around the Maypole. We ate herring and new potatoes and freshly picked strawberries as part of the Midsummer tradition.

 

I noticed that many of our customs and foods that are prevalent in Minnesota can be traced back to our Swedish heritage. 

 

We enjoyed visiting Ingvar’s cousins who live next door. Everth and Anna-Lisa Larsén. They walked down the winding driveway and joined us for breakfast outdoors. It was fun to visit with them, as they had visited Minnesota twenty years ago. We dined outside much of the time while in Sweden, which was very enjoyable. I was also able to meet my cousin Sigurd Johansson for the first time when he came to the house for a meal.

 

We found out it never totally gets dark in June in southern Sweden. It was refreshing to enjoy the blessing of the outdoors and recharge our batteries. My husband and I found it very special to visit the country where our ancestors came from. I’m grateful we had the opportunity to spend time where my dad’s father grew up and realized his dream of coming to America. I look forward to visiting again in the future.