My husband, Mike, and I recently visited northern Europe with my sister Judy’s husband (Ingvar Larsén) and his daughter (my niece) Kristina Oscarson. Ingvar and Kristina were both born and lived in Sweden and speak the language fluently. We were blessed to have Kristina and Ingvar as tour guides. 

Traveling abroad sounds exotic in theory. Once a person arrives at their destination and get settled, that usually proves to be true. The journey there and back, however, may prove arduous. My husband and I enjoyed a 17 day trip to Europe starting the end of June. 

Ingvar and Kristina met us at the Oslo airport with a rental car and we started our European adventure. 

Before we traveled, Mike and I tried to prepare ourselves by learning a couple words in each language of the countries we planned to visit (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland and Iceland)

I was told that even if I don’t pronounce the words correctly, they appreciate that you made the effort to try to speak their language.

Our first night in Norway, we spent the night on a farm (air b’n b) in Lillehamer, Norway. 

In Norway, we visited the Olympic site in Lillehamer, went to the Viking museum and enjoyed an authentic meal of mussel soup. 

We were able to find gravesites of a few of my relatives in Norway, as well. 

We visited relatives of my Grandma Gilyards - Mona Andersen and her mother Reidun Granerud near Oslo.

It was special to me to be able to visit the region of Telemark in Norway, as I have relatives on both my mother (Gilyard) and father’s (Ellefson) side who emigrated to the U.S. from that area. Growing up, family history has always been important. Our family always had a huge print hanging on our wall of Telemark, Norway. It was wonderful to actually see the area so near and dear to our family.

We drove 11 hours through mountains to the southern coast of Norway. It was intersting to be driving into the blinding sun at 10:30 pm. 

My husbands’ cousin (Jan Oddvar and his wife Ellie) own a lovely resort along the North Sea. We spent the night at their place and Jan drove us to the Øvre Støle farm, which is where Mike’s great grandmother, Christine Støle Orvik (1871-1933) was born. 

Jan also drove us to the church she and her family attended, which was really special. 

We were much closer to meeting our daily goal of 10,000+ steps in Europe, as we went walking every day. There is an emphasis on health in Europe, which is impressive. 

We spent one night near Malling, Denmark in a very unique house built in the 1850's. Our host, John, was a retired government worker and visited with us for a long time during our stay. He explained that over 65 percent of Denmark is used for farming and the topography is very flat (approximately 180 meters above sea level).

From Denmark, we drove to Germany, where we visited Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in the beautiful Lower Saxony area of northern Germany. Admission to the museum was free, with multiple exhibits inside and many markers bearing information outside. We read about the horrific conditions in the concentration camp(s) and watched several interviews with survivors from the camp that were being displayed on televisions inside the museum.

 Bergen-Belsen was originally established as a POW (prisoner of war) camp in 1943, and was where Anne Frank was held.  

While in Germany, I was able to connect with a relative and his wife who live near Stelle (Hartmut and Ulrike Plönnigs). Prior to this trip, the last contact we had with their family was in 1980 when my sister Gloria and our cousin Kristi Gilyard (Kelly) visited them in the same house we were able to visit. My parents had first visited them in 1978. Their family operated a greenhouse and sold fresh flowers to stores in Hamburg, Germany. 

We enjoyed a nice visit in their yard and they shared peas, raspberries and blueberries from their oversized garden. We discussed  how they heat their house with wood using a smoke room. My husband was intrigued by the prevalence of storks in nests as we drove through Germany. I find it  refreshing how everything is viewed a bit more simply in Europe. It is a slower pace. A healthier pace. 

My niece Kristina was doing the driving in Germany on the Autobahn. The official German term is Bundesautobahn, which translates as "federal motorway”. It is allowed to go any speed you choose, unless it is posted. Much to my surprise, my prim and proper niece was traveling in excess of 108 mph  (I did the math/conversion from kilometers per hour). We were enroute through Poland on a tight schedule to make it in time to board an overnight (23:59) Stena Line ship in Gydnia, Poland at bound for Karlskrona, Sweden. 

Once in Poland, we had to slow the car down. We encountered many crazy drivers and narrowly avoided a head-on collision because of one careless driver who decided to pass us. Despite the wild drivers, Poland was quite lovely and the roads were we lined with beautiful trees (and more storks in nest high upon the treetops).

We thorougly enhjoyed our time in Denmark. We went shopping and did a great deal of walking. We  found a wonderful cheese shop. Ingvar offered me a sample and told me it was a variety my dad enjoyed very much when he visited. I was mortified as I realized it was Limburger (especially known for its strong smell caused by the bacterium). I could not contain my lack of enthusiasm for the strong and unpleasant flavor of the cheese and declared with much emotion: “I do not care for this at all.” The clerk (as well as Ingvar and Kristina) were taken aback by my candor. Apparently in Europe, it is frowned upon to state your opinion so openly.

We stayed for five days in southern Sweden and spent time with several of my cousins on my dad's side, including Ann-Sofie Nilsson and Sigurd Johansson. Sigurd invited us to his home and served us wild boar, which he harvested at the farm near Flyman, Sweden (where my grandpa Carl Erickson was from). The wild boar was quite tasty and served with béarnaise sauce and potatoes. We also enjoyed cranberry flavored liquors, currant torte with vanilla sauce, as well as a traditional Swedish ‘princess cake' and choklad bollar (chocolate cookies). Sigurd also invited us to swim in his pool, which helped alleviate the food coma.

I spent a day with Sigurd’s sister, Ann-Sofie and her husband Tommy Nilsson and they prepared a lovely meal for us. We enjoyed shopping, visited Viking graveyards and churches near their home, as well as an ice cream shop on a dairy farm. 

We attended church at a Swedish church service  near the area where my grandparents were from, which was special. 

We went to the summer fair, as well as flea market (loppis) in Ronneby. Mike enjoyed looking at antiques at the flea market and we purchased some treasures for gifts. We also visited a small antique store owned by an elderly local woman who shared about her visit to the United States in the 1970’s.

and found a few lovely, inexpensive gifts for family.  

Ingvar purchased smoked eel at the fair and I sampled it for breakfast. It tasted much like salmon and much to my surprise, I liked it. Breakfast on our trip often consisted of Swedish and Norwegian cheeses, pickled herring, fruits and vegetables. We went to the grocery store  and prepared most meals. 

We visited with Everth Larsén (Ingvar's cousin) and drove to a small chocolate factory near his home in southern Sweden. We enjoyed coffee (fika) with him and his girlfriend, Britt Marie. Taking a break and having a treat in Sweden is referred to as ‘fika’, which is a Swedish custom that is an important part of life. In fact, the rental car flashed a large coffee cup on the dashboard every two hours if we hadn’t stopped the car! 

While in southern Sweden, we walked to the lake and swam in a beautiful lake called Alljungen. It was a stellar summer day and we picked strawberries and raspberries along the way. The weather in Sweden and Norway was much warmer than average this summer. We visited the Kalmar Castle and swam in the Baltic Sea.

It was exciting to be in Europe during the World Cup soccer finals, especially with Sweden in the finals. Fans in Karlskrona were watching Sweden play outside on a huge outdoor jumbo tv screen.  

After a lovely 14 days touring Europe, it was time to leave southern Sweden. The trek involved 10 hours five trains back to Oslo with extremely heavy suitcases and bags in tow. We were quite a sight. My Swedish brother-in-law helped carry our heavy suitcases onto the train and almost traveled with us as the train door shut on his shoulder while he jumped off the train as we sped down the tracks. The heavy suitcases proved challenging and problematic with my husbands two bad rotator cuffs

I tried to drink in the lovely Swedish countryside on our last glimpse of the Motherland, but motion sickness robbed that joy. 

We boarded the plane for our final leg of the journey, which consisted of three nights in Iceland, located east of Greenland and just south of the Arctic Circle. Iceland was beautiful and majestic with lush green countryside. 

We rented a car and drove around the island for three days. We walked behind the Skøgafoss waterfall, which is one of the largest waterfalls in Iceland. We were drenched, but it was an amazing experience with a drop of 60 meters and width of 25 meters. We visited the blue lagoon and geothermal spa in  located in a lava field near on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

We also saw geysers and went to another Viking museum.

We were close to meeting our daily goal of 10,000+ steps while in Europe, as we went walking almost every day. 

We had a marvelous time on our trip. Traveling is a blessing. Yet, it is always good to come back home. It was especially bittersweet to come back from this getaway, as my 87 year old mother had been in ICU and was still in the hospital when we flew to Europe. Praise God, mom was fine while we were gone; was able to come home shortly after I returned and continues to regain her strength.

People of all ages in northern Europe are walking and bicycling everywhere and are healthier. It is an inspiration for me to make a point to be outside and exercise much more than we often do in the United States! 

Sweden and Norway are near and dear to my heart. I hope to return agan. someday.