Baltic Adventure - Day 2

Pictured (l to r): Johan's dad, Eric's mom, Eric, Johan's mom,
Johan, and Eric's dad -- at the Persson home in Sweden

Wednesday, June 23: Lund, Sweden

I'd been looking forward to this day with much anticipation for years! I was finally going to visit my old friend Johan in his native Sweden. A quarter of a century ago we'd been classmates together at Winston Churchill High School in Eugene, Oregon -- where Johan was an exchange student. I have fond memories from those days (we used to tell people he was the Crown Prince of Sweden) -- and today Johan and I have friends and former classmates who live all over the world.

Johan had agreed to drive to Copenhagen to pick us all up at our hotel and take us back to Sweden to meet his family. This was probably one of my favorite days on the trip, because I love to see how real people live. We'd already visited the grocery store near our hotel, which I always consider a barometer of how the locals live. Johan found us waiting eagerly outside our hotel, so we all loaded into his van and headed off to Sweden. Our journey would take us across the Øresund Bridge, which is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world at nearly 8 kilometers across. It connects the Danish capitol of Copenhagen with the Swedish city of Malmö.

Our first stop was at the house where Johan grew up. Johan's mother and father graciously invited us into their home, gave us a tour of their garden, and offered us chocolates and homemade lingonberry juice. (I think it was lingonberry.)

Then we were off to Johan's house in Lund to meet his better half, Anki, their daughter Alice and son Harry. (They have another daughter, Sophie, who was off studying in England.) It just happened to be Harry's 8th birthday -- as well as Midsummer's Eve -- so we were in for some serious celebrating.

Midsummer's Eve is probably the most popular festival day in Sweden, together with Christmas. Midsummer is an old pagan celebration, dating back to the Viking Era. It was a fertility rite originally, and a celebration of Mother nature. It was hoped that this would help to give a good harvest in the autumn. The customs around Midsummer are very old. The May pole is still raised throughout Sweden and people play old song and dancing games around it in nearly every village. Nowadays Midsummer is a national holiday. Family and friends meet, eat herring and fresh potatoes and drink schnapps and beer (and we did all those things!). The actual day of the celebration is also the longest day of the year (summer solstice), signifying that summer has reached the half-way point. Johan's parents joined us for a delightful feast prepared by Anki and Johan -- which, of course, included Swedish meatballs! After dinner we had cake and tea and sang 'Happy Birthday' to Harry. Deb and I brought Harry the bright orange t-shirt you see him wearing in the photos below, which featured cartoonish charicatures of Los Angeles & Hollywood landmarks on the front.

At some juncture, after Johan's parents returned home for the day, the rest of us drove into Lund to see the University where Johan and Anki work, and we also stopped to see the Lund Cathedral, the Nordic Region's largest and most beautiful example of Romanesque architecture, which features an incredible astrological clock inside the building.

After a quick drive through Lund, we returned to Johan's home and had a chance to visit some more. Johan also showed some slides from his time living in Oregon.

Too soon it was time to say our goodbyes to Anki, Alice & Harry so Johan could drive us back to Copenhagen. It was sad to part ways again, but it was such an incredible pleasure to spend the day with Johan and his family. We enjoyed every minute of it and really, really appreciated their generous hospitality.