August 1-8 Smygehamn, Sweden
We left our workcamp in the Czech Republic and
took the train up through Germany to Sassnitz, where we were to catch the ferry that would
take us across to Trelleborg, Sweden.
We didn't know when we were supposed
to get off the train and onto the ferry, and were joking that perhaps the train itself
would just sort of pull up onto the ferry. That's exactly what happened! If not for
Veronica and Johan, a very nice Swedish couple sitting near us, who kindly explained we
were ON the ferry and not in a tunnel, we might still be sitting there.
So, we were able to wander around the boat, eat
at a cafeteria, and watch the sun set over the sea. We got into Trelleborg and it was
great to see Kelly's parents and sister after almost 5 months. We drove to the nearby town
of Smyge where they had a cottage rented for the week.
And we relaxed! We scrubbed all of the dirt off
from the workcamp, and rested tired muscles. We slept, we organized our packs, we did
laundry, we cooked, we read, and we slept some more. They brought magazines for us to
read, replenishing supplies for our packs, and lots of books.
We spent the evenings chatting and also playing
that blasted card game of 500. We got caught up on the annual family reunion we missed and
got to see photos of our cousin's new baby and all the other quick-growing kids. We saw
photos of Kelly's sister Katy's graduation from business school, and our beloved cat
Sebastian who seems to be enjoying the good life at the grandparents house. In turn, we
showed them photos of Glastonbury, Amsterdam, and the workcamp. They seemed a little
alarmed but were good sports about it.
We took a couple day trips and visited the
nearby towns of Malmo and Ystad. One day we got up extra early and took the ferry across
to Copenhagen.
We tried to cook some of the foods we missed:
tacos one night, spaghetti another. Dave had a craving for pancakes with maple syrup,
which Kelly's mom attempted to make for him, but what we thought was maple syrup ended up
being something thick, odd, and black. Sigh.
We were going to miss Kelly's parents 40th
anniversary (it was the week after they got back to the States) so we found a recipe for
Swedish Meatballs on the Internet and prepared a celebratory feast for them.
All of our "at home" financial
business was being taken care of by Kelly's dad, so we had plenty of that kind of stuff to
touch base on too. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors (parents).
Basically, we would be in a big mess if they weren't there to figure a lot of stuff out
while we're busy being nomads. Kelly's dad has been our "financial manager"
(genius) and has kept everything solvent and taken care of all the mini-emergencies that
have come up. We left Chicago with a lot of "loose-ends" which they have
patiently taken care of.
We bade them a tearful farewell; we probably
won't see them until we return in the Spring. And we were off on a ferry to Poland.
