Milton began with a workout in the trimroom: an old, but not bad exercise bike and a UG. Milton took the computer down to the meeting room to check our email and had a bit of a start upon seeing the Guam plane crash, being as how Wendy’s brother, Scott had just flown there to spend a month in relief of another Navy Psychiatrist. However, our email brought a message from sister Karen that Scott had called and was fine, though busy attempting to assist in managing the crisis.
Then, as we were both tired of looking at the same old Scandanavian Hotel Breakfast, we just bought pastries(including an always-delicious coconut-custard dream) en route, along with bottled water, ice tea and fruitopia from our new favorite emporium — the ubiquitous and well-stocked 7-eleven, as we walked to the Mailhaugen, an open-air museum of actual houses from Nordic history, complete with furniture, tools, etc. They ranged from one hundred to several hundred years old, and were made primarily of sturdy thick wood and logs, all in a deep brown. Quite interesting; all countries should have something like this. In addition, there was a large indoor museum of Norweigan history that was also interesting, especially given our heretofore complete ignorance of the subject.
We then ambled back to the previously packed car, stopping for lunch at Nikkers, a recommended cafe. We ordered a chopped steak sandwich, which ended up being more like pretty good meatloaf, and a salmon and egg baguette. Wendy found neither very appealing, so Milton happily consumed both. Then it was back into the Vectra and off to Sweden.
The first hour or so was through nice rolling farm land with bold, vibrant colors of greens and golds, then as we neared the border we entered a thick, tall pine forest which was basically the surrounding until we got to lovely Lake Siljan, in the heart of the Dalarna - the Folklore district of Sweden, where we again were in tranquil farmland.
We arrived at Falun, our destination for the evening, around 8pm, after a masterful 5-hour drive by Wendy. The town was, as seemingly every town we roll into past 5pm, absolutely quiet. Nice little city of ecru and saffron buildings of all shades, with a canal running through the town center.
We dined at our hotel’s restaurant, where the menu was: Ham or Salmon. We had one of each. The ham was actually pretty good, but the baked salmon in a dill sauce was one of the best of the trip. It was served with some delicious roasted potatoes and string beans which were so good that we ordered another bowl of just the beans.
We decided to pull an Andalsnes and instead of lugging the luggage up to yet another hotel, we drove on to Stockholm, about 2 to 3 hours away. We maintained a steady 120km on the 2-lane roads, and rolled into the City around 11. Unfortunately, we rolled right out again, having missed the correct exit. We luckily were able to just turn around, since their interstates have occasional stop lights! Got to the hotel around 11:45 and checked into the “Blue Room”: quaint, but small. Milton then parked on the street, having completely emptied the Vectra for the last time, before tomorrow’s return. We collapsed without even unpacking.