Osterlund/Vemdalen: Old Family and New Friends

Tuesday morning we left the Hobo hotel early, headed to the airport in a van driven by an elderly gentleman we’ll remember as Igor, for his large bald head and slouch over the steering wheel.  

The check-in process was simple and the SAS flight short. So, before noon we had landed  at the Are/Ostersund airport in central Sweden. 

Our AirBnB (a house, really) in Ore was 20 minutes away, on the other side of Ostersund, so we’d rented a Hertz Volvo wagon (or equivalent). The equivalent turned out to be a Skoda wagon.  

Leaving Stockholm, it had taken effort to get all of us and our bags into Igor’s taxi/van. It took a lot more effort and creativity to get all of us and all the baggage (five people, four duffles, one suitcase, five backpacks) into the Skoda. But with the back full to the ceiling and bags in people’s laps, we set off for the house.

Everybody agreed that this part of Sweden reminds them of Canada, or Minnesota, depending on their experience. It also feels like it. The weather has been partly cloudy, breezy, and cold. Really cold. We saw snow flurries.

We all like Ostersund. It’s a small town a short way from several ski areas, but it doesn’t feel touristy. It’s on a large lake in an area with a lot of lakes. It’s a place I’d come back to. We had a good Italian meal at a fun restaurant, picked up some groceries, and headed back to the condo.

This trip is John Nelson’s “legacy” trip, and the next day was the day to meet his family. For John, it a chance to meet relatives he’d never met, and visit Vemdalen, the town his grandfather grew up .

For the rest of us, it was great to be able to share the experience with John. And it was an opportunity to meet some terrific people, not to mention great hosts.

We arrived at Sonia’s house in Vemdalen in time for fika. “Fika” is the Swedish word, and tradition, for a coffee break, taken up a level. The improvement over an American coffee break is the pastries and the camaraderie that go with the coffee. In this case, no less than ten of John’s relatives had come to fika (it’s a noun and a verb), and the pastries involved were a pair of outrageous strawberry topped cakes. Fika, and the sharing that goes with it, lasted more than an hour.

After fika, our hosts took all of us on some important places in Vemdalen and in the history of John’s family.

The first stop was the Vemdalen Hembygdsgard, The Hembygdsgard is a kind of Swedish tradition that maintains old historic structures of Swedish villages, saves historic documents and objects of the village, and uses the historic location for community events. The Vemdalen Hembygdsgard has structures and memorabilia dating back to the 17th century. What an opportunity to see this part of Swedish history so close.

Next stop was the village cemetery, and a visit to the graves of some of John’s relatives.

On the graves, and in John’s family tree it was fascinating to see the Swedish convention for determining surnames.  The convention is that the son’s surname is the combination of the father’s first name, followed by “son” and that a daughter’s surname is father’s first name followed by “dotter.” Following the John “Nelson’s” family tree back, there is Nils Larsson who’s father is Lars Nilsson whose father is Nils Larsson. Other branches include surnames such as  Andersson, Andersdotter, Jonsson, Jonsdotter, Ol(of)son, and Olofsdotter.

After the cemetery we visited the village church; the church that members of John’s family have attended for centuries. The church building dates to the 17^th century, and is beautiful. It’s a wooden structure, beautifully painted and adorned inside and out.  The church building would be a major attraction anywhere in the world.

The day ended with more food. First, back to Sonia’s for meatballs, potatoes, three kinds of herring, cheese, lingonberry jam, and bread. As appetizers. 

Then followed by pork barbecue, grilled vegetables, and more. Then we had to go outside and walk. We walked to Ingbritt’s for dessert a vanilla ice cream cake/pie with cloudberry jam.  As a final, cruel gesture, we had to  walk again, back to Sonia’s to our car to take our leave.

This was an exceptional day for all of us. And a chance to meet some really exceptional people.

All of John’s families were great hosts, great tour guides, and great  fun to share the day with.

So, thanks to all of them (I hope I get this right): Sonia, Ingbritt, Therese, Christer, Tindra, Fredrik, and Olof. It would be great to see any of you again.