Eldership Mission Sweden - The Navel Gazing Post

As is traditional after all of our trips, it is time for the mandatory self-reflection on the experience. 

The trip itself was almost an afterthought. We originally had planned to go to Malaysia in March but we had to cancel that due to the Wife blood clot scare in November. Once we got the green light that she had recovered, I pleaded for us to go somewhere, anywhere just to get back out traveling (remember we were in the middle of the remodel during all this!). Normally, I would not have chosen a Nordic country (You might remember our experiences in Norway, Tromso) and our experience in Finland where the whole country closed down on Oct. 1. But we wanted to be close to family and we hadn't seen the #3's is while so we selected Sweden.

As it turns out, maybe not a surprise to those of this area, the part of Sweden we were in was quite different from the other places in the Scandinavia/Finland we've visited. 

We Have A Name In New Mexico For Late Spring Weather In West Sweden. We call it...WINTER!

 I'm sorry, I may come back to Sweden many times because the daughter and family are here, but you will never get me excited about a place where everyone is pumped and in shorts when the temperature hits 65 degrees!

Easy Getting Around

Whether we were in our public transportation phase in Gothenburg or our driving phase after Wife's foot injury, it  wasn't all that hard getting around. Of course, we avoid rush hour times but in general, it was quite easy to get around. It wasn't necessarily cheap. Transit was okay, not a bargain, but not unreasonable. Parking for the car was expensive. Our vehicle got great gas mileage so we didn't spend that much on fuel. Driving was relatively mellow with most people following the speed limits fairly closely. 

 Ease Of Interacting

 In general, this part of Western Sweden is pretty English speaking friendly. We had very little difficulty no matter where we were at communicating. This makes for a much less stressful time.

Despite Injury, We Got A Lot Of Shooting In!

The whole area we visited, both in city, and in country, had way more of photographic interest than I would have thought originally. It was a bit of an unintended blessing to have the excuse via having a car to get out of Gothenburg and explore a bit more widely. I think Wife and I are looking forward to further explorations around Sweden when we visit #3 and family in the future.

So Important To Travel

 Despite all the drama, fear, and anxiety with Wife's foot, I was still so incredibly happy to be traveling again. It makes me whole. It gets me out of a routine in the U.S. where I like I am less rounded, less exploring, less expanding of my inner self. 

Discovering Swedish Cuisine - Finally

It took a while, specifically once we had a car and were out of the larger town of Gothenburg that we found 'local food'. And we were very happy with what we found, Like the Spanish menu del dia, lunch was a bargain in most of the places we visited with some kind of salad bar and a main course and drinks. There were way more veggies on the plates we ordered then we expected. They were well prepared and we were happy to have them. The food was almost always well prepared and flavored. Alcohol, in general, is more expensive since it is a State monopoly. But, all in all, eating was enjoyable and not horribly expensive. 

In Conclusion

If the #3's were not living here would I come back? I don't think so. However, with them being here, is this a country worthy of more exploration? Yes!

Eldership Mission Sweden - Wheelchair Chronicles

On Tuesday, our adventure in Sweden came to an end. We were scheduled to return home. It was a lovely day for departing as we've learned to appreciate in Gothenburg with temperatures in the mid-50's and slight rain. We'd managed to develop a degree of a stable pattern over the last week dealing with Wife's injury. Now we were going to have to deal with the air transportation system to get home.

Preamble - Letting the System Know Your Needs  

If you've done any air travel, you've certainly experienced those people who get on the airplane first, and who seem to gum up the disembarking process. Well, that would be us now. Actually, you can't just show up at the airport and request wheelchair service. You need to get into their system. And you must do so a number of days before your flight. I communicated with the airline I made my reservation with, United.  They were able to handle the flight they actually were flying. But most of our flight was a code share with Lufthansa out Germany. I had to communicate directly with them for their flights. This required multiple calling to phone numbers that didn't work until punting and emailing a special group in NYC that dealt with medical issues. That got the result desired and we were 'officially' in the system.

Gothenburg  

I'd deduced that trying to drop Wife off with luggage, and then taking care of the rental car was going to be a logistical nightmare so I turned in the rental car a day earlier. This was good thinking as the rental car drop off was anything but well marked and logical. 

Day of the flight, we took an Uber to the airport where there were no wheelchairs or luggage carts available when you arrived curbside. Fortunately the airport was very quiet. Wife hobbled, and I did relay shuttling of the luggage until we got in the terminal. We found a luggage cart at last. The check in counter wasn't open yet. When it finally opened, we were acknowledged as 'in the system' for the wheel chair system we'd requested. We were sent to a 'waiting area'. There we were met my an attendant who stayed with us for the full time, getting us through security, to our gate, and coming back when it was time to board the plane.

We were asked multiple times if Wife could go up and down stairs. We responded negative, she could not. As I knew we were on a smaller regional jet for our first leg, I had a sinking suspicion that they were not using a jet bridge to load the plane. Sure enough, Wife and I were wheeled down on the tarmac and taken to a truck that brought us to the height required so she could walk on to the plane. This caused an already late plane to be even later. (And I'm sure earning us the opprobrium of a majority of the passengers.)

Frankfurt

 (Note to self - Avoid using Frankfurt on International changeovers!)

We were running about 40 minutes late and we had a changeover time of and hour and 45 minutes so things were running tight. As we landed, I notice we are coming in about as far away from the terminal as is possible. We taxi and taxi and taxi until we come to one of these remote areas where they bus you in from the plane to the terminal. I am sure we're going to need the truck to take us down again. Sure enough, the whole plane deplanes and is taken off in their buses before, the truck comes and we are wheeled off. Then Wife has to transfer via walking to a car, that takes us the long drive into the terminal. Of course, through this whole experience, there is no communication of what the process is. You have no idea of what exactly is happening so there is this on-going anxiety.

We are put in a waiting area with others needing assistance. After a medium wait, someone comes down and gets us. We are wheeled to a electronic buggy that drives a long way and takes us to passport control, where Wife again has to walk until we get to an elevator and go to another floor where we walk until they put us on yet another buggy that will take to our gate. We are told to 'hurry', Wife managing getting on as best she can. We go this long ass way and get to the gate where they are already in the process of boarding. A wheelchair takes her to the plane entrance and we work our way to our seats.

Lufthansa did have the system pretty well organized and we were never lost 'in the system, as it were. It just had a lot of working parts and more walking than I thought was necessary.

Denver

We land in Denver. Now United Airlines will take us over. We are met by a wheelchair attendant who will take us through the entire process from getting off the plane all through immigration, baggage, security, transferring terminals, and finally our departure gate. He did a great job. No wondering what was going to happen next.

Then, the ball got dropped. There were three who had requested wheelchairs to get from the gate to the plane. None arrived and again Wife had to hobble down the Jetway to our seats. 

Albuquerque

Upon arrival in Albuquerque, we again got a single attendant who took care of us all the way until we got your bags and got into a taxi. Another job well done. 

The systems all worked for the most part. We made our flights. Wife had a number of times where she had to walk where I wished she didn't. I'd give the system a low B.

Eldership Mission Sweden - The Island Edition

With Wife bummed seriously at having our trip plans severely circumscribed because of her injury, I was determined to take advantage of our now having a car to get out and see some places we would not have otherwise gone to. Driving allowed us to be out and yet minimize impact on her foot. Over the last three days we went to two sets of islands. 

On Tuesday, we were on what are called the North Archipelago (as distinguished from the 'South' Archipelago) of Gothenburg. These are a series of islands that are associated with the city...sort of suburbs so to speak that are only accessible by ferry. The Southern ones are automobile free, the Northern ones you can tour by car after taking the ferry over.

On Thursday, we headed north of the city to the island of Tjorn and the town of Skarhamn. This is an area that is reputed to be a 'genuine exemplar of the Swedish West Coast genre'. Maybe some day we will visit the East Coast of Sweden to see how different it might be.

 Another Statement on Weather

We have a special term for the weather they have in Western Sweden during the late Spring.

We call it Winter

How to tell a Swede from a New Mexican during the late Spring here.

A Swede

A New Mexican

The wind seems to be incessant whether here in town or on the coast

 

 

 

 

Towers and Clocks are still important on the islands

 Traditional Swedish Food is found everywhere

 Red Roofs and Red Buildings are the architectural calling card

 

 

 

Smiley Face Church

Scaffolding is so important they have companies that specialize in it

Rare footage of scaffolding actually going up!

Even with a broken foot, Wife, Photographer, will not be denied.

 Sculpture

Want to walk around the entire island of Tjorn? Follow the starfish.

Sunset at our apartment. The apartment complex we are in is rather pedestrian compared to say our place in El Campello. And because of the weather, there hasn't been much in the way of sunset opportunities. Wednesday night was an exception.

 Thursday Lunch in Skarhamn

We had another good meal (though not as good as the one we had on Tuesday with haddock two ways, fish and chips & with a Newberg type sauce. The salad included a nice (not too mayonnaise!) cole slaw made from purple cabbage.

 SIGNS OF THE WORLD

Sweden has very precise instructions for Poop Scooping

Eldership Sweden Mission - Foodie Post

(Quick Wife Update - She is okay...not great...okay. A broken foot takes a long time to heal. We made our way back to Gothenburg from Malmo. I rented a car to avoid all the walking that going by train would have entailed. After consultation with our home physician we decided against coming home early which certainly would have cost a lot. In Gothenburg we are in a elevator equipped high rise apartment that minimizes the amount of walking she has to do, and eliminates any stairs. I can park very close to the apartment building which further minimizes walking. There are places we can drive to which allows me to get her out and not feel too cabin bound. We've made our arrangements with the airlines to ensure she has wheelchair service for the return flight next week. She has her foot doctor appointment at home already scheduled.)

Based upon our initial time in Gothenburg we came our observation was traditional Swedish Cuisine consisted of:

• Coffee and cake (Fika)
• Mayonnaise (in the form of all kinds of salads of which the mayo is about 50% of the volume being eaten)
• Massive chunks of bland cheese 
• Massive blocks of butter
• Kebab
• Pizza
• Sushi
• Asian
  
• Burgers
• Any type of cuisine which can be served in a lunch buffet

 However, good fortune exposed us to an entirely different side to the Western Sweden food scene.

Epic Celebratory Meal

Our visit to the #3's coincided with a major date - the 46th anniversary of the 4th day prior to Wife completing her last pregnancy...also coincidentally just 4 days before #3's 46th birthday.

#3 did a ton of research to find a nice place to celebrate that was open for lunch on a Saturday (since neither we nor #3 & 3A like eating big meals at night) and yet would offer a full range of menu options. 

According to #3, Malmo, which is a short train ride over a bridge from Copenhagen, benefits from the hot Copenhagen food scene. Aspiring chefs do cut their chops there, then move across the water where rents, labor costs, and competition are far lower. Her choice for our celebration dinner was Atmosfar.

At first blush, this seemed to be the kind of place I definitely am not attracted to. It served a lot of innovative dishes in the shared plate style. As long-time readers know, I tend to like regional type of food wherever I am and find the fine dining scene pretentious, not that great tasting often enough, a way over priced. I am very happy to say I could not have been more wrong when it came to Atmosfar. The food was almost uniformly delicious. It was beautiful to look at but the beauty did not come at the expense of flavor. We had a delightful server who, because it was lunch, had all kinds of time to dote over our group. The price was very reasonable (with the exception of alcohol). Let's look at the experience.

As cocktails are totally a la mode these days, here are Wife's drink along with 3.2's mocktail which was on the acidic side.

Close-up of 3.1's mocktail which was made sweeter

I wanted to treat #3 to a nice wine. The wine list was very pricey (remember how much time we spend in wine growing areas like Italy & Spain) but there this 9-year old Croatian age worthy bottle was a relative bargain.

On to the plates

This is a chicken breast. 3.1 rated it highly as juicy but with a nice crust outside. The curls on top are preparation of celeriac.

#3 ordered the scallops which came encrusted with mound of crispy coconut. The roasted broccoli was...broccoli...all the vegetables served were very tasty and hardly just sops to non-meat eaters.

Wife ordered a Halibut. She loved the fish but was not so excited about the light, tomato based broth. The many other tomato enjoying folk scarfed up all her broth and discovered a treasure trove of greens underneath.

I ordered this and as far as I was concerned it was the hit of the meal. Often times white asparagus in Europe is way overcooked. I don't know exactly how they prepared it but it had a nice crispness yet a grilled flavor. The sauce was a light butter based one. There were a kind of cured fish egg to add saltiness but they were very light, not overly fishy at all. And there were chopped hazelnuts to add another texture component.

 

3A and 3.2 shared this steak. I did not try it but they spoke highly of it. You will also notice one of the five orders of fries we had for the six of us. When we ordered them we exclaimed that we were certainly over purchasing. Every fry was consumed.

This was another of my dishes - Lardo over toasted bread with garlic herb butter. Lardo is something you either love or hate. It is the cured fat from pig belly. Think of it like meat butter. I thought it was grand.

There was another fish dish ordered by 3A and 3.2 they shared but I didn't get a picture of it. 

This is the one dish I thought failed. It was salted trout. I expected the fish to be fairly strong flavored. It was very mild, too mild in my opinion. The veggies overwhelmed it. The sauce was bland too. You will note the small bits. They roasted buckwheat to provide a crunchy counterpoint. But they were like eating little bits of gravel they were so hard. I had numerous people try them to confirm my opinion.

We charged on to desserts

Wife had chocolate mousse and I had the rhubarb compote with ice creaming

 

The total for this feast was $500 of which about $150 went toward the wine and drinks. So the food component was about $58 a person including the service. By U.S. standards, I would say that is quite the bargain.

A Fortuitous Find - Skargardshotellet, Hano Island

Yesterday, Wife and I were doing a drive to the North Archipelago, a series of islands off Gothenburg's coast. It really isn't the season there, and these are bedroom communities so there was very little open. Our first stop was a massive tourist stop with a buffet and hoards of young families and seniors. Not the place for  After wandering around, we found ourself at hotel restaurant that was much less populated. They had a fish lunch special. The fish itself was cooked perfectly and had great flavor. The mayo based sauce was not overpowering despite the appearance. And beneath was gold mine of veggies - asparagus, snow peas, potatoes, roasted cabbage. It included a small salad bar and some complimentary cake and coffee for $30 altogether.