Author Archives: Gigi

About Gigi

I guess I am the dreamer in the family and possibly the "schemer". It was kind of my idea for this big adventure but it didn't take too much persuading to get the rest of the family on board.

Jordan’s Blog: Bath and Glastonbury

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On Wednesday, we went to the city of Bath in Somerset, England. Why is this town called Bath? It is called  Bath because when the Romans came here they found a natural spring of endless hot water. They quickly built around it and channeled the water into pools that they bathed in. The Romans called it Aquae Sulis after the goddess, Sulis Minerva. They believed it was a gift from Minerva and that the water had special healing powers that could cure sickness. Romans from all over came to bathe here, not just to be healed, but to clean themselves and socialize with other people. They made huge hot rooms to sweat off the dirt and grime and workers would clean the bathers by hand using oil and a scraping tool called a strigil. There were so many people set about the place that the pools were often crowded. Since the Romans thought that Aquae Sulis was a gift, they built a place of worship where people could pray and thank the goddess Minerva for giving them this great supply of hot water. After our tour of the Roman baths it was time to head to our next destination.

Our drive to Glastonbury was not fun. We were lost almost half the time, so our quick 30 minute drive lasted an hour and a half. But by five thirty we finally got there. The reason we came to Glastonbury was to visit king Arthur’s grave site in a ruined Abbey and to climb a 517 foot tall Tor, or ‘big hill’. Both were interesting, and my favorite was the view on top of the Tor. Everything around me was flat and standing on this hill five hundred and seventeen feet in the air, I felt like i could see everyone and everything for miles. I would definitely like to come back to Glastonbury in the future. We had too little time there.

Six pounds for a museum ticket or…a giant bubble maker?

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On Friday, we took a day trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon for Justin’s 10th birthday. Gigi got us tickets for the play “Twelfth Night” at the Royal Shakespeare Company Theater.  We are staying only about an hour and half away from Stratford and Gigi and I had great memories of visiting the area when we lived here 20 years ago.  Seeing the play was the main reason for going to Stratford, we really had not planned anything beyond having a picnic lunch in a park when we got there. I was dubious about the idea of taking the boys to a Shakespeare play, how would they be able to follow the dialogue? Justin especially has a history of simply going to sleep when he is in an audience. Did we really want to spend the money on something that the boys probably wouldn’t understand? Gigi reminded me that this could be one of our literature lessons for the week and we should read the play before we go. We had a copy of the play and on Wednesday started reading it aloud. Shakespeare’s dialogue is not easy reading, and we were constantly stopping to look up a word or “trying” to explain what is going on in the scene. We finally decided to skip reading the actual play (since we kept loosing the boy’s attention) and simply read a summary while quizzing the boys a few times on the characters and the general plot. They actually knew quite a bit.

When we got to Stratford, we picnicked in the park just outside the theater along the Avon river. Gigi and I were asking each other, “So, what do you want to do?” Heck, sitting in the park seemed just the thing to do. There was a jazz guitarist playing music not far away and lots of other families doing the same thing as us. The river was full of swans and geese,which Justin found quite enthralling. There was a vendor selling giant soap bubble wands and several kids were chasing bubbles through the park. We decided Justin could have another birthday present, so we bought one for him. That provided quite a lot of entertainment for Jordan and Justin. They had much more fun with that little purchase than if we had spent money on

admission to the Anne Hathaway house. One thing we did do was go boating on the Avon. We didn’t go “punting”, but hired a rowboat for an hour. The Avon does have a mild current, which made rowing a bit challenging. I had real trouble rowing straight. Jordan and Justin got to try theirhands at rowing. Gigi only got raked by low hung branches twice.

For dinner, Gigi and I had a nice Indian meal while the boys played in the big park nearby. Jordan had eaten two Cornish pasties from a shop when the store woman announced on the street “We’re closing! All pasties

for a pound!” Jordan has taken a liking to pasties and sausage rolls. Justin got his birthday dinner wish – his favorite subway sandwich: a foot-long with black forest ham, bacon, and black olives. Nothing else.

 

Finally, it was time for the theater. The new RSC building has only been open for two years, and it was fantastic. The seating was horseshoe style around the stage, and there were only maybe 10 rows on the floor and each of the balconies only had about 5 rows. We were 5 rows from the stage.

The performance was simply amazing. Forget that that there were huge swathes of dialogue that we could not follow, the acting was so good, the comedic cues so well executed that we were engulfed in the action, able to follow the plot, and laughed a lot. Sir Toby looked like a crazed Jeff Bridges in capri pants and a Hawaiian shirt, and he really played the drunk well. All of the actors were amazing and the nonsense was wild! The sight of a bare chested Malvolio coming out of the on-stage elevator in thigh high yellow stockings with cross-garters and nothing but a black and yellow cod-piece thong (he did turn around to moon the audience) set the entire audience into hysterics. It was so engaging that Justin did not fall asleep once during the three-hour performance. He laughed along with us and kept telling Gigi that he couldn’t believe they would allow the guy to show his behind on stage. Jordan really loved it too. When we left the theater, Justin’s comment about Shakespeare was “He makes good plays” and proceeded to re-count parts of the final scene and his thoughts on it. The next morning, he told me he wanted to see “Twelfth Night” again. Thank you RSC. You have created a new admirer of Shakespeare.

And Now for Something Completely Different….

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As we walked through Arlanda Airport on the way to our flight to London, we came upon a unique sight right in the middle of the terminal.  A fish pedicure!  You put your feet into a tank of tiny “Piranha-like” fish who munch on your feet and clean them of all the dry skin and calluses. Eeeewwww!  The boys really wanted to try it and, I have to admit, I was curious too.  OMG!  That tickled so much, I could barely stand it.

The little fish did a good job because our feet felt really smooth afterwards!  I don’t think you’d ever find this in the USA. Check it out at www.smilefishspa.com

Unexpected Oasis

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As you learned from Bob, we drove A LOT in Norway.  In fact, the day trip home was one of the longest days of all.  We really wanted to head to the coast and see what fjords look like as they recede to the ocean. This part of the fjord is the oldest and the ice has had more time to wear down the landscape.  We went from large jagged granite mountains to rolling green hills and finally rounded granite islands bordering the ocean in just under two hours.  Bob found a route that would take us through these small islands called the “Atlantic Road”.  The view was beautiful and after a quick stop to take pictures and wave at Maine, we headed back on the road towards Kristiansund, then Trondheim, and finally back into Sweden to Are (pronounced Aura).  Our destination was a youth hostel in Are where we would spend the night before the next leg of the journey through Sundsval to Stockholm – another 650 km.

I happily enjoyed the scenery on our way to Sweden (the boys slept most of the drive and Bob complained about the tolls) stopping to spend our last Norwegian Kroner before going over the

border and then stopping again to get our passports stamped at the Duty Office. We finally arrived at the Are Youth Hostel around 8pm.  It was closed – completely quiet and no one around to speak with. Sigh. It was a Sunday and we had been warned about things shutting down early in Norway, we didn’t think Sweden would have the same customs.  So, worried we would be stuck with a $400 plus a night hotel room, we started driving around Are…in the rain.  Down the hillside by a lake we could see a large building that said “Holiday Club” across the front with a huge covered waterslide in the

back. Bob said, “We’re going there!” After 9 hours of driving we were desperate that it would be a place to stay. Turns out it was a timeshare property but they rented out rooms to non-members – yeah, we were in luck and only 1300 SKr! And, they had a nice restaurant where we could get quality food.  However, Bob’s eye’s lit up when he saw a big sign that said “Sauna World” across a large paneled entryway. But, alas, it was closed – he would have to wait until morning to explore.

After breakfast we quickly packed up our bags and headed down to explore the pool and “SAUNA WORLD”.  You have to get a wristband and enter through a turnstile (they take their swimming and sauna-ing very seriously here). You come into a large changing room for men, women and children – this is called the “Mixed” changing area – people in various states of dress roaming around a very large locker room.  Europeans have a totally different perspective on privacy and nudity.  They are so much more open than us prudish Americans when it comes to their bodies.  After changing (in private rooms) we headed into the shower and out into the pool area.  This was a huge glassed-in space with 4 pools and 2 hot tubs, dry sauna, an elevated bar/café, and poolside seating area. Stairs took you into a corridor leading to yet another swimming pool outside. And, the icing on the cake was a 3-story waterslide that went from indoors to outdoors and back indoors again.  We scored!  This place was great! In addition to the amazing pool complex, they had a complete arcade and indoor mini-miniature golf course.  Are, we were told, is actually one of the best ski-resort towns in Sweden. You could see from all the family-friendly activities that this was a great place for Swedes and Norwegians to spend their winter or summer holidays.

As we make our way out of the pool after three hours of fun, I head to the shower room to wash up. There is no place to leave your clothes in the shower room which leads into the “Mixed” changing room and I was wondering how I was going to get from that area back to the private changing area without having to put my wet bathing suit back on. There are no doors or curtains on the showers and as I finish washing up and go for my towel across the room, I notice this man and his son standing right outside my shower stall. I took a deep breath, ran to get my towel, wrapped it around myself and walked out into the main room with my head high. You know what they say, ”When in Rome…”

It’s A Small World…After All

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Waking up to pouring rain, thunder and lightening did not bode well for another day walking around the city.  Wednesday was Eva Lotta’s 41st birthday and we were going to a Caribbean restaurant under a bridge in Sodermalm, the main southern island of Stockholm City.  The arrival time was 1pm and we were praying that the weather would improve before having to walk out into the thunder and lightening.  Things only got worse as our departure time approached.  Hail stones! Coming down really fast!  Things did not look good for a nice outdoor lunch under a bridge.  But, the one thing we’ve experienced about Swedish weather is that as fast as it comes, it can go. So, as we left the warmth and security of our lovely temporary home, the rain eased a bit giving us a chance to dart to the subway station.

Arriving at Sodermalm, we walked about a quarter mile under umbrellas to the restaurant. We had to go through a metal fence down to the dock.  It looked a little “shady” at first but as you headed down the walkway you begin to see this really cool space with outdoor tables on the water and a glass enclosure filled with wooden tables.  The owner, Pierre, happily greeted us at the door taking our drink order.  He’s a friend of Per’s sister and lives part time in Barbados – which is what inspired his restaurant. It was very quiet on this day due to the weather. Hugs were abundant as we greeted the family. We had Marie (Per’s sister), Birgit (Per’s mother), Eva Lotta, Per, baby Hugo, and the four of us. Per’s mom was excited to see Bob, her long lost American son.  She has been suffering from dementia but was so happy to see

 

us and did remember a lot about Bob’s time as an exchange student with her family. The food was delicious and we laughed, told stories, and caught everyone up on our lives back home.

After lunch we took the opportunity to walk with Marie to see her home, meet her son, Henrik, and explore the island.  Suddrmalm is the trendy place to live.   It used to be an island of poor people living in tiny cottages along the sea. Quite ironic that today it’s an area where the “new money” lives and these cottages are worth big bucks. Marie told us to walk down to the area called “SoFo” – Soder Folkungagatan – similar to “Soho” in New York.  This was definitely the place to be!  Lots of trendy, artsy shops, thrift stores, upscale eateries and markets line the streets. Every once in a while a little park would pop out of nowhere and the boys would race to find something to climb on. At one such park the boys were playing on the merry-go-round along with a father and his 4 kids.  Jor

dan seemed to speaking with him about something and they were both laughing and smiling.  After awhile Jordan came back to sit with us and I asked him what they were talking about.  He said the man and his family were from Menlo Park and his daughter played for the MP Striker’s Soccer Team.  Can you believe it?!  We are halfway around the world from the Bay Area in a small neighborhood park on an island in Stockholm and we run into a family who lives not to far away from us back home.  I guess he was pretty amazed when Jordan told him where we lived and that he used to play soccer against the boys MP Striker team.  It truly is a small world.  The family ended up leaving before we had a chance to chat.  Who knows, we’ll probably run into them again!

Deciliters, Grams and Cups – My Attempt at Baking in Sweden

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This is my first blog post and I thought I would write about my experience a couple of days ago with the metric system.  Per’s daughter, Filippa, turned 12 on Thursday and I decided that I would make her a birthday cake as my gift.  As many of you know, I love to make birthday cakes…the more extravagant the better! I wanted to make Filippa a real American-style birthday cake. I had to make the cake from scratch because the Swedish store here in the countryside didn’t have a traditional American-style cake mix. The kitchen here is pretty well equipped and Eva Lotta helped me find most of the pans and ingredients I would need. I just needed to get a few more things at the store.

Bob and I walked to the store and it turned out to be a 10k round-trip excursion – whew.  Despite my aching feet, I enjoyed the beautiful walk on a small country road lined with the traditional red and white painted Swedish cottages surrounded by fields of wildflowers. Per and Eva Lotta told me that the houses are painted red because it preserves the wood against the harsh winters here.  The paint originated as a bi-product of copper mining in the 1500’s and was used by wealthy people to simulate the red brick color of affluent homes throughout the European continent. Makes sense.

Time to make the cake.  The kids had gone off to the disco party and I was going to “stealthily” bake the cake before Filippa came home. I found a recipe on the web at one of my favorite sites and luckily it had a US to Metric conversion calculator.  So, I clicked on the little button and it recalculated my recipe. Great!!!  However, as I began to pull out the measuring cups and spoons, I noticed that everything was in deciliters and not in grams as my recipe required.  Hmm, how to go from dry measurement in grams to liquid measurement in deciliters? I searched on the web for a converter and found that one cup equals 240 milliliters. But I needed grams, which is a weight measurement. So I went from grams to milligrams to milliliters to deciliters, which eventually got me to, what I think was the right amount.  There was probably a much easier way to do this and all you engineers out there can let me know. The one thing about baking is that it is a scientific process and if you don’t have all your ingredients/chemicals in the right proportion, things could go very wrong.  So at 10pm as I was pulling my cake out of the oven, I was praying it would be ok.  It looked like it had risen properly. I hope it tasted good. Oh, one other thing I had to contend with, they don’t use vanilla extract over here.  Apparently, Scandinavian’s use something called “vanilla sugar”. It looks like powered sugar and tastes kinda like vanilla.  I didn’t know how much to use so I just winged it.  Since I am STILL suffering from jet lag a bit, I got up at 4am and decorated the cake so Filippa would have a surprise in the morning.  Well, she loved it!  She was showing all of her friends on Skype. It was her first big, American birthday cake!  At the little celebration, the cake got rave reviews from all the kids and cousins -everything turned out just fine.

Jet Lag

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3:00 AM, Sondag den 8.Juli, Vato, Sverige

I seem to be the one in the family having the hardest time with jet lag. We arrived at Jan and Kirsi’s summer home midnight Friday evening. I stayed up until almost 6 AM in the morning and ended up getting about 2 ½ hours of sleep. Justin came out of his bedroom at 5 AM with wide eyes, thinking it was normal since it was already light outside. I fed him Nutella toast breakfast – for him an excellent culinary start to living in Europe – and he declared, ‘I don’t have jet lag daddy!’ whereupon he fell back asleep and we had a hard time waking him up again at 10 AM.

Tonight after only about 4 hours of sleep I am awake again. Everyone else is sleeping fine. It does not help that it is light outside. Jan said if I am up I should take his dog for a walk, which I will do after I finish writing this, and hopefully I can get back to sleep.

We have had a great start to our trip.  Jan and Kirsi have 3 daughters – Linda, Anna, and Stina. Anna is Jordan’s age and Stina is Justin’s age. These 4 are already having a great time together jumping on the trampoline, riding bikes to the nearby pond to swim, and playing “Prince of Persia” on PlayStation. All of that in the first day.

We are out ‘poa Landet’ at Jan and

Kirsi’s summer house. A word to describe the environment would be ‘fecund’ – green, green, green; everything slightly damp from rain; wild strawberries and blueberries ripening in the sunny places; mosses, ferns, lots of small flowering plants and even miniature wild orchids; and of course mosquitoes.

Gigi and I are staying in the ‘Being John Malkovich’ suite. It is a pine plank room in the attic accessed through the living room ceiling by a pull down ladder. Two single bed foam mattresses and a one foot square window. It is actually very cozy and comfortable. I wish I was up there asleep right now, but I guess instead I will take the dog out for a 3:30 AM stroll…no flashlight needed.