Going Home Again

It's been 21 years since I was a not so shy 17 year old falling off a train into the Brunö-Gustafsson household.



That may have been a long time ago, but the house in Töreboda still feels like home. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and were soon joined by Viktor and Hedil for a traditional Midsommar feast. Nobody cared that we were a day late with the herring. We had a lovely evening, ate a lot, drank a fair amount of snaps, tried some of Viktor's home brewed ale (it was delicious) and shared pictures of the puppies waiting for us back home.



Next day we were off to Hajstorp to see the locks and hand crafts market. We arrived just as a boat was arriving at the locks and watched as they were lowered in the water to continue on their way. Eva explained that the Göta Kanal is nicknamed the Divorce Ditch because when boats pass through the locks, one spouse is in charge of the lines while the other is responsible for driving the boat through. It's not hard to imagine the arguments that happen when someone drops the lines.



We paused in the cafe for a quick coco ball, then went on to the handcrafts market in the barn to check out the best Töreboda has to offer. Anastasia learned a bit about weaving upstairs in the farmhouse museum and spent time playing with the other interactive options. Then it was off to Norkvarn where a mini version of the canal serves as a splash park for kids when the weather is warm (it wasn't). The tall grey silo is the distinctive feature of Töreboda's "skyline".



Before we headed back to Stockholm, there was one visit that we all needed to make. Lina is the "world famous" ferry in Töreboda that I rode every day to cross the canal to get to school. She is the smallest ferry in Sweden, and quite possibly the world, holding only a few people with bicycles. The ride is about 15 feet and it's accomplished by the driver pulling on a rope, which is sunk to the bottom of the canal whenever a boat travels down the canal. We took the ride over and back with a special guest driver both ways.

On the drive back to Stockholm, Orlando spotted a sign that he'd like to hang in the bathroom someday.