Hi everyone,
I had the wonderful chance to go with Mrs. Freyer to Sweden over the Christmas holiday. I was lucky because it was snowing when I walked out of Arlanda airport in Stockholm! It felt funny actually having snow flakes fall on my fur. I was very thankful that I had fur, because I do not own a winter coat. Mrs. Freyer took pictures of me right after we got off the plane. The Swedish children, who were also on my plane, noticed me right away and kept tugging on their parent’s sleeves saying, “Titta pa bjornen!” Look at the bear! On the way from the airport, Mrs. Freyer’s cousin Charlotta took us on a tour of Djursholm, a suburb of Stockholm. We stopped at Mrs. Freyer’s uncle’s house and took pictures, because it looked so pretty in the snow. There was 4 inches of snow on the ground, and it was still snowing.
Mrs. Freyer’s cousin lives in an apartment right next to a national park. In Sweden, many people live in apartments that they own, sort of like our condominiums. Charlotta lives with her two daughters, Caroline and Jessica. Their apartment has 3 bedrooms, 1 and ½ bathrooms, a family room, and a kitchen. Did you know that mail trucks are yellow in Sweden? You can see one behind me in one of the pictures.
Through the front window of the apartment, I saw children sledding the in the snow. I was very excited to try sledding, but all I had was my furry bottom to slide on. Mrs. Freyer thought I should try it anyway, so I did. Boy, my bottom was icy afterwards, but it was a lot of fun. I also had fun exploring the playground and seeing if it was any different than our playground at San Jose Episcopal. There was a swing set, playhouse, and even a grill for outdoor picnics. With all the snow around I knew I had to build a snowman. The first one I built was my size, and I was very proud of it. I later found a large one that the children of the neighborhood had made. Can you see what the mouth is made of?
The second day in Sweden we went to a Swedish shopping mall called Taby Centrum. It is just like an American mall and has many shops. Mrs. Freyer had to buy snow boots since they are hard to find in Florida, so we went into many stores. We soon learned the Swedish word for sale is rea. All the stores had great after Christmas sales and soon Mrs. Freyer was able to find a good pair of snow boots.
The next day, I took a long walk in the national forest. The trees were beautiful, because they were covered with snow. I even found another snowman. The forest was very quiet, and the snow crunched under my feet as I walked. Do you know what they do with golf courses during the winter in Sweden? They cross country ski on them! Can you believe it?
One day, I went into downtown Stockholm. It was the day that the Swedish Junior National hockey team was playing Canada’s team for the world championships. (Canada won) I saw a big group of Canadian teenagers at the ice rink in the center of Stockholm. They were all wearing red hockey jerseys. During the winter in Sweden, it starts to get dark around 3:00. By 4:00 it is completely dark, but the Swedes keep their Christmas decorations up until January 13th so the landscape is not so dark. Next, I walked down the main shopping street which was lit by the many shops and the Christmas wreaths hanging above the walkway. By that time, the temperature had dropped to 28 degrees, and I was cold so we decided to go home. On the way to the car we passed an Audi car dealership. It fun to see that the car dealerships in down town Stockholm were inside an office building! The car in the front window was decorated for Christmas. Can you tell what they used to decorate the car?
On Sunday, we visited a Lutheran church near Charlotta’s house. It was 900 years old! That is older than our country. It was made of stone, and the inside was beautiful. The pews had doors on them, and the organ pipes were high up in the back of the church. The alter area was incredibly beautiful. The story goes that, at one time, all the walls were painted with pictures of biblical figures. About 400 years ago, these walls were all painted over with white paint when some church leaders felt that the paintings were too distracting. A few years ago, the walls needed to be repaired and the workman found the original paintings. Experts were brought in to restore some of the paintings. Can you see the original wall paintings?
Mrs. Freyer had a great time seeing all of her relatives on this visit and eating the wonderful food. The best meal we had was at a restaurant in downtown Stockholm. I had potatoes with salmon and a small green salad. It was yummy. I ate a lot of fresh salmon while I was there, as well as, Swedish meatballs and boiled red potatoes. At one family meal, we had an open faced sandwich with cheese, salmon, shrimp, and boiled eggs. At another, we had a potato casserole, cold sliced roast beef and ham, and fresh tomato and cucumber salad.
Finally, it was time for me to go home. We said goodbye to all of Mrs. Freyer’s relatives and flew to Chicago. Here is a picture of me waiting for my plane in the Chicago airport. It was very cold, but there was no snow. I think I will remember this special trip to Sweden for a very long time.
