Day 2

The morning was slow. We had intended to get up early and go for a walk, but a few things held us back. For one, it was still pitch black outside at 8am—the sun doesn’t rise here until 8:30am. For another, rain was beginning to fall pretty heavily, and we could hear the wind howling intensely against the windowpanes, straining the trees. Our jetlag also hadn’t quite worn off yet, so sleeping in was overall too tempting. We went back to bed until about 9:30 when Liz had already prepared us a lovely breakfast of hardboiled eggs, cold cuts, cheese, toast, marmalade, oranges, and tea. I realized as I awoke that I was starving.

We spent the entire morning inside since the weather didn’t seem to be improving. If anything, the wind only intensified, the howls becoming loud moans, the house shuttering and straining in resistance. It was a perfect day for huddling inside a nice warm house with warm tea and a book, and that’s what we did. There’s nothing like a violent storm to make you feel lucky to have a beautiful home and good company.

For lunch, we had sandwiches with leftover ham, tomatoes, cucumber, and cheese. Then we left for town. We stopped in Ystad, a charming town about half an hour away from Liz’s house. On the ride there we saw wind turbines, traditional farm houses, old wind mills, Viking burial mounds, the ocean (lots of huge waves because it was so windy!), and some Danish architecture too! All the streets in Ystad were cobblestone, and the shops were small and sweet. It reminded me of Weimar, Germany. It was windy and wet, but I still loved seeing the town.

We got to go in the Sankta Maria Kyrka or the Church of Santa Maria. It’s a Catholic church full of gorgeous paintings, statues, pointed arches, kneeling pews, and grave markers on plates built into the ground. We each lit a candle and signed the guest book.

 

After our stop in the town, we went to Tommy’s birthday party, one of Nicole’s relatives. He was turning 89! Tea, cake, and lots of friendly relatives greeted us in yet another gorgeous Swedish house. Tommy happened to have been an architect himself, and talking with him was extremely inspiring. “Architecture is everything,” he said. “It is the key to happiness.” He also told us that nature is the best teacher, he told us stories of why it is so important to fully understand and learn from a community and culture before trying to design for it, he told us to use our hearts and our emotions, and he advised us to find and use silence, because silence is the basis for all science and it is vital to being a great architect. All-in-all, he was a man after my own heart, and his happiness encouraged me that I’m going into the right field.

All of Nicole’s relatives were so friendly, and I felt bad that I only knew a few words of Swedish while they were all fluent in English. Someday I will learn Swedish. The two little girls, Sofia and Emma gave a little concert. Sofia played the flute while Emma sang along. It was adorable and charming. They are two very talented young girls, and they have a bright future of ahead of them, especially with the support of such a wonderful family.

 

For dinner, we had delicious fish and potatoes, and for dessert we had another go at the Prinzessentorte. Despite our best efforts, we only got about halfway through the cake. Sometimes, you can have too much of a good things. Kristen, Nicole and I finished off a bottle of Chardonnay while playing cards. We finally mastered the game, "Shithead" or "OG." I have a feeling that this is going to become one of our favorites over the coming months.