Weekend of January 28-30

On Friday Courtney and I picked Colton up at school, it was "super hero day" and they had a bake sale. We got waffles with whipped cream and chocolate, among other things and headed for the sea. The picture on the left is from this day it was COLD but beautiful. You can walk to this from our house we took the bus this day. The ocean was frozen for a long way then you could see a line and movement where it wasn't frozen any more. It looked like surf with sand except it was all ice!!

On Saturday (the middle picture) we went to Copenhagen. We drove over the Orsund bridge it was a $56 toll one way then had a very hard time parking. We will take the train next time. Learning as we go. After we got there the town was AMAZING!! We started at City Hall Square (Radhuspladsen) saw the Hans Christian Anderson Statue and Tivoli Gardens (closed until warmer weather). We wandered around City Hall, absolutely amazing inside. Then we headed to the Stroget a pedestrian street with shops on both sides. We took a side steet to Papa's where we had pizza for lunch. Then back to the Stroget. The highlight for Colton was the Lego store where he got to spend his Christmas money. We stopped on another square and ate a Danish and hot chocolate at Norden's. Then headed to Nyhvn (New Haven) and around to the Opera House and Christianborg Palace. We didn't get to go in or see much of this because it got too late. We will be back!! We ate at Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and headed home. It was only about 45 min. from our house. I will put all the pics on Facebook.

On sunday (pic on right) Colton, Mike and I walked to Sibbarp Park, back to the Baltic Sea. The weather was warmer and the ocean was much more thawed out. Still amazing!!

Catching up to move forward.

OK life is finally slowing down and I will do a "quick" catch up and then try to do weekly posts. Our first weekend trip was to Vaxjo (Tek-Kwah) and Kosta they are in SouthEast Sweden about 3 hours away and we went by car. Got there Saturday 1/22 and went to the House of Emigrants museum , The Swedish glass museum, a cathedral (a little to new agey for me and went to Vaxjo Town Park where we walked around a frozen lake. (Colton's favorite part!!)

The next morning we got up and drove to Kosta. This region of Sweden is known as the "kingdom of crystal" there are many glass shops in this area. Kosta has one of the largest and most well known. Kosta Boda which is the oldest of the "glasbruks". We started at the new art hotel, which was beautiful, Colton played the piano and we "toured" on our own. This we headed to the glassblowing "hot shop". This was our favorite part!! We saw them actually make it. We then did some shopping and headed back home. The Picture on the left is Colton in the exhibit hall in the hot shop and the one on the right is Mike at the frozen lake. I am going to post all of the pics on facebook and the narrative on here.

We Are Officially Here!!

I don't have pics yet but decided to update the blog. Mike, Courtney and Colton arrived on 1/29, I ended up staying an extra week at home because we sold our house unexpectedly (it wasn't even listed) and I had to move us out. They had to be here to get their visas and tax numbers before 1/1. They got to spend New Years Eve in Sweden. I heard the fireworks were crazy and they could see tons from the house. Mike said the neighbor was outside in a tux at midnight shooting off fireworks in the street!! CRAZY- I hope to be in on those festivities next year. Colton loved the snow- about 18 inches on the ground when they got here.

I arrived 1/6 in a snowstorm. It was beautiful-SNOW was everywhere-white and fluffy!! Courtney had the kitchen all set up she had been cooking every night. They were all glad to see me but they were doing great without me!!

Colton started school on 1/10 (Monday) he really liked it. I took some mistakes and studying to get the buses figured out! Courtney was a big help!!

So, our stuff came 1/14 and we are all settled in now. We were supposed to get broadband in the house yesterday, however that didn't work out. They said in the next 3 days but we will see. The other issue is the dryer is not working- I am working on getting that fixed today. We just don't use the microwave because everytime you do it blows a fuse in the other part of the house. I missed this excitement, but we just avoid it now.

We are going on our first excursion this weekend!! To southeast Sweden- Vaxjo, and Kalmar- it is called glass county. Hope to update and have pictures from the weekend.

Here are some pictures from around town that we saw over the weekend. The top picture is the library it is a new library built onto the old. The middle picture is the Malmo castle or fortress it has a museum into and 2 museums across the street. We decided not to tour it but to wait for Courtney & Colton. It has a beautiful park around it called king's park. The bottom one is the famous turning torso building- notice the sky in this picture this is a "normal" Malmo sky.

The Weekend

Decided to stay here in Malmo for the weekend. I got to see the other side of town, do some shopping and actually had a GREAT time. Friday we got our visas stamped in our passports and registered for our tax ID number. It was snowing when we got up and then sleeted, rained most of the day then at night it snowed again. Here it is SNOWING big fluffy flakes but you can't really see it coming down only on our coats.

We went to the coolest place last night for dinner. It was called Saint Marcus Vinkullare - Which means St. Marks Wine Cellar. It was below the street you walked in and went downstairs it was a twisty wine cellar it looked so old! The food was delicious, the top picture is Mike Creme Brulee.

These are some more pictures around town. Little "parks" are hidden all over with beautiful flowers even in November!! The top one is just a building, not sure what it is just AMAZING!!

Downtown Malmo

This is Gustov square, the hotel sits right on this square. This market in the top picture is flowers and vegtables it has been there every weekday so far. The flowers are beautiful and very reasonable.

Basement - guest rooms

This is a great space for those who say they are coming to visit!! 2 nice bedrooms with a shower and sink also a sitting room and the most awesome original floor!!

Here are some pictures of Courtney's room- oddly shaped- looks like Courtney it has triangle windows! You can walk around but you have to duck in places. It was hard to take pictures to show what it looked like. It is 2 connecting rooms the and the sitting room has a great window and view! The top is the view and actually you can see the ocean all the way to the left (I'm not sure you can see it in this pic). The middle one is the sitting room and the bottom is the bedroom. It is a cool workable space although hard to see from the photos. This is the only room we will have to get some furniture in.

Colton's room / Cozy Room

Top two are the "cozy room" as the owner called it and the bottom one is Colton's room. There are 4 stories total- Basement (guest rooms), 1st floor living rooms and kitchen, 2nd - our room, Colton's room, study and utility/bathroom. Then the Attic which is Courtney's room.

Gardens

These are the gardens or grounds around the house. It is a little hard to see but they have 3 eating areas- the first I didn't get. It is the "breakfast nook for coffee, then the one through the bushes middle top and then top right. They follow the sun around the house so you move meals as the sun moves!! By the way we did see sun all day yesterday!!

Our new house for a year!

This is our new house, Mike picked it out on his last trip and he did a GREAT job!! I love it. This is the front but you go in on the side. It is beautiful inside and out built in 1904 a priest lived here the original ceilings and stone stairs!

Malmo pre-move trip

Mike and I got here this morning it was almost light and lightly raining/more like mist. We flew in to Copenhagen and took a train to Malmo. We walked several blocks to our hotel. Took a nap and got up and went walking around. These pictures are from that, they were taken at 4 o'clock in the afternoon- WOW it is somewhat dark already. It was very pleasant with a jacket and we only needed our umbrellas in about the first 15 minutes. We are headed out to Limhamn tomorrow to look at our house and a city tour with Ne'Ne'.

Today is Thursday and Colton and I went into Copenhagen, Denmark to the zoo. We did it all by ourselves it was a little challenging but a lot of fun. The food is better here overall, and the people almost all speak English. So the people around me helped me get on the right train and buses to get to the zoo. In Germany almost all the water is carbonated (with gas) I really don't like it and over here it is not that way so that is a BIG improvement as well. We are meeting Mike for dinner and he is now officially off work until we get home. Here are a couple of pics at the zoo.

Monday and Tuesday we stayed in Immensen and packed our stuff to leave. On Wed. 5/12 we left Immensen and drove to Malmo Sweden. We took a ferry from Germany to Denmark, it was NOT like the one to South Padre. It was huge, like an airport inside with a gift shop, restaurant and places to sit at a table. Then we walked a little around malmo.

Trier

Wow the days are moving fast now. I wanted to post a few other things from last weekend. May 14-15. We went to Koblenz on Saturday and then to Burg Eltz Castle and Trier on Sunday. Trier was amazing with things from Roman times. We toured the castle and took a sight-seeing bus tour in Trier, we were the only ones on the top deck.

Koblenz- Rhine Valley

We went to Koblentz over the weekend. It is located where the Rhine and Moselle rivers come together. We walked around the city with amazing architect and fountains at each town center. We took a cruise down the Rhine river- that is Colton and Mike on the boat. The one with Colton and a telescope thing is the point where the rivers come together it is called the Deutch Eck.

Immensen

This is the town center for Immensen- a bench around a tree and a small pond (that Colton calls the salamander pond).

May 3 - 6 Immensen

We are staying in an adorable little village called Immensen, which is outside of Einbeck. Colton and I are here during the day while Mike is at work. It is like stepping back 100 years. Each house has its little plot of land "fenced off" with trees and bushes, a garden (with flowers and food), many have chickens and some with goats or pigeons etc. This community only has a Kindergarten (about age 3-5) and a bakery. Everything else you go to Einbeck for.