Live by the Sun - Love by the Moon: DAYS 157 & 158

Aug 23 & 24 - Did My Ancestors Catch the Boat From Göteborg?

Gothenburg (Swedish: Göteborg) is the 2nd largest city in Sweden and the 5th largest in the Nordic countries. The site of the first church built in Gothenburg, and destroyed by Danish invaders, is marked by a stone near the north end of the Alvsborg Bridge in Farjenas Park. The church was built in 1603 and destroyed in 1611. The city was heavily influenced by the Dutch, Germans and Scots, and Dutch engineers were contracted to construct the city as they had the skills needed to drain and build in the marshy areas chosen for the city. The town was designed like Dutch cities such as Amsterdam.

The harbour developed into Sweden's main harbour for trade towards the west, and with Swedish emigration to the United States increasing, Gothenburg became Sweden's main point of departure. Who knows? Maybe this is where my ancestors departed from Sweden in 1870. We tried to go to the Museum of Immigration while we were there, but it happened to be closed that day. :(

The "Guest Harbour" with the famous office building Lilla Bommen, jokingly referred to as the Lipstick building, in the background.

Quite the large ship in the dock

Our hosts, the Jakobsen Family met us at the train station. We were so excited to be with a family again and to relax. We didn't even care if we saw much of the city.

Milo, age 3, let us use his room to sleep in for 4 nights

I slept on the bottom bunk and Rich slept on the top bunk.

Meet Amy & Joe - ages 9 & 11

Matthias takes his turn in the kitchen, too with both mom and dad working full time.

Such a cozy family room

Rich had fun making a lego creation with Joe

They greeted us with a fantastic salmon dinner with the works. It tasted so good after a long train ride.

oops....looks like most was eaten before the photo was taken.

We fixed crepes the next morning with fruit faces.

Joe had a friend with him who had spent the night. These kids are so smart. In Sweden, children start kindergarten at age 2 and the schooling is provided by taxes and the different municipalities. When a mother has a baby, she gets a year off from work with pay. WOW! What a concept. Emphasis is highly put on education and children are expected to get good grades. My theory is that this is one of the reasons that Sweden has such a high suicide rate. People are required to be over-achievers.

The kids loved our pancakes. Each one was unique.

Two different evenings we took a 30 minute walk to the sea. So beautiful.....sunset and full moon. The whole Jakobsen family went with us and we walked up on the hills and around the boat dock. Sweden is BEAUTIFUL!