The Summer House

To Södra Finnö, Sweden -- Day 1

Hello. Dex here writing the blog.  It was hard leaving Annica, Björn, Oscar, Emily, and Adam after four fun-filled days and some great games, especially Telegraph, Croccer and Ping-Pong.  Naturally, it was difficult, but at the same time, it was really neat to start backpacking.

Björn drove us to the train station where we got on at platform 5.  I had to laugh because we nearly missed our first train. We were waiting at the very back of the station, but the train was 16 cars long and we were on car 16... at the opposite end of the station.  Luckily, we made it on with the help of the conductor.  When we got to our seats, we were surprised to see a compartment room with a 3-person bench on each side, instead of individual seats.  It was really comfortable!

When we got off the train in Norrköping, we met up with Bertil Hamberger, our neighbor's father who had waited the extra 20 minutes since our train was late, but he didn't seem to mind.  At lunch, Kylie and I had our first real Swedish pancakes plus some really good ice cream.

As we were on our way to the car, we saw a boat lock in action.  It had four boats in it, and it didn't seem like it could take many more.  When they closed the gates, I was amazed at how fast the lock filled up.  When the boats were level with the next part of the canal, the gates on the opposite side opened, the boats untied and they were on their way.

After that, we went to the store and picked up enough food for a week.  We even saw cottage cheese! While we were driving to the "summer house" (as our friends call it), I spotted a deer - it was the first one Dad and Kylie had seen the whole trip.  As we drove farther into the country, the road got windier and, eventually, became gravel.  The sights were amazing.  The hills and the green, green fields were breathtaking.  Somewhere along the drive, we crossed a bridge onto our island.  When we arrived, Annika was waiting and happily welcomed us inside.

After a tour of the house, I found a game of Chinese Checkers and really wanted to play, but... Bertil said it was time to go fishing. That got my attention because I've never gone fishing.  When we got to the rowboat, Bertil let Mom and me row.  We attached the net to a buoy that was just 10 meters from the end of the pier and then Bertil told us we'd come back tomorrow to see if we had caught anything.

We had a good dinner, and right after the adults took a walk and let Kylie and me play and explore one of the many rock outcroppings.  When we came back to the house, we got to play a game of Chinese Checkers. (Dad won.)  Just another great day of adventure.