Thursday, May 23, 2013

Long Weekend with Old Friends


Roland: One of my friends lives in Sweden, far away from civilization in the woods. For years our group of school friends wanted to visit him there, but somehow it never worked out. Now one of us fixed a date for a trip, and miraculously almost all of us managed to join. So last Saturday morning seven of us to met VERY early in the morning, squeezed into one car, took a plane from Dusseldorf Airport to Oslo and drove another three hours to Central Sweden.


We did not have to organize anything for the entire weekend. When we arrived lunch was already being served in the old barn.


After lunch we explored the area. The next neighbour is seven kilometers away, and in between there is nothing but trees, lakes and very bad roads. Therefore chances are that you will not meet another soul for a whole long weekend.


In preparation for our visit our host had recycled an old oil tank into a wood-heated five person whirlpool, so obviously we had quite some fun trying that out!



The next day we had a chance checking out his two Quads. As this is an entirely different way of movement than a scooter I had some significant problems with it (it always takes me quite a while to get accustomed to new ways of transportation), but being the pillion rider was just as much fun!


After some canoeing and kayaking (sorry, no photos) the day was concluded with another fantastic meal out in nature. The next day we had to return to Germany already... The long weekend felt very short, but it was fantastic!
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

11 comments:

  1. YvonneMay 23, 2013 at 7:51 AM

    wow, looks awesome and seemed to be a lot of fun ;-) (and looks pretty similar to BC's outdoor fun *lol*). it's nice to see old friends after a while again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SonjaMMay 23, 2013 at 11:51 AM

      Very much the same, and likely with the same result: too much to eat and to drink...

      Delete
  2. TrobairitzMay 23, 2013 at 8:28 AM

    The long weekend felt short because you were having so much fun.

    Ahhh to be in a remote area with good friends, and beautiful surroundings.

    Sounds like a perfect weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SonjaMMay 23, 2013 at 11:50 AM

      Don't forget lots of good food and % beverages...

      Delete
  3. bob skootMay 23, 2013 at 8:44 AM

    Sonja:

    Looks like a great weekend. We had friends who owned a dude ranch in the Chilcotins, about a 6 hour drive north of Vancouver and 50 kms of gravel road to get to "the ranch". It was just great to be with nature. At night, no noise, no lights, no people. It felt like it was 100 years ago. I am sure you had a similar feeling to be self sufficient . . .

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SonjaMMay 23, 2013 at 11:49 AM

      I am sure Roland enjoyed his trip, partly because I wasn't there...

      Delete
    2. RolandMay 23, 2013 at 11:58 AM

      My friend indeed used to be fully self sufficient with the exception of Diesel that he needed to generate electricity. In the meantime he has a power line connected to his house, plus a satellite dish for TV and internet, so he enjoys pretty much all the usual conveniences. Still it feels like a thousand miles from civilization!

      Delete
  4. David MasseMay 24, 2013 at 11:36 AM

    Roland, good times with old friends is hard to beat. ATVs make you think motorbike, until you start to roll. Then it's a whole other story. They can be a real workout. Sweden's backwoods look just like Canada's backwoods. I wonder if you sometimes felt strange, wondering where the heck in the world you had travelled to?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SonjaMMay 24, 2013 at 10:16 PM

      This part of Sweden is indeed very similar to Ontario or Quebec. This is part of the reason why we like this place so much. We have been there a few times already, and it felt 'home'.

      Delete
  5. BiankaMay 24, 2013 at 1:20 PM

    Indeed, looks like Northwestern Ontario ... simply beautiful, wonder if they have the same kind of mushrooms there! What a big advantage you have now travelling in no time to different countries and places and it certainly doesn't cost you an arm and a leg like it does here. Gotta love that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SonjaMMay 24, 2013 at 10:17 PM

      You guys would certainly like it over there. And the Swedish people are very nice, too. The language is fairly easy... Scandinavia was always very high on our list of countries we like.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)