New Years Day

We all awaken very late, 10 AM. Karli works on her paper of course. It is due in 5 days! Sten and Berit come to the apartment and we drive in their car.

We drive first to the lake. It is a very large lake that we have seen only in the summer months. A monster is said to live there! Many souvenirs have a photo or design depicting it. This time however it is covered with ice. It isn't thick enough ice to drive on yet, but in a few weeks, there will actually be a road on it! Right now there are only people. There is a couple out there with a sail or kite.

We see views from the higher hills and drive through neighborhoods. There are beautiful homes up there with absolutely fabulous views. We have a couple of hours before it gets dark so we can see the winter scene.

We drive by the local ski area. It is amazing to think there is a ski area with lifts so close! There is all sorts of activity and many people of all ages enjoying the winter. Skis, snowboards, sleds, everything. Looks like a fun New Years Day for sure! It is pretty cold to us today. -6 C. You can see the ski area from all over town. At night you can see the lights running up the mountain. It reminds us of seeing Grouse Mountain from Vancouver, BC.

We then drive to Jamtli. This is a wonderful museum that is a must-see in Jamtland. They say it is a Jamtland cultural museum told in an entertaining way. That it is! We have been here before and spent all day browsing through the exhibits. It isn't open too much longer today. We go to the coffee shop and have fika! We all have tunnebröd and renstäk and pepparött. Can you guess what that is? Thin bread, reindeer with horseradish. It is very, very good. We go to the store and look at the handmade goods mixed with the occasional key chains and other souvenirs.

We drive back to the apartment. Karli works and we read.


We go to their house for dinner. Then our plan is to go to Hannas apartment for fika after dinner. It is time to celebrate her birthday! The dinner at Sten and Berits is so nice. They have amazing foods for us. She serves a fish in a cream sauce with mushrooms, scallions and garlic. There is also green salad and riced potatoes. For dessert there is Swedish cheesecake with cloud berries and cream. They surprise us with some gifts for us! From Jamtli I think, we get some chocolate in the shape of moose and some interesting crisp bread made of real tree bark. Sten gives us a wall calendar from his business. We have all his calendars at home and love them. The most wonderful gift was a metal and wood spark. I hope we can transport it carefully home because we truly love it! We thank them so much for their fine hospitality and all the work they have gone to.

Hannas apartment is also decorated in black and white but with this definite splash of red. It looks like Hanna! It is a different layout than Fridas or Linas although all are in the same huge complex. They all live in different buildings. Hanna has only been here for 4 months now. Hanna has a little open closet for coats, shoes, etc. The kitchen, nook and dining room-living space is all connected. It flows very nicely. We are so impressed with each of these apartments.

We have coffee and dream cake, they call it, with cream and chryssalis on top. She opens her presents. She also gives me a necklace she has made. I love it!!! We enjoy fika and being with Hanna together.

Karli decides to stay and work on her paper with Hanna helping. She is pretty much done with it and is doing that never ending editing. Berit helps a bit too and I think at the end of about a half an hour more, Karli was getting very frustrated. They took a break, we left and Karli stayed. Hanna helped her for many more hours and Karli came back to the apartment with Lina leading the way after midnight. Thank you Hanna for that much needed help and the extra effort it took to stay up so late! You too Lina. You have to work early in the morning!

Singing happy birthday songs to Hanna!

Tomorrow we leave and spend one night in Ljusne before we head for Stockholm. Östersund has been such a fun time. What a beautiful winter city and special people here!