The Wayfaring Path

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We got back from Kiruna late on Sunday night and Monday was Labour Day in NZ so we both had the day off. Regan rested and I made videos and wrote a blog post. On the Wednesday night we met the fab Swedish fam at a Viking restaurant, to celebrate Regan’s birthday, which you can read about in Regan’s recent blog. The food, the atmosphere, the music, and the company were all excellent, and we are so grateful we got to spend time with everyone.

Thursday was Regan’s birthday and it was a bit of a quiet day after the revelry of the Viking restaurant the night before. I was starting to come down with Regan’s cold and in hindsight I probably should have spent the day in bed but we had planned to go out that day and I didn’t want to let him down on his birthday. There were fun calls from family and then in the arvo we went to Nordiska Museet, the museum of Nordic life.

It’s another brilliant museum – the Swedes really know how to set up a museum! They aren’t cheap but if you live in the city a year long pass works out pretty well – I’d happily move to Stockholm just to visit a different museum every week. There’s about 50 in Stockholm (at least) so you could spend all year doing that! In the main part of the museum you walk through the centuries and each section is visually completely different to the next.

The fika was excellent (of course!) and there was a recreation of a 1940s flat, a “folkhemmet” or people’s home, the type of which were specifically designed and built to raise the living standards for everyone. It was really sweet and reminded me of my grandparent’s house – clean and modest and welcoming.

It was dark and raining on our way home and we waited at the tram stop with all the families who had also visited the museum. When the tram arrived it was already crowded (it was rush hour) and once all the kids and prams squeezed on there was no room for us, so we opted to wait for the next one – you don’t have to wait long in Stockholm! Sure enough another tram arrived shortly but this one was completely different to the last – it was small, painted teal, and inside was all wood pannelling and warm lights. It was a lovely vintage tram complete with old advertising posters and a uniformed guard. After a few minutes rumbling along we looked at each other and realised it was nearly Halloween – had we been picked up by a ghost tram? Were we going to be dropped off in 1925 instead of 2025? But no, it dropped us off in the correct year, which was ever so slightly disappointing.

Friday was our last full day in Stockholm, and we worked, then cleaned up and packed, and were picked up by Ulf in the afternoon. We stayed with Henri and Ulf that night, and did a bit of computer support (well, I snoozed with the dogs and Regan and Henri did the computer stuff) and had a nice last night together. We really appreciated all the times we spend with them and the family. Henri was also feeling a bit poorly so it was early nights for us and then up fairly early so Henri could drop us at Central station. We will miss them and Stockholm so much, it’s a wonderful city and I’d very happily live there!

We had a 12 hour travel day, which was absolutely the LAST thing I felt like doing – I was pretty sick and struggled to breathe on the plane at times. Happily I wasn’t too coughy or snotty, but I still felt bad about travelling with a cold. I tried not to touch things and hopefully didn’t spread the cold around too badly. So, car, train, bus, two planes, bus, metro, and feet… we finally made it to our apartment about 7pm and met our lovely host. I’d been looking forward to staying here since first falling in love with the place on Airbnb, and it was exactly as wonderful as I’d hoped! No boring beige or white walls here! An historic building with fairly historic plumbing too, but it’s such a nice place I can forgive the plumbing!

Sunday was mostly a bed day but we did get out for a little walk around our neighbourhood. It’s so cool! Cobbled streets, lovely old buildings, lots of fun wee shops and cosy bouchon restaurants. Quite a few people around but everyone speaking French – I think we missed the main tourist season. Hurrah! I had to sit and rest while Regan went further afield, and I shot a nice little time lapse. We are up four flights of stairs (no elevator as it’s an ancient building) so it was a very slow trip back home, but we made it!

It was a quiet week as we were both feeling crook but we got out every day for at least a little walk around. We got a yoga mat, took the funicular up to the basilica and Roman ruins, visited a couple of “fripps” (second hand clothing stores), stumbled upon the amazing food hall Regan wanted to visit, and found more incredible churches. We were obviously feeling better on the Friday as we went out during the day AND in the evening, for a wander along the riverbank as all the riverside parties were warming up. We had a drink in a pub and dragged ourselves back up the stairs.

On Saturday I woke up feeling energetic for the first time in ages, and the light was wonderful, so I went out for a little photo safari. The riverbank parties had obviously been going all night as there were a few bleary folks wandering around, and the streets were being washed (they needed it 😳). I was filming along the river when a young bloke asked if he could use my phone as he’d lost his. He didn’t seem dodgy, just a little worse for wear after a big night, so I let him use my phone to call for someone to pick him up. After a few minutes I started to wonder if I was being scammed, perhaps he was calling a number that would charge me heaps of money. I figured I was ok as it was calling through my eSIM (Roamless) and there was only about $20 on there, but I asked him to hang up and then stressed about it for a bit. But no, it was fine, he had called a Lyon number and all was well. I hope he got home ok.

I felt so good – that OMG I’M NOT SICK ANYMORE good that always tricks me into doing way more than I should so I walked for hours, all over Lyon. I joined a march in support of Sudan, drooled over cakes in windows, and found a really cool market with all sorts of fun stuff and nice people. I’m not usually a big fan of markets but I really like the ones here. I walked over 20,000 steps which was a bit dumb really and meant I was in bed most of Sunday. But whatever, the weather was amazing and I don’t know how many warm sunny days we have left before winter hits!

That night Regan went to a pub to watch a rugby match and I went up to the beautiful basilica for mass. It was very reminiscent of being on Camino, sitting in an amazing church listening to a service in a language I don’t understand. It’s an interesting mix of feeling isolated through a lack of shared language and also feeling included through being there with the congregation. I remember one night on Camino I went to mass in a lovely church in a tiny town on a rainy night. They did a special blessing for us “peregrinos” (pilgrims) I was quite moved by it all and was fighting tears as I walked back to my seat. A little old Spanish woman came up to me after the service and took me by the arm and walked me to the hostel (there was only one in town so it wasn’t hard to know where I was staying), sharing her umbrella with me. We had very few words in common but kindness doesn’t need language. I’ll never ever forget her.

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