Skåne, Skåne, Skåne

After a few days in Göteborg we made our way to Skåne, the southernmost part of Sweden. We met up with one of Emelie’s old friends from her high school days in Malmö, Malin, and her boyfriend Tobias. They would host us for the next four days at their apartment. The first day, while those two were at work, Emelie and I set off to explore Malmö on bikes. Despite a little rain, we saw a vast majority of the city after three hours of cycling.

The next day began Malin and Tobias’ three-day weekend, and we set off up the coast toward a small town called Kulleberg. On the way up the coast (a remarkably scenic drive with the sea at our side the entire time), we stopped in Viken for fika. We called uncle Johan out of the blue, knowing he resides there part of the year, and met him for five brief minutes before grabbing a bite to eat. We then headed back up the coast toward our destination. Kulleberg is a tiny town that doesn’t offer too much, but within one nature preserve lies a very unique (and controversial) piece of art. A local artist named Lars started building his own world within the nature preserve completely out of fallen trees and limbs, held together only by their unique structure and hundreds of thousands of nails. The world, called Nimis, has small tunnels of wood and massive structures that stand about fifty feet from the ground. We have a few pictures here, but they don’t entirely do justice to his creation, so I encourage you to seek out some more to appreciate what he’s done. Some people do not like what he did in this nature preserve—it is slightly akin to building within a state or national park back home—but it’s hard to overlook how cool it is. Lars is also notorious from upsetting the Muslim world a few years back with some art that portrayed Mohammed in a negative light, adding to the hostility some felt toward him. Like him or not, we were lucky enough to have him there at the very time we visited. We were slowly and carefully walking down the hill toward Nimis when a gray-haired man at least twice our age came running down the hill with four large trees under his arm. Tobias noted it was him, perhaps from seeing him before, but also because he was trailed by his two bodyguards that are always at his side. As I said, the Muslims don’t really care for this guy. Regardless, he was nice enough to talk to us (Emelie, Tobias, and Malin, that is, for he didn’t speak too much English). It was the nicest weather we’d seen so far in Sweden, which made the trip up to this part of Skåne that much better. Fatigued from the hike, we grabbed an awesomely-cliché meal at Ikea on the ride back to end the day.

In front of Johan's beautiful house in Viken.

Malin and Emelie at the harbor in Viken. 

This is the descent down towards Nimis 

 This is the artist himself carrying some tree logs to do some repairs with his body guard following him everywhere he went. 

We met Johan and his wife Maria the following day to start things off. After seeing a little more of Malmö, we went to see a hockey game played between the Malmö Redhawks and Borås. Things started with me, being the mature young man I am, getting some face time with Hawken, their beloved mascot. Being removed from my Portland Pirates, it was nice to see some puck again. Thanks to a hat-trick by the Malmö captain they won the game. Had I been wearing a hat, I probably would have thrown it on the ice, but was told by Tobias this is uniquely American and that was why all the Swedes left on their caps despite Linus Klasen’s third goal. I felt he deserved a little more respect…

The day not yet being done we went to a house party for Emelie’s old housemate/sister-of-sorts Matilda who was turning 23. It was a fun party that lasted late in the night and left us bakis the next morning.

This is was the sunset after the game as we walked toward the subway. 

Our last day in Skåne was spent in the old town Emelie lived while going to high school, Skanör. We had a great lunch with her old family friends, Hans and Marie, who hosted Emelie the entire year she studied here. Marie was Tina’s best friend and many a story were told over lunch that brought back loads of memories. I learned that Emelie used to be a cannibal and that she once bit their son Viktor’s finger while the parents were away. He rebutted with a Tyson-like chomp to her ear to get even. Great thing to learn about my lady friend. Following lunch we walked around the beautiful small town on the sea. I was jonesing hard at the sight of a beautiful links golf course, but alas, my sticks are across the Atlantic getting colder with each passing Maine day. Emelie and Malin enjoyed walking around and talking, reminiscing about days gone by in their school days. We trekked over to the neighboring town of Falstebo to see another world-class links course, then got dinner with Malin’s mom at her home. Exhausted by a packed weekend we went back to their place for our last night in Sweden.

Mike with a huge smile on his face, I think the only way he would have been happier is if he had a club in his hands.  

Emelie, Hans, Marie after our lovely lunch

Matilda and I :) 

Though it was tiring and hard to remember the names of all the people I’d met in this new country, it was a great start for this trip. I learned quite a bit new Swedish and feel way more comfortable with the language. But it was nice to have my beautiful translator by my side when I ran into the rare person who couldn’t speak my tongue. Off to Copenhagen for the day, then down to Amsterdam to meet up with our Dutch Wheaton friend. Hey då, Sverige!