Mike and Katarina's Wedding...Today the wedding is officially over. We had the sunny, Sunday brunch at Karin and Ulrik's summer cottage, said goodbye to almost everyone and are now taking it easy. The last few days have just flashed by. Friday, we had the BBQ to attend, meeting everyone coming to the wedding the next day. Max, Katarina's uncle and professional clown took charge of the grill and grilled up some 30 hamburgers American style. Many people took advantage of the cold ocean and warm sauna to freshen up. After hitting "Harry's Bar", everyone finally got to bed around 2 am.

The wedding was incredible: sunny day, calm ocean backdrop, and a rocky seaside. We walked through a forest to get there. Todd and Miroslav helped me over the big rocks and up to the wedding site, carrying me part of the way and pushing the other part.

Reception was really cool, traditional Swedish style w/ lots of singing, speeches, games, and dancing. Anna, the toastmaster, was awesome and kept things moving along. Roger, Mike's brother and best man/toastmaster gave an excellent speech practiced a few days earlier at the cottage. We ended up dancing and drinking until about 4 am at the recption hall by the seaside. A few hours later the morning arrived very quickly.

Toastmaster

Karlshamn...Yesterday was a very long day. I traveled by train or trains (4) the whole day, from 10:30 to 5:30. The train personnel were very helpful, getting me from one train to the other and up their accessible lifts. The most difficult part of the day was getting across the 7 pairs of railroad tracks with two bags on my lap after arriving to Karlshamn. My little front wheels immediately dug into the gaps beside the tracks. The bags went crashing onto the tracks. "Oh, Shit," I thought as I looked both ways down the track, "This is the scene in the movie where the train comes rumbling down the tracks and hits the stalled car or runs over the fair maiden who hasn't been saved by the hero." No one else was around to ask for help. I scrambled as quickly as a quadraplegic can scramble to drag the bags between the sets of tracks. Then I took each bag meticulously to the other side of all the wheel-eating tracks.

After getting the bags loaded up again, I started pushing to the center of town where the hotel was. About a mile later, I figured I better ask someone if I was going the right direction. The first person I asked was from out of town and had no idea where the First Hotel was. The second lady, pushing a walker, didn't speak much Swedish, no English, but lots of the Bosnian language.

An emergency room doctor who was biking around named Raffid helped me out. I was going the right direction. He pushed me up the incredibly steep hills and over to the hotel. Now I could relax!

Karlstad...This is the last day here, then it's off to Karlshamn for the wedding. Last night we went for sushi, picked up a bucket of ice cream, and headed home to chill out. I spent yesterday and today at Wayne's Coffee writing my book. Great to have some free time to just write. Malika and Sofia, the baristas were very helpful and friendly the 3 days I sat devotedly at Wayne's tables.The Baristas Sofia and Malika

Wayne's Coffee

Frihetssgudinnan and KarlstadsDomkyrkan

Torsby...Sunday we drove to Torsby, checked out an exhibit of Erling Ärlingsson (a very good swedish painter), ate pizza in the center of town, and watched raggares drive by (Rockabilly swedes that drive American muscle cars displaying fuzzy dice). Afterwards we visited Linda's grandma in the hospital and chatted with her for awhile. Then it was back home to Karlstad.

Linda, her Grandma Elfride, and Martin









Monday the weather was beautiful again. I cruised down to the center of town and purchased a photo card downloader and a telephone. The rest of the day I spent hanging out by a coffee shop, writing and watching people walk by. As unexciting as this may sound, it's one of the things I really wanted to do on the trip. I'll probably do this again today :) At night we drove to a hospital where Linda used to work and snuck me in so I could take a shower. Man, did that feel good!

Me (Topher) and Martin at Sahlströmsgården checking out the art exhibit

Karlstad...Yesterday was nice and relaxing. Martin and I walked into town, checked out the walking street, an outdoor shop (gear is about twice as expensive here, even on sale!), and purchased beers at the govt liquor store. We took it easy at the apartment, then headed out to the center around 10 to check out the nightlife. Good fun. I've been speaking tons of Swedish with some English thrown in for good measure, but my head is spinning with all the mixed information. I don't actually know vilket språk I am speaking anymore.

Today I woke up in Karlstad Sweden at Martin and Linda's house. Yesterday was the last day in Norway. Then it was off to Sweden on a train. It was an incredibly fast week staying with Jens, Paula, Sofia, and Matilda. I had the chance to visit other friends and relatives, drink a few beers, and quickly visit many of the beautiful and historic sites of Norge. Some of the highlights were the Langseth Farm, Drammen, Vigelands Park, Henning's mama Gerd's lake cabin, catching up with old friends, and meeting distant relatives. I forgot my cord for downloading pics from my camera so, sorry, no images to go with this text. Hopefully next time.

Drammen

Langseth Relatives

Eric, Erik, Jens, and Morten

Gerd and her lakeside hytte