Yeah, yeah..that's an Ikea in the background. But we didn't go there. We stopped at a roadside cafe, more like a truck stop which has a Burger King next to it. But we went inside the gas station store instead and had hotdogs! Talk about fast food...
So after our quick lunch, we continued on to Öland. We crossed the Öland Bridge which George told me is the second longest bridge in Sweden at 6600 yards long. From to the town of Kalmar, we crossed the bridge and entered the town of Borgholm. The road to Öland is dotted with windmills, which is kinda like the symbol of the Island. There are about 400 of them and are now protected ancient monuments. Some have been refurbished/renovated and are actually used as homes -- as long as you don't change anything on the outside. You can also find the ruins of the old summer castle of the royal family.
The Borgholm castle is now being rebuilt and being used as setting for music festivals. We did a little sightseeing, walked at the Nature Reserve park and listened to an afternoon concert. The weather was really cooperating. Almost reminds me of being in Coronado in San Diego.
Anyways, we finally arrived at Ingrid's place. Ingrid is cousin to Matt and George. Her mother was their father's sister. (I hope I got that right.) I met Ingrid last year at the family reunion with her daughter Monika. It was a wonderful visit with lots of family gossip. Yep...unfortunately, they were all spilled in Swedish so I didn't get to understand all the juicy details. Only those that Matt translated, which by all accounts is probably not reliable.
Ingrid is a retired nurse and 81 years old. And get this...she does not take any pills or any sort of medication! She never had a driver's license so she walked around town all the time. She is such a spritely 81 year old, it is amazing. We all went to dinner that night at this quaint hotel just across the street.
The dinner started with a typical smorgasbord and then a hot meal. The smorgasbord was more than plenty! It had herring, salad and a variety of meats like reindeer, moose and who knows what else. Of course Matt took a picture of me devouring swedish food that could feed the whole swedish army but I am not posting it. Instead, you can enjoy the delicious hot meal of Veal with Cabernet sauce which I had after stuffing myself with shrimp and herring! OMG! Is that a belly bulge??? Please tell me it is not! I tried to weigh myself at Solvig's house but she has one of those HAPPY SCALES in her bathroom. The kind that never changes measurement. It was stuck at a weight even I find unbelievable.
Breakfast at Cousin Ingrid's
Hmm.... I love those herring and the beet salad, KÖTTBULLAR, cheese and the bread! 
Our last stop after our visit is the light house called Långe Jan located at the southern most part of Öland. It is the tallest in Sweden (42m/140ft), built in 1785. Nearby are a bird-watching station and an ornithological museum which we of course visited. Heck! Who knew there could be so many different birdhouses for different birds?!! The most interesting thing in the bird exhibit is the cuckoo bird. Did you know that the mama cuckoo doesn't hatch her own eggs? She finds a nest, removes the other eggs that were they and lays her own. Then she lets the surrogate mama bird take care of her baby! And the cuckoo bird, when hatched and growing, removes the other egss that where not hatched. Geez....
We made it back at the Wigen mansion early evening. It was a long day but we had a great time. We had one day left before we depart for Copenhagen and then fly out to San Francisco via Munich on May 15. We spent the next 48 hours relaxing at the house. Solvig did some catch-up work on her computer while Matt checked his emails. The wifi at the house finally worked after a little tweaking so everybody's happy. I installed Skype on both of their computers and George bought a webcam to test it.
Matt and I took another short walk around the estate after his nap. We took more pictures of the cherry and apple blossom, talked to the cows and enjoyed the fantastic weather. The next day, we had chanterelle omelet for breakfast and smoked cod. How can you beat that?! Then we went to town to have Thai lunch. George and Solvig love Thai food (who doesn't?). We tried a new restaurant this time called Ban Thai. curry never tasted sooooo good!
Hey, look at this bike!! What's funny? And here is the fur factory that Oscar Wigen (Matt and George's uncle) built.
Matt's favorite breakfast: Chanterelle mushroom omelet and Smoked Cod. Yummy!
That afternoon, Solvig drove us to the train station at Nassjo. George stayed at home to nurse a back ache.
We had lamb meatballs for dinner at the train. Our flight the next day leaves at 10:00 am so we stayed at the Hilton Airport hotel. Great idea! We just walked from the train station at the airport in Copenhagen and took the lift to the hotel on the 3rd floor.
It was such a wonderful vacation! We couldn't believe how lucky we were with the weather. And as always, George and Solvig were the perfect hosts.
Thank you, Goran and Solvig!
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