A Swedish Shindig

Sunset over Norway from the window of my plane to Oslo

Roland: my good friend Stephan who I know since kindergarten days turned 50 recently, and as he lives in Sweden in the middle of the woods he invited something like 50 of his best friends to join him for a long weekend with nature, food, beer, music and a lot of fresh air! Unfortunately Sonja did not get any vacation, so I had to do the trip all by myself...

So after a journey from Strasbourg via Amsterdam Stephan picked my up from Oslo airport at 11pm on Wednesday nigh at broad daylight! We had another 2.5 hours to drive back to his house in Sweden, but it never got fully dark during the journey. Amazing! We arrived at 1:30 AM, and I fell to sleep as soon as I went horizontal.

The next day I had the opportunity to have a look around (it has been two years since I had been here the last time). Stephan is extremely handy, and where a few years ago there used to be an old hut without electricity or running water there now is a palace with heated floors, satellite TV and Internet, a couple of guest houses and a hot tub built from an old milk tank and heated to 40C/105F by log-fire.

One of the guest houses (I stayed in this one)

Backstage view on the pool with its heating system

Of course there is also a boat: right before we launched it

This one will not be launched in the foreseeable future

A view from the hill

At some point during the day my other friends arrived from Cologne area (also by plane, and Stephan had to do another tour to Oslo for picking them up). Right away we hiked to the nearest lake where two of the boys turned into men and jumped into the ice-cold water.

On our way back we lost our trail, but managed to get to the house using our superb pathfinder skills and my iPhone's GPS software. Just in time for the start of the party!

Serious men in suits...

Stephan had arranged a live band for the evening. Although the band consisted only of two guitar players plus some MIDI equipment the guys did a fantastic set playing lots and lots of 70s, 80s and 90s rock and pop music with their own twist. The lead guitarist managed to sound better than Knopfler and Gilmour when he played Dire Straits and Pink Floyd! 

Rocking all over the World!

Some food matching the occasion

The weekend was a full success, and all of us were having a blast! We only lacked one thing, and that was sleep. Sunday afternoon Stephan made one more trip to the airport, this time for dropping us off. Which in my case led right to my next adventure, but this is a story for another day!

2012 - The Final Year (Part 8 of the 'Magers in Canada' Miniseries)

This will be the final installation of the 'Magers in Canada' Miniseries.

After having run into unspecific health issues Sonja had decided to change her diet, and went (mostly) vegan. We also concluded that with all this beautiful scenery at our doorsteps taking up hiking and kayaking was in order. 2012 certainly became the most outdoor active year in our Canadian records. 

In spring we visited our families in Germany again, and of course we also paid our dear friends in California another visit, and how could we not, as their weather turned out to be splendid and mild, contrary to the chilly dampness of the we(s)t coast. 

Burg, Germany

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

Also, as one of the perks of working in a New Zealand company Sonja got sent off to Kiwiland again, where new (moto-blogger) friends were made, and more of the beauty of this country was discovered. 

Kiwi Scenery

Auckland, New Zealand

Street Tripling on Coromandel Island (Photo: Geoff James)

After many miles on his Vespa Roland was ready to take the next step and procured himself a maxi scooter. There were two-wheeled road-trips around the Lillooet Loop, along the Sunshine Coast, and down to Washington and Oregon to meet our moto-blogger friends at the IMBC2012. 

Later the year we had another stopover in Europe with Norway, Sweden and Germany on our list. While Norway was a rather spontaneous decision, our business in Sweden was of more 'serious' matter, as a good friends of Roland's got married. Norway had impressed us, and reminded us dearly of the landscape of Newfoundland, while Sweden seemed to be more like Ontario. Contrary to our previous years in Canada we seemed to become quite the world travelers in 2012.  

Somewhere in Norway

Norway Fjord

Norway Scenery

Sweden

A bit unexpected (for Sonja), homesickness had kicked in for Roland after so many fantastic years in our dreamland. So, on the verge of the new year, the decision to return to Germany had been firm, and we prepared for the move, sold Paolo (Sonja's Vespa) and Whitey (Roland's Maxi Scoot), and got rid of furniture and other items we didn't want to (or couldn't - such as electrical stuff) take with.

View on Downtown Vancouver

Howe Sound

A last ride to Buntzen Lake

Sunset at Burrard Inlet, a five minute walk from home

At Duffey Lake

We said our goodbyes to our friends and the country we had called home for eight years, packed up our belongings, sold some of the vehicles (the red Vespa and the Sportster stayed with us), put the condo up for sale… the rest is history. Will we ever come back? Or settle down somewhere else? In Europe? In Canada? We don't know yet. But we are sure about this:

Found in a bookstore in North Vancouver

A Mini-Trip to Sweden

Roland: My first international business trip had originally been scheduled to be held a few weeks ago, but due to the host having fallen sick the meeting in Sweden had to be postponed. This week a few colleagues and myself met at Frankfurt International Airport for a two hours flight to Stockholm, and another 80 minutes limo(!) drive to our destination in the Gävleborg area close to the Baltic Sea. The car turned out to be a two years old Audi A4 with 304,000 km down! According to the driver who drives an estimated daily distance of 700 to 1,000 km the car still feels like new, and it definitely looked new!

The scenery was typically Swedish, and the city looked like a typical Swedish town. After eight years in North America, where somehow one city looks like the other, it is still surprising how different landscapes and cities look in Europe within a flying distance of one or two hours...

The hotel (see above) was just fantastic, without a doubt the best I ever had in Scandinavia! Great rooms (albeit small), fantastic bathrooms, great dinner buffet and even better breakfast buffet. They even put my name at the door of my hotel room! Obviously the quality of the hotel is linked to the fact that the whole city has evolved within the last century around the plant that has been founded here some hundred odd years ago. There is more or less only one employer here, so you better make sure that you provide a great service!

The meeting was held in one of the classic Swedish buildings, and lunch was served in another one. We almost felt like in an Astrid Lindgren novel! The highlight was the tea room we visited after lunch: It catapulted us straight back into a time where the company's founders would settle with a cognac and a cigar to discuss business.

Unfortunately there was no opportunity to further explore the area, but next time I will make sure to get a closer look at the surrounding lakes and, of course, the ocean.

Long Weekend with Old Friends

Roland: One of my friends lives in Sweden, far away from civilization in the woods. For years our group of school friends wanted to visit him there, but somehow it never worked out. Now one of us fixed a date for a trip, and miraculously almost all of us managed to join. So last Saturday morning seven of us to met VERY early in the morning, squeezed into one car, took a plane from Dusseldorf Airport to Oslo and drove another three hours to Central Sweden.

We did not have to organize anything for the entire weekend. When we arrived lunch was already being served in the old barn.

After lunch we explored the area. The next neighbour is seven kilometers away, and in between there is nothing but trees, lakes and very bad roads. Therefore chances are that you will not meet another soul for a whole long weekend.

In preparation for our visit our host had recycled an old oil tank into a wood-heated five person whirlpool, so obviously we had quite some fun trying that out!

The next day we had a chance checking out his two Quads. As this is an entirely different way of movement than a scooter I had some significant problems with it (it always takes me quite a while to get accustomed to new ways of transportation), but being the pillion rider was just as much fun!

After some canoeing and kayaking (sorry, no photos) the day was concluded with another fantastic meal out in nature. The next day we had to return to Germany already... The long weekend felt very short, but it was fantastic!

In the Swedish Outback

The last ferry South of Oslo brings us close to Sweden, and soon we reach the border.

Border crossing in Europe is simple and doesn't require showing a passport or even stopping. If there's nothing to declare one just drives through.

Our friend lives is in the middle of nowhere. The last time we visited him about ten odd years ago the roads were worse than today, and he didn't even have electricity or hot water.

We drive 26 km into the forest. The road is a mix of gravel and mud. Now we know why we rented a 4WD vehicle.

Then we reach the house in the woods.

 Here's how it looked back in 2003, quite the change I would say.

 And that lil' hut would be our home for the next three days.

Unfortunately the weather is changing the next day. The rainy season begins.

The fall colours which will soon be gone, and everything will fade to white.

Our friend's wedding was sweet, the after-party grand and we had a wonderful time. Now it is time to return to Oslo to catch the plane to Amsterdam, and fly back to Vancouver.

Thanks for following me on this wonderful road-trip.