AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

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Henrik
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AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

Post by Henrik »

Last weekend Jirin came to Stockholm! :D

We had a walkabout in the city. It started nice in Gamla stan (old town), but then began to rain when we were moving towards the viewpoint from Monteliusvägen (which is becoming a tradition, both Honorio and Dan have been there). The rain got heavier on the way back to a restaurant in Gamla stan. When we finally got there we were soaking wet, only to find out that I had booked the table an hour earlier... Things improved quickly though. We got a table almost right away and ate some traditional Swedish food. Jirin had meatballs of course but also tried herring and quite enjoyed it I think. :)

We had lots of good discussions about music, the website, Stockholm, Boston, etc... All in all, a very enjoyable evening. In the end we agreed that the rain just made our meeting even more memorable.

Here we are at the viewpoint.
Image
I'm left and Jirin is right (on the photo...)

What a year this has been for me, meeting Rob and Jirin here in Stockholm, as well as Petri and Moonbeam in Helsinki! :happy-partydance:

PS. Jirin, you have to tell me about your car trip around the south of Sweden this week. Not too rainy I hope. :whistle: Did you find the places of your distant relatives?
Everyone you meet fights a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
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Honorio
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Re: AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

Post by Honorio »

Wow, that's fantastic! Henrik, at this point you have met A LOT of participants on the Forum. Jirin, I'm sure you enjoyed your stay in Stockholm (beautiful city!) and of course meeting Henrik. Glad to see that going to Monteliusvägen is becoming an AM tradition!
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Re: AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

Post by Jirin »

Let me give some background, my great grandmother and great grandfather emigrated from Sweden around the turn of the 20th century. My mother and I came to Sweden to vacation and try to find places they used to live.

We had a great time exploring Sweden but both agreed the amount of driving the trip entailed added a lot of stress.

Saw a lot of old castles. Stopped in Karlstad and Trollhattan. After Trollhättan hotel didn’t have parking or elevator we got rid of our stop in Växjö and spent two nights in Kalmar instead. The stop for my great grandmother was on that drive. We found a church in Brevik we think may be one she went to. We didn’t find Lostva, where she actually lived but drove a dirt road between two farms close by on the map and think we may have gone through it and it wasn’t well marked.

Great grandfather’s stop was between Kalmar and Stockholm today. We stopped in Vimberly which is the general region and looked around the city, found the modern day name of one of the houses he lived on, again a farm at the end of dirt road off the highway.

On the way back stopped in Suderkopping for famous ice cream place as they happened to be having medieval festival there, which was cool.

Sweden is fun but looking forward to speaking everyone’s primary language again. :)

I’ve never been referred as right wing before. Guess far left of America is still right wing in Sweden. ;)
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StevieFan13
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Re: AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

Post by StevieFan13 »

Hopefully studying in London next year, so if I get a chance to visit Sweden, who knows?
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)
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Re: AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

Post by Jirin »

One more small anecdote about my Sweden experience.

I travel from Boston, arrive in Sweden, and a block away from the hotel there is a bar called O’Leary’s, which has Boston sports memorabilia all over the walls.

I had to go there once just for the irony and the “Dinner for four at Americatown” jokes. So I went there in Kalmar and found it’s actually the place all the British Swedes hang out, and struck up nice conversation with a few people.
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Dan
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Re: AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

Post by Dan »

How nice. Sounds like a pleasant meet-up between the two of you.

I think the Nordic countries have a unique feel to them, and I'm glad to hear you experienced some of that in Sweden, Jirin. Your investigation into your family history must have heightened your experience of it all. I hope you ended up establishing a memorable connection with the American Swede in you.
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Henrik
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Re: AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

Post by Henrik »

StevieFan13 wrote:Hopefully studying in London next year, so if I get a chance to visit Sweden, who knows?
You surely are welcome! Also I haven’t been to London/UK since I lived there in 2005. Perhaps it’s time again?
Everyone you meet fights a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always.
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StevieFan13
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Re: AM real life August meeting: Jirin & Henrik

Post by StevieFan13 »

Henrik wrote:
StevieFan13 wrote:Hopefully studying in London next year, so if I get a chance to visit Sweden, who knows?
You surely are welcome! Also I haven’t been to London/UK since I lived there in 2005. Perhaps it’s time again?
Never a bad time to visit London, I say.
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand - Sir Duke (1976)
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