We stayed at the marina in Oslo for three days, but we only visited the city once. We had nearly reached the end of our capacity for touristing and we began searching for a place to settle in for a few weeks of rest. We finally found an Airbnb farmhouse in Tuscany just north of Florence and booked it for the month of October. Knowing that a rest period was coming soon, we eked out a bit more energy to stop by a couple more places, and more importantly, visit some people we were looking forward to seeing.
On September 8th, after seven weeks in Norway, we crossed the border back into Sweden. We were heading to Älmhult, home of IKEA and the IKEA Museum. After an overnight at a nondescript parking spot somewhere along the highway, we arrived to an empty IKEA parking lot and made our way inside to eat an early dinner.
Despite the fact that Steven had a five-year contract with IKEA to sell one of his photos which was featured in stores worldwide, I can count on one hand how many times I have actually visited an IKEA store in the U.S. We never managed to see Steven’s photo in any store, although we saw a bunch of photos that friends took when they came across it. But when we moved to Europe, IKEA became our go-to not only for household goods, but also for eating out and entertainment. It doesn’t take much to make us happy. 🙂
The museum was very enjoyable, showcasing the history of not only the store and its founder, but also the political environment of the times that had a lot to do with the products created at any given time. The evolution of the kitchen was interesting, as were the stories of how children and family played into the IKEA way of life.
One of the fun things at the museum was the ability to insert ourselves onto the cover of IKEA’s iconic catalogue, in our case, the bedroom scene. We had read that there is typically a line for this feature, but since we had the place to ourselves, we got to take our photo over and over, trying different poses until we got one we were happy with. There wasn’t even an employee around, we did the whole thing by ourselves. It was especially fun knowing that 2021 is the last year that IKEA will print their catalogue. Who knows how much longer that photo feature will be available at the museum, but we had a blast seeing ourselves on the cover!
With permission we spent the night in the museum parking lot, then went back into the museum store for breakfast and also to purchase a “Fika” tray and a couple of other little doodads. After that, we hit the road with our sights on Malmö. We rode our bikes into town from the marina where we were staying and realized the path led us right through the nude beach section. We don’t care one way or the other what folks wear, or don’t wear, at the beach, but it is always a bit of a shock to just happen upon it. The same thing happened in Tallinn and it just takes a minute for it to click what’s going on.
After a couple of days in Malmö we took the Øresund bridge to Copenhagen, Denmark. The Øresund bridge is kind of like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, only not as long and not as spectacular. That’s just my opinion. Where the Øresund Bridge puts the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to shame is in the price it cost to cross. The former cost us €100, whereas the latter cost around $33. Yep, expensive, but it is the quickest way to get to Denmark from Sweden.
We landed at another marina in Copenhagen and spent the next couple of days riding our bikes around town. We ended up at Reffen, which is really just an industrial area along the canal that has been revitalized into a hot spot for food and drink. Reffen features a couple of dozen offshoots of popular restaurants featuring all types of food. In the summer it can be packed with folks just hanging out in beach chairs and enjoying the offerings.
We loved it there and went in with a plan. We would first suss out what was on offer, then decide what we wanted to eat. Rather than each get something at the same place, we decided to share whatever dish we wanted. That way we could sample more. It was a good plan in theory, but we still ended up eating way more than we should have. It was the banana cream pie that did us in.
Our next stop after Copenhagen was Jyllinge, where we parked up at the marina and planned to visit our friends Annette and her daughter Mille. We met these wonderful people on the first day of our Camino journey in 2019. It was so good to see them again!
The following morning we caught a ferry to Germany and made our way back to Reinfeld. This is the little town we stayed in last May as we waited to see if our Iceland trip was going to happen, or if we would travel through Poland and the Baltics. As you know, it was the latter, and coming back to Reinfeld brought us full circle. Our five months of travel to and through Scandinavia was over and what a wonderful journey it had been.
We had one more place to stop to visit our dear friend Barbara. Our chance meeting with her in Warsaw has been a highlight of our travels in Europe, she is such a special person who we enjoy being with. Being an RVer herself, she was able to find us a place to park right at her apartment complex. We spent a wonderful couple of days with her and she took us to some really lovely places that are special to her. I will say that she scares the hell out of me with her driving, I mean, she’s a great driver, but she goes so fast I had to hang on to every handle I could find. Of course, as you all know, I am a terrible passenger! 🙂
After visiting a local farmer’s market where we scored a couple of beautiful racks of lamb, we said our goodbyes and headed south. From this point on we were on a mission to reach our little farmhouse in Tuscany where we could finally stop traveling and rest. We literally flew through the south of Germany, staying only two nights, then drove through Switzerland and into Italy in one day. We settled into a resort on the north end of Lake Lugano in Porlezza.
It was a lovely few days there, but somehow I had it in my mind that if we were driving through Parma and Bologna, then of course we would have to stop and see stuff. We tried, we really did, but we were absolutely done. No more touristing for us. Our campsite in Parma was next to a Lidl grocery store and after one day in town, we said no more. I shopped and cooked, which to me can be relaxing, and that is the last touristing we did. In fact, we blew right through Bologna and drove straight to our Airbnb.
Our Airbnb in Agliana is just half an hour by train to Florence, and Lucca, and a couple of hours to Siena. So while we knew there would be plenty for us to do, we settled in and took a few days to do absolutely nothing. Nothing at all.
I mentioned Steven’s photo in IKEA earlier. He decided it would be fun to make a drawing of the photo which depicts Superstition Mountain in Arizona (see below). If you would like to keep up with his art, you can follow him on his Visual Art Facebook Page here.
UP NEXT: Tuscany
So great! Particularly love the photo of you both in the Ikea bed. Hilarious.
Loved seeing you both in Siena and look forward to another visit in the spring.
Stay well. Love, Maggie
We are keeping our fingers crossed for a spring meetup! We had such a wonderful time with you both in Siena and what a gorgeous day we had in such a lovely city. We look forward to seeing you again!
Ooo, Thermomix!! I considered that for a tiny kitchen (galley). What a great post!! Enjoy Italy ❤️
I was intrigued by the Thermomix, but overall I feel like it is too similar to the Instant Pot to deserve counter space. And besides, even though I can cook a bunch of stuff in the IP, after a while it all tastes about the same. 🙂 Except for that cheesecake, now that was rockin’! 🙂
What a wonderful, chock FULL post!!! As I was reading tried to find the IKEA picture! Surely u would take a pic of the pic!!! In place… Oh well, the drawing was great tho!
I am trying hard to make my posts less chocked full, but I am so behind at this point! Somewhere there is a pic of the pic, but Steven wanted to include the drawing. Glad you enjoyed the post, thanks for taking time to comment, it’s always good to hear from you!
You visit the best places! Would love to see the IKEA museum. We have had an IKEA (finally) in MN for about 15 years and it is such a great place to browse. I always find something to bring home. I was going to ask which photo was Steven’s, but now I know and I recognize it as one of my favorites. Hope he has another chosen as his are so lovely and well composed. If you ever get to Copenhagen again, I hope you can spend more time there. It is so walkable and full of bikes, with lots to see.
Looking forward to reading about your time in Tuscany. Rest up!
The IKEA Museum is worth a trip, and it is not too far south from Stockholm, so totally doable. Is is ironic that before we hardly went to IKEA but now that we are in a tin can, we go all the time. And like you, we can almost always find something we can’t live without! 🙂
Thank you for the very interesting post. That banana pudding done you in was funny but true. We are in Mesa AZ and see the Superstition mountains all the time, but Steven’s drawing is very good. Happy travels.
Listen, that banana pud was out of this world! Steven said he’s only had one other that was better, and that was at Cozymel’s Mexican restaurant in Plano, TX which has long been out of business. I would kill for their recipe!
Another terrific rendition- you know you really could put these “stories “ all together in a fabulous coffee table type book with Steven’s illustrations .The various countries,peoples,cultures & historic buildings—sign me up! Really enjoy your blog & can’t wait for the next.Cheers.
The thought of a book is in the back of our minds, but so far back it is lost. 🙂 But seriously, thank you for your kind words. We will try not to take so long to get the next one up!
The Swedes sure like using their initials to name things…which works! That’s awesome about the Allen key, as I had an auto shop teacher in high school named Mr Allen who teased that he invented it. We had another auto shop teacher (it was Detroit…we had three) named Mr Zittleman who came up with a nifty little die cutter that fit on a ratchet wrench that he named the Zittleman wrench. I can still picture it. He did not want to be upstaged by the much younger Allen. 🙂
What a great story, Jim! Three auto shop classes? I don’t recall ever attending school with even one! 🙂 And speaking of initials, ABBA has a new album out today! Guess who is a happy camper?!
Awesome pics and storyline. Always enjoy your adventures 😎🍷😃
Thank you, Dave. You’ve had quite the adventure yourself! So happy for you and thrilled to be able to follow along on your Camino journey! Well done!
Awesome to follow all your adventures in Scandinavia. The pic of parsley sauce sent all kinds of warm fuzzies into my belly :))
Nina
That parsley sauce was killer! Annette didn’t want me to see how much heavy cream was in it, lol, she thought I wouldn’t try it. All of the food was so good!
Loved this post. So fun and informative.
All the food looked delicious.
Thanks, Kelly! I didn’t realize how much food was in this post until Steven said that it looks like all we do is eat. LOL, I guess he’s right!
So much wonderful food and friends.
Good to hear from you, Deb! I’ve gotten behind on my blog reading over the summer but will catch up soon to find out where you are now! 🙂
Thanks for another chock-full post. The photos are so spectacular, and all the food looks Tuscany. (I just went to Philadelphia (3 hour drive) to visit a very dear friend, and I’m exhausted.
I think we all long for trips like yours, and you make the Scandinavian countries shine so brightly!!