Saturday, June 11, 2011

Day 5 - Stockaryd

Hey hey! Swedes in smaller towns say this greeting really quickly.  In the big cities, it's just "hey."  It's not spelled "hey" it's spelled "hej."  When you say it back to them, they think you know Swedish which in my case always ends badly once they reply with some comment about the weather or some such thing.  Trying to fit in is not always a good thing.  I think I'll revert to "hello." 

We left Vaxjo this morning.  Drove over to the "Crystal Country" where they make nice things by Kosta, Orrefors, Boda, etc., etc.  We bought some things that we will have to be careful about packing and some fun things that we won't have to worry about at all.  So far our meager purchases have been self-serving.  (Don't want you to get any hopes up.) They did have a glass skull. I thought of you, Tom, as we have something like it in the liquor cabinet, but really, it's not worth the haul...and it's creepy. 

The road from Kosta up to Stockaryd (pronounced Stocka rude) looked a lot like Ely, Minnesota: tons of logging, no cars, and huge rocks.  And guess what the big industry in Stockaryd is?  Logging!  It's like we're in Hayward or someplace. 
Mom reading the note left for us at
Old Hjelmssryd Vicarage

We are staying in the Old Hjelmssryd church vicarage.  It's old and nice and cheap.  We had a dinner of bulghar salad and bread with caviar paste.  It's right next to the the old Hjelmssryd church which was built in the 1200s and was usurped in 1800s by the new Hjelmssryd church which is just down the road about 5 km. There are 3 villages with the name of Hjelmssryd within 25 km.  And here I thought Barron and Barronett was bad.  Har har!


House in Kalberga
 
House in Kalberga
So we got here early and were able to drive around both before and after dinner.  Mom brought photos from home of some of the farms/homes that our relatives lived in.  The photos are from a village called Kalberga and were taken around 1900.  We found Kalberga.  It's about 8 homes on a dirt road leading off another small asphalt road.  In the photo mom has, the house door is very distinctive, so as we were driving we focused on finding a door that was exactly like it.  We also focused on finding a 1.5 story house with little half windows on the second floor under the eaves.  Here's what we found:
1. ) The distinctive door is on 5 houses...still...100 years after the photo was taken.  It's like they all shopped at Sears.  I'm betting the handle and hinge would be the same too. 
2. ) There are 2 main house designs.  1.5 story houses with a center gable dormer and 1.5 story houses without a dormer.  (check out photos from these 3 houses, to see what I mean)


Bottom line, we didn't find the exact house, but we know we are in the local area which is in itself a pretty neat thing.  The name of the house in Kalberga is Torpet Nybygget.  It means "newly built cottage" and sadly has nothing to do with "Nyberg"  though the Nyberg family is the one who lived there.

Kalberga's one road
We went to the Hjemssryd cemetaries today and found some Nybergs who we are not directly related to, no Rydbergs, and 2 Rylanders (thinking of Billie Rylander from up at the farm). 

Since we did a lot already today and got here earlier than expected, we're only going to stay here one night.  We're not sure where we'll be tomorrow night, but it will be between here and Fjallbacka.  Maybe we'll get to the west coast tomorrow. 

Few more things: 
-we spent 500 Skr on 3/4 a tank of gas
-photos aren't uploading well so we'll post them tomorrow
-we saw an animal that looks like a musk ox
-we saw a store called "Em"

'til tomorrow!
Deb and Marlys