IKEA and Moving within Sweden

Now that I am in Sweden for 2 weeks I get to experience what it is to move within Sweden. With my wife and her kids we move from her current appartment to a new appartment, something I would call a townhouse. And what struck me was the same weirdness that I remembered from when I was living in the Netherlands and that is the stripping of all items in an appartment. All light fixtures are gone all blinds are gone including the curtain rails etc. when you get the keys of your appartment. So the first thing you have to do is restore what the previous owners took with them. And that is when I figured out that it must be IKEA's idea to have it that way. Because on Saturday we went to IKEA (what other store is there?), and there I experienced something I only know from TV in countries like Russia: in the middle of the day we had to stand in line to enter the IKEA store. It was like getting into an amusement park. They had a big gate rolled down halfway.. first I thought there had been an accident or a fire.. but no, it was as it was explained on a sign (which indicates this happens on a regular basis) that for the "safety" of the customers they don't let in more than a certain number of people in the store. So when the number had gone down they opened up the gate and let in this huge line of people at the same time. (I guess that was a safe thing to do???). Anyway we did our shopping, got some of our curtains and things we needed but with these crowds of course a number of things were sold out and now we have to wait for it to arrive in the store again. Looks like IKEA will be ruling our lives now.

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Where are the updates?

Yeah, it's been a while since there was a single update on this blog, in fact there hasn't been one since I left California. Well, those reading my Front Doors blog, must have noticed that I still am blogging, there has just been too much around me that has slowed down the posting. But I still take photo's ;)
The first Swedish photo I show here will actually be a photo I took only 2 months ago near Indal. The reason I post that one is to show the last sliver of summer, because as of today the temperatures have reached below freezing during daytime already.. Looks like it's going to be a long winter so there will be plenty of opportunities to show you the snow and ice and the incredibly beautiful colored skies that often come with the season too. So more to come later!

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Moon over California

This is the moon the way it looked on my last evening in California before my move. I took this photo last night when I took my rental car to see the area by night. Next time I see the moon, I'll be on another continent.

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My move - the packing and picking up.

With this little truck and only 2 people the moving company showed up at my door at 9:00 in the morning. I thought this is never enough for all the stuff. Not enough people and certainly not a big enough truck.But after just a mere three hours this is what my home looked like on the inside.the kitchen areamy livingroomand my bedroom. And in this bedroom I was sitting on the floor with my laptop connected to the cable modem. Yeah they left me a little corner next to my suitcases for me to hang out.
Then the young guy who was definitely in charge started labeling the boxes and writing the inventory list while the other guy was carrying everything down the stairs. And the loading of the truck began. More packing was done in the garage area and slowly the truck started to fill up.And to my surprise it all got done in 6 hours total. They filled up the truck it all fitted in there and left me with an empty house.What I think is strange, but they apparently think is efficient is that they will unload the truck and pack everything in a container. I wonder why they dont pack the container at my door. When I moved from the Netherlands to California, they loaded the container and sealed it in front of my door and when it arrived in California it arrived in that same container at my door. Would have liked it if it was like that again.

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No sleep till... Sweden

With my bed taken apart (see photo) and my mattresses brought to the dump for which I had to pay $14.00 per mattress, is there not that much sleep for me until I will arrive in Sweden on Friday.I have already slept in my home on my camping mattress, that served me well during several camping trips in the past. But it was not a great success to sleep in your home on a thin little camping mattress without the fresh air of the outdoor living. Yes, it is quite a different experience. If I didn't have my tent moved, I might even consider going to a campsite and sleep there. But tomorrow the movers will pack everything and load it into a sea container. All that will be left for the last few days here are my suitcases. And... my laptop to keep you updated on my move. I'm tired already. But then again, I did organize everything for the movers to take out what should be moved. To be continued...

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Coming weekend

These photos I took a little while back, but it will give you an idea of what I will be doing this weekend. And with my move coming up it will be a long time before I can go there -as in Happy Hollow- again.

And the reason I'll be going there is because Sydney loves animals. She just can't get enough of every animal that exists and the fact that she can pet all the goats is the best that she can think of. And then there are some merry-go-rounds that she enjoys too. Maybe she can get to ride the little train again. By the way the cute little boy is Aiden, the son of a friend of mine.

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