La bella Italia & herrgårdsvistelse

Today I was treated to what I consider a typical Swedish experience.

When Fredrik got home from school today, he told me 'pack your bathing suit and come down to the car.' We drove for about 40 minutes of myserious driving, and finally arrived at: Gimo Herrgård

http://www.gimoherrgard.se/

stolen from google. or from Tanja whoever that is.

For the last two weeks it has been basically spring in Uppsala, temperature around 8-12 C... but suddenly Sunday it started to snow, and it didn't really stop until today. Last night it snowed about 8cm in three hours. By tomorrow it will be all gone... anyway point of that was there's quite a bit of snow but the roads are plowed.

SO, we arrived at this gorgeous 18th century mansion. Unfortunately it wasn't an expensive hotel stay (poor me!! not.), but a *free* spa day. Apparently this place's Sjöstugan (lake-cabin containing the spa) is free on Thursdays after 3pm, so long as it hasn't been booked by a group. Apparently a friend of a friend from the city nearby (Östhammar) told Fredrik about it at our St. Paddy's party, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We arrived to this gorgeous classic red and white snow-covered cabin, and were greeted by suit-clad staff chatting about the weather (as Swedes always are). We were the first ones there, so we had the place to ourselves. The main room looks brand new, in contrast to the outside, and has a bar, some bar stools, a warm wood fire place and several hidden rooms, probably for massages and the like. We were given towels and directions to the changerooms and bastu (sauna), and 'just shout when you want the jacuzzi'. Needless to say I was SUPER excited about the mys of all this.

Mys: that famous Swedish word which mostly means coziness, but encompasses so much more. One of our SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) lessons focussed on two people making fun of their friend for not using mys in the right context. Hiking up a mountain for a beautiful view is not 'mys' but sitting in a cabin alone in the middle of the countryside is likely 'mys'.

(side note to Dad learning Swedish... mys+ig= the adjective form, mysig... the second most important Swedish word next to 'lagom' -just enough)

Now, I have somehow managed to mostly avoid the Nordic phenomenon of bastu for a very long time. Somewhat by accident I tested out a friend's neighbour's home sauna in Finland back in 2012, but I don't count that. After this experience, I can say I'm glad to have found someone who turns redder than me in heat! I was gasping for the first few minutes but when Fred started roasting and wanted to get out, I said 'you're leaving already?? this is great!' I have been told there are some saunas hidden around in Rackarberget and I am making it my mission to seek them out, since our snow season has been prolonged significantly.

Anyway at that point we headed out into the great (frozen) outdoors to the patio jacuzzi on the lake. We jumped in as fast as we could to the hot tub but not without freezing our feet first... but we sat in there and looked out at the slushy lake waaay after we turned into prunes. They even had bar service to the jacuzzi... so I could enjoy a Swedish-Belgian beer from my lakeside viewpoint. People came and went from the other jacuzzi, and we finally left when four middle-aged guys with tribal tattoos decided to join us. It was the nicest afternoon I have had in a VERY long time. Apparently it's free every Thursday... ! It never ceases to amaze me what is freely available in this country. Or how expensive the basics can be. Logic...

Friday (tomorrow as I start to write this) is the premiere of Welcome to Sweden, what looks like it could be a hilarious TV show about an American guy moving to Sweden. This guy happens to be the brother of Amy Poehler (not important if you don't know who that is.) It should air in the Americas at some point, but I bet it will be on the internet long before that ever happens... here's a clip !!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbPStwxYKV8 I am veeeery excited for this.

I also recently started to watch a Norwegian series called Lilyhammer, also hilarious for the cultural clashes. This one is about an American mafioso (that guy from the Sopranos, Steven van something) who rats out his boss and is put into witness protection in the place of his choice... which happens to be Lilyhammer... apparently he fell in love with it during the Olympics of 94. Anyway, he has some hilarious experiences doing 'business' and dealing with the various agencies in Norway which somewhat resemble my experiences (jobs, driving licenses, 'house rules', etc etc) - this is also on the internet/netflix if you're interested! Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVLP1H7DyS8

At this point I bet you're wondering about my trip to Italy! Or maybe you are now that you read this! Me, Fredrik, and Fredrik's mom took a short 5-day trip to Rieti, Italy. They've been looking for a chance to head down there for a while, as their friend Antonio had a baby Elizabeta last year, who just turned 1.  Most of the time, I was very lost, and had no idea what was going on. The trip was a big mash of Italian, French, Swedish, and English.. and 'Italian-style English'. Fredrik can understand quite a bit of Italian and speak some, whereas his mom is basically fluent (night courses!). Only Antonio and his sister Diletta could speak English, the other family members tried a bit but to no avail. Mikaela, Antonio's girlfriend, was hoping to speak to me in French, but as I have been discovering, my french has decided to become Swedish, and I wind up with Frwedish (?). This has inspired me to start watching France 2 news again, which helps (A LOT actually... so glad I haven't lost it over my short year and a half in Swedish) ... off topic.

Antonio & Fredrik

Antonio, 28 year old resident of Rieti, which is about an hour from Rome, rents a hotel along with his family. Lucky for them, they don't own the building and their contract is almost up... because recent factory shutdowns by Texas Instruments have more or less ruined the local economy. They have planned to buy a much smaller hotel in Rome in the near future. Anyway, as you likely know, family is extremely important in Italy. I met Antonio, his girlfriend Mikaela, sister Diletta, daughter Elizabeta, father Dario, mother Emilia, grandmother Angela, great uncle Fausto, Mikaela's sister, and several others I have no hope of remembering. They eat lunch and dinner together many many times a week from what I can tell. And it really is true that all shops close between about 12 and 3, at least in Rieti (80,000 people). Many shops were open 9/10-1pm and 3:30pm to 8:30pm.

I was very lucky to come in to this trip as an addition. It was fantastically generous of Antonio and his family to pick us up from the airport and drive us everywhere, not to mention letting us stay in the hotel for free, AND feeding us, all the time. Italians seem to have coffee and sweet things for breakfast, at least for a hotel breakfast... like a cappuccino and sweet croissant, or these extra dried sweet melba-toast type slices with some form of jam. One day we had something that resembled a giant cookie with jam baked on top to look like a slatted pie... MMM. Dessert for breakfast everyday.

mmm breakfast

hotel lobby

Elizabeta & Dario

Now for a day by day....
Thursday we arrived at Rome-Fiumicino airport in the afternoon, and Antonio picked us up in his minibus. We drove around Rome for maybe an hour before finding parking... I have NEVER seen more 'creative' parking 'solutions' than I did in Rome. People were beyond triple-parked, and in every angle possible. I can see why so many people have SmartCars.. otherwise it's just IMPOSSIBLE to find a spot where your car will fit. And we had a minibus. Yikes. Anyway, we were able to walk around Rome for about two hours. Got some street pizza and ate it on The Spanish Steps, gelato (of course), saw the Fontana di Trevi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o15UTomYsc of course with a turnover of probably 100 tourists per minute... nothing like in that movie. Oh well. It was still gorgeous.

Spanish Steps

chestnut seller

Fontana di Trevi

gelato

After that we headed to the hotel for some chill time... dinner was never before 8:30pm. We had barley salad,  THE MOST DELICIOUS foccacia anyone has ever had, with some even more delicious cured meats, and spicy pasta. Actually the food was a lot simpler when it came to pasta than I imagined, but I suppose what I ate was much more what an everyday italian might eat, rather than what one might get at an italian restaurant. But it was always delicious. Always foccacia on the table somewhere. Mmmm.

making pasta

cooking pasta

family lunchtime.

Friday, the three of us 'swedes' ventured into the grocery store which was next door to the hotel. I have never seen an entire aisle devoted to dried pasta products, or a 50 euro block of cheese, before this experience. There was also an aisle devoted to coffee, and one devoted to cookies. We were advised not to buy too much from that store as it was deemed low quality by Antonio's family... so no 50 euros worth of Gran Padano for us. Anyway. Then we went on a mini adventure (as I mentioned, mostly I just followed everyone else and wound up places) to the downtown medieval centre of Rieti, to visit Mikaela at the travel agency where she and Diletta work. We had a quick standing espresso at the cafe downstairs (of course you pay more to sit down) and headed into the city centre to visit Diletta at the tourism stand, where she was promoting Rieti and il Terminillo, the ski resort built by Mussolini. Kitty corner to her stand was a Chocolate Festival (!) with delicious free samples and all forms of chocolate imaginable. I bought some pieces of a giant florentine... Aaah soo tasty. As Britt-Marie said, we had excellent timing.

lots and lotso fresh pasta

50 euros worth of cheese

wine.

oil.

chocolate tools

chocolate knives, guns, and iPhones

After that we went in search of the best bakery in Rieti... but it only had three opening hours per day, and we missed them. Boo. But we still bought some amazing canneloni-type pastries, deep-fried shells filled with something creamy and chocolatey... mouth watering yet?

espresso standing at the bar.

Rieti

ancient roman bridge

That afternoon we drove up to il Terminillo and checked out the ski resort. There were still people skiing, though it was rather slushy. A veeery long and winding road up the mountain, which was NOT great for me who was getting over the flu. But it was interesting to see snow so close to Rome in March. That evening we checked out the shops in Rieti, and I got Matt a not-so-secret official Italian ski team face-muff thingy from the official Kappa store. Antonio made sure I bought a real one and not a fake...

oops, this road is closed.

That evening we visited Antonio's childhood home (Dario and Emilia's) and had dinner there, and watched some 'Berlusconi TV'. Fredrik tells me Berlusconi more or less invented the strange useless theatrical stage show TV that seems to play on the state channel all the time. Some well-known man and at least one woman with large breasts who doesn't seem to have any purpose. Probably singing and dancing.

dinnertime

excellent picture of me, not so flattering of everyone else...

Fredrik with Elizabeta

puzzle enthusiasts

The next day was really a waste, as Fredrik managed to get my germs (second hand from the kids at Biotopia) and spent the day in bed. I ended up doing some great shopping (three pairs of shoes and a purse, yess!) and having a lovely dinner with Antonio and Britt-Marie at his new house, three floors which he mostly built himself, and had some wonderful (if stinky) Italian cheeses and preserved fishes. We brought home some stinky cheese (mistake I think) and our fridge smelled like garbage all last week. Ick. But it was about a third of the price that it is in the Italian shop in industrial Uppsala. Also I took a ride with Antonio in Angela's Fiat 500 from 1963, which was a bit of a wild ride even though we only drove around the block.. apparently they keep it up and go to conventions with it and everything.

Sunday, we drove out to visit the church and monastery where Fredrik's brother Karl got married. It is out in Greccio, and it is supposedly the place where St Francis of Assisi visited and built the first nativity scene. This monastery is filled with different representations of the nativity. It's also basically built upwards on a cliff, a very impressive sight!

St. Francis of Assisi

So, after some delicous breads, meats, cheeses, meat cannelonis, sweet cannelonis, prosciutto lasagnas, not nearly enough vegetables or fruits, and an awful lot of lateness and nothing running quite as planned, we had a wonderful relaxing Italian trip. The flights are so short on this side of the Atlantic that it's sometimes hard to believe I even went to southern Europe at all.

Now I am going to learn Italian...
La donna mangia la mela.... la ragazze beve l'acqua... watch out Italy! ;)