I come from Sundsvall. It's just half-way north along the eastern cost of Sweden. Officially it belongs to Northern Sweden (Norrland) and many Swedes from Southern Sweden consider it very northern. Not so the people of the "real" Norrland. They see it as some kind of suburb of Stockholm (400 kms away, but who cares...) So I decided to take the train up north to my friend Marie in Ångermanland, and as the train left I realised this is the first time in my life I travel north of Sundsvall all by myself and by free will. And for sure I did not regret it! |
Marie is a VERY gifted musician, singer and songwriter and we had a very enriching jam session last night playing, singing and recording our own songs! How lovely! This is true vacation for me! Ångermanland is a very pious place with a lot of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches with a GREAT and deeply rooted musical tradition which produces great musicians (classical, gospel, pop...) of which Marie is one! Last Sunday evening we enjoyed a classical concert at the Lutheran church of Själevad where Marie serves as a church musician. Yesterday we spent the whole day with her sister, brother-in-law and very cute nephew! I enjoyed very non-Belgian activities as blue-berry picking and swimming in a lake. WONDERFUL! And the slow tempo of the Norrlanders was also very restful. The cat of Marie also gave me a very warm reception keeping me company in bed and also granting me a very catty farewell gift: a dead mouse on the floor of my room this morning (no pictures of that one for reasons of decency - but I must say it was rather neat and with no blood on it. I even hesitated first to think that it was some kind of very realistic cat-toy but no... it was the real thing...) Coming back to Alnö I continued enjoying music at a house concert of the music teacher Peter Tjärnberg! Below some photo's from the concert and also from Alnö in general.