Hi all,

For today's post please click on this link.

http://judystraveladventure.wordpress.com/lets-try-again/

I'm really upset with how both blogspot.com and WordPress.com perform for me.

Check back here to see where my next post will be. Sorry for all the confusion. I'm doubly confused.

See you next time.

LOVE TO YOU ALL.

Sunday Dinner

I want to or preface this post by telling you that I saw a moose a couple of days ago. In this next picture,  it's a little hard to see but there is a baby moose as well.  "Mama" is on the left side and "baby" is on the right.

Now, on to Sunday dinner. It is a custom at my Cousin Tommy's house for the family to get together on Sunday for late afternoon dinner. Today we ate with two of their sons, Daniel & Carl, Larry, Gina, Tommy, Eva and myself.

Guess what we had??   MOOSE!!

Wow, was that good!   It tasted like a real tender cut of beef. I felt kinda bad but I got over it pretty quick. Eva made a gravy that was to die by for. It had a red wine and some cognac in it and she served it with Chantrell mushrooms. The rest of the menu was new potatoes, broccoli and parsnips (I got the recipe for those)  To top it off,  she made an apple pie with delicious tangy red Swedish apples.

After dinner, everybody went different directions and Larry and I went out to the town square to see what was going on. It was deader than a "door nail".  As is the luck of the Irish, (and Swedes) we happen on to a little Irish pub. We went in for a wine and beer and enjoyed the quiet atmosphere.  Here are some pictures of O'Leary's.

I have been staying about 15 miles out of Kalmar at a little B&B. I finally took some pictures of it and I am posting them on facebook today because even simple pictures are a trial today. I have decided to use this as my homebase for the next couple weeks.  It's about $250 per week. Cheaper than Motel 6.   It's a short bus ride in to town. Larry has the use of a car but gas is $8/gal. We're conserving where we can.  Check out the pictures.

I'm going to call it a night.  Have a nice day!

Judy

YouTube Test

In this post, I'm checking to see if downloading through YouTube is any better. 

This is a Scotish bar in Kalmar called Pipes.  They had what they called "After Work".  It's like our Happy Hour. It was a little buffet with wine or beer for $10.50 usd. Not bad for Swedish prices. 

  

Adventurously,  Judy

PS:  That worked pretty good. Give me your comments

A Day in Kalmar

Hi Everyone,

Yesterday I thought I had the picture and video posting down, but then a new problem arose. I ran out of memory in my tablet. If it's not one thing, it's another. At any rate, I'm here once again. 

Today we visited the castle in Kalmar.  How interesting! The Kalmar castle is 800 years old.  It was intact but a major refurbishing took place in about 2000.  We just can't fathom 800 years of history when our country is only 238 yrs old. This is a layout map of the Kalmar Castle and the city at that time?

This was a video of the dungeon above and below.

This s the only original piece of furniture left from 800 years ago.

This video below is of the town Square and church.  I almost ran right into the police car while taking the video.  

At night, a cousin of mine, Helene, and her husband took us to a Swedish dance.  Great group of singers and lively music.  Didn't dance much but I did a little. I had no idea what they were saying but the music is universal. Rythm will always get you.  I tried to post a sample of the band but prblems again.  So, I posted it on Facebook.  Friend me, if you're not already.  Going to bed now.  Blog to you tomorrow If you feel like reading.

Love you all,  Judy

PS  I know these videos leave a lot to be desired.  I'll work on it.

One More Try

Well, I'm going to try this one more time. The videos were horrible. I think I loaded them as pictures and not videos.  Anyway,  here are a few more pictures.

This is in the front lawn of the Royal summer home. 

Windmills galore on island of  Oland. They were used to grind grain. Obviously, there must be a lot of wind here in the summer. 

This is the Noahs Ark I told you about in the last post.

I could send you some more of the previous days, but I think I'll just start fresh with today's activities. We plan to go to Kalmar Castle today and then go to a swedish dance tonight. Tomorrow is a Jill Johnson concert.  Google for more on her.

Thank you for your patience with me learning this blogging stuff.

Judy

Jet Lag

I didn't feel that it was gong to get me but it must have.  I was a little zombiefied yesterday. Luckily, Larry and Gina (brother and sister in law) were here to drive me for our sightseeing adventure of the north Öland Island, just across the bridge from Kalmar, Sweden.
I had booked my first night at Edith and Julia's B &B on Öland. I really thought it would be a bit too far away for them to drive. As it turns out, its a very nice little vacation island for most of Sweden.  And,  they don't mind making the short drive.  Well, I'm going to attempt to insert some pictures along the way. I tried on my last post but couldn't figure it out. Just think I'm going to try again.

Yeah it worked! !!!  But, I'm having a difficult time with making any changes. It already deleted a couple of my videos. So, I think I'll just send this off to you so you'll have something from me today. 

The videos are of a trip to a available very old castle where King V Gustav reigned. It was quite a story.  The picture of the dog with only 3 legs is because the King was the only one who was allowed to hunt for deer. All the local farmer's dogs had to have one leg cut off so they wouldn't get the king's catch. He was also such an epicurean that one of the pictures shows a frame of his waistline. It was 2 meters around. He was a real fat slob.  There is a Hall of Fame in the castle that shows the important people who have performed shows or visited the castle. Among them were Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and of course, Abba. 

We also saw a ruin of a burial site that was from the Iron Age, around 1000 BC. They called it Noah's Ark because rocks were placed in the form of an ark and the bodies were buried by families in rows within the Ark. Quite interesting stuff. 

Another video is of the Royal summer home built close to the old castle. Build to remind the Queen of Tuscany. 

Well I'm going to get this off before I lose the rest of the videos. I think I'll have the posts/videos better organized from here on out. 

Traveling Can be Tiring

Traveling can be tiring, especially the way I do it.  I got a couple hours sleep on the bus, waited in Sacremento from 2am to 6am, got in San Francisco by 8am and made my way to the airport to find that the ticket counter would open at 2:30pm.  My flight was to leave at 5:30pm but is now 1 1/2 hrs delayed. It's a good thing coffee was invented.

All in all, my bus experience was fine. Met a couple real nice young men that didn't mind chit chatting with a "mother type".  I stocked up on alot of goodies before leaving and there was plenty to go around for my new buddies.  One, in particuar, was especially grateful because it looked like he really needed it.

The Bart station was only 3 blocks to travel with
the 60 pound bicycle case. Up and down an elevator in and around the turnstile and holding up the bicycle as Bart traveled along.  FYI, fare was $8.65. Luckily, it arrived at the international terminal.  There was only a very short distance to walk to the nearest restroom.  I waited my 3 hours, checked my bike and said "see ya later".  Now, I really feel light.  I cannot wait to get on the airplane and say "good night".

One quick luggage story. They were expecting my bike as my one checked bag. I expected to pay $85 excess weight charges. But, when I got there, they didn't weigh my bicycle but the carry on I had was 11 pounds overweight. He suggested that I open up the bike case and put 11 more pounds in it. I was not looking forward to opening it until I got there, but I did and the bike had traveled perfectly. And, there was plenty of room for the extra 11 pounds. I ended up not paying a dime for all the extra weight. He didn't even weigh my bike case. He did, however, warn me that they may not do this on the return.

Well, thats enough for now.  Talk to you again soon.

By:  Judy