I started the day by feeding the animals, which is quite a production because Donnie has to eat after the cats and Pomona, and since Pomona tries to eat all the other animals food, she has to be kept on the couch on a leash while Donnie eats. Once that was done I did some more weeding. Pia had to take the dogs into Falkoping, the closest city, to get their nails clipped so she dropped me off at the local history museum. I had a wander around and learned about the Stone Age passage graves and other things of cultural significance in the area. The museum was quite interesting and informative for being in such a rural place. In this area in particular there is a high concentration of items from thousands of years in the past, more than any other area in Sweden.
There are lots of beautiful places to walk and hike in the area where you can see ancient gravestones and other relics from thousands of years ago, so I’m looking forward to when I have my own car and can get out and explore. There was a passage grave in the park next to the museum. It was funny to see that right across the path from this ancient grave there was a mini golf course with a Stone Age theme.
I stopped in the little café nearby for a snack. None of the three young people working there spoke much English, but we managed to figure things out, though what they told me was a cinnamon bun, turned out to be made of cardamom, which I suspected given how it looked. It was an overcast day, but by the time I finished eating, it was no longer drizzling as it had been earlier in the morning. I checked out the beautiful Saint Olaf Swedish church in the middle of town and learned it was the starting point for one of the pilgrimage walks. One of the doors had bullet holes from the crusades! If I had the time I would love to do that walk, it’s only about 45 km so about half the length of the Camino de Sonoma that I did back in May. That’ll be on my list for the next trip!
On my walk around town, I finally saw a bank. I was shocked to see that the bank is only open Mondays and Wednesdays from 1 – 4pm and Thursdays from 1 – 5 pm. Apparently a lot of the smaller towns don’t have banks or post offices! Falkoping is a cute town, apparently there is a section of town built in the 1400s, I will check that out the next time I’m there.
I picked up lunch from the supermarket near the railway station. It was a delicious (and huge!) chicken, pasta, tomato and spinach salad with pesto and cost me just over four dollars. I did have to purchase my utensils separately, a package of wooden ones for about $.25. I was amused by the names of the different bagged candies in the store – Chill Time, Vacay Day, Rainy Day?, Out of the Office, Bye-Bye Homework!
Across from the train station is a Cykelgarage – an enclosed place to park your bicycle for the day. It’s a short eight minute train ride from Falkoping to Floby, passing lots of farmland with cows. At the train stations outside the major cities the announcements and the information on the electronic signs are only in Swedish, but I’m slowly figuring it out and I found people to have been very helpful even if they don’t speak much English. I have never seen so many Volvos in my life, it seems like every other car is a Volvo. It is a nice break not seeing any Teslas. Most of the cars I have seen seen to be relatively new and in decent shape. I haven’t seen any ‘beater’ cars or any that look to be more than 10 years old.
Well after dinner this evening (I think it was just before 10 PM) we went on a slug hunt in the yard. I would say we found well over 100 slugs! It is insane how many there were trying to eat everything in the garden. It was was still very light outside and we enjoyed a pretty sunset while we worked. I think this might end up being a nightly routine!
