Grangärde socken

Day 4:

Today we drove north to Dalarna to visit more of Danielle's relatives in and around the town that Owe and Anette grew up in, Grängesberg. On the way up, we stopped at an ordinary rest stop, which just so happened to be one of the most picturesque locations we have ever been to... Then we visited the summer home near Ludvika that Anette parents are fixing up and enjoyed our new favorite, fika, again to celebrate Anette's birthday.

We continued to Grängesberg to see the town where Danielle's great great grandfather worked as a mechanic at the near-kilometer deep iron mines before immigrating to America. The mines have since been shut down, and much of the town has been abandoned. We saw the buildings supporting the elevators into the 3 mine shafts, the houses Anette and Owe grew up in, and were told about or were shown remains of all of everything that once supported a busy mining town.

Outside of town, on Norra Hörken lake, Anette's brother lives full time in a vacation home. We visited shortly and looked over another phemonenal view. We continued to Björkas, the small village once owned by the Winterströms, and Danielle was able to take a picture of the house that her great great grandfather once lived in. We met with Owe's sister and her husband and went to the town to eat lunch with them, as well as Anette's brother at a hotel inside of a house that Winterströms also once lived in.

To end the trip, we visited Owe's sister's daughter and her family just outside of Dalarna. We had fika, and Owe's sister gave us a beautiful handmade glass bowl representing the different regions of Sweden. On making our way back to Västerås, we saw the Folkets Park where Owe would DJ and Anette worked at the ticket booth. Apparently it was THE place to be!

Side notes: when the grass first starts to grow back in spring, a type of moss grows within it. It makes the ground soft and spongy to walk on! And there are flowers everywhere that are called "forest animals" or something like that... absolutely beautiful!Les mer