Days 11, 12, 13... - We live like Umeåns (August 14-23)

Looking at downtown Umeå

Hooray, we're back blogging. We are leaving Umeå tomorrow afternoon, so I wanted to catch you up on what we have been doing with our time here in northern Sweden.

To begin, why there have been no regular updates for the past 10 days is because living in another city while Karen is doing sabbatical work is a lot like our day to day lives back home. We buy groceries, cook meals, do laundry, etc. Other than not speaking the language or understanding the road signs, our regular life has not been a whole lot different. It was the same when we lived in Hamilton, New Zealand for 4 months.

Our nearly two weeks in Umeå have gone by quickly. It is a very nice city with a population of around 120,000 (80,000 plus 37,000 university students, the largest city in northern Sweden). I really like the vibe of Umeå and could imagine myself living here, after learning Swedish (although most people speak English very well). It is a very liveable city made for walking and bike-riding. Within the city there are over 180 kms of biking trails. In fact, the first thing required to live like an Umeån is a bike. The first few days here I felt like a loser walking around everywhere. However, last Monday that all changed as each of us rented bikes for a week. Having bikes really opened up lots of places and activities for us, particularly Marshall who doesn't always have the patience to walk. (Bikes, not cars, rule the roads and sidewalks/bike paths in Umeå.) (One day I rode to an arboretum 10 km north of Umeå on one continuous bike path along the Umeӓlven River.)

Bridge on Nydalasjӧn

So what did we do with our time here? We took advantage of nearby Lake Nydalasjӧn (lake = sjӧ ) several days. The lake is now really a suburb of the city, about a 3 km ride from our apartment and very popular. (Umeåns really like to spend time outdoors.) Nydalasjӧn is very much like a NW Ontario lake, clear and cool and good for swimming, which Marshall and I did a couple of times. There is also a 10 km bike/walking trail around the lake which Karen and I rode around a few evenings. Having Nydalasjӧn nearby provided us with a

More of Nydalasjӧn

good outlet.

As an aside, the weather has been fantastic our whole time in Umeå. Every day has been sunny and in the low 20s. Of course this means we all overpacked; too many pants and not enough shorts.

On our first Saturday in Umeå we spent the day downtown, which while not large, was very busy with people shopping, eating in restaurants, walking along the riverfront, and taking in the finals of the Swedish Beach Volleyball tour. They had set up a sand court right in/on one of the city's main squares. We took in a couple of matches, including both the men's and women's finals. It was fun to spend the day in a vibrant downtown.

Karen and I did a couple of cultural things. One night we biked to an art and design museum, while another night we walked through Umeå's sculpture park. Unfortunately, our art appreciation apparently needs some work as there was no art at either place that spoke to us (or frankly we understood very well). Just not our kind of art, I guess.

Karen gave an afternoon seminar at the Umeå University Biology Department on Wednesday. It set an attendance record. (Room for 40 became squishy with 60 people.) To thank Karen, Karen's host at the University, Jonatan, took the three of us for dinner to an upperscale restaurant. Both Karen and I had Arctic char, which was really tasty.

On Thursday, Jonatan and several of his colleagues took Karen out to visit some of the lakes they work on. Marshall and I tagged along and got dropped off at Jonatan's cottage, which is about an 1.5 hours from Umeå. We spent the afternoon perch fishing (caught 4 big perch) and swimming. A nice break for us from the confines of our apartment and Umeå. Karen had a fun day, but not as much fun as Marshall and me. (P.S. People in Umeå like cottages as much as Winnipeggers do.)

Finally, this past Saturday we rented a car, drove about 40 km and then walked onto the ferry for Holmӧn Island. Holmӧn Island has a nature preserve on it and the island itself is a bit of a throwback. (Among other things, it only has one road. Most people bike to the ferry and around the island. Our bikes wouldn't fit in our rental car.) There are small farms on it, lots of cottages, and it is still a vibrant fishing port in the fall. We walked about 12 km in total on Saturday. We had a nice day together, but collectively we rated our experience about a 6/10. While picturesque, the landscape and scenery were not unique, at least to us (again, much like NW Ontario). We probably would have been better off exploring trails along the wild (undammed) Vindelӓlven River.

Holmӧn Island, northern Sweden

That in a nutshell has been our time in Umeå. While we never intended it to be a touristy stop for us, Umeå has treated us well. Tomorrow we fly back to Stockholm (at the sanity-saving time of 4:30 p.m.) for a couple of days, then it is onto Bergen and Oslo, Norway.

Vi ses, for now.

On the Vindelӓlven River

An Umeå park and some older homes close to the riverfront

Holmӧn Island, northern Sweden