VI. “Travel Time”
May 14 & 15
On the Road Between Rena and Hossna

On Wednesday the 14th it was time to hit the road. Four nights at Rena’s Trudvang cost $900 USD, and it wouldn’t get any cheaper. Agnes, her brother Per, and Tante Nelle met us at the hotel before our train left and accompanied us as we waited. They gave us some “snyps” for the road, great cookies seasoned with cardamom, and there were many thank-yous and hugs shared before the train came right on time.
We stopped at Hamar, 45 minutes out of Rena, to change trains, and arrived at Oslo’s Sentralstation after three hours of train time altogether. Seeing the changes in terrain going south, we were appreciative of Rena’s unique beauty. It’s timber country, not farm land. The air is clear and crisp, the mountains are near, Norway’s longest river—the Gammel—flows through the town, and Norway’s largest lake—Mjosa—is nearby. Granted, my perspective is skewed by a great appreciation for the people (family) I met, but this area is really beautiful. The houses are painted, the yards are neat, the town looks cared for. I’m not ready to sell what we own and move there, but I really appreciated it.
We only waited an hour in Oslo for our next train to Goteborg. I never know how to say it. I guess the Swedes call it Yuteburi, but I’ve heard others say a very Anglicized Gothenburg. However one says it, that’s where we went, and it took us four more hours from Oslo. It’s straight south, and part of the time we hugged the sea, but as we crossed into Sweden we were into farmland and scrubby swamp land. Goteborg is the first big city we would come to within 4 hours of Oslo.
Leif Erickson Station is the hub for both busses and trains, and it was crowded and busy, a bit intimidating for American tourists who had been at home in a small town. We struggled to find our hotel, but eventually understood the directions and arrived at the Albelle to be completely delighted. I should mention that all of these travel arrangements, including train and bus schedules and hotel reservations, were handled online, and experiencing something up close and personal rather than online is not the same experience. So far, travel arrangements have been fine. The Trudvang Hotel in Rena was nice but expensive, and now the Albelle is a delight for a lot less money.
After the struggle to get there we had a magical moment in finding a restaurant. We stumbled upon a Dutch restaurant far hungrier than we had been thus far on the trip, and a good-humored man who served our table made all of the recommendations, and he was right on the mark. Mine was a pepper steak with fried potatoes, and hers was a beef stew with cabbage. Her beef was seasoned with vinegar and cloves, and her cabbage tasted like the seasoning usually put on hot German potato salad. And the beer was great! All of our Norwegian meals had been heavy on the sweet stuff, and beer was too expensive in Norway, so we were some pretty satisfied customers.
The only thing missing was a cup of tea and some chocolate, but the restaurant didn’t serve desserts. Nothing else was open on the way back to the hotel, so we were pretty happy to find coffee and tea at a table right next to our room and remember that we still had some chocolates in the backpack. It was a fine way to end a travel day.

Thursday morning at the hotel we awakened to get our Swedish breakfast and ate like we were starved again before walking to the bus station. We had nothing to do but wait for our bus to take us the one and one half hours to Ulricehamn. The bus was right on time, comfortable, clean, and our trip was uneventful. Anna-Lena Hultmann, the “angel of genealogy”, according to an online article I read, met us, took us to the grocery store to stock up on supplies, and to the Toyota dealer to pick up a car for the week. She was able to rent us a car through her friend, the Toyota dealer, for one fourth what I would have paid for a rental online. I’m thankful for her connections.
The first item on the agenda upon arriving at Hossna, about 5 miles from Ulricehamn, was an orientation to “Konkordiahuset”, Anna-Lena’s business. It’s an abandoned Swedish Covenant Church which she and her sister purchased in order to further her genealogical pursuits which she began in high school more than 20 years ago. She owns hundreds of books which are housed here, in addition to about a dozen computers in a room about 30X15. The walls are covered with old pictures, many of her family members from long ago, and most all from this area. She wears a genealogical T-shirt she purchased in Salt Lake City, and she heads a large genealogical organization in Sweden. She is thoroughly immersed in her work and has traveled to the US bringing Swedes over there, and many Americans have come to her to find family here. She is the best! As a child she had an interest in genealogy that was encouraged by her parents, and she has read volumes on the subject. She just happens to live where thousands of immigrants left many years ago, and this country has always kept good records, so she has lots of data to study.
We drank coffee and tea and ate blueberry pie while talking with her for several hours. In that time she showed me many, many resources—including an entire book written in Swedish in 1965—about the 1862 Sioux Uprising (now called the Dakota/US Conflict), the event where my great grandfather's three brothers were killed. So now, if I can only get this book translated……
The only two agenda items scheduled for the week are another “family reunion”—this time in Vargardo with Swedish Lundborgs instead of in Rena with Norwegian Ronnings—on Monday, and on Sunday a visit to some church near where the Lundborgs were born. Daily walks, a trip to Boras to the library, perhaps Vaxsjo to a museum, and Ulricehamn if we need more groceries. It looks like fun for me. For Rose Ann, there’s a piano in the study room, and hopefully she won’t get too bored.
We live above the study room where there’s a kitchen, living room with tv and dvd player, bedroom, and bathroom with a clothes washer. Tonight we ate our first self-prepared meal in over a week. We bought Swedish pea soup in the store, great bread and cheese, and some fine Swedish beer made right here in Vaster Gotland. On Swedish television we watched “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” with no commercials for our evening treat.
We’re settled in for a while. There’s a nice, rented 2006 Toyota Auris in the parking area in front of Konkordiahuset, but I don’t think it will travel very much.