Ånge and Around

Winter wonderland. It does exist.
My flights from Fayetteville to Stockholm went very smoothly. The travel agent booked an economy plus seat on my flight across the Altantic, so I could actually fit in the seat for the 8.5 hour flight. It really does make a difference. Once I arrived in Stockholm, I had a couple of hours to kill before my train, so I figured out my way back to Old Town. It had been four year since I had been here with Dad, but change comes slowly to a big city. I used the excuse of stretching my legs to explore some of the back streets. The wind howling down the alleys made it really cold (my Arkansas blood wasnt quite used to those temperatures yet) so I thawed out with a cup of coffee overlooking the outdoor public ice skating rink. The train to Ånge left at 4 in the afternoon, but the crazy daylight hours meant that it was already dark when we pulled out of the station. I couldnt admire the scenery, plus the jetlag was starting to kick in. Four hours later, Anders met me at the station and showed me to the house where he is staying. I met some of the family, dropped my suitcase in the room where I was staying, and settled in before setting out on a tour of the town. Ånge is a small town, so it only took 2.5 hours to see everything.
My first full day was mainly slept through, plus a trip to the candy store right around the corner. The most important things in the town vary depending on the tour guide. :)
On Sunday we had a quick day trip up to Östersund, about an hour north by train, to visit Anders' cousin. We got up REALLY early and arrived at 7:30 in the morning, with an outside temperature of -22 C. For you Americans, thats about negative 12 F. We hung out at Angelee´s apartment for a little while, then went to an indoor fun park. There was a fun, slightly crazy game/logic puzzle game than we tried to work our way through for almost three hours. Each one is a set of three or four rooms, and in every room is some sort of mind logic or mind game that you have to figure out. It can be anything from connecting circuits to shooting basketballs, to figuring out how to cover three sides of the rooms at a time. Really hard to explain, but still fun to play. After eating at the Swedish equivalent of McDonalds (only better) we hopped back on the train to Ange. It was a lazy evening of just listening to music and watching videos, then we went to sleep early in order to make up for the 5:30 wake-up. Monday was the whirl-wind day of meeting Anders' friends. Merle, a German exchange student, spent the daz with us in town, waking around the city center and having tea for most of the afternoon. When she left, we were just going to pack for stockholm and hang out for a bit, but Mathias burst into the room and informed us that we were going sledding. It was another friend from school who is a crazy, random, spontaneous guy who will keep you on your feet. So we spent the next few hours sledding by moonlight down a huge hill onto a frozen pond...Really a once in a lifetime experience. We couldnt stay out too late, because Anders and I had a train to catch to Stockholm the next day. this is the best type of travelling, spending time with old friends in new places, meeting new people, and getting an insiders look on how the real members of a culture go about their everyday lives. This is living.