May 17, 2008
Kungsör ahoy!
Monika and I thought it would be a good idea to get to Kungsör a day earlier than we were expected; that way, we could check into a hotel, rest up, and head on over to Cousin Hans' place in the morning. A perfect plan. We arrived around 10:30PM, drove into the center of town, parked, and asked the first person we saw where to find a hotel. He looked a little grumpy, as if we were teasing him, then said (in Swedish) "There aren't any hotels in this town." Uh-oh. Now what? Should we drive another hour and a half to the next biggest city? Without the ability to check on the internet first (see previous posts about internet in Sweden) that could be spotty. Was it too late to call Hans? We had no idea how rude that might seem - arrive a day early, then wait until late at night (it was now getting on 11:30PM) to call.
So we called anyway. Good thing Hans and Agnetha were still up, and luckily, we had parked about a block away from their place. They saddled up their 4 dogs and walked over to get us. Back at their place, we crashed out in preparation for the day.
In the morning we were able to get a good look at the dogs when we took them for a walk around town. The two larger ones are Moa and Lady - Belgian Shepherds. The little guys are Lukas and Malte, who are Danish-Swedish farmdogs. They are a very distinctive breed, and it turns out there are only about 100 of them in the United States. I became fast friends with Malte, who was always ready for me to throw his tennis ball for him:
We took the dogs on a walk along the waterfront. Kungsör is situated on the western edge of Lake Mälaren, in the province of Västmanland. Although it's almost halfway across the country, Hans told me that it is possible to navigate a boat through the various inlets and lakes all the way to Stockholm. In fact, he said, it's quite common for people to boat to Kungsör for the weekend.
Hans and Agnetha live across the street from an old church; you can see it from their back yard. When we weren't listening to the sound of its wonderful bells, we were marveling at the way the late light hit its bricks:
The big outing we took while visiting Kungsör was to a dog agility competition. Both Hans and Agnetha compete with their dogs, who ride in the back of the van in a cage that sports some of their winning ribbons:
We tagged along to a field in Fagersta, where we were amazed to see all the activity. Neither Monika nor I had ever seen dog agility, although we've certainly heard of it. The course is made up of ramps, tunnels, hurdles and the like. Most dogs make it through the obstacles in under a minute, if they aren't disqualified.
As Hans says, it's never the dog; it's always the person. This means any mistake the dog makes is a result of poor instructions by the handler. So, each time the course is reset, the handlers walk through it, planning the physical cues they will use with their dogs. I found this part of the process fascinating; it was like a wonderful, abstract ballet:
Once the course is memorized, the running begins. Hans runs both Lady and Moa in the large breed category, and his specialty is in jumping his dogs - "hoppar" in Swedish:
Agnetha runs my buddy Malte, and I'll tell you what: that dog likes to jump. The bar is set for small dogs, but Malte clears the hurdle at the large breed height
By this time, it's getting late in the day, so we agree to meet Hans and Agnetha back at their house, and Monika and I head out in the rental car. It's been a long hot day, and we're looking forward to relaxing a bit before dinner. Once back, Monika pours us each a glass of strawberry juice and we sit on the deck. Afterwards, Monika takes a nap, and I decide to read for a bit. I grab another can of strawberry juice and settle in with my book.
Eventually Hans and Agnetha come home with the dogs, and Hans and I have a beer before dinner. After dinner, we have another beer, but I'm getting tired and decide to just switch back to that strawberry juice. I go outside to sit with Monika, and she asks how much of that juice I'm going to drink. I say I don't know, there's just something about it that's so refreshing. She starts laughing. What? I say. Turns out I'd been downing flavored malt liquor for the last 6 hours. No wonder I didn't feel like having any more beer...
Anyway...
The next day Hans and I went to some guitar shops in Västerås. One stuck out in particular: Hagstrom Musik:
Here's the short version. Hagstrom was a company that made accordions and guitars in Sweden from the 1930's up until the late 70's or so. In the beginning, they had dedicated stores throughout Sweden, but no more. So, I met the owner, Richard Jansson, and asked him about this. It turns out he took over the shop from his father, and decided to just leave the name as it was.
Seeing as the shop had been in his family, I asked him if he had any vintage Hagstrom stuff around. Richard was very cool; he asked the customer he was with if he could wait a bit while he took me into the basement for a look. He had tons of old advertising, signage and banners. He even pulled out this old Hagstrom Kent from the early 60's
Oh yeah - did I mention Hans owns a 1964 Fender Stratocaster he bought new when he was kid?
All in all, Kungsör was a fabulous place to visit, and Hans, Agnetha and their family (Camilla, John, Niclas and Lina) made us feel incredibly welcome and at home.
See you in Torshälla. Bye bye, Malte!
