Augeson-Andersons in Lund

More on the Great Adventure where some Augesons (Åkessons) and Andersons (Anderssons) explored their Nordic roots, ate good food, strolled, hiked, toured, and caught up with one another…

My parents’ visit flew by. Suddenly it’s August, Bry is back at work and Lily returns to school next week!

Grandpa toured the schools and most major points of interest in Lund. He enjoyed the trees and other plant life in the parks and gardens. Both parents seemed impressed with the town’s amenities, the food, and the wide variety of things to see and do in south Sweden. Mom was even comfortable taking the bus and train!

One day we drove to see the area of Skåne where my mother’s great-grandfather was born and raised, though most of the family moved to Bornholm in the 1870s. With the dates tracked down by Mom’s distant cousin, Peter, we were able to find out about quite a few generations who lived in the villages of Tryde, Everöd and Sälshög in Tomelilla. Most of these relatives, going back at least 4 more generations that we know of, were members of Tryde parish. Though the medieval church was replaced by a new one in 1868, the footprint of the original structure has been preserved and much of the art and liturgical objects were moved to the new parish. The baptismal font is one of Sweden’s best examples of Romanesque stone sculpture done by the Tryde Master, Magister Majestatis.

Less than an hour from Lund is Tomelilla, which is now the county seat and the largest town near Tryde. We enjoyed lunch in the main square with it’s odd, orange video art installation (the pantomime horses), and some cool bell melodies from what is presumably the town hall. Nowadays the area is know for it’s artists and Food Festival.

We also met for dinner in Lund with some of my mother’s relatives who share the Tryde branch of the family tree. Peter, who studied extensively to trace the Swedish line, grew up on the island of Bornholm and published his genealogy research there, which is how I connected with Peter’s daughter and her family who live in Lund. Peter and his wife Hanne made the ferry trip over from Helsingør, Denmark and we had a little gathering of cousins with Anne, her husband and their youngest daughter, who is between our girls in age. I’m thrilled to discover more about my Swedish and Danish roots as well as meet some Lund Locals 🙂

Unfortunately I neglected to get a photo of Anne and Christoffer, but here are the elders and the youngsters at Stadsparken.

Something magical that has been on my list for quite awhile was a visit to the Troll forest, which can now be linked to a mutated gene of the dwarf beech, resulting in these spooky and unusual troll-like shapes. It is very easy to see how northern European legends were reinforced or even inspired by these trees. We were there on a cloudy, dark day, but it was the tracks of wild boar (many of them, in a range of sizes from Piglet to the Beast of Dean!) along the muddy trails that really made me nervous. But we didn’t see any pigs, just a black cat sculpture adding to the ambience.

Another Troll and More summer vibes…

Lunch at the long pier bath house in Bjärred. Catch of the day was hake with lobster sauce, yum! A quick stop in Ystad for my favorite ice cream, browned butter toasted almonds.

Then Nori got in on the packing drama and we scheduled a meet and greet connection to assist in Iceland- shoutout to Óskar for guiding and entertaining the ‘rents as they dashed through Keflavik to catch their flight! In spite of a major fire incident at the Lund train station we were able to get the folks to their CPH flight with time for lunch in Copenhagen! We hear that all went quite well on the return trip, though Mom caught a cold/cough so she has spent several days in bed. Marcia and Charlie report that they are recovering and that they had a wonderful Swedish Adventure!