Onsdag

Today Vanessa and I rode 4.34 Swedish miles on our bikes.  That doesn't sound like all that much, but what you need to realize is that 1 Swedish mile is equivalent to 10km.  27 miles later, I was happy and tired and dreading running... but that was next on the agenda! Today we played mini-golf at Kneippbyn with the team, so we ran from P18  to Kneippbyn, played the most difficult course of mini-golf I have ever encountered, ran back to P18, and then brought my bike back (I borrowed Vendela's old bike today until I got mine from the club).  3.5 miles roundtrip.  My butt is exhausted.

Welcome to High Cliff Nature Reserve 

This morning we started around 9:30 and heading to Högklint (literally high cliff) to take in some views and do a little hiking.  We wandered down some trails to Rövar Liljas håla (Rövar Lilja's Den).  It is difficult with Google Sverige to find the full story in English, but the den was Rövar's hiding place from his shipmates after he made off with the whole crew's treasure.  

View from Högklint

Vanessa throwing sandwiches 

We went down to the shore and "threw sandwiches" for a little while and then made our way back up to the cliff and back to our bikes.  From there we rode through the country side to a beautiful spice garden called Krusmyntagården where we met Anja for lunch with an ocean view.  On the way I learned blåeld (Viper's Blugloss) and vallmo (Poppies).

Vallmo and Blåeld 

It was a beautiful lunch and I got to try some more traditional Gotland fare in the form of Gute Lemonade (a bottled drink flavored with salmbär berries) and saffraspannkoka (a tasty bready "pancake" served with salmbär jam).  I'm a little ashamed to say I ordered a burger for the main course, but Vanessa said it was one of the best burgers she's had so I had to give it a shot.  It was served on a pretzel bun, so that gave it some serious points.

Menu at Krusmyntagården 

Gute Lemonade with Salmbär 

Saffraspannkoka 

Angusburgare & pommes 

We arrived home with the bikes with just enough time to change for practice, and headed to P18.  I played an atrociously inconsistent partial round of mini-golf in between heavy-legged runs, and then we headed home for an incredible Swedish barbecue dinner by Bobbo.  It was amazing :)

Swedish barbecue 

Tonight is a movie at home and relaxing.  It sounds like we will have some weather rolling in tomorrow so it will be an indoors kind of day.  Vanessa and I will head into town for dinner with her friends at a local joint called Kitchen & Table.  It'll be fun to meet them and use some of my newly learned Svenska skills.  I'm working on the days of the week now and the months tomorrow.

Slowly, slowly.  My teammates are excited to help me learn too, so hopefully I will get better and better as the time goes.