I realised that last entry I forgot to mention a very crucial moment of our story, in particular the moment of arriving at Avesta. Simply said, it needs to be in here. So we're gonna skip back a day. My apologies!

We arrived in Avesta at around ten in the evening. By then we were both pretty hazy since we'd been driving for at least 4 hours at this point. We stopped in front of a farm, what would be our place to stay for the night. Already it felt magical and out of the ordinary.

Lars-Erik greeted us, the first meeting was already a sign of good things to happen! We were guided to our 'hippie-hut', a little cabin right next to the frozen river. From the outside, it might've been passed along for any ordinary hut. 

We entered the hut and instantly fell in love. There were little faerie lights along the bed, there were little statues and keepsakes from places where Lars-Erik and his wife had travelled, the doors had gorgeous patterned blankets in front of them to keep out the cold. We were guided into the neighbouring room, which was even better. It had a fireplace, an old fashioned brick oven, a cute little stove which you had to sit next to be able to properly use it. It had everything you needed to forget all the things around you in this life.

After we moved our luggage from the car into the room, we realised we weren't quite ready to go to bed just yet. The stove was used to heat up yet another filling meal of ravioli and canned beans. We made ourselves a cup of tea, looked around the room, and realised how weird it must've looked from the outside to see two youngsters like us acting like two old grannies. 

The next part will most certainly prove that we are in fact, not old grannies and definitely from this generation.

We were cold. There was a fireplace. There was wood. We were also very tired and not in our clearest mindsets anymore at this point.

Deciding I was more in the mood to watch, I sat myself down on the sofa with the GoPro and recorded everything. It took us 8 minutes to figure out how to build a fire. WE WOULD NEVER SURVIVE IN THE WILD!

First off, we built a little tipi shape of the wood. We used around 4 or 5 matches to get the wood to catch fire but of course nothing happened. We even at one point put a candle underneath the wood, hoping it would catch fire. After 8 minutes, a light shone in our heads that told us: 'USE PAPER, FOR GODS SAKE!'. And so, our fire started.

Monday, February 13:

Back to Monday! Or, onwards to Monday? 

We decided to set our alarms early so we could enjoy the sunrise, which was absolutely gorgeous. The way the sun reflected on the frozen river is something I'll always remember. 

There was lots to be done today, so we got dressed, had breakfast in our lovely hut while watching the river outside, and I had to endure more of Anthea's farts (at some point I learned how to counterattack, no worries).

We were allowed into the farm house to use the restroom and freshen up and such, but I was quickly distracted by the presence of two furry felines. Having to miss my own two cats meant these two would suit as a good substitute! It was just so incredibly nice to sit down on the floor, having staring contests, petting battles, and well, cat cuddles. There's not a lot in life that's better than cat cuddles.

There was a lot to explore on the farm, but first we decided to go and check out the frozen river! I've ice skated before in the Netherlands, but it's not comparable to what I've experienced here in Sweden.

The river was massive, and every so often there would be this odd (and slightly alarming?) sound from underneath the ice. As if there were air bubbles moving underneath it. On the bank of the river there were two kicksleds (sparkstötting?) that we could use. I think we had so much fun sledding over the ice that I kind of forgot to take pictures, so here's a picture before I actually went on the ice. (There are GoPro videos though, so stay tuned!)

Later on in the day, we met with Lars-Erik and he informed us that his friend, Mats, was about to get more wood from the forest and if we wanted we could tag a long with him! It was such an awesome experience, we rode along on the wagon, cuddled his horse, and shared stories. I think Anthea now has a new horse that she's in love with. ;)

Afterwards, Lars-Erik invited us over to his tree house. I mean, how cool is this? We climbed up and were simply stunned. Lars-Erik had been designing and building this himself, and built the house in such a way that it would damage the trees as little as possible. The trees grew through the ceiling and windows. It was a lovely sight.

He told us about his wife, about his farm, about the reasons why and how he runs his farm the way he does. Later, we went for a walk over the farm where we were introduced to all the animals. By now, it was time for Lars-Erik to continue with his work, and for us to move on to our next destination.

I'm very thankful for this day.