Slipping Through Paris with The Shumways

Let me start by saying that this little fourteen-month-old Peter is a solid brick of gold! Along with his family he spent an entire day in a hot car (air conditioning broke in their “trusty” car) driving from his home in Woodford Green outside London to the coast where they sadly just missed the Ferry. During the approximately two hour wait for the next ferry, he happily ate and slept and then enjoyed the ocean breeze on the ferry crossing the English Channel watching the scenery go by. Then again, sweltered in the car for many more hours until they finally reached Paris.

All in all, it took about 11 hours to get from his home in England to Grandfather and I in Paris. And when he saw us, he seemed to remember those crazy people who keep showing up in his life. He is always curious, ready to learn and observe the world. Even though he’s learned not only to walk but run since we saw him a month ago, he seemed genuinely excited to get back in “his home”, the stroller where he continues to spend hours and hours doing just that… without a complaint. Solid gold….which Saydi and Jeff so richly deserve!

At 8:30 p.m. fon Friday Grandfather and I arrived from Sweden on a train about 20 minutes after the Shumways did at a our Paris hotel which Saydi had carefully scoped online. I had a miserable cold and Peter promptly went to sleep and so Emmeline and I had a little Grammie time while Saydi and Jeff, Hazel, Charlie and Grandfather went off to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle!

The next morning we were off for a wild and wonderful, hair-raising adventure planned by Saydi: bicycling through Paris! She and Jeff knew exactly where a terrific bike shop was and after hooking up two tandem bikes (Hazel behind Grandfather and Charlie behind me), a tag-along that Emmeline road in behind Jeff and Peter in a baby seat behind Saydi we wended our way through the spectacular scenes of Paris. Saydi had carefully calculated everything except the humongous crowds on a holiday weekend (how could we have known) and the heat. 

I should say that probably the hero of this day was Jeff. Those with the Shumways blood really suffer with the heat and it was unusually hot for late May in Paris. Jeff and the kids started sweating as soon as they saw the sun. I am convinced that 80 degrees (which feels just barely warm enough to me) feels like 110 to them. But on we went, they dripping with sweat before we even started (and me, glad that I brought my sweater) without whining from anyone! 

There were some gorgeous tree-lined bike paths which were spectacular and other bike paths that we shared with buses that were right now scary, but usually we were just concentrating on trying not to hit someone walking on the sidewalk in front of us. In addition to hordes of people there also hordes of bikes. Hardly anyone batted an eye at our little caravan! Charlie and Hazel’s bikes were attached to ours so it wasn’t a real tandem bike but they did supply some “Charlie and Hazel power” with their little legs that was nice (until Charlie’s chain broke and then it was a “free ride”). 

It was sort of like negotiating a maze without the hedges on both sides. We were so busy watching where we were going that we didn’t stop to take many pictures of this once-in-a-lifetime event, but here are a few to give you the idea!

WE did stop at the Eiffel Tower and asked someone to capture the moment but that moment is in Saydi’s camera so I’ll have to wait to post that.

Here are a few non-posed shots that we snapped along the way.

Dad really like his helmet! 

And I forgot to have Saydi and Jeff look up as they were fixing something for Emmeline. Look at the little Peter sleeping in his helmet behind Saydi. 

Whenever he got a chance Jeff hopped off his bike and scooped some water out of a fountain in his baseball cap to pour over his head to cool himself off a bit.

The magnificent Cathedral of Notre Dam was a fun stop! What a place, drenched in history!

A lovely lunch across the street from the Cathedral revived us for continuing the journey.

While we were standing in line to see the inside, a man taught Hazel how to feed the sparrows. She was delighted (and so were the sparrows). 

Five hours later we arrived back at the bike shop with only a couple of “close calls” in our pockets. Emmeline had taken off her shirt and was walking around in her skirt with flaming red cheeks and her hair plastered to her forehead with sweat and Charlie and Hazel were pretty wet too.

This picture is blurry and was taken by Dad after the kids had cooled down a bit, but it’s all we’ve got. What a day to remember! Despite their expressions, they were spectacular!

The people at the bike shop were all Americans and directed us to a little shop nearby that definitely revived us! They had an array of food to die for!  Only in Paris…..

 

Cute Charlie took a few pictures on the subway on our way to our next destination.

 

 

……which was The Basilica de Sacre’-Coeur high up on a hill above Paris.  Along with about a million other people we loved seeing this gorgeous building that overlooks this vast city.

 

Since it stays light until 11:30 p.m. we didn’t get to see the lights of Paris but the sights of Paris from that perch high above the city were never to be forgotten. After we settled the kids in bed, we enjoyed a stimulating talk with Saydi and Jeff until midnight.

The next morning while Grandfather, Jeff, Charlie and Emmeline took off for a boat tour down the Seine, Saydi, Hazel, Peter and I were off to the Louve/Musee d’ Orsay. We gloried in the close-up and personal view of the grounds of the Louve….

and then dashed to the Musee d’ Orsay to soak in as much as we could before the Shumways had to leave to catch the Ferry at 1:30.

Hazel is quite an art connoisseur and it was a delight to be with her there. She says that Matisse is her favorite, but when she saw a whole room full of paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec, her comment was, “When I see paintings by Matisse I feel that I’m looking into the painting. When I see paintings by Toulouse-Lautrec, I feel that I’m in the painting!  That girl just may be an art history major or the next Mary Cassatt. You just never know. It was delightful!

We couldn’t take pictures inside except for one room, which just happened to be our favorite! 

It was one fantastic weekend, cuddling up with the Shumways in Paris! Thanks to Saydi’s careful planning every hour was packed full of memories we’ll never forget! How we love this stellar family!

What a wild series of events has led us to the joy of being with them for three months in a row whilst they are living in England.

Jeff stayed cool on the long, hot ride home without air-conditioning by occasionally pouring water from a large water bottle over his head. Saydi and the kids also survived with panache and I’m sure that little Peter was a brick of gold!

Sweet Discoveries in Sweden

From Krakow we flew to Sweden on Ryan Air, a cut-rate airline that made it absolutely mandatory to check a bag ($60 per bag). You can only carry on one small bag. Nothing is allowed under the seats. Strange but true! Horror of horrors. We NEVER check bags. The last time we did that was our trip to South Africa and they were unable to locate our bag for a week.

Luckily the bag arrived and we stayed overnight at a lovely little Connect Hotel, which felt like staying at IKEA, which was appropriate since we were, after all, in Sweden. They discovered very clever ways to simplfy their rooms and the cost.

The next morning we caught a train to Osby, the “stomping grounds” of Rick/Dad’s ancestors, namely Swen (born abt.1848 and Thilda (born abt.1846) Swenson. We were met by our good and faithful email-friend Erik, who the resident historian of the area whom we were able to find when our niece Brittani visited there a few years ago. Tal and Anita also visited there last year and he was literally a treasure trove of information about our family! Swen was the resident school teacher in Osby for thirteen years and Erik’s father was at one time, actually in his class! 

Here is the church that Swen and Thilda certainly either attended (until they joined the Mormon Church) or knew about since it was built in 1834. It is a beautiful little gem in the center of Osby.

 

Erik is one of the leaders of the church there so he had access to everything!

He even knew who the pastor was at the time the Swensons were there.

I actually got to play this Steinway piano and the organ up in the loft below (as did Brittani and Aaron when they were there, albeit with much more professionalism than I did). Still it was a thrill! 

 

This beautiful painting hangs in the front of the church:

A lovely group of 24 teenagers were practicing for their confirmation ceremony while we were there. Such cute kids! They even fed us ice cream!

The cemetery surrounding the church is meticulously kept and this angel crafted from a dead tree stands amongst the graves.

Next we drove into the woods nearby where the old schoolhouse where Swen was the schoolmaster still stands! Rick, Grandma, Saren and Saydi had been there before but this was a first for me. It was such a thrill to see!

 

When Dad was there last, the remains of the old school were still there including blackboards and desks. It has now been bought by someone for a summer home but Dad, of course, just couldn’t resist a peek since the owners weren’t there.

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What fun we had exploring the grounds of the very place the Swenson family called home. They lived in one part of the house and Swen taught in the other. His son, our Grandpa Dan said he could remember sitting under the desk as a little boy while Swen taught the classes.

Rock walls were everywhere and flowers bloomed without any assistance from irrigation.

This is the same rock wall where the Saydi and Saren sat all those years ago!

 

A stunningly beautiful forest was right across the road:

Dad managed to recreate falling asleep on the moss there all those years ago and dreaming that he was his Grandfather!

Below is the root cellar under the house and the water pump and the original outhouses on the side of the house.

Next came a really special treat….the home that Erik knew Swen and Thilda had lived in before they moved to the school. They had many children and were exceedingly poor so they lived upstairs in three tiny rooms in the attic. It has since been abandoned but was open and we found treasures there!

Tal and Anita had visited the house last year (on their way home from the Ice Hotel) with Erik and the property was completely covered with old wood and which has since been neatly piled for sale to a company that chips it up and sells it  Erik said that you two Tal and Anita will find this very interesting because you could hardly see the house when you came last year. We could actually see the house from the driveway along with the old farm equipment that Swen must have used or at least seen there.

The old barn on the property:

It was a grand adventure exploring that old house where we knew they had lived even though it was pretty much a disaster! The owners had started to remodel it and then (two brothers), got into a feud and everything halted. It has been sitting there uninhabited for 30 years!

• The upstairs attic rooms where Swen and Thilda lived with their children still had an old bed and a couch that could very well have been theirs.  It was exciting to find a very old sewing machine in that could have belonged to Thilda.  She helped support the struggling family with her extraordinary sewing skills. From yarn she weaved and sewed exquisite aprons which the children helped her sell. There in one of the three small upstairs rooms was a huge chest that was typical of the times as well as a smaller one, both cedar lined with several skeins of yarn. The most exciting part for me was finding a very old sewing machine with a pin cushion that had almost completely deteriorated but which contained a rusty needle, which I have! I could be wrong but I think it was Thilda’s!

Below is the couch in this very small room. The cushions are gone and there are boards across the top but look at the fine carving on the wood.

As well as this carving on the top of the headboard of the bed:

Here is an old basket that Swen’s wife Iela said was used for potatoes:

The room where the kids probably slept:

Erik drove us back into town and showed us the spot on the lake in Osby where he was quite sure that the Swensons would have been baptized:

That night we had dinner with Erik and Eila at our hotel. She is equally as delightful has he is, though she has not felt well for a long time because of a tick bite three years ago. So sad! They are adorable!

 

How very grateful we are for this lovely couple who have now taken tender, loving care of Briitani, Tal and Anita and now us! It was truly a miracle that Brittani found out about Erik’s historical expertise at a camera shop in Osby when they were there with no idea where to start looking for the Swensons. Thanks for being in tune Brittani! that was a nice little miracle!

They invited their best friends Mats and Sissel who hosted Tal and Anita also when they came… to their home for a lovely array of desserts after our meal together. I’m so sad that I didn’t get their picture because they were equally delightful and truly fascinating!

The next morning Erik surprised us with a tour through the historical museum that he started and is now managing.  That is going to have to come in the next post!  So many pictures, so little time!

It was purely a delight to spend those hours with Erik and the delightful people we met in Osby. Good people must come with the territory in that terrific little town!

This family including their adorable little dog Laila almost feel like part of our family!