Wow... Famous in Sweden?

Sorry it's been a couple of days, but our internet was a bit dicey last night.  So... where to start... I guess where we left off... the Sorter family was high on a cliff... clinging on for dear life... Lassie.. Lassie.. go get help!  Er.. ummm... wrong entry maybe.  Oh yeah... we were in Stockholm, Sweden.  What a cool little campsite tucked in a cove on an inlet in Stockholm.  This place reminded us all of Vashon... and the whole region of the Puget Sound... So much water everywhere!

 Here is the body of water that was just a quick hop from our RV.  We took a nice walk along the water on one of the many awesome walking trails.  I'd say Europe has the outside scene dialed!

Here we are at sunset on the water.  Maybe a little profiley... but maybe make a cool album cover for our newest LP.

Okay... so we woke up on Wednesday, excited to finally make our way north to the homeplace of many of Heather's family (Grandma Gean's mother's family specifically)... the city of Leksand in the Dalarna region of Sweden.  We drove Northwest from Stockholm for about 3.5 hours through some of the most stunning areas of Sweden that we had been through... as we traveled... the road became smaller and smaller... more and more remote fields of wheat giving away to forest.  As we drew closer, I could see in Heather's eyes that she was living the emigration of her elders... wondering why they had left this place... feeling their homesickness as they longed for the lakes of Dalarma.  Lakes, big and small, surrounded us.  It seemed that we passed one every couple of miles... and the weather was beautiful in between short squalls.  As we came within 30 minutes of our destination, we hit a road block... not to be deterred, we mapped an alternate route that took us the wrong direction for about 40 minutes, but landed us on a road that would ultimately deliver us to Leksand.  Talk about a very fortunate detour... I'll explain why.  When we finally entered the small burb of Leksand, Sweden we headed straight downtown... our trusty GPS had a museum finder in it... so we set it on the only museum that we could locate in Leksand, hoping that it would get us close to the place we had seen in pictures... the museum that Heather's great, great, great grandfather had founded.  Sure enough... as we approached a beautiful local park in the heart of Leksand, we recognized one of the small houses that we had seen on the museum website and from the old family pictures that Beverlee had shared with us for our trip.

This is the first of Jones Mats Perssons collection

Very excited, we parked the van, and made our way out to the structures.  Soon we were surrounded by the very collection that Jones Mats Persson had started in 1899.  We read his name on the plaques... saw that he was credited with starting the collection (which had been added onto over the past 115 years).... wondered if anyone would be around to speak with about this Jones.  However, the museum and all tours were closed as of 8/4.  Coincidentally, we saw a group leaving one of the ancient structures.  Heather approached, clutching the family images that Beverlee had given us.  As Heather explained to the leader of the tour who she was, and he began looking through the pictures... I could see his eyes light up... and his recognition set in.  He had just been contacted the day before to give a special tour to a small group... which he reluctantly agreed to complete.  Had we been earlier... we would have missed him.  Long story short... he invited us to join the tour... he went and got keys... opened up the first of the Jones Mats Persson collection (a home constructed in the 1700s) and there was a pencil drawn portrait of the man himself... clearly drawn from the photo that Heather had brought with us... anyway... I could go on and on and on... this was a very emotional time and our guide (Peter) told us all of the history that he knew of Mats Persson and even took the time to show us where he was buried.

Oldest of the original Mats Persson collection, circa 1606.

Another of the original four Mats Persson collection.  Circa 1740s... used as a home and school house

Last of the original Mats Persson collection.  Communal Mill House (~1720s).  One of three known remaining in Sweden

Sorter family at the Jones Mats Persson house.

Inside the first of the Jones Mats Persson homes (circa 1700s) with collection

Heather inside the first of the collection with the portrait she had brought which matched the pencil portrait inside the house.

Plaque commemorating the life and work of Jones Mats Persson... great grandfather of Grandma Gean.

In short, Mats Persson was a very poor farmer who had taken a seasonal job in Stockholm.  While in Stockholm, he had visited a collection of historic houses.  One must note that these houses are very modular... meaning they can be deconstructed very easily so that they could be inherited (literally houses were equally divided among children both male and female).  After returning to Leksand, Mats Persson took it upon himself to preserve some of the local structures from the Dalarna region, unknowingly starting the earliest collection of structures in the region.  Our guide, slightly embarrassed, stated that early on, the local people thought the Mats Persson was a bit of a lunatic because he collected houses and other artifacts and moved them to his site.  Even forcing Mats Persson to get rid of some of his collection, burning some items.  After a local dignitary took note of his collection, he invited the King of Sweden to view Mats Persson's work during one of his visits to the country.  The King stated that Mats Persson's collection was a valuable national treasure.  This understandably changed the perspective of the local people, and Jones Mats Persson became a local hero.  He, his wife, son and daughter are buried in a very prestigious portion of the cemetery in a very peaceful plot next to his beloved Lake Siljan amongst famous local artists, composers and the very dignitary that invited the King to see his collection.   Needless to say, there was a lot of pride from the Sorter family... what a great story.   Believe it or not... we were contacted by the local Leksand newspaper to do a story on our visit... we sent them some pictures and will hopefully see a story soon (though we won't be able to read it cause it will be in Swedish)!  More stories about our Leksand visit will come when we see you all in person.

Heather and family at the grave of Jones Mats Persson... beautiful and peaceful on Lake Siljan

Here is the church where he is buried.  We camped across the lake and this was our view that evening.

The family baptized in the waters of Lake Siljan... see the church?

 After spending the next morning re-visiting the museum of Mats Persson and taking some more pictures of his original collection, we made our way south... and took a ferry from Sweden into Denmark.

On the Helsingborg-Helsingor ferry

 We landed in a beautiful little Danish city of Helsingor and found a campsite right on the water... kind of a theme of ours... as you've probably deduced.  We had some "french style" hot dogs... are working on getting the laundry done (sure could use some drawers!) then in to bed. 

Looking across the water at Sweden from our campsite... not too shabby.

Well... hopefully this entry wasn't too wandering... I had a lot to say... but a bit tired.  Hopefully you'll all understand what a interesting, powerful and emotional time the last few days have been.