Welcome to Mora!

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Well, I have arrived safely in Sweden and have settled into my apartment. It was a long journey. I had one short plane from Madison to Chicago and then a long plane ride from Chicago to Stockholm. I'm not even sure how long it was - all I know is that it seemed endless and I did not get any sleep. I arrived at 7:45 AM Sweden time (12:45 AM Central time) in Stockholm and then took two trains up to Mora. That leg of the journey took another three hours. Luckily, getting keys to the apartment was no problem.

I am staying in an apartment that is on the grounds of Mora Hospital (Mora Lasarett), which is the hospital where I will be shadowing doctors for the next week. The apartment is very nice - I have my own bathroom, kitchen, living room, and bedroom. And there's cable TV and internet access - and this is all for free!! On top of that, the hospital is right next to the water. Mora is a town of about 10,000 people that is located between Orsajon and Siljan lakes.

After finding my apartment, I decided to venture out and find a grocery store. The hospital has kindly lent me a bike for my stay at no cost so I found that and somehow managed to find my way to the grocery store with no problems.

After dinner I unpacked everything, ate dinner, and watched a movie. I finally went to bed at 9:30, after getting no sleep for 31 hours!

Today, June 7th, I explored Mora! After packing a lunch and grabbing my camera, I set out on my bike. I rode along the lake for a little bit and then took the bridge to the main part of town. Mora Hospital is located on the east side of the river connecting the two lakes and the main part of town is on the west side. The town is really beautiful because it is surrounded by water and the houses are mostly red, just like I pictured Swedish houses to look.

My first stop was a large statue of Gustav Vasa sculpted by Anders Zorn. These are the two famous people of Mora. In 1520 Gustav Vasa (future king of Sweden) came to Mora to get the men of Dalarna (the region of Sweden that Mora is in) to rise up against the Danes, who had taken control of Sweden. He did not receive very much support so he fled on skies from the Danish troops towards Norway. However, when the local men heard about the Stockholm Bloodbath (where the Danes killed a hundred Swedish noblemen), the changed their minds and sent their best skiers to intercept Gustav Vasa.

Ever since the 1920's, Mora has been the finish line of the world's longest and oldest ski race. The race recreates the path of Gustav Vasa in reverse and is 56 miles. I went to the finish line of the race but unfortunately the museum is closed on weekends.

After a few pictures of the beautiful church and bell tower of Mora, I went to the home of Anders Zorn, a famous painter of the late 1800s/early 1900s. After visiting the house where he lived, I visited the art museum where many of his paintings are kept. I tried really hard to use my Swedish when buying the ticket but after only one word the woman replied back to me in English. I guess I didn't too well - I'll have to work on my accent!

Mora is a very bike-friendly town, which was good news for me. I haven't ridden a bike for awhile and my biking skills need a lot of work, so I'm glad I didn't have to share a road with cars. I biked all along the lake and eventually found a beautiful campground. I made my way out to the very tip of the campground that was situated along a river. There was a swing and a sand beach, so I stopped here for an hour and relaxed.

It has been a great day here and I am looking forward to tomorrow, when I being shadowing the doctors. It should be very interesting - I only hope that they speak more English than I do Swedish!

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Comments

[Michael]

Sounds like you have a great place to live. Hope all goes well in the Swedish hospital. Take care, ML