2026: 31 March/The Najjarine

Fez, Morocco 

I again slept in and went out late morning.  It's my vacation so it's okay.  I did brave the shower--just a handheld model that cannot be placed on the wall to use as a traditional shower.  And the temperature jumps up and down between icy cold to burning my skin.  So that was fun.  And the floor is still wet.  

After wandering for awhile, I visited the The Musée Nejjarine des Arts and Métiers du Bois.  It is a restored fondouk from the 14th Century.  A fondouk was an inn for travelers.  It featured rooms around an open courtyard where they could leave their animals, tools, and goods while staying there.  The courtyard is now covered with a canvas tent to protect it.  This one was known as the Inn of the Carpenters.  It was classified as an historical monument in 1916, but had fallen in disrepair.  A multi-disciplinary team was set up in 1990 to restore the building.  One person financed the entire 25 million dirhams and the Wood Arts and Crafts Museum was set up and is now managed by a trust named for the man who financed it.  It is filled with exhibits of different types of wood you can find used in Morocco and things that have been made with those woods.  There were instruments, doors, windows, beams, screens, bridal boxes, and even customary law boards and special boards for learning and memorizing the Quran.  It was quite the collection of items.  The top of the building above the third floor is open to the outside so that you can take pictures and has a small tea shop.  Oh-and it had very nice modern toilets, so I took advantage of that!

The entrance

Some shelves

More shelves

These were to put the bride in and carry her around as part of the party

beam

screen

screen

a door

The courtyard again

doorways

musical instruments made of wood

More instruments

tablets that they would write verses from the Quran on to memorize,
then scrape it off and write another

Candles are placed on those pillars

These are for imams with the chiefs to write "customary laws" on. 

After they are written, wax is applied to make them last longer.
They are then stored to keep them safe.

Looking out from the rooftop

the sign outside

Next  was going to the nearby Najjarine fountain, a ceramic-tile, cedar-ceiling public fountain and is one of the most beautiful and historic public fountains in the medina.  

Details from the fountain

the fountain

After that and more wandering, I  went into a restaurant and ordered a chicken pastilla. A pastilla is a savory-sweet meal.  The meat, vegetables, etc are cooked in a flaky pastry which is topped with cinnamon and powdered sugar.  The chicken pastilla even has chopped almonds in it.  Before the meal came, I was served bread with a sauce and seasoned olives.  All of it, very yummy.  Luckily it was very inexpensive, about 8 dollars, because I was running out of cash.  Everything here is cash.  Next, I was directed to an ATM (which was not working when I got there), but I kept searching and found one for cash.  It is hard to guess how much I will need.  When I was walking, I stopped to look at some earrings and met a man from Brooklyn, New York.  We talked a bit about current and past politics.  I felt badly when I didn't buy the earrings.

The meal entree

Another street view

After I got back to the riad, I went online and researched and booked a day tour to Meknes and Volubis for Thursday and a day tour to Chefchaouen on Friday.  So those should be fun!  I also contacted someone who I had talked with online about drivers, he had offered to give me the name of a driver that he has used.  I had originally turned him down, but re-connected to get the contact information after all (since I will not be using the driver that creeped me out and crossed boundaries).  

2026: 30 March/The Fes Medina is my new 'hood

 Fes, Morocco

I woke up late this morning after getting to bed so late earlier this morning!  I woke and am still not impressed with my room.  The bathroom floor is still damp from the last person's shower (or from the person who cleaned the room).  I remembered that in both Cusco, Peru and Athens, I had to throw my used toilet paper into a bin, I asked about that on a Morocco travel site.  Most people said to ask the riad but one person that lives in Fes said thank you and to ask the riad, but in the medina it would most likely be yes. It has to do with their very old plumbing.  Toilet paper gets stuck in the small pipes which can cause blockages or breakage.  I haven't seen the riad owner since I checked in early this morning, so I have been doing that.  Very chilly this morning, temps in the 40s, with a forecast high in the 60s (that's in Fahrenheit).   I didn't sleep well last night after such a weird and uncomfortable entrance to the city.  Also, so many people online have warned that you really should hire a guide when you visit the Medina.  So I had weird dreams about that.  Well, I'm staying in the medina, so I just need to figure it out.  Up, dressed, and out.  I decided to skip the stress of trying to deal with/figure out the shower this morning.  Today I have a few vague ideas, but mostly it is to wander the medina.  And buy water and eventually get cash.  I set out toward the western gate which is on the opposite side from where I am.  It is less intense than the medina we visited in the middle east.  There are vegetable, fruit, meat, bread, and tourist stalls everywhere!  But there is a little bit of space between them.  And there are cafes, restaurants, and tea shops everywhere!  Some stalls are spread out on the walkways--especially the tourist souvenir ones.  There are very few motor powered vehicles in the medina.  It is a warren of paved paths with no rhyme or reason.  Most are named, but some are in arabic script--its funny seeing that pop up in Google Maps!  You can use Google Maps in some areas, but it blanks out in others.  It's pretty glitchy tracking where you are everywhere though.  So I just look and see that I will be needing to turn right at some point and try it.  I have had to backtrack several times when I've been searching for somewhere specific.  Natives will see you looking down and obviously lost and ask where you are going.  Most point me in the right direction, a few have walked me to the right place.  Never far enough, though, for me to feel like I needed to pay them.  I always go past the path to my riad!  

So I walked to the Bab Boujeloud, the western entrance to the old city.  The official name for the medina of Fez is Fez El-Bali.  It is the oldest part of the city.  Occasionally a motorcycle tries to get through in the outer regions, but not often.  Usually there are small horses, but mostly big handcarts that move things around.  I did walk down one street near us that ended in an a cul-de-sac with huge tour buses pulling in and a few hotels there. There is some type of motor cycle shop or group there as well, because there are a ton of them all over.  It must attach to a street, I just didn't see where that was.  There was also a small area with benches and plants--sort of an ad hoc neighborhood square.  The parts of Fez that I've seen (admittedly, just the medina) have no small neighborhood squares with benches and trees.  They are everywhere in France and Spain, just not here.  

So, back to the Bab Boujeloud.  It is a fairly new entry gate, built in 1913, a thousand years after the others.  The side facing out is covered with blue ceramic tiles painted with flowers and calligraphy while the inside is green which is evidently the official color of either Islam or peace, depending on interpretation.  It is in the Moorish style.

There are many fountains to be found, many are still working and I've seen people getting water from them.  They are tiled, as are many doorways.  Some doors and doorways are also decorated with painted and carved wood and awnings overhead.  

Tile around a random doorway

A working fountain

A doorway with tile and painted wood

After walking and walking, I was feeling hungry (I hadn't eaten since dinner at the airport the night before).  I walked back to the street with the cul-de-sac and saw a "terrace" restaurant up above.  I had to find the street to get there, then ate there.  I wanted to be out on the terrace, but it was too windy, so I ate inside at a large window that looked outside.  I was the only customer for a late afternoon meal.  I ordered chicken tangine with rice, a typical Moroccan dish.  Tagine is a stew cooked in a specific type of pot with a hood that allows it to steam.  However, I received a plate of rice with many pieces of chicken placed on it.  Also, bread and sauce.  For about 8 dollars.  It was very good, but not the tagine I was expecting.  And I drank bottled water.  I read while I was eating and afterward.  Morocco is another country that does not bring the bill until you ask, and often they just tell you how much it is.  Morocco is a place to haggle for things, but I read in an online comment not to haggle for food prices because there is not much markup and they are trying to make ends meet.  Also, they have prices listed, so it is best to just pay them what they ask.  

After that I just walked more, then went back to the riad to work on my blog posts (the four that I am behind on!) and went to bed early on my very hard bed.

 

2026: 29 March/Airport madness

Uppsala/Stockholm, Sweden--Fez, Morocco

Slept in a little, then up, showered, and a little breakfast.  After talking to Gunnar for awhile, I packed then read.  Last night I did online check-in for my first flight, but for the RyanAir flight, I had to scan my passport with my phone to get the chip to show up.  It did not work.  After an hour last night I gave up, then tried again this morning for half an hour but no go.  The email said that I would have to pay a 50 euro fee to do in-person check in.  Frustrating!  Eventually it was time to go.  Gunnar drove me to the airport in Stockholm, where I went to check in (even though I had already checked in online) then went to my gate.  The flight was completely booked, so they asked me to check my overhead bag for free.  The gate was very crowded, probably because it was the weekend.  Eventually I went and got a muffin and flavored water, then found a space on the floor to wait.  The plane was delayed around 40 minutes which was fine because I had a four and a half hour layover in Madrid.  

Joshua wanted a selfie of Gunnar and I--here we are at 
the airport.

Gunnar and his dog.

I had the window seat for the flight with one other person in the aisle seat, so it was nice to be able to have that empty middle seat as extra space for the four hour flight.  In Madrid, I had to go to baggage to get my bag.  There is a board showing which flights are at which carousels, but it took forever for ours to appear.  When it finally showed up and I got there, I saw my bag and ran to get it.  Then I went to connecting flights, but couldn't get in without a boarding pass.  The woman standing there told me that I had to go to Terminal 2 for Ryan Air and directed me to the bus to get there.  Finally found the bus and Terminal 2, but there were 140 check-in desks.  I went to the right and eventually got to desk 1--no Ryan Air.  So I googled it, the search said to look at the flight boards.  So I looked at the flight board, and sure enough one of the columns was the check in desk number!  Who knew??    Of course it was at the very end--desk 138.  Tired and cranky, I walked down there through another crowded airport, got in line, then explained the online check-in issue.  She tried to use my phone to scan my passport, even had me take off the case, but nothing.  Glad it wasn't just me.  She said next time to just skip through that section (I didn't see that I could do that, but okay).  She checked me in and assigned me an aisle seat--yay! (And no extra charge for the seat or the in-person check-in--yay again!)  The flights board did not list a gate with a note that said that it would be posted at 10:15 (my flight was for 11:35).  So I found a place to eat because neither Iberia airlines nor RyanAir feeds you or gives you drink service.  You have to pay exorbitantly for them.  And made a mental note to fill my water bottle.  Well, when I found my gate number, I looked, but had trouble finding it so I asked an information person.  Turns out I had to go back through the duty free shopping.  I hate being forced to walk through the duty free shopping area, like when they make you walk through the gift shop to exit the museum but much worse because I don't mind the gift shop.  A money-grab.  And then you get behind the people looking as they very slowly walk through.  But anyway, got there and realized that there was no bathroom or water bottle filler here.  So, (sigh), back through duty free, use the toilet, then stand in a really long line to fill up my water bottle (very slow water stream), then back through duty free once again to my gate.  Soon, we found out that our 11:35 flight was delayed, and then delayed again.  We finally boarded around 1:00.  My riad had scheduled a driver for me (for more money than usual because it was at night), so I messaged them twice using the booking app with updated information for the driver about my arrival time being delayed.  My original arrival had been 12:15.  I wasn't sure if the drivers kept track of the flights (I had shared that information with the riad).  RyanAir seems to be running an experiment to see how many people can possibly be squished into a metal tube.  I saw the pilots in the window as we were boarding and even they looked squished in the cockpit.  I had to pay extra for my carry-on and they added into the "package" priority boarding.  So when everyone queued up to board, I found myself accidentally in the priority line, so I said oops and jumped into the steerage line, then remembered that I had priority boarding (it was on my boarding pass) and slipped back into that line, feeling just a little bit above my station.  The other two guys in my row had to step over my large backpack because it didn't slip into the tinier-than-normal underseat space.  I put down my tray table (again, way tinier than normal!), took off my hoodie and put that and my jacket on the tray so that I could lay my head on it and try to sleep.  I dozed a tiny bit, but didn't sleep during our hour and a half flight.  Of course, they made numerous announcements about the food and boutique items that were for purchase, translated into many different languages, as they rolled their carts up and down the aisle.  That rather interrupted any sleep I could have had--it jerked me awake the first time as I was just falling asleep.  

But then we landed and got off the airplane.  As on many of the flights I have taken on this trip, we walked down the stairs to reach the tarmac.  Carrying our bags.  I went in the tiny Fes airport and went to the main doors where drivers were waiting.  None of them had my name.  So I went outside and was pestered by taxi drivers.  I texted again on the booking app that there was no driver!  In going through my emails from my riad, one had a what's app number in the French text.  I called that and someone from the driving service answered.  He said that the driver came back and said that no one was at the airport.  I said that I had texted the riad twice with about the delays and asked them to inform the driver.  He said, oh, yeah, I see that now.  And said that the driver was on the way.  Then we texted on what's app and I found that I had to pay the driver in cash--I had no Moroccan dirhams (MAD).  So I found an ATM, but it wouldn't work with any of my cards.  So I tried the cash exchange desk, but no one was there.  The information desk said that the guy was one duty and tried to find him--even checking the prayer room.  He said that he was probably in the back office of the exchange.  He called out to him and knocked, but there was no answer.  Well, all this time I also had taxi drivers and the other drivers whose passengers didn't show hassling me.  I said no, that I had a driver coming in 20 minutes.  One driver brought over a rather sad looking taxi driver and kept saying that he was my driver.  Finally we went through the organizer of my ride and he did indeed have the taxi driver drive me.  I was able to pay him in a combination of Euros and dollars the equivalent of 200 dirham, even though I had been told that it was going to be 300.  On the way, the driver kept making weird noises, answering his phone with a loud voice, and driving in between two lanes.  Finally he pulled over and another man (who turns out to be the organizer) took me and my bags in his car, which also had his wife sitting there.  The entire rest of the way he kept making weird jokes and saying demeaning things about his wife and calling me Flower.  I was very uncomfortable.  Because I still owed him 100 dirham, he stopped at an ATM for me to get money.  It didn't work, so we tried 2 others, finally getting one that worked with my debit card (I didn't know the PIN for my Capital One card--stupid me!).   Then he parked in a dark area and walked me into the medina to my riad.  We used the big knocker and the buzzer until we probably woke the owner and he came and let me in.  The driver hugged me and kissed my head and my cheek before he left.  (I will be finding a different driver to get back to the airport.). 

I was taken up some very steep stairs and given a form to fill out, then taken up some more steep steps to my room.  I was given keys by the sleepy proprietor, then took in the room. I am 5 feet 3 inches tall.  The ceiling is about three inches above my head.  And it is stained dark in some areas, including an area that looks like mold right above my head.  There is one very small window (about 15 by 15 inches) which opens above a common room of the riad (I think).  I closed it because it was very chilly in the room.  There is a table I can open my suitcase on, it only hangs over the front by a few inches.  There is also a tiled round table that has to be moved to open the bathroom door.   The bed takes up the majority of the room.  There is about three feet between the bed and the wall.  The "mattress" has no give.  It is hard and lumpy.  It makes me feel like I'm camping on the ground but without the cushion of a sleeping bag.  The sheets are stained.  The floor is clean, though.  The bathroom is cleanish.  The shower sticks out from bathroom wall,  no curtain or defined space and the floor beneath it is still wet.  And the air in the room is chilly and musty (not good for my allergies or asthma).  Two very small, thin pillows.  And a blanket.  Hmmmm.  I 've stayed in many nicer places.  Six nights.  OK.  It is now 3:45; I text my family that I am safe in Fes and change for bed.  I don't even have enough water in my water bottle to brush my teeth with. <Sigh> Hopefully things will be better tomorrow after I've had some sleep.  At least there's an outlet above the bed so that I can charge my phone.

2026: 27 March/Three Schools and a Party

 Uppsala, Sweden

Today was an early start.  We had to be at the Kvarngärdesskolan Uppsala International School at 8:00.  It isn't far from where Gunnar lives as the crow flies, but takes longer by car.  We had thought to use bicycles, but one of schools was a little further away and it was chilly out.  So Gunnar drove and took others with us.  At least the parking at the schools with parking lots is free, which was two of the three.  Unfortunately I have no photos from today.  I think we were just so busy going from school to school and then socializing at the party.

We had fika at the first school while hearing about the school.  The school has significant number of students whose parents work at the University or at other places and are only in Sweden for a year or a few years, so they created a two-track system, one of which teaches primarily in Swedish, but teaches some subjects in English (such as science) and the other that teaches primarily in English, but also teaches Swedish. It is a brand-new school building.  They moved all of their boxes there in August from the old school and spent the two weeks before school started unpacking rather than in meetings and PD.  It was built in three buildings for the different ages:  PreK and elementary, middle grades, and high school (10-12).  Students in Sweden take a test in 8th or 9th grade which helps determine which track they will be in for high school.  Some are university-bound and focus on the sciences, others are university bound and focus on the social sciences.  Others are headed toward business or similar fields, while others are put on a vocational/apprenticeship track.  Some leave school and go directly into a job instead of finishing school.  I don't agree with this at all, but I'm not teaching in Sweden so I don't get a say.  The school has high ceilings, and each classroom has one wall that is natural wood.  They have tables rather than desks.  It is a large school, so the students in each grade are broken into smaller groups (I don't remember what they call them).  Each group is mainly housed in one part of the building, with their lockers and such there.  The groupings were partially to help soothe the parents who worried about their child being in such a big school (elementary has four classes per grade).  So some high school students may be housed in the science wing, though they don't spend all of their time there.  Teachers for each grade/subject have a communal office/work room where they each have a large table as their desk as well as tables for them to meet or work/plan collaboratively.  They said that the teachers were not happy because teachers prefer to plan in their classrooms where they are going to be teaching.  

Then we got a tour and got to step in to talk to students who were working on projects in class.  We first went to a social sciences class.  They were working around the room in small groups.  I asked each group I talked to what they were doing and they had a paper with a list of social rights on it and they had to imagine a group of people and delete a certain number of those rights. There were ones that they immediately kept  and then others they discussed.  I was impressed.  They told me about the effects of the addition or deletion of the rights on each group.  One boy summarized that they had a society that was homophobic, but accepted gay marriage and the rights of women and other marginalized groups.  I was very impressed by their discussions.  I wanted to join in or ask provoking questions, but they didn't need me to.  They discussed the effects of giving people the right to vote, but took away the right to assemble and the right to think your own thoughts.  They talked about how those would be governed.  Pretty awesome discussions and thoughts for a young high school group (possibly 10th grade).  Then on to a middle grades group that was working on an animal project through art--clay, felt, etc.  Some of the students were embarrassed that they didn't know the English for what they wanted to say, but I reassured them.  After all, I don't know any Swedish!  Then we looked at a giant balcony on one of the buildings (it has a very high railing) and saw the playgrounds that surround and divide the buildings.  The balcony and natural wood inside are key elements of the architect that they used.  

Next was the Adult Education program at Bolandsskolan.  It is a county program that teaches the Swedish language to newcomers, teaches remedial high school, and teaches several vocational programs.   It had more of a college vibe.  We had two nursing assistant students talk to us about their experiences and answer our questions.  

Then off to Ellen Fries High School, including lunch.  The lunch, same as the students' lunch, was very good.  They had a salad bar, spaghetti, two sauces to choose from, bread, and the choice of mushroom soup.  It was all, including the soup, very good.  then we walked around, had a few students talk to us, then we talked to four student teachers about their pre-service programs and they answered our questions.  They are concerned about differentiating their instruction (aren't we all?) and talked about unions and salaries. Sweden had recently moved to a program of everyone negotiating their own salaries instead of collective bargaining.  Then we had fika (not a very good chocolate cake--very dry).  This school has a flexible 10th grade year for students who have not settled on a path or track.  

Then we dropped off others and went back to Gunnar's.  The Americans there included the regular delegation who arranged the dinner and program, and us jubilee participants who were told to bring bars for dessert.  I brought a box of Ghiardelli brownies--the best brownies.  Luckily, Gunnar and Margareta had eggs and vegetable oil that I could use.  I also asked for a square baking pan.  They did not have that.  The closest Margareta could find was a deep, round ceramic baking dish a little smaller than the directions call for.  So I used that, converted the baking temperature and water and oil measurements to metric and guessed at the baking time.  They turned out great and were still warm from the oven when we left.  I just took them in the dish.  Margareta put newspaper in the bottom of a paper bag to carry it since we were walking there.  It was at the first school we had been at that morning.  They were also the school that had helped with the mural project and had that hung up on the wall.  

A teacher I didn't know (Mikal) sat next to me--Gunnar was across and we sat near some other teachers I liked.  There were lots of speeches, talking about the history of the exchange and how they started it 20 years ago as well as the evolution since.  Then each person got a recognition award and went up on stage.  They had groups stand up as we were all sitting from each year.  Threre was at least one person from each year of the exchange there--several of us from my year.  The current group is the biggest yet--18 from each country.  There were 12  American past delegates there and many Swedish ones (it being a bit easier for them to attend!).   We ate and then watched a skit the current American delegates put on about the MN State Fair.   After that we talked and bused our dishes and left a group to do the final clean up, mostly the leaders who had also done the set up.  It was late when we got back so we we pretty much headed to bed.   

2026: 28 March/Ah, the museums and the theater!

 Uppsala

Today we got to sleep in a little bit--until 7:45.  First we drove downtown and found a parking spot central to where we would be.  Sweden, including Uppsala is doing what many complain about Minneapolis doing.  They are engineering the environment of the city to encourage people to walk and use bicycles while making it less comfortable to drive your car.  They have built and enlarged walking and biking paths.  The bike paths are often separated by a raised curb or up on a curb height from the street.  Parking is very restricted.  Most businesses do not have parking spots.  There are parking bays on some of the streets, but not the most driven ones.  Most streets are one lane each way.  Parking anywhere in the city is monitored by an app.  You need to enter your car and the number for the area in which you are parked (ie:  specific parking lot, along this street in this area of the street).  You then leave and when you return, you enter that and it ends.  You pay per minute.  One problem is that there is more than one app.  Whoever owns the parking area decides what app to use.  And then you enter your credit card info to pay for the parking.  There are many parking police who drive around checking to make sure that each person parked in an area has entered their information and if they haven't, they get a parking ticket placed under their windshield wiper.  And I believe that it is significant.  But today we were there earlier on a Saturday, so we found a spot right away (unlike yesterday). 

Our first stop was a guided tour at Museum Gustavianum which is part of the university here in Uppsala.  First we went into an operating theater.  It is one of those that you see in movies, with the the table at the center and the rising rings for students and colleagues to stand and observe.  A medical professor (Olaf Rudbeck the elder) back in the 1660s was learning from other doctors in other parts of Europe and saw one there and insisted on one in Uppsala as a condition of his working at the University.  They said that the wooden table would have been marble with a small trough cut just inside the outside edge for the blood and goo to go to drain into buckets.  And also, they rebuilt the current one from the old one though the upper walls and ceiling are original.  It was mostly used for animals, there were only 10 human dissections in the 100 years it was used.  In Sweden, there were only three sources for humans to dissect:  a murderer, a suicide (self-murderer), or a child up to the age of 12 conceived outside of wedlock.  I asked why 12--that was the age of marriage.  The purpose of the dissections, in addition to teaching students, was to try to understand the mind of God.   

The walls  of the theater are speckled so that any flying blood or goo would just blend in.

This is looking down on the table which would have been marble instead of wood like this one.

Then we saw the Augsburg cabinet.  It was created in Augsburg, Germany and presented from the city as a gift to King Gustavus Adolphus in 1632.  Unfortunately, he died later that same year.  His 6 year old daughter became queen and had the cabinet brought to Uppsala for her coronation.  It is full of drawers, and openings, and other spaces and was filled with objects from all over the world.  Many of the items  were kept with the cabinet until it was donated.  Some are broken beacause the young queen would play with them.  (Side note:  she abdicated her throne at the age of 12 because she converted to Catholicism, I believe.  She was banished from Sweden).  The cabinet was also supposed to help understand the mind of God.  There was even a pipe from a native American tribe on the East Coast.  It is supposed to represent the entire world.  It is built in the themes of the sea and love.  On top was a nut from Seychelles that was washed up on the shores of a western Europe colony  and traded.  The guide said that there are also steps inside that can be folded out to use to access and observe the top. It was extremely valuable.  At the time, the cabinet was valued at roughly the price of a castle.  Many references to Christianity as well as mythology.

Items from the cabinet

 A close-up of one side

The top

More objects from the cabinet

Another side

Another side (the white statue in the center was of Cain and Abel). 

Finally was the room of science.  Our guide showed us many interesting holdings and explained the Eugenics movement  in Sweden that began in the 1300s and ended with the final sterilization in 1971.  

This was the first Celcius measurement device, though at that time
the scale was backwards to what it is now, with 0 degrees being boiling and 100 degrees freezing.  

Other parts of their science holdings

The atrium area

Oh, it's a modern statue in the niche!
Too bad it isn't taller to fill the space better!

After this we walked over for brunch at the Stockholm Nation building.  The university in Uppsala is divided into "nations", more like societies.  Each is an area, such as the north, etc.  It seems to be to help students to feel less alone--give them a peer group besides those of their classes and other organizations.  Especially helpful for freshmen.  Each society has its own library, student center, pub, etc. but anyone can use them, including member of the public.  So we went there.  They had several choices for their brunch.  I had french toast with nutella and whipped mascarpone and the Smoothie of the Day--it was a mixed berry smoothie.  Very yummy brunch for less than $10. It is known for its brunches and its good prices.  (Guess I didn't get a picture of the breakfast--meant to!) 

Next on the agenda was a matinee musical performed by one of the high schools that we had visited.  We were able to walk there as well.  It was performed in a small theater downtown--the Regina Theater--kind of fun for high school kids to get to perform in an actual theater.  They were doing "The Prom", a translated American musical based on true events and is a movie you can watch on Netflix.  It is the account of a high school student in Indiana who wanted to go with her girlfriend as her date to their high school prom.  The girlfriend's mom was very homophobic and didn't accept that her daughter liked girls.  And, being in a small Indiana town, most of the students are homophobic as well.  They are shown the errors of their ways and the girlfriend fully comes out to her mom, though the couple did miss the prom.  They even broke up for a short time, but got back together in the final scene.  The nuances and specifics of the plot were difficult to pick up on Swedish, but it was fun seeing the kids having fun acting their hearts out.  I met the director and we spoke for a few minutes during intermission.  These are pictures of Uppsala that I snapped as we walked back to the car park through downtown and part of the old town. 

pinky finger is waving at you!

There is a street running through the bottom floor.

There is a story associated with this about a person getting their head cut off
by the French; it flew off and where
it ended is where they built the fountain and it is named after his head.

The cathedral in the background

Our group had a discussion outside the theater on whether or not to go out that evening as a group one more time, but decided to just say goodbye there and have a quiet last night with our hosts.  Margareta and Gunnar made a delicious dinner of salmon, salad, potatoes, and homemade bread with wine and we finished it off with the last of my brownies with freshly whipped cream.  (Being retired, Margareta is able to make all of their bread).  Then I repacked and started writing this, then spent the rest of the night talking with Gunnar and Margareta.  Gunnar and Margareta shared a few days ago that she had gotten cochlear implants which has made a huge difference in her life.  Last time I was there, she wasn't able to participate in our conversations and I think there were some social/cultural misunderstandings as well which made it awkward at times.  It was much easier and enjoyable this time and I was able to draw Margareta into some of the discussions and she showed me her photo album of vacations that she took in the US with her first husband.  As a host/ess gift, I gave them a nice couch blanket of a map of the state of Minnesota with pictures.  It was very thick and large and they seemed to like it.  Gunnar gave me two pairs of socks that his mom knit.  When he visited last time he gave me a pair of wool mittens that his mom had knit---very warm but large, meant for a man's hands.  His mom is 98 and still makes things and lives on her own.  Then to bed.