Oops-a-la...

So here we are in Uppsala, just north of Stockholm, trying to look like natives and failing miserably.

The retail employees have a whole conversation they utter at us before they've rung up even one banana or shirt. Fortunately, the blank looks on our faces result in an almost instant revert to perfect English.

This would have been helpful this morning, during our attempt to do laundry. It was easy enough to tell that a load costs 10 crowns (it's the only coin that fits), but what kind of wash to do? The washbin symbol with one line or two lines? How about the spiral looking symbol?

Trevor went with the philosophy of pushing buttons until there is noise or movement. Oh! There they go--spinning, spinning! Look at those clothes spin! Then--nothing. (One wonders, is *this* how the world will end? Spinning, spinning, then nothing?) Luckily, after pushing a few *more* buttons, there were suds and water. Here's hoping for clean pajamas tonight!

Blog entries may be less frequent in coming days. We are heading up north, near the Artic Circle, but probably not past it. There, the ratio of people to square kilometer is 2, whereas it is closer to 180 in Stockholm and places like that. If one of those 2 people have an internet connection, there may be more blogs. Otherwise, we'll have to rely on memory and pictures.

Hej da Uppsala, Hej Boden!