Relaxing in Nora

Monday after the convention we were quite tired, so we slept in for once. (Hey don’t make fun, we’ve been very busy. –Eric) Later in the morning we took the rowboat out to the island again, just to get to some exercise. Later in the day Zoltan came home from work and wanted to show us around Nora. He wanted to show Eric the ambulances at the stations he cleans, but they were out on a call when we arrived. We then went to an old iron mine & refinery, where we got to walk through the huge old building where they melted and mixed the ore to make the high quality Swedish iron. The water wheel that powered the whole operation is still working and a fantastic piece of work. (I thought the wheel was amazing. They diverted a small amount of the stream to power it but the stream they are using is very small. The part that they diverted was even smaller. Only about a metre wide and a few centimeters deep, but it powers a huge wheel. The wheel was probably 7 or 8 metres in diameter. –Eric) There are old mine shafts all over the countryside, and we walked to see a few of them. Along the way we found smultron, Swedish wild strawberries with the best flavor you’ve ever tasted. We went back for dinner with Zoltan and Berit, and then met a few brothers down by the dock. We got to take out Zoltan's other boat, a 2 sail 15 foot sailboat. The wind wasn’t exceptionally strong, but that was fine since he let me be at the helm. We circled the island once, and cruised in to a small beach. We docked and all got out for an evening swim. The water was finally perfect, cool and refreshing but not cold. (Well to me it was freezing. –Eric) We splashed around for half an hour, and headed back home. I discovered that I love sailing on this trip, so hopefully I will get to do it again.