Me? A Tour Guide?

Ok...I admit that "tour guide" is a bit of a stretch, but it is true that I was recently given the responsibility of entertaining four women from the States while their husbands were here on business (they are colleagues of the hubby).   A while back, he asked if I could show the ladies around Lund. As it turns out, the hubby would actually be back in the U.S. and unable to assist with the "tour" which seemed quite unfair (not the fact that I was giving the tour, but that he was in the states without me!).   Nonetheless, I agreed to help out.   It would be nice to have some company from women who appreciate all the things I miss from back in the U.S.  Besides the obvious friends and family, there are a few other American things that I miss a great deal....really good "bad for you" foods and convenient shopping!

The employees at my old Target probably think I died!

I was a little nervous as the day approached.  I have to admit that I have not spent a lot of time in downtown Lund, and I did NOT want to get lost and embarrass myself....the town is quite small, so it really would be embarrassing to lose my bearings.  To try to reduce that risk, I took a few trips into town before the day of their visit.  My girls and I spent part of a Saturday looking around and doing some sight seeing for ourselves.

Basement of Domkyrka (Lund Cathedral)

The quaint streets that lured me to Sweden in the first place!

The hubby's co-worker (and I will go out on a limb and say my friend) Li helped schedule the day.   She set up a "ghost tour" of downtown Lund with a gentleman named Jacques Schultze (he seems more "guy" than "gentleman" but I don't want to sound impolite).  And, for the record, he IS Swedish although his name sounds French.  He made sure to clarify that for us...not that there's anything wrong with being French, of course.

The "real" tour guide!

Anyway, the tour was great for the ladies and for me as well since I know pretty much nothing about the history of Lund.  One of the ladies thought that perhaps I was in "training" to become a tour guide like Jacques.  I had to giggle because even my knowledge of U.S. history leaves a bit to be desired!   Jacques mixed in historical info (I don't know how he remembers all the pertinent dates!) with interesting ghost stories and some pretty good jokes!  Here's one of the more impressive buildings that we encountered.

One of the University buildings....soooooo beautiful!

After our tour was over, we headed to lunch at Kulturen which is an open-air museum nearby (I admit I've only dined at Kulturen....and checked out the gift shop....I should probably add a real museum visit to my "to do" list).   Lunch was very tasty and the ladies had many questions for me about life in Sweden.  I have to admit this is when my shameless plugs for my blog began.   (I couldn't help myself...some of their questions were answered perfectly by previous posts...i.e. how do you find a hair dresser? Are you looking for a job?)

Can I have one of each???

If had been a rainy day, we may have lingered at Kulturen for some Swedish culture.  However, the weather was beautiful, much different from most of the summer, so we just walked around town to browse in some of the shops.  The ladies wanted to make a trip back to Ahlgren's Konfektyr - a chocolate shop that we passed on the tour (I admit that we first stopped into the Tourist Bureau so I could grab a map and make sure we started walking in the right direction.....sad, but true!).  The shop was full of all sorts of chocolates (some from Sweden and some from other countries), gift boxes, and other goodies.  It also has really good ice cream cones.   Even though I was still full from lunch, I was tempted!

The ladies picking out some treats to take home

We managed to check out several other stores in town, mostly just to browse (although I found a few new places which may need a second look).   We also investigated an indoor marketplace...also new to me... that had meats, cheeses, fish, etc.

He's the one!

After a final stop for coffee, our bus picked us up and dropped us back at the office where the husbands were waiting (theirs, not mine).   The day was a lot of fun....for me, at least!  I didn't get lost (whew!) and I was also able to spend time with four great ladies from the U.S. (who made me feel like moving to Sweden was a pretty cool and interesting thing!)

Thanks for a great day!