The Island of Ven

Today we went to the island of Ven. It was the most amazing day of my life. I never knew that places like this existed in the world, except on postcards. I truly was an experience of a lifetime. We left Lund around 9am and took a bus up to Landskrona, about halfway between Lund and Göteborg, and then took a ferry across the water 15 minutes until we landed at Ven. It's a small island, you could bike the perimeter in an hour if you were really trying to bike it quickly. I, for one, was definitely not trying to go fast!

Myself and the other enormous crowd of Americans that I seem to always be traveling with landed at Ven around 11am. Our program had rented us all bikes for the day to ride around the island, which ended up being the most perfect experience. Half of the group, myself included, took a tour of the Tycho Brahe museum. Tycho Brahe was a Danish astronomer who lived in Ven (back when it as still a territory of the Danish crown), and conducted his experiments for the majority of his adult, academic life. We went down into his underground observatory and saw some of the instruments he had used. It was badly narrated, by a terrible recording that made Tycho sound more scary than intelligent and ponderous. I'll never forget the recording did make one comment on the "evils of men" and that is why it is good to "live on an island." Other than that, the tour was pretty boring. I have no real interest in Tycho Brahe, but it was fun to hear the history of the island.

After we finished our tour, I headed off on my bike to see the island. We headed up to a church first, with a small cemetery, which lay on a high hill on the coast. It gave us a good vantage point and it was a gorgeous view. By this time the clouds had parted and the sun was shining down on us again (for perhaps the 3rd time since I've been in Sweden). We ate lunch at the harbor below after a little bit of exploring. Michael bought a plate of smoked salmon, salad, and bread for 60:- which is about $10. He let me try a bit of his salmon (hey, when in Rome, right?) and it was delicious! I can't remember fish ever tasting so good, but I think I am going to be a bit more adventurous and begin trying some meat-products and possibly some lok (salmon paste special to Sweden) while I am here in Europe. Otherwise, I would have missed out on that picturesque experience:

There we were: American travelers sitting at a bench in one of Ven's beautiful harbors, looking out at the ocean, savoring the breeze and the sun, and eating the local salmon. It was haute culture for 10 bucks.

After we ate, Michael and I took off by ourselves (we don't like to be surrounded by the huge groups of American tourist-students), and went on our own little adventure. We biked the perimeter of most of the island and it was absolutely to die for. The quaint little homes, the wind waving through the wheat, the sounds of seabirds, and the smell of salt. It was a postcard magically transformed into real life.

Michael also speaks German, so for the most part we spoke in German, because I felt it was just too perfect, too European, to speak plain American English. There we were, peddling along on our bright yellow bikes, taking dirt baths along the coast, stopping every now and then to walk the beach. We kept looking for areas where we could stick our feet into the water, but there were jellyfish everywhere!

The whole experience was awesome -- perfect. Untainted. I am sure that had we gone along with the huge group of people that I would not have had the same experience. It no longer would have been a quiet bike ride along the coastline, but a noisy and annoying trip to and from cafes and toilets.

So now that I am travel-wise, I have this advice for you: when you are traveling -- get away from the other tourists! Experience the country for yourself (especially by yourself or with a VERY small group). You will gain so much more.

Here is some Swedish for you to learn:
ö - island
cykla - bicycle
tyska - german