Norrbyskär - "the islet that was the world"

Towards the end of the 19th century, one of Europe´s largest sawmills grew on the islands of Norrbyskär. The sawmill company bought the island and built a steam powered mill, but also housing for the workers. This was a community on its own (at most 1200 people); the workers were drawn with good salaries and houses (with electricity!) and good education for their children (the future workers), but were also expected to be very loyal to the work place.



The mill was in operation 1892-1952.









We took the 9:30 ferry from Norrbyn to the harbor on the island closest to the mainland.









First we went to see the street with wooden workers' houses. Most of them were split into four apartments, evidently the apartment on the first floor closest to the street was the most popular. There were also some larger houses for the foremen. The social classes were much more obvious during these days.

On the way we passed the remains of the (electrical) railway on the island, used to transport all the sawed boards. Next stop was the remains of the harbor where everything were shipped from the island.



On the easternmost island, YMCA/YWCA ("KFUM") has some activity, among other things an adventure course, several kinds of small boats and confirmation camps. We went up to the northernmost part of this island, where a breakwater was constructed of stones. This was a nice place to have some snack and with the sun shining nothing to complain about.

Next to the island there were some ships left in the water. We are not sure exactly what these were used for, either for moving boards or sawdust.








Back on the middlemost island, we went down the street past the school. In this area, some holiday houses were built already during the sawmill days.









Back through the woods, we passed the place were the big planer was situated. The only remnant now was a tiled floor, it was really hard to realize how this place looked only about 50 years ago. The trees do a good job taking back the nature, if you let them be.


Close to this place, we thought that the dirt on the ground looked strange, until we realized that it was sawdust that we walked on. Pretty long decomposing time for this matter!








Right after we arrived on the island(s) during the morning, we just passed the museum since it was closed. Now on the other hand it was time to pay it a visit. A lot of artifacts and photos told about life in the sawmill society, but the most interesting part of the exhibit was the scale model of Norrbyskär during its high time. Piles and piles of sawed board everywhere.









Next to the museum there was houses built in scale 1:3, all prepared for the kids to get a view of the daily life of the early 19th century.








We finished our trip with a visit to "Kalmar'n", the place where all the sawdust from the sawmill was transported to with cable cars and then shipped to the mainland.





The workers' houses here were in same style as the other wooden houses, but made of bricks instead.







Next to here was the big house for the manager. He had his own house, with stables next to it. The area was marked with a fence, so that the workers wouldn't come too close.

War history tour

As mentioned before, Sweden lost Finland to Russia 200 years ago this summer. This is noticed in many ways in Umeå and the surrounding county. This afternoon we and twenty more people joined a guided tour of the eastern part of the city, which theme also was the war. We stopped at some memorials which were discussed. So know we know a lot more history about the kings in northern Europe at this time, as well as the background of the war .

Guided tour of Gammlia

Today we decided to visit Gammlia again - the open air museum that is not far away from where we live. We joined a guided tour, that among others featured two farmer's buildings from the 1800's. The houses are original, but moved to Gammlia (from northern Sweden) and the museum is about showing how it could have been 200 years ago. The houses are filled with old furniture and tools.

To make it more authentic, the guides were dressed in time-traditional clothes. The wooden fence around the yard helped to keep the hens within the farmhouse area. The forge ("smedjan") was usually placed outside the yard, for security reasons.


We also visited a forest Lapp cot, that was built last year. Unfortunately we were late for the tasting of the traditional bread, but we sure will try to show up for that later on.

The west parts of Umeå

Today we joined a guided tour featuring the west part of the city. We felt a little as tourists in our hometown, partly due to the Swedish with German accent the guide spoke. During the 1½ hour tour the guide told us a lot about Umeå and different houses in town.

We learned that Umeå got its city privileges already 1622, so it's an old town.

"The butter box" ("smörasken") was built as a bank house in 1877. Later it has been used as library and school, but is today office for Umeå Energy.








In the west parts there are still some old wooden buildings, but in the city center everything was destroyed in the big city fire 1888. Many of the old houses are today protected under the Heritage Conservation Act, so only restricted renovations are allowed.

Lieutenant Leopold Grahn had this house built for him in 1893. At this time the yard houses were stable and bakery, but nowadays renovated to apartments.


Already 1764 the first hospital in northern Norrland was opened here in Umeå. The big yellow wooden house was built in 1785 and is today the oldest building in Umeå. Nowadays, the buildings have changed to offices. The building to the right was built 1893 to be the surgery, but the hospital moved to larger buildings just 10 years later and the house hosts the office of our landlord today.

East coast island nature

Just after she woke up, Maria took some pictures of the island. If you compare with the landscape on the west coast a month ago, you will notice a big difference in the amount of vegetation. Much more grass and brushes on the east side of the country, while the other side is more rugged.

Why is it always sunny the day you have to leave? No one knows, but it was the case this weekend too. We left the island before lunch since we had to catch the early afternoon train and flight back to Umeå.

In the evening we went to bed earlier than usual, since we were so tired. Can somebody tell why it is so tiring to be outdoors for a couple of days?

Midsummer Day

Today we had even more rain than yesterday, but there were occasions when you could be outside now and then. Some work was done, we unpacked the small pool that was bought a while ago and filled it with water. Telephony installations was also performed.

Mostly we just enjoyed the time together with the family and relaxed. In the afternoon we all went for a walk. The well-known rocks is a welcome and peaceful sight.

Olle's brother started up the fish smoking equipment, that has just been waiting to be used for many years. Herring was smoked and the taste was really good.

In the evening we enjoyed the sunset, both from outside and from the dinner table through the window.

Typical Swedish Midsummer Eve weather

Midsummer Eve has more of traditional celebration than the National day here in Sweden. It's also a day off from work, so everyone can enjoy being outside. For some reason this day most often isn't a nice/warm summerday, rather colder temperatures and some rain is the standard. And so also this year...

Some campers found their own island to celebrate midsummer on.







After breakfast we and Olle's brother took a three hour long boat trip along the coast, in a traditional wooden boat. The goal was Olle's parent's summer house on a small island. We relaxed and enjoyed the landscape, which was more comfortable the moments when the sun didn't hide behind the clouds.

When we arrived it was time for the traditional Midsummer lunch, newly-harvested potatoes ("nypotatis") and herring. A snaps (herb seasoned vodka) was optional, but the songs obligatory.

Thereafter it was time to collect flowers for the Midsummer pole, arranged together on a small meadow. We met all summer neighbors again, as well as some new ones. We can admit it felt good to be back.

Before going to bed Maria went to look at the flashes from the lighthouses. Three are in sight from the island. It is so relaxing just sitting there and watching, it is quite except for the sound of waves. Even down here the summer night is not totally dark, even if it is lighter up north.

Light-beer is our choice

Today we biked downtown and checked out a store with outdoor life equipment. We were amazed of how long time the shop assistant helped us choose among the large amount of hiking backpacks. We both need backpacks for future hiking tours, earlier years we have borrowed from friends. We also need some other equipment (tent, kitchen), but thought we had spent enough time in the store after we found the favorite backpacks. Will go back later to buy them, still some things to consider.

In the afternoon we passed "Systembolaget" for the first time in a looong while. In Sweden there is a monopoly on alcohol, and you have to go to the special store if you want some alcoholic beverage. Not that you go there that often, it's expensive, even if the range of wine is of good quality. More often you buy alcohol when going abroad, where it is much cheaper. But living up north it will be a long distance for transport of heavy beer and wine, so we might buy some at Systembolaget.

In the afternoon we had a blind test of beer with different alcohol content, to see what we like most and will buy in the future. We had the same brand and tested light-beer (in Sweden that means 2.8% alcohol), middle-beer (3.5%) and strong-beer (5.3%). Olle could clearly separate the glasses, but liked the taste of light-beer most, maybe because that's what we have been drinking most since we moved back to Sweden. No reason not to buy the cheaper light-beer was our conclusion.

Last floorball training

Maria has joined a group at her work to play "innebandy" (floorball) during Thursday lunch time. Today was the last time before the summer break, we will be back in August to (friendly) fight again. It's sort of drop-in, so we divide in two teams for the day. Maria has been playing three times now in May/June, but she still feels rusty in her play, not at all as good as she was when playing during her student semesters.
"Innebandy"/Floorball is similar to floor hockey except that you play with a light ball. It's not as rough as hockey, not much of body contact is allowed. We play the version with small goals and therefore without goalkeeper (so everyone can run on the indoor ground).

An afternoon walk

Around lunchtime it started to rain, ruining our plans of a walk. At least for a few hours, but around three o'clock we noticed some sunshine and went out.
Evidence from the earlier rain was obvious on some leaves.







We went to the the forest just to the west of us, and walked the 5.9 km running trail. Part of it was on the trail prepared for cross-country skiing during winter. One of the trails is groomed with snow machine if needed. Part of the trail went further on and took us in to quite wild-looking forest.

Around half-way we took a short rest, sitting down on some stones. Just next to us were flowering lingonberry sprigs.

A cold National Day

At lunchtime we went to Gammlia, the open-air museum, were the official National Day celebration occurred.

The weather was not warm at all; about 10 C for maximum and the rain was waiting to start any minute.






A male choir were singing summer songs.
A group were dancing traditional folk dances (photo taken before they started), and also dressed in traditional folk costumes (hard for us to tell from which region of Sweden the dresses came from, too little knowledge).



In the afternoon there was the opening for the craft exhibition "Självklart - 100 år med Västerbotten läns hemslöjdsförening" (Eng.: "Of course - 100 years with the home craft association of Västerbotten county"). All kinds of material were included. One of the most impressing arts was the carved moose antler.

The Big Food Party in Vännäs

Tonight we took the car to Vännäs, a village 20 min drive from Umeå.
Now also Olle got a look of the nice train station that Maria passed some weeks ago.
The food party that we attended reminded us of Taste of Madison;
both food and some entertaining song and dance. Unfortunately, the temperature were too low to inspire people to stay longer, otherwise we guess a lot of the inhabitants of Vännäs were downtown tonight.

Spring turns to early summer

This time of the year there is a mix of spring and early summer flowers, especially in the north where the spring comes late, but summer should be in time. Maria could not resist immortalizing them on the way to/from work.

The spirea is now like big white bushes.





We haven't noticed the white mats of Anemone nemorosa ("vitsippa"), maybe the species isn't so common in the north. Anyway, there are white stars at the edge of the wood, what we think is Artic starflower ("skogsstjärna").







An up-to-date picture from Maria's bikepath to work. Now for some months the green is next to you, and there is not any view of the lake or the car road much longer. Some peaceful minutes, often for yourself.







One interesting thing here within Umeå is the tree areas left behind look like forests, not arranged parks. It's hard (for us) to remember if this is a phenomena of northern Sweden or something all over the country. The following photos are taken just next to the student apartments, but could be from a dark forest as well. Marsh Labour tea ("skvattram") and (European) blueberry are in bloom.

And just when you have started to take in all spring flowers in full bloom, the early summer flowers start to appear here in town.
Isn't it a little bit early for Woodland geranium ("midsommarblomster") ?
And the Cow parsley ("hundkäx") is turning white as well.


(With reservations from being wrong in some species, we are not experts.)