Day 12: Falun, Sweden

We visited the Falun Mine, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Mining began about 1000 years ago and stopped in 1992. It has been and continues to be the only source of the pigment for the Falu Rödfärg paint that provides the characteristic red color of all the buildings around the area and other parts of Sweden. Aside from its pleasing color, it is renown for its  ability to preserve wood (and other organic materials). At its heyday the mine provided 2/3 of all the copper used in Europe. Silver and gold are the other major minerals that were mined. We had underground and aboveground tours. Both were in English. The first hospital Sweden was started next to the mine to deal with the plentiful injuries occurring there. In the museum they had a graphic black and white movie of a leg amputation. Doctors at the local hospital had to watch the movie twice. Then, they were allowed to perform amputations. In theory, Edon is now ready to perform amputations. A scary thought!

Next, we went to the Dalarnas Museum. It had traditional clothing from the area and lots of Dala horses. There was also other important artifacts and art from the region.

Next to the local thrift store we wanted to attend was an atv/side-by-side/jet ski store. Ezi was very glad we stopped by. The thrift store looked similar to the thrift stores at home. It had some Swedish items we don’t usually see at home, like wooden butter knives and Swedish flag and folk culture inspired knickknacks. I scored a Gucci handbag for 95 SEK, which is about 10.50 USD. 

On the drive home we saw kitesurfers in the lake at Rättvik. The local Maypole had just been raised near the only other existing church boat (we saw the other one yesterday).

Another full and fabulous day! 

The picture towards the bottom shows how our dishes get clean everyday. And the punishment if they aren’t done well. Just kidding.