Sweden: Volvo Site, or Driving Bigger Stuff!

Hej, hej!

Yes, that's me in the driver's seat!

This is a Volvo loader and our Swedish friend, Johann, is instructing me on what to do and when.

Here we go!

So I drive around the yard, lower the bucket, scoop up some dirt and rocks, drive to the other side, lower the bucket, tip the bucket and dump!

Wow, how much does this job pay?

According to all the techs, women do make better operators.

Thinkin' about it!

Johann and Love. Her turn now.

Johann is a drummer and has played with a blues band from Phoenix.

Sorry, I can't remember the name of the group. He's a huge fan of ABBA and has played with them too.

Swedes are very proud of all things Swedish. I can't blame them, it's a great country.

This is the one I really liked. It's at the top of my holiday wish list.

If you've driven on our road, you know we could really use this thing.

I love it!

The guys at Volvo were terrific and so much fun. We hated to leave them! They gave us a lot of special attention and while we were there, we shared many laughs, and great conversations over wonderful dinners.

From left to right: Denny (Mike's customer), Love (his girlfriend), Mike, me, Lee (an operator from Wisconsin), and our Swedish friends; Johann, Peter, and Stefan.

The night before I drove the equipment, we all went to dinner in a reconstructed Swedish village called Rademacher Forges.

For 350 years the Rademacher Forges, have made all manner of steel implements; locks, hinges, tools, etc.

The buildings dating from the 1650s, are well preserved and various craftsmen are still working there.

The story is that the king of Sweden at the time, King Gustav, convinced some Latvians who were revered for their smithing skills, to sneak away and emigrate to Sweden which was illegal, punishable by death. The king promised them untold wealth and lavish living conditions in Sweden. They left in the middle of the night and arrived in this village. No wealth and severe living conditions. They were not able to return though, because they had broken the law and would be executed.

In the village, we ate at a great restaurant named "Jernberghska".

This is where I found out how to drink a beer with a wine chaser.

Not kidding!

The Swedes really know how to enjoy the good life!

FLASH BACK TO THE DAY AT VOLVO

After we drove the equipment and saw the show...oh, I forgot the show...Volvo had a choreographed equipment exhibition. Loud rock 'n' roll, and fast moving heavy construction equipment doing wheelies and figure eights.

What could be more entertaining?

Believe it or not, this did not tip over and they had more than one truck doing this.

The grand finale.

Multiply this by ten and you will get an idea of how many pieces of equipment they had on the field. Impressive to say the least.

Volvo Equipment even has it's own band. They weren't playing the rock 'n' roll music however.

Sweden is a very cool place!

We eat lunch in Eskilstuna

After the show, we drive back to Eskilstuna to eat lunch and pick up the Audi.

This small cafe is in the older section of Eskilstuna and is famous for it's Princess Cake.

That's Mike trying to decide what to get.

They only had a few choices, but everything looks beautiful and delicious!

This is a Swedish meatball sandwich. It had pickled beets prepared like egg salad under the meatballs.

it was really good.

Another sandwich. Shrimp, ham, and layers of egg, salmon, pate and thin bread.

This is a slice of Princess Cake, or Princesstårta in Swedish. It was invented in the 1930s and is said to have been created in honor of Sweden's three princesses at the time; Margaretha, Märtha and Astrid.

It is made of alternating layers of light, airy cake, thick pastry cream, and jam, all topped with a sweet jacket of marzipan; often in a dome shape and green, although we did see a pink one. It was heavenly!