A Little about Örebro

Örebro became a center of the iron trade because it is situated near waterways that were used in transporting such products. It was founded in the 13th century when a bridge was built over the small river Svartån. Örebro later was a center for manufacturing shoes. Like many old European cities there is a castle in Örebro, which is shown in the picture to the right.

The castle was built early in Örebro's history and was rebuilt several times. It served as a residence for feudal lords, including Gustav Vasa, who later became King of Sweden. It now houses a museum, a tourist office, a conference center and a restaurant. Maybe Oma and I can visit it while we're there.

Just the beginning

In just over a month we'll be winging our way across the big pond to the land of my ancestors (at least some of them). We'll arrive there in about 16 hours - a bit shorter time than it took my great-grandfather to make the trip to the United States in the 1880s. Between now and then, we have a lot of studying to do to make sure we spend our time well. Oma's conference goes from June 9 - 11. So, we'll be in Stockholm for that time. After that we want to find Kvistbro, which is where my great-grandfather Larson's family lived for at least 200 years. I've found it on the map and it appears to be quite a small community. Maybe there is still some evidence of the family in cemeteries and such.

Orebro (the Swedish spelling contains some characters my computer doesn't naturally come by) is the name of the county where Kvistbro is found. Orebro is also the name of a fairly large city we plan to visit. We hope to keep up the blog during the trip, including uploading a photo or two. It should be a great adventure.