Sweden Thus Far!

So, I've been in Sweden for almost two weeks now. I've been vaguely trying to keep a journal about all the things I've seen/ places I've been. So I thought I'd post a brief-ish summary of the majority of the trip, seeing as how I'll be home in a few days. We're spending the entire trip with a former au pair of ours, Christina, and her husband, Daniel. They live in Svedala.

Sun Jun 29: Svedala & Lund. Moslty did window shoping. In Svedala (where Chirsitina, our former au-pair lives) there was a local market thing going on. They had local bands playing, which was fun. The first one was crazy screamy heavy metal. Amusing.

Mon Jun 30: Copenhagen! There were so many bicylces! Threre were almost bicycle parking lots in some areas! And not many cars. Pretty cool. We did a boat tour of the harbor, which was very fun. I felt bad for the tour guide though - he had to give the same spiel in English, Danish, and Italian. The Little Mermaid statue is less impressive in real life, but I'm still glad we saw it.

Tues Jun 31: Driving tour of the nearby area!
Ales Stenar: ship shaped stone formation that is very old. Like Stonehenge, the date it was assembled and the purpose is unkown. One theory is that it's an empty grave for sailors lost at sea. Another is that it's an ancient astronomical calander. Very spiritual and mystical location right on the edge of a clif. Flocks of tourists mitigated the effect somewhat though.
Glimmingehus Castle: Very old castle. It hasn't been refurnished or re-constructed much so you could really see the original layout and defensive structures. It was built to be a strategic fortress, so there were lots of ways to defend the castle both from external and internal attack. I was glad none of my GMs were there to get any funy ideas. One of the cooler and surprisingly simple defence structures was that the stairs got steeper as you went up the castle to make it very difficult for enemy soldiers to run up them. This castle, like most we would see later, also appears to host an equivalent to a Renaissance Fair in the summer. So sad I can't be there for one of them.
Kungagraven (Kivik Grave): Extremely immense pile of rocks with runes inside it. Very spectacular. Though the strange modern art and cafe less than 20 ft away diminished the effect somewhat.
Haväng: A stone age burial site that was discovered when a storm washed away the soil covering it. Like Ales Stenar, it is situated on a small clif next to the sea, but Haväng is off the beaten path and less famous, and as such, much less touristy. This allowed you to really appreciate the location and the importance of the monument.

Wed Jul 1: Drive to Karlskrona and have dinner with Daniel's brother & girlfriend. Spent the night in a former lighthouse.

Thurs Jul 2: Karlskrona! This was once a key naval defense city, and the old fortress is still in use by the Swedish navy today! We got a guided tour of the fort, which could have been better. The guide would go on and on in Swedish, and then give a significantly abreviated version in English. Good thing we had Christina and Daniel with us so the could tell us interesting tid-bits that the guide didn't translate. We also saw several Churches with highly impressive alters and pulpets from back when they were Catholic. My favorite church was Amiralitetskyrkan Ulrica Pia. It is Sweden's largest wooden church and was built in 1685. Outside the church is a wooden figure called Old Man Rosenbom. You can donate money by lifiting his hat and putting money in the slot on his head.

Fri Jul 3: Kalmar. Kalmar is a very important city because of the Kalmar Union between Denmark, Sweden, and Norway which was signed in 1397. The union stayed in place until 1523 when it was broken by the Swedish king, Gustav Vasa. (the day it was broken is celebrated as a sort of Swedish independence day). We spent the morning in the Kalmar Läns Museum where the main exhibit was on the Kronan which sank in 1676. The wreckage was discovered in 1980 and 80% of it has been excavated thus far. There are an amazing amount of preserved artifacts from daily life, which are invaluble to historical scholarship. We were lucky that the descriptions in the exhibit were in English as well! We spent the later part of the day at Kalmar Slott. This catle began it's life as a small keep which was built in 1180. The castle as it now appears was constructed in the 16th century. It is one of Sweden's best preserved Renaissance castles. We had a guided tour in English, which was really fascinating (and amusing since our guide pornounced monastaries, "myn-ast-er-ees"). This castle too hosts something similar to a Renaissance festival which I also can't go too. All these castles are making me long for Bristol Ren Faire!

Sat Jul 4: My second 4th of July overseas! Kingdom of Crystal in Småland. We stoped at about five different small towns, each known for a different type of glassblowing. Two of the more famous ones we stopped at are Kosta Boda and Orrefors. We also stopped at some smaller ones, like Johansfors. I personally liked the smaller ones better. Unlike the big names which had mostly very expensive tableware for sale, the smaller ones had less utilitarian and more interesting products. At one of the smaller ones (whose name I'm failing at remembering) I bought a beautiful glass bird.

Sun Jul 5: Mostly driving in the rain. Also Växjö and the Swedish Emigrant Institue. The Emigrant Institute was really fascinating and had an exhibit that talked about the reasons for emigration and described the lives of Swedish immigrants in Ameirca. I didn't know that so many famous Americans were of Swedish decent (Buzz Aldrin, Chalres Lindbergh, the founders of both Greyhound and Wallgreens...). We ate dinner at a pub in Gränna.

Mon Jul 6: More rain! Spent the morning in Gränna which is known for its handmade candycanes called polkagris. Almost every 30ft there was another candy store where you could watch them making candy canes. The tourist information center in Gränna is also where I found the coolest thing ever! They had plastic midieval figurenes for children - standard knights and pricess fare right? Wrong! The princess figure was in a fighting stance and holding a sword! How cool is that? I didn't have the money at the time to buy one, but I did take pictures. After that we drove to see the stone ruins Alvastra Monestary. They were very beautiful and covered in plant life. The we drove to see the Rök stone, the longest runic inscription found thus far. It is also considered to be the oldest example of Swedish poetry.

Once I sort through all of the tourist pamphlets, I'll post more!