Driving Sweden,Tanum, and Denmark

July 22-24 we drove on through more of northeastern Sweden, then at last into familiar Uppsala and then west, initially toward Oslo, then Goteborg, again on a familiar road, stopping, the 23rd, to see the World Heritage rock carvings site at Tanum and environs. We camped the 23rd at a rest area north of Halmstad, on west coast now.

On trhe 24th, in Halmstad, we had the Grey Wanderer serviced: oil change, filter, fuel filters, wheels rotation, etc. $900. OK, the Sprinter requires 14 quarts of oil, synthetic oil. But we also had to pay Swedish wages, roughly twice those in the US, and, of course, it was a Mercedes dealer again. We've been pretty happy with Mercedes, except when it comes time to pay. The camper's still in warranty, however.

We then took the familiar Helsingborg/Helsingor ferry, back to Denmark and drove on across Denmark to Jutland, which we had pretty much skipped going north, stopping for a time at the world's busiest McD. Total kid bedlam, despite which we did some internet work. McD's has been our standard free wifi site throughout Scandinavia, when we could find them. We camped at a rest area near Arhus.

The Tanum sites are all Bronze Age, 1500-500BC; much
more developed art; the museum had a Bronze Age village 
exhibit that was very interesting

Famous boat scene

Fleet

The Lovers, also very famous

Lovers, in perspective...a wedding?

The Spear God, one of very few life-
size depictions; precursor to Odin?

Menacing figures

Mounted figures

A number of figures, such as this warrior, were unpainted, but
easier to find in the light rain

Horse

Unpainted boat

Others

Big hands; the phallic stuff was much in evidence;
very, very few depictions of women

Love that Swedish sense of humor!

Back to Sweden: Gammalstad

July 21 was a day of driving, from south of Hetta, Finland, to Lake Angerjons, south of Umea, Sweden, off the Bay of Bothnia, Baltic Sea. Near Hetta was a major snowmobiling site. Terrain, mixed pine and aspen, rolling hills, sandy soil, lakes, creeks, rivers, more lakes. Many reindeer on or near road, very docile. Great souvenir store, much Sami, in Sonkamuotka, “Arctic Knife.” Stimulated local economy. Drove on into Sweden, near Muonio, mostly E4 and tributaries. Stopped at Gammelstad, old village and church, UNESCO, 3 star, near Lulea. Gammalstad is important as a well preserved market town...the church at the town center, with houses radiating out along the paths to distant villages. The villagers used these houses to stay in on market weekends, then return home. Gammalstad has scores of the them, preserved for centuries. In any case, a long day of driving, stopping finally, at Lake Angerjons south of Umea at 10PM.

Gammalstad 14th century church Pulpit Font, said to be much older than church Gammalstad houses Houses and church We also saw one of the old foundry towns Vicki hates these "old/new" shots I do 

Gamla Uppsala

"New" Uppsala (from 13th century) from the east mound, in Gamla (old) Uppsala

Stone commemorating Pope John Paul II's having spoken here, c. 1998

The fine little Gamla Uppsala museum

Beowulf quote from a museum exhibit; they were not kinder and gentler times

Big mounds; 5th-6th century

Lesser, later mounds, still pretty old

Ex cathedral: in the 11th-12th centuries, the cathedral was in Gamla Uppsala; when the bishopric was moved to new Uppsala in the 13th century, they reduced this building to just the tower and chancel

Our campsite at Gamla Uppsala

Vicki had read that in nearby Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala) were a cluster of burial mounds that were actually mentioned in Beowulf. We headed there, signed up for the English language tour, and found ourselves in the lone company of the two resident archaeologists, who were obviously pleased to see megalith hunters like us.

The mounds are indeed impressive, three or four very large tumuli and then a string of lesser tumuli along the rest of the ridge. It is estimated that there could have been as many as 3,000 graves in the general vicinity. All date from the late Bronze/early Iron ages, pre-Christian, about 5th or 6th centuries AD. The museum has a very interesting exhibition on the times and on the items found in excavations. Very little of the environs has been excavated, only two of the big mounds, but this will change shortly with construction of a new railroad line, providing the local archaeologists with at least 3 years of work. Rescue archeology, it is called. Anyhow, they gave us a book about Gamla Uppsala (in English), and we liked the place well enough to spend the night in the complex's nicely landscaped parking lot (along with three other Rvs).

Uppsala Cathedral

After a week in Stockholm, including the trip to Helsinki, we decided to move on, first to Uppsala, and then west toward Norway. Stockholm is a great place, a city we have been impressed by and enjoyed as much as any we have seen. But we are ready to move on.
Uppsala is about 40 miles north of Stockholm, enough separation to be a completely different place, both historically and culturally. It is, of course, Sweden's university town, but it is also its historical religious center, with the Cathedral housing the bones of St. Brigid and St. Erik, the site of royal coronations and burials, including King Gustav Vasa, and also the tombs of two major Swedish academics, the philosopher Swedenborg and the biologist Linnaeus. The cathedral itself is Gothic, very attractive inside, with many interesting and enlightened features (see illustrations).

Uppsala Cathedral, 12th-13th century

Interior

Swedenborg tomb; he's remembered chiefly for Kant's ridicule

King Gustav Vasa tomb, flanked by his two wives, only one of which can be
seen from either side, and which can't "see" each other

The kid's play-room chapel; every cathedral should have one of these

This cracked me up; I have been a fan of the Unemployed Philosophers' Guild
and their products for many years; these are their Jesus dolls (from their "Little
Thinkers" line) for sale in, you guessed it, the Cathedral gift shop

Linnaeus' tomb; he was the guy who thought up and
established biological taxonomy (phylum, genera,
species, etc.) which we all had to learn in the 10th grade

Linnaeus' garden, still maintained according to his classifications, by the
U of Uppsala

Vasa Museet

Port side; the scale defies depiction, at least on my camera

Richly carved fantail

Carved gunports

Large scale model, depicting how the Vasa had been paitned (according to chemical analysis)

I had thought of the Swedes as rather severe people, yet there are all these instances to the contrary; this sign is right at the exit from the Vasa Museet, advertising the Nordic Museum next door

Vicki adds:

Stockholm—June 23, 2009

We have had a great visit here and the weather has been glorious—full sunshine but only about 70 with a light breeze. In a few minutes we will head for the cafe with its free wireless, post our blogs, back up TOM TOM and head out of town. I know Mark has talked about our “precious” Tom, but as the navigator of this adventure, I can't emphasize enough how wonderful he/it is. Having navigated 7 previous European trips, I know. If you are planning any trip to unfamiliar territory, get yourself a GPS.

We have walked over 20,000 steps everyday for several days (Mark adores his pedometer-he is on #3). City sightseeing requires lots of walking but the almost 12 hour day we put in on Sunday was definitely more than I want to do. We had a 24 hr Stockholm card which gives you free transportation and admission to all the museums, palaces, etc. Most cities in Europe have them but you really have to press yourself to get full value so this has been our first one. I don't think they are designed for the elderly! Admissions get to be terribly expensive though—averaging about $12 per person per site. In Ireland we got 20% off nearly everything for being over 60. However, there were no discounts in Germany or Denmark. Here in Sweden you have to be 65. It will be interesting to see what the different countries do—in New Zealand you had to be 60 but a resident of New Zealand. I guess they figured if you had the money to travel, you had the money to pay full price. Luckily, Sweden has been cheaper than Denmark so we are pretty much staying within our budget—especially when we can camp under the bridge (more about that in Mark's blog soon.)

Stockholm City Hall

City Hall from "our" island, Langholmen

Ceiling of city council chambers, Viking ship upside-down theme...

The gold room

Strindberg mosaic in gold room

The blue room, where the Nobel prize banquet is held; this is the view you'd get, as an honoree, walking toward the grand straircase, escorted by the Mayor, King and Queen, et al.

Of course, if your credentials are not quite up to it, there is always the back door to the blue room, which I carefully reconnoitered...

Older Stockholm

A shopping street on Gamla Stan

Said to be one of Stockholm's oldest buildings

Parliament

On Knights' Holmen, buildings once belonging to the noble estate, now public buildings; Sweden's nobility is now merely "private" (but they do have an association and meet every few years)

The Center for Free Democratic Eelections gets its own island