Changing of the Guard

Palace entrance, main guard station

Vicki stood right next to the main guard guy

The band arrives; every other day, we were told, they arrive on horseback

Procession of new guards

Team captains meet at mid-field, shake hands, toss coin

Opening kick-off

The new guard is installed; and the band played on

Gamla Stan, Royal Palace, City Hall, and Vasa

Sunday, after careful calculation, we bought a Stockholm Card, good for 24 hours of transportation, museum and other admissions, and headed to the Gamla Stan, the old city. Stockholm is comprised of 14 islands in a lake that opens to the sea. Gamla Stan is the oldest of these and the site of the Royal Palace, which is still used for state and royal events. We toured the palace, the royal apartments, the royal treasury, the royal armory, the royal gift shoppe, all interesting, if not overwhelming. The highlight of the palace tour was the changing of the guard, which took place at 1:15 (and for an hour or so more; the band played on...). 

From Gamla Stan and environs, and after walking some of the old streets, we headed to the Stockholm City Hall. City halls are important buildings in the Scandinavian and Germanic countries, and nothing beats Stockholm's. It is not nearly a century old, but is well known for its setting, its size, its tower, its Italian/piazza lay-out, and most of all, for hosting the Nobel Prize banquet every December 10th (Nobel's birthday). (Dyn-o-mite!) The English tour was very good. It is also a working city hall, with administrative offices all about, council chambers, and the rest. And, nearly unique among city halls of my experience, it even has a sizable gift store. 

From the City Hall, we crossed town to the Vasa Museet. Early in the 1600's, to conduct a war with Poland, the Swedes built a giant warship, the Vasa, largest of its day (think Elizabethan; more than 200 feet long). Unfortunately, it had design problems, so to speak. It was launched, provisioned, manned, and sailed exactly 1300 meters before catching a breeze, capsizing, and sinking in the harbor. There were various attempts at raising the Vasa, but eventually it was forgotten. 300 years passed. In the early 1960s, through the persistence of one man, the ship was found, and, with 20th century engineering, raised. The Baltic is really a very big lake, brackish at best, and sea worms do not devour the wood as in other places. So the Vasa that was raised was very largely intact (even the sails and rope and clothing). Much conservation, and a little restoration occurred, and the ship is now on display at the Vasa Museet. It is, simply, one of those things one has to see to believe. Its size alone is fairly staggering. The amount of wood carving all over the vessel is no less impressive. (It was designed to impress the enemy). No pictures can do justice to this sight. But I tried. 

From the Vasa we raced back across town to the vicinity of City Hall again to catch the last historical canal tour of the day, a one-hour narrated voyage that we were glad we did not have to pay for. Interestingly, it took us right by Langholmen, the island on which our “campground” is located. Also the national prison, now a youth hostel. (Bringing back memories of my 1982 Columbus Monthly article on potential uses for the Old Ohio Pen). The Swedes are so smart. Despite the boat ride, subway, buses and trams, we still logged 22,000 steps on the old pedometer.

Palace frontal view Entry to royal chapel Pix are not allowed in the Palace, but I could not resist this one, in the Treasury, of costumes the royal kids dressed up in back in the early 20th; from British Columbia King for a Day 

Skansen

Wednesday was part work, part sight-seeing. Early in the AM, we drove over to Viking Cruise Lines, looking into the over-nighter to Helsinki (farther than we want to drive). Vicki accomplished her usual feat: trip to Helsinki and back for two, cabin (not steerage) for two nights, $53. Total. Meals extra. After more camper maintenance, we took the subway and bus to Skansen, spending the rest of the day there.

Skansen is billed as the world's largest outdoor museum, and it must be that. Perhaps a square mile. It is part natural history, part Swedish/Scandinavian history, part zoo, part aquarium, part performances and re-enactments. We took in what we could in 8 hours, and enjoyed it thoroughly.



A Sami hut in the Lappland sector of Skansen; the whole thing is arranged to reflect Sweden's geogrpahy

Interior of a (wealthy) 19th century farm house

Peacocks were everywhere

Folk music performance on a hurdy-gurdy, an instrument I'd never seen before

Folk dancing

Kalmar to Stockholm; and the Ikea Mother Store

The next day we visited Kalmar and its castle, then drove on 240km to Stockholm. The terrain was gorgeous, bucolic, much of it reminiscent of the Wisconsin Dells. After visiting the Mother Ikea store, just south of Stockholm, we camped, more or less downtown, at Langholmens Husbilcamping, on the island of Langholmen. Stockholm is situated on dozens of islands, with canals, bridges, etc. A beautiful city we'll see more of this weekend.

In Kalmar, a land whale

Kalmar Slott (castle), moat, etc.

Very old cannon at the Slott

Stockholm: Ikea Mother Store

Five floors

The canal we are camped on in Langholmen

Oland

Monday the 15th we drove from Bromsehus, near Kalmar, to the island of Oland. Oland is a large island, perhaps 75 miles long, about 4-5 miles off the main coast of Sweden, connected by an enormous bridge. We thought it would be largely resorts and condos, given its position, but it was almost entirely agricultural. It is literally littered with megaliths, most bronze age or later, but still impressive. The island itself is a large limestone uplift, and its middle ridge is much like the Burren in Ireland, although not quite so desolate. The east coast of Oland is especially interesting where you can see the uplifted limestone plates right out of the sea. Oland has some 400 windmills; in the 19th century, there were 2000. And linear villages (all buildings in a line along the road); and tons of megaliths.

400 windmills, many in rows like this

Typical Oland megaliths; they were everywhere

Oland east coast; almost completely deserted

A re-built iron/stone-age fort; we thought it looked too much like Medieval Times and so didn't go in

Another day, another ship-shaped stone circle, one of four we counted in the immediate vicinity

Vicki by the ship circle

Tall Oland menhir

A real bronze/iron-age fort, un-reconstructed

Driving the Southeast Coast of Sweden

Sunday the 14th we drove from Kaseberga, leisurely, to Bromsehus, up the coast a bit, stopping for lunch in the fishing village of Skillinge, grocery shopping in Rimrashamn, and more megalithic sites. The weather was beautiful, the terrain alternating coast and fields of wheat, occasional woods. Denmark is said to be 85% tilled. This part of Sweden is even more so. We stopped for the night near the old medieval fort of Bromsehus, now a complete ruins except for the raised area and enormous ditch, all right by an inlet from the sea.

Part of the harbor at Skillinge

A dolmen and stone circle on the sea

Me by the sea

A fierce-looking cow near Bromsehus

Ship Shape: Ales Stenar

It finally stopped raining, and we had a chance, Saturday afternoon, to go and look at Ales Stenar, the largest of the Swedish ship-shaped standing stone circles. There are dozens of them, mostly in southern Sweden. Ales Stenar is in the 4,000-6,000 year-old range. Some argue it is merely a ship-cult site; some argue for a solar orientation/observatory. It is impressive in any case. Only one stone is missing, possibly, and its absence may simply have marked an entrance.

Ales Stenar stands on a beautiful grassy bluff above the tiny fishing hamlet of Kaseberga, overlooking the Baltic. It is late spring, and already the place is crowded. Walking around, I quickly figured out that as many are here for the fish market as for the megalithic site. I am savoring both!

Ales Stenar, about 200 feet long and 60 feet wide

Ship-shape; ship cult, millennia before the Vikings

One side

Backpackers at the site; we're glad we're not backpacking in this weather

The tiny harbor of Kaseberga

Tiny, but it supports a fish market well known for smoked salmon, eel, etc. The line was nearly out the door. I think the sign says "fish for sale." Note smoke coming from the smoke-house behind the building. I love smoked fish.

Until coming here, I had always associated swans with fresh water; the Baltic coast we have seen is loaded with them.


Vicki adds:

June 13, 2009 Southern Sweden

We have spent two days in a very nice parking lot about 200 yds from the Baltic Sea. We came to see the megalithic standing stones in a “ring” in the shape of a ship. However the weather was so bad yesterday with gale force winds, rain, high of 55, that we just stayed in the camper and enjoyed being couch potatoes. Today was just misty and this evening it has cleared up completely. Being Saturday, the parking lot has been quite busy with about 200-300 cars and campers coming and going. About 6 of us are spending the night again. There are restrooms-which we actually don’t need- and free wifi and it is quiet and free. A great combination. Mark and I walked up to the stones on the cliff over the sea earlier and then through the small fishing village. I am sure it will all be posted on his blog. I have been catching up on email and researching Stockholm. It is supposed to be raining hard there for the next two days so we will take our time getting there. We wanted to fly from there to St. Petersburg in Russia but it is very complicated to get a visa and the whole trip of 3-4 days would probably cost about 2 grand so I think we will skip it.

I realize that as of yesterday I have been retired one year. I must admit that it seems much longer what with all we have done, and yet I only have to start to think about it and it feels like yesterday. Memory is such a completely strange thing. Retirement is a marvelous thing but I do miss all my family and friends. Please write as you have time. Vicki

To Sweden

Our first full day in Sweden, Friday, has been, um, interesting. From Helsingborg, after getting some Swedish kronors and tourist literature, we drove down to Ystad, in southeastern Skane, to see Ale's Stones, a giant ship-shaped stone circle on the coast. We have been parked at the Ale's Stones parking lot (N 55 23.311, E 14 03.818) since Thursday evening, along with half a dozen other motorhomes. Sweden is very permissive about such camping. The weather has been less permissive. Gale force wind has been blowing since we got here, with rain to match, and temperatures in the 50s. Our 7,500 lb camper is being buffeted in the wind. Fortunately it is water-tight, and I consider this a pretty good test of its water-tightness. As we have been sitting here today, perhaps a dozen other parties have driven up, donned very minimal rain gear (if any), and walked out the 1 km to see the Stones. They arrive back thoroughly soaked and chilled, presumably, to the bone. We are sitting tight, reading, writing, re-organizing (as always). Surely this gale will be over soon. 

11 PM update. It's still raining, but the winds have died down. This has been good: we needed a day off. 

Saturday morning update. Still raining. We are parked, still, about 200 meters from the sea and the little enclosed harbor for the fishing village of Kaseberga. Even at the height of the storm yesterday, I must note, someone was out in the waves in a wetsuit, surfing. Such devotion!

Monet's very famous "RV in a field with trees"