July 2, 2010

Oslo and the Viking Ship Museum!

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:14 pm by Costume Girl

Friday, July 02, 2010

I am now in Oslo.  I woke at 6 this morning, left Uppsala by train at 7:30, changed trains in Stockholm at 8-8:30, changed to a bus in Karlstad at 11:30, and am now in Oslo!

Of course, since there was an avalanche or something on the tracks between Sweden and Oslo, I had to take a bus for the last leg of the trip, which means I leave Oslo way too early tomorrow—1:30 P.M.  I had planned to spend the whole day going to museums and leave Oslo in the evening, maybe get a night train, but no dice.

So I just went to the Viking Ship Museum today instead of tomorrow, as I had originally planned.

The Oseberg:

The Gokstad:

And Yrsa’s cousins:

But the boats weren’t the only pretty things there.

The cart from the Oseberg:

The Borre Bridle:

Bucket:

Jewelry Box:

My new friend, some little grinning dragon head from a sleigh:

Belt buckles and such:

Woodenware:

Shoes:

Textile tools:

And of course, the highlight of the museum, at least for me, and the whole reason I came to Oslo in the first place. . .

THE OSEBERG TEXTILES!!!!

Plaid scrap:

Gold bits:

Tablet Weaving:

Scraps of wools:

The “Layer Cake” of the bedclothes and the queen’s dress layers:

The Oseberg Tapestry:

Some random scraps of silk embroidery:

It was truly Kelsey heaven.  I think I spent about half an hour in the textile room, just looking at things, snapping pictures, trying to see how certain stitches were done.  It was a good time.

After the Viking ship museum, I walked down to the dock by the Kon-Tiki museum, and took the ferry back across the fjord, instead of taking the bus around it as before.  It was very nice out there on the water.

I am in a very nice single hotel room here in Oslo for the night, and tomorrow morning I plan to go to the Historical Museum and possibly the Cathedral before I have to leave.  If I do things right, I can go to the Cathedral before the museum opens at ten, and then spend my time from ten to noon at the museum, and have plenty of time to catch my bus.  More on that when it actually happens!

My view from the hotel:

So, until later!

-Kelsey

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July 1, 2010

Helga Trefaldighets Kyrka. . . And Other Things

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:40 pm by Costume Girl

Thursday, July 1, 2010

I had coffee with a Viking Archaeologist.  Really.  He’s worked at Birka, even!

But his real specialization is in Post Viking Age Early Medieval Swords and Weaponry.  This gives me hope for my ridiculously specialized major, since he actually has a well-paying job.  And he knows a lot about them.  So I spent an hour in the Gustavianum Coffee Shop listening to him talk about swords and armor and spears and axes and real ones versus reproductions and the people who used them—men, boys, even women!  (Apparently there was a Viking-age woman, a Christian, buried in southern Finland with two swords.  One had “Yahweh” etched into the blade, and she was wearing a cross.)  It may be one of the more awesome moments in my trip to Sweden.

As for the rest of my time here in the last couple of days, I went to classes today and yesterday, and they are both going well.  I did well in my Swedish mid-term, and have been doing the research for my paper for the Arts in Sweden class.  I am going to write about portrayals of women in art in pre-Christian and Christian Scandinavia compared to the rest of Europe.  Broad topic, but it doesn’t need to be a very detailed or very long paper—only 8-10 pages.  Short.  (Good heavens, I’ve been writing too many papers this past year!)

Also yesterday, I went to the Gustavianum, where I first met John Worley as he was giving a tour of the Viking Exhibit, and I made some sketches of some of the items in the exhibit.  They are terrible sketches, but they are better than nothing, since photos are not allowed.

I also went to the smaller church right next to the cathedral, Helga Trefaldighets Kyrka.  It is a very pretty church, but it is hard to tell if it is actually Medieval or a reproduction, as so much in Uppsala is simply a reproduction of the original, due to the many times the city has burned.  A few pictures of the church and the paintings inside:

Tomorrow I leave bright and early in the morning for Oslo, Norway, and get to go to the Viking Ship Museum there!  If I don’t post until Monday, that will be the reason I am gone!

Later!

-Kelsey

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June 29, 2010

Uppsala Castle Museum and The Upplands Museum

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:22 pm by Costume Girl

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Hello again,

The museums were closed on Monday, so there was nothing really blog-worthy or interesting to put up, or even to take pictures of, since all I did was go to class and then come back and do homework.  It was good to have a day to unwind after the long Midsommar weekend!

Today, on the other hand, was quite eventful!  Swedish class in the morning went well—we are finally learning how to communicate here!  Tomorrow we have midterms, so that should be interesting.  I get to write something, not sure what yet—today we wrote hypothetical postcards in Swedish.  Another day we wrote short stories about our days.  Who knows what tomorrow may bring?

After lunch, the Arts in Sweden class went to Uppsala Castle to see the Art Museum there.  Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, the art museum closed for the summer day before yesterday.  However, we were still able to get a tour of the castle and see some of the art in the gallery, since our professor knows some of the people who work there.

It was the most understated castle or palace I have ever been in.  (Aside from Berncastle in Germany, which was a burned-out shell and doesn’t count.)  The walls were plain white, one could see the beams in the roof, and everything was rather plain.  Very nice, but plain.

But the art was really cool!  There is a part of the castle, now the art museum, that was once a church, and some of the stucco relief sculptures are still there—beautiful!!!  One has to wonder what exactly this church looked like when it was new, not split into smaller rooms, and the complete sculptures were there.

Once we were done at the Castle, I walked to the Upplands museum.  I was hoping, from the way the buildings looked and the description outdoors, to find a museum with folk clothing, etc., but what I found was even better. . .

VIKING ARTIFACTS!!!

And they let me take pictures!

Just a few of the beauties at the museum:

Also, they had old clothes.  Mostly theater clothing, but I came to the conclusion that Sweden must have much higher standards in theater costuming than America, because there was actually, *gasp* detail!

And a pretty folk costume:

At the museum, I picked up an excellent book on Nålbinding, which, while in Swedish, has awesome diagrams for making socks and mittens.  I can’t wait to try mittens!

After the museum, I went back to the school to give Agne from Lithuania Nålbinding lessons.  She was a fast learner, and soon had a 3 inch circle of nicely done stitches!

After lessons with Agne, I went back to my dorm to get ready for tomorrow.  Depending on classes and the weather, I plan to go to the Linnaeum tomorrow!

Later!

-Kelsey

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June 27, 2010

Glad Midsommar!!!

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:23 pm by Costume Girl

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Ockelbo.  The region of Gästrikland where my ancestors lived.  Before I came to Sweden, I had no idea what this land would be like, or what kind of people my ancestors even were.  This weekend, I went to my ancestral hometown for Midsommar, and what an experience that was!

Glad Midsommar!

(I recommend this song to listen to while reading this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOQIP4wPVss )

Friday

My day began with Erik and Birgitta Andersson coming to pick me up in Uppsala, and the long drive to Ockelbo.  Once there, we dropped things off at the house, then went up to the Hembygard, the town’s history center, to celebrate Midsommar.

Once there, we waited by the road for the procession of people from the town, the musicians, and those carrying the wreaths for the maypole to come.  When the procession came into sight, led by the Swedish and Ockelbo flags, with the musicians playing, I cried.  Finally, I felt I was in the land my Great-Grandmother Anna Kristina had lived in.

Then it was up to the Hembygard to raise the Maypole!  And it started to rain. . .  Sad.  But it cleared off quickly!

After the dancing was done, we went through the museum houses at the Hembygard.  It was amazing to see how Swedes lived at the time of my great-grandmother.

One nice thing about Sweden is that the Swedes date everything.  If they paint a cupboard, they date it.  If they paint a room, they date it.  If they make a new tool, they date it.  One can instantly tell when something was made or painted just by finding the date, which is usually large, front, and center.

I also got a book on Folk Clothing in Gästrikland.  It is very awesome, and in Swedish.

More photos from the afternoon:

Midsommar evening, we went to a party at Erik’s niece’s house.  She and her husband bought an old church and have renovated it into a very nice house.  Midsommar supper was in the sanctuary.  It was very nice.

While at the celebration, they decided to bring me to the Viking graves just outside of town.  This was not in Ockelbo town, but a little suburb of the town some distance away.  The graves were amazing.  Here were the ancestors of my ancestors, buried, with sheep grazing nearby.

Then it was back to the celebration for coffee, then to Erik and Birgitta’s house and bed.

Saturday

Saturday began bright and clear, and after breakfast and a short explanation of Great-Granma Anna’s family history, away we went to discover my family history!

But first we went to the forest by the lake.  We went for a walk through the forest, over the site of a Viking Village and some Viking graves. . .

By the lake. . .

And over a lot of stones.  I like rocks.

Then we went to the moose preserve, so I could finally see one of the famous Swedish moose!  They are funny looking creatures.

After all of that, we went to the house of Ingvar and Kaisa, where more of my family history was explained.  I learned that I was distantly related to Kaisa and Magareta, the two women there—they discovered this while they were researching Anna at the genealogy office where they work.  Anna’s father’s mother’s mother’s mother and Margareta’s mother’s father’s father’s father’s father were brother and sister, way back in the late 1700’s!  My relation to Kaisa is more complicated, but basically my great-great-great-great-great grandmother was a relation of her ancestors.  I was just a little bit overwhelmed.

Then, it was off to see the places where these people had lived!

First, we went to Anna’s birthplace, in the Village of Vallsbo in Ockelbo parish.  Her house is no longer there, but there is a new house there.

Old House:

New House:

The owners also proudly showed us a stone they found recently with the engraving: A P O 8 1981.  The initials are that of Anders Petter Olsson, and he carved the stone in August of 1891, when Anna was 10 years old, just after Anna’s second sister, Johanna Maria, was born.

The stone is now near their front step.

Next, we went deep into the forest and into the mountains past the town of Åmot to the little village of Storåsen.  There, deep in the forest, we found the farmstead of my great-great-great-great-great grandparents, Olof Johnsson Rak and Lisa Göransdotter.  All that is left of their house is a little rectangle, about 7 by 3 yards, where the foundation for their house survives, and a few cowslips, which Lisa had planted 250 years ago in the garden.

The Johnsson family worked to make charcoal for the iron industry in Ockelbo, and the men from the family would go off for weeks at a time during the summer to make charcoal in the forest.  They also made pine tar and such, for sealing boats and other things.

Just down the road from the homestead, we went to the farm of Olof’s brother, Anders.  Nothing remains of the house today, but the root cellar still exists, and was quite cool and mossy.

Next, we went back to the town of Åmot, to see the church, landscape, and the cemetery where many of my ancestors were probably buried at one point.  (Sweden only buries people for about 80 years anymore, so there is simply a memorial at the corner of the cemetery now to those who were buried there a long time ago.)  The view is quite beautiful from the church, and we got to see the old church as well, which is now a museum and gift shop.

The last stop on our tour was at the village of Norrbo.  Some of my ancestors also came from that town, as well as Lewis Headstrom, who founded Stromsburg, Nebraska.  His house no longer exists, but I am told it was a very small house.

After our tour of Ockelbo parish was over, it was back to Erik and Birgitta’s for supper and bed.  We were well worn out after all of our adventures!

Sunday

We went to the genealogy building in Ockelbo to get copies of the records of Anna Kristina’s family, and from there we went to see the last two (important) things I had not seen in Ockelbo.

The first was the Ockelbo Runestone.

I have seen this stone many times in books, but never heard that it was in Ockelbo.  In the old church, long ago, it was used as part of the wall, so that people could still see the carving.  I really wish books would say what part of Sweden, and what town, runestones are from, rather than simply showing them as good examples of one style of carving or another!

The last thing to see, of course, was the church.

It was quite beautiful inside, and very large.  It will seat 700 people easily, and more if additional chairs are added.  The mosaic behind the altar was originally made in Italy, but I thought the old pipe organ was more beautiful.

After all was said and done, it was time to head back to Uppsala, so I could unwind, process, and get ready for classes tomorrow.  All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, and I absolutely cannot think of a better way to have spent Midsommar!

I am incredibly grateful to Erik and Birgitta for all of their kindness to me!

Tack så mycket!

-Kelsey

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Uppsala Castle!

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:53 am by Costume Girl

Thursday, June 24, 2010 Today was another wonderful day of exploring Uppsala.  I had Swedish class, which went very well, in the morning, and then Arts in Sweden in the afternoon.

Today, after part of a lecture in the Arts Class, we walked up to Uppsala castle, to look at the Renaissance and Baroque architecture there and at the Botanical Gardens.  Everything in Sweden from times that one would expect to decorate things heavily is rather plain, purposefully. Uppsala Castle was begun in the Middle Ages, added onto in the Renaissance, then part of it burned down, more was torn down, then some Baroque was added on.  It is a confusing place, and now the city art museum.  We didn’t actually go in to see the museum, as we were studying the architecture, but we will some other day.

The Baroque Portion:

The Medieval Portion:

The cannons:

After we were done looking at the castle, we went down to the botanical gardens.  They are very regular and very British looking, very well-kept, and not at all how I imagined a botanical garden in Sweden would look.

The main building there was built in the Baroque, and again, was quite spare compared to “classic” Baroque buildings elsewhere.

After we got done at the castle and gardens, class was dismissed.  I went back to the dorm, and for supper I and Victoria went downstairs to join the girls who live two floors below us for supper.  We made crepes, and everything was delicious!

Friday, I leave for Ockelbo for Midsommar, so I may not write again until Sunday evening.

‘Til then!

-Kelsey

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June 24, 2010

The Gustavium and The Treasury

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:40 pm by Costume Girl

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

The Gustavium.  One of Uppsala’s hidden treasures.  Once morning Swedish classes were done, and we came back from a truly aweful Mexican lunch at Eko, I had my Arts in Sweden class.  Today, we visited the Gustavium, one of the lesser known museums in Uppsala.  It is filled with all sorts of treasures from Ancient Egypt, Viking Times, and other interesting times of history.  This month, there is an exhibit titled buried and forgotten, which has all sorts of odd things from the university’s history that they found in the archives.  There were pieces of the original university building, notes from the first semester of classes in 1477, and a strange cabinet which was about 9 feet tall, and had many little drawers holding treasures from around the world.  It took 200 men 60 years to complete this elaborate thing!  However, the museum did not allow pictures, so. . .  Sorry.

Once we were done with the tour, we were told we could visit the other exhibits in the museum, as the tour only covered the exhibit on the university’s treasures.  So, I went upstairs to the Viking exhibit.

No pics for that either.  Still not allowed.

However, I did see some awesome swords, a skirted occular helm which still has the chain mail skirting, brooches, beads, more brooches, more beads, spear heads, and most wonderful treasure of all—

EMBROIDERED COLLARS FROM VIKING TUNICS!!!

I almost fainted and fell down.

I was so absorbed in the exhibit, and was studying the helm, when a security guard came in and started gibbering to me in Swedish.  He startled me, so I jumped and said “Huh?”

“We closed 15 minutes ago, you have to leave!”

Turns out this museum also closes at 4.  I didn’t even have time to make sketches!

Once I stumbled out of the museum and got my bearings, I headed over to the cathedral, hoping the treasury would still be open.  It has the largest collection of Medieval Clothing in all of Europe.

And it was!

I asked at the Cathedral Info desk how to get to the treasury, and they pointed to a little door, and handed me an information book and a flashlight.  Okay. . .  So I went to the little door, which was an elevator, and took it to the top floor to begin my descent through the exhibit.  Yes, the treasury is in the north tower of the cathedral.

It was awesome.  Most of the garments there were bishops’ robes from throughout the years, but it was all pretty, and all old.  It was neat to see a lot of the old silks from throughout the middle ages, still bright and colorful!  And of course, there was the golden gown of Queen Margareta.

And the Sture Clothing, which was worn by the Sture Nobles (a father and two sons) the night they were assassinated by Mad King Erik.  They were claimed by the Sture Widow the day after they died, and she ever after kept them in a chest to show people.  They are well preserved, but faded.  The ensemble on the right was originally black with gold trim, and bright plum silk pants.  I was surprised by the size of the clothing—the men were apparently not as small as one would have thought.  Still smaller than the average today, but still between 5’6 and 5’10, it would appear, and rather wiry.

The Treasury didn’t have just clothing though,  they also had some other sweet treasures, like this sword:

After museums, I went to the bookstore and finally got my Svensk-Amerikansk Dictionary, and then came back, ate supper, and crashed.  It was a good day, but rather long.

Later!

-Kelsey

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June 23, 2010

The Cathedral!

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:25 am by Costume Girl

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

So, the museums in Uppsala close too early.  Really.  I found out today that Gamla Uppsala closes at 4:00.  Classes get out at 4:30.  Maybe sometime this weekend?

On a bright note, Swedish classes went well, and I am now able to form basic sentences, if I know the words.  I may start sticking sticky notes with the Swedish words on everything in my dorm.  I think it would help me build my vocabulary.

Also today, my art class went to Uppsala Cathedral.  It was awe-inspiring.  Many famous kings are buried there, including Carl Gustav, who made Sweden Protestant.  The cathedral was burned several times, latest in the early 1700s.  Each time, it was rebuilt, until it reached its present form in the 1890’s.  The two main towers are each as tall as the cathedral is long.

St. Erik was tortured and beheaded by the Danes here a long time ago, according to legend, and his head, when it rolled, created a spring down the hill.  This instantly made him a saint.

This evening, we had a social evening, which my roommate and I thought would stay in the school, so we wore sundresses.  Turns out, we had a quiz with questions all over Uppsala leading to a park, where we played cricket and a Viking game called kubb. It was a lot of fun, but my team lost.

After that, it was back to the dorms, to get ready for the next day.

Later!

-Kelsey

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June 22, 2010

Beautiful Uppsala. . . And Runestones!

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:50 am by Costume Girl

Monday, June 21, 2010.

Uppsala is truly a unique city.  On my walk to classes I go by the cathedral, rebuilt in the 1700s from the foundation and style of a cathedral built in the 1300’s.  Of course, this cathedral is now Lutheran, but it is still incredibly beautiful.

At the same time, I go by the old university, founded in 1477 as a center of learning.

Next, I cross the river named the Fyrisån, though everyone here just seems to call it “the river”.   It is very beautiful, and on the last day of April, the students build boats and rafts to go down the river, swollen from melted snow, and the city folk gather to watch them fall in when their boats go over the rapids and tip, getting the students wet.

Next, I go through the pedestrians-only zone, a couple of streets so busy with shoppers and so narrow that no cars are allowed.  On that street, Kungsängsgatan, is the school, which is upstairs in a shop building.  Universities in Europe are often this way, having some classes here and others there as they can rent the space, as there is usually no way to expand a campus—no room and no money.

My first class of the day is Swedish A1B, meaning that I am in level A1, the most beginning level of Swedish, but I am just enough advanced to be in the upper ranks of A1, just below the B level.  Level B is split this way as well, but C, which is as advanced as one can get, is kept as one single group.  Swedish lessons last from 8:45 to 12:30.

After Swedish, we split for lunch, some to Eko Cafe, some to Cupidos.  We are given meal tickets for the next two weeks, and assigned which restaurant we are to eat at which days.  I have not eaten at Cupidos yet, but Eko Cafe is good, though I wish the food were more Swedish, and not so ethnic and salty.  Nevertheless, it is a hot meal, and good food!

After lunch, I have the class Arts in Sweden from 1:30-4:15.  We will be studying art in Sweden, and taking a great many field trips, including to the Cathedral Tuesday, to study the artwork there.  We also plan to take a couple of trips to Stockholm, and at least one to Carl Larsson’s home.

Once classes are done, I am likely to go to museums or simply spend time at the school, catching up online.  Tomorrow I plan to go to the museum at Gamla Uppsala, and see some of the artifacts there.

Once I am done wandering around the city and ready to sleep, I go back to my dorm sweet dorm:

It is a very nice room, tucked right under the roof, with a couch, table and chairs, bed, TV, and wardrobe.  There is a kitchen, rather small but functional, and two bathrooms in my suite.  The bathrooms are nice in that they are private, but at the same time, they are little better than the dorm bathrooms at UNL.  Oh well, it’s not like I spend all my time here in the dorms.

Today we were given a tour of Uppsala, with the tour guide telling us both of the history of the city and the best places to eat, hang out with friends, and good museums in the area.  It was good to have a tour to get my bearings—the city with its crooked streets are a lot less confusing now!

After the tour and supper, I went to the park by the cathedral, where many runestones from all over Sweden are collected.  It was amazing to actually see many of the runestones I have seen in books and online, including the very stone I based the dragon on my shield on!

Then it was time to go back to the dorm, and time for homework and bed.

Til tomorrow!

-Kelsey

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June 21, 2010

Uppsala

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:46 am by Costume Girl

June 20, 2010.

I slept til 11.  I had my alarm set to 8 o’clock, but that was before anyone else was up, so I just went back to bed, and slept the sleep of the dead.  It was good to sleep so much after such a long stretch of getting to Sweden.

Breakfast was cold cuts on bread, very much like in Germany, and strong coffee.  (kaffe)  Just what I needed.

Then it was off to tour Ockelbo and the surrounding countryside.  We went to the old Ockelbo church, which is one of the largest in Sweden outside of Stockholm and Uppsala, but it was closed to visitors this afternoon.  Strange, for a Sunday, but maybe at Midsommar.  After that, we went up the ‘mountain’, and got an amazing view of all of Ockelbo Parish:

Far out to the horizon is the sea, which you can make out on really clear days.

Then we went a little ways into the forest, which was a new one to me, the girl from the plains and prairie of Nebraska.  There were TREES!!!

Then we went to Uppsala.  When we first got there, we had a lot of time to kill before we had to be to Studentvagen 10 to drop me off, so we went up to Gamla (old) Uppsala, just to look around a bit.  When we stepped out of the car at the foot of the Grave Mounds, I started to shake a bit, it was so unreal.  Here was a place I had read about for years, and I was finally here to see it for myself!

We also went to the Gamla Uppsala church, which is very old.  This is not the original church, as that was burned down, but a later church built in the 1200s.  It is also the place where St Erik who was king of Sweden was beheaded.  It is a very pretty church.

After that, it was off to meet the people for the Uppsala study abroad, and from there to supper at Eko, a restaurant in the city.  From there, we went downtown to the school, where we had an information session and learned which Swedish classes we are in, where they meet in the building, etc.  I also met a lot of the students from the program, including people from the US, France, Ireland, Germany, Cyprus, Australia, and the Netherlands.  My suite-mate Victoria is from France, and quite nice.  When I got back to my room, I unpacked, but there will be pictures of my room later.

Til tomorrow!

-Kelsey

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Sweden At Last!

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:25 am by Costume Girl

June 19, 2010.

Today I discovered, like so many others have before me, that traveling to Sweden is not just a trip, or the opportunity of a lifetime, but a pilgrimage.  Why else would I spend three days trying to simply get here?

(Some of you may be wondering how I did finally get here—I flew to New York, where I caught a plane to Stockholm, and arrived in Stockholm about 9:30 AM Swedish time, ahead of schedule.  Erik and I found each other easily, then we went to Ockelbo.)

We saw some interesting things on the way to Ockelbo:

A Viking! (sadly with horns):

Once there, we went to the Ockelbo celebration of the marriage of Crown Princess Victoria and (now) Prince Daniel, formerly known as Daniel Westling.  He no longer has a last name, because he has married the princess.  When she is queen, he will simply be the Prince Regent Daniel.  It is all very interesting, all the pageantry that comes with being Swedish and having royalty.  While it is all fine, and beautiful, I seem to think I like the American way a lot better.  Even though the prince and princess are simply symbols now, and hold no real power, while the parliament is in control, it all seems so strange, to make so much of one person.

We had a very interesting and not very traditional Swedish “Picnic Royale” at the celebration in Ockelbo.  It consisted of pickled pork, dried and salted herring, roast potato slices, wild rice, cucumbers, a type of cream cheese, asparagus, and honey on knackerbrod (rye hardtack),  mesclun salad, radishes, and pickled rhubarb on dandelion greens.  It was too much to eat.  After that, we had wedding cake, which was very good, but had unsweetened whipped cream on top!  After the picnic and cake, we watched the wedding on a large screen in a field in Ockelbo.  The crowd cheered throughout, and I learned I can understand spoken Swedish, when it is spoken slowly, a lot better than I thought I would be able to.

After the wedding, we walked around the gardens and one of the museums in Ockelbo for a bit.  We went to the old steel mill, which was powered by coal and the water of the river, which is dammed up to flow quite swiftly under the mill.  Places in the mill which appeared to be deep holes turned out to be still ponds of water reflecting the machinery and the roof so perfectly one could hardly tell the difference between the real thing and the reflection!

After the museum and walking around, we went to a Swedish pizza place and got some traditional Swedish pizza.  Or not traditional, but Swedish, not American.  One pizza per person, each about the size of a small pizza in America, very thin, with the toppings more or less scattered on, very much like Italian pizza is supposed to be.  I had a pizza with salami, onions, cheese, and peppers.  It was very good, but I could only eat about half of it.

After that, more watching the wedding on TV, then finally bed.

My host, Erik Andersson, is very kind, and plans to take me to see a lot of the sights.  Here he is in front of his house:

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