Random Pictures from Sweden June-July

On our first evening in Stockholm Birgitta had arranged a dinner.

Arne, Cecilia, Bengt, and Åke.


Helene, Inga and Benjamin, who arrived straight from India. No wonder he is cold, and actually sick as well. Actually, this evening was pretty cold, but in Sweden you eat outside in the summer, no matter how cold it is!

I only went into the city twice, once with Benjamin and once with Malou. Here is the view from Katarinahissen, one of my favorite spots in Stockholm.


On our way to Folkets Kebab we passed Katarina church on Söder.

Old Town
Malou at the Parliament building

Mike at Norrmälarstrand


One fascinating outing was with Thomas to Vällingby Center, where the old center from the 50ties had been updated with the most modern Galleria.


And the prices are as pricey as the place looks - $ 31 for a pair of Björn Borg underwear, but on sale (REA) for just $ 24!

We went on our traditional visit to Drottningholm Castle (the king's residence) with Mike.


Thomas hiding in the labyrinth.

And "fika" at the China Palace.

Dinner at Åke and Helene's.


Eating outside, of course, but this time nice and warm in the evening sun. Grilled lamb and potato salad.

Sigtuna-Barnens Ö (June 28)

This Saturday morning we (Birgitta, Arne, Bengt, Cecilia, and I) went to pick up Thomas and Alfred, who had spent a week at a soccer camp.

We all went to the little town of Sigtuna, one of the oldest in Sweden. It was actually settled by the Vikings 1000 years ago.

So, of course, the town had a little Viking settlement to amuse the tourists. This Viking is baking some genuine Viking bread for the kids.

And this blue-eyed Viking from Denmark is engraving the Viking horns,

whereas these Russian Vikings sell Viking jewelry.


After the Viking village it was time for lunch at Farbror Blå (Uncle Blue).

Bengt is busy with his cell phone, but we are ready to eat.


I had a lot of good food in Sweden, but this gravad lax (salmon) probably takes the first prize.

Then it was time to drive to Barnens Ö (The Children's Island) where Eleanor was attending a summer theater camp. We were going to see her perform in Romeo and Juliet. In the videos below you can get a taste of the performance. It was a really excellent production, with a somewhat different ending! Romeo and Juliet lived happily ever after.




As one could expect in Sweden, there was ''fika'' (coffee and cookies) after the performance.

At Eva and Bengt's (July 4-8) - 3

The next morning, Katarina gave us a tour of Östra Vemmerlöv church. This church dates from the 12th century and is famous for its chalk drawings. These drawings were made in the 15th century and depict stories from the bible mixed with stories about the nobility in the area. During the reformation they were covered over with white paint, since the early Lutherans did not want their churches decorated. The drawings were discovered and restored recently.


This close up shows Adam and Eve eating the cursed apples,

and afterwards, when a rich lady beats them....

It was time to say goodbye to Katarina and Killans Bönegård and drive to Glimmingehus, a medieval fort not far from Östra Vemmerlöv.

We took a short tour and walked around the fort and learned a little more about medieval history before we continued our quest for more stones.

This time it was the Kungagraven (the King's Grave) or Kiviksgraven. According to the archaeological establishment (Riksantikvarieämbetet) this is the oldest (3000 years) and biggest grave (75 m in diameter) from the Bronze Age in Scandinavia. And it is supposed to be a grave for some important king. However, according to Bob, it is some kind of cult place and not a grave at all. And indeed, some recent research seems to prove that inside the grave, there is not one person buried, but many.....


and they seem to all be teenagers..... So the new research suggests that it was a place where humans were offered to the gods..... I must say, we were not left with a very high impression of Swedish archaeologists.


Time for lunch in Kivik. We bought wonderful smoked fish (salmon and herring) at Buhre's Fish to eat for lunch and then a lot of pickled herring to eat when we got back to Bengt and Eva's.


But before heading back, our quest for the truth about Ale's Stones was not over. Here we set out to find Heimdall's Stones, which supposedly also had been set up according to astronomical principles directly north of Kivik. We searched and searched, but could only find beautiful flowers....




Or is this it? ... No, I don't think so. So, our quest was in vain, but we did have a wonderful hike along the shore at Verkeån's Nature Preserve.

Back home it was time to try all the different pickled herrings that Bengt had bought at Buhre's Fish.

And a little Skåne of course.

As if we had not had enough of stones, we decided that we had to see a real, undisputed Viking grave from about 500 AD. This one is formed by stones, what else, like a Viking ship and is right outside Genarp where Bengt and Eva live.