The True Spirit of Scandinavia - An Elderhostel Trip

Day 14 - Sunday, June 14, 2009

Today is an all day field trip. Unfortunatley, it is still raining. We have lost track of how many days it's been raining now. But we were told that is hasn't been this cold in Sweden in June in the last 50 years! I've been wearing layers but could have used a warmer coat. Someone on our trip was told last June they were hot when they visited Scandinavia! So one never knows!
We left right after breakfast for our trip to Uppsala where Scandinavia's first university was founded and its largest,most historic cathedral located. The cathedral was completed in 1453 and contains the tomb of King Gustav Vasa who started and then lost a war with Russia. This resulted in Sweden losing much of its land including Finland which it had occupied for 600 years!
We visited the home and garden of Carl Linnaeus located near Uppsala. Carol Linneaus was a graduate of the Uppsala University and is world famous, although we had never actually heard of him before now. He is often called the Father of Taxonomy. His system of naming, ranking and classifying organisms is still widely used today. He was also a practicing physician and was the doctor of the royal family. In 1758 he bought the small estate near Uppsala for his summer home. The original furnishing, and even the original wall paper, and paintings are still in the house. In his bedroom the walls are covered with drawings done by a local artist of many of the plants he especially loved. We had an excellent guide and he did a very interesting presentation about the life of Carl Linneaus. We were able to wander through the entire house and try to absorb the atmosphere and think what it would have been like to live there over 300 years ago. We ventured out into the garden in the rain and into the small gift shop on the property.
Lunch followed at a local restaurant located in a former home built in 1899. To me it looked like a German or Austrian hunting lodge with its dark wooden walls and red roof. The restaurant was named Odinsborg because of its nearness to an ancient Odins royal burial mound. Odins and Thor were Norse Gods and there are ancient mounds where various kings are buried scattered around various areas of Sweden. The front of the brochure for the Odinsborg restaurant is rather charming, and has following paragraph: "The old well-known tourist spot where you really can feel the ancient wind at the Royal burial mounds. for example the old church from the 12th century. At Odinsborg you can have a cup of coffee, or something to eat and perhaps do a bit of shopping in our giftshop." The buffet was delicous and soft drinks or beer was included but not wine. I opted for a glass of wine and Gene had a Coke Light.
After dinner we had a lecture on Swedish art. I actually missed it because I was in the manor house busy typing up my blog from a day or two before. After the lecture a group of us played cards in the lovely manor house. The house overlooks a large river and since it stays light virtually all night we could enjoy the view even late at night. We don't sleep in the manor house but in a building about a 5-10 minute walk away. We eat in yet another building and have class upstairs in a different building. So it was interesting just figuring out where everything was when we first arrived.
We had an enjoyable day despite the rain. And the forcast for tomorrow sounds hopeful! Good night from Sweden.

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