Advertisement
Published: October 23rd 2023
Edit Blog Post
The gale is jerking at the
Scanda. It is night and we are sailing from Ventspils in Latvia to Nynäshamn in Sweden. We lay on our beds in our hut. Sometimes the waves push us high up, let us hang on the crest for a while and let us fall with a sudden movement. Like in a rollercoaster. Strange metallic sounds come from the belly of the ship. As if all trucks down there broke their chains and have a wild party. I wonder how it will be with our loyal fourwheeler, Miss Polo.
When I awake in the morning it is already light. I peep through the porthole. The sea has become calm again. Little isles are still sleeping in the bay of Nynäshamn. We take a shower and have breakfast. Soon after the ship docks at the quaye and we free Miss Polo from her plight. I feel guilty that we left her alone down there, while the ship was rocking so hefty on the waves. She does not say a word, when I pick her up. I know what it means. She is indignant, not so much because of the waves, but because we left her alone
The grave of Carolus Linnaeus in the Domkyrka (Uppsala)
It is also the grave of Sara Elisabeth Moræa and their son Carl. between all these big trucks.
The highway between Nynäshamn and Uppsala is excellent. Finally we may drive over 100 kilometers an hour. And then, when we have passed Stockholm already, Miss Polo gives air to her frustrations. ‘You are driving too fast’, she says with contained fury.
Uppsala We are far too early when we arrive at the Uppsala Appartment Hotel. It is 10 a.m. and we may check in at 3 p.m. only. We hope to arrange to checkin earlier. Unfortunately there is no one at the reception. After one hour waiting there is still nobody. We call a number. It is a robot. We wait half an hour more. Nobody. Just at the moment we leave, we see someone walking. Yes, we get our appartment.
The appartment is fine but the hotel is in an ugly industrial area, far from the center of the city. We have to go by car to the center. Near the trainstation we find a parking lot.
Uppsala was the hometown of Carolus Linnaeus, the famous biologist who wanted to map God’s creation in a system of nature, as he said it himself. The job was too extensive to
do it on his own. So he did it with his friend Peter Artedi, who was specialised in fishes. Artedi though happened to walk in a canal in Amsterdam and stayed there with his fishes. So Linnaeus had to do the job alone.
It was Anders Celsius who wrote an epitaph on the death of Artedi. Yes, Anders Celsius: the man of the degrees Celsius. His uncle Olaf Celsius was the mentor of Carolus Linnaeus. All four of them worked at the University of Uppsala. So, now you know.
We like to find out if there are still traces of Linnaeus and Artedi in Uppsala. Like we did some years ago when we stepped in the footprints of Linnaeus in Lapland. In the Domkyrka we find the grave of Linnaeus. He was buried there on the 22d of january 1778.
From the church we walk to the river Fyris which runs across the old town. Here near the bridge is a little park. And there it is: a little nameplate announces that the park is called after Artedi.
Is that all? No statue?
No statue!
Even of Linnaeus there is nowhere a statue here in Uppsala. But some hundred
meters farther on there is the Linnaeus Museum, the house where he once lived and where his garden was, the Linnéträdgården.
A few minutes later we stand for a closed door. Off season, says a placard. As if it were a campsite. Apparenlty the government of Uppsala doesn’t find it important enough to keep this world scientific inheritance open year around. Linda finds that we should write to the city board. I suppose they have never heard of a man called Linnaeus. Was he a mayor maybe?
It is strange to conclude that a country neglects their own scientific icons and at the same organize every year a manifestation wherein they grant Nobel prizes. Disappointed we walk back to the train station and take the commuter to Stockholm.
Stockholm It takes 50 minutes with the train from Uppsala to Stockholm. From the trainstation we walk in twenty minutes to Gamla Stan, the area where the Nobelmuseet is. It sits in the building of the Swedish Academy.
The Nobelmuseet is overcrowded. They come from all countries. And everyone wants to read about the Nobel prize winners of their own country of course. Me too. Ben Feringa,
Paul Crutzen, Niko Tinbergen, Jan Tinbergen, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes… ah, that feels good. Apart that you can celebrate your patriotism, you also can read about the history of the Nobel prize. Or you can see objects given by famous winners to the museum. There is also a temporary exhibition on fungi. We learn that Linnaeus did not like fungi. He could not fit them in his Systema Naturae, which was based on only two groups: plants and animals. And we read that the first terrestial plants lived in symbiosis with fungi. The fungi functioned as roots. Later plants developed roots themselves.
Well, there is enough to compensate for disappointing Uppsala. And then what a majestic city is Stockholm!
Eskittuna Since we left The Baltic countries we are on our way back to The Netherlands. It is a long way and their is much to see. Far too much actually. Like the Sigurdsristningen near Eskittuna.The Sigurdsristningen is a rock with carvings, called the Ramsund carving, made by the Vikings around the year 1030. It lies in a a forested area, between other rocks grown by colorfull lichens.
The carvings depict the story of Sigurd, the dragonslayer. Sigurd
has just killed the dragon and is cooking the heart of the monster. When he puts his finger in his mouth to taste the blood, he suddenly can understand the song of birds. That is why he hears that Regin wants to kill him. But Sigurd is quicker and cuts Regin’s head. And indeed the head of Regin is clearly visible lying next to his own body together with the sword, called Gram. Incredible how clear the carvings are after more than thousand year. Also the horse of Sigurd is there with the treasure of the dragon on his back.
The story is related to the English Beowulf, the Edda from Iceland, the Germanic Völsunga saga, which is the basis of the Middle High German Nibelungenlied. The story inspired Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Also The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings borrowed from it.
Gothenburg It takes all day to drive to Gothenburg. We don’t mind, because the Swedish roads are fine and the surroundings are beautiful. Forests with trees in autumn colors from light yellow, via all kinds of green up to tufts of red. In between boulders with lichens.
Tired we arrive at the outer
borders of Gothenburg. And then Linda’s mobile is suddenly out of energy. No GPS. We are steerless in a tangle of roads. We go on with my mobile. ‘Over 10 meter to the left - Here left again - Turn here.’ Impossible. The commands follow eachother in quick tempo. Till the moment Linda notice my mobile GPS stands on biking.
Our appartment is in the outskirts of Gothenburg in Askim. It is the most beautiful appartment we have had: GG Village at Hällstigen. Unfortunately we don’t have time to visit Gothenburg otherwise we would have liked to stay here a bit longer.
Malmö Next morning we drive via the E20 further south, to Malmö. And again the surroundings are absolutely beautiful. Now and then we see the sea. We pass the Kattegat. At the other side is Denemarken, our next destination.
Once we passed Malmö we arrive at the Oresund bridge which connects Sweden with Denmark. It is big spectacle to drive over this majestic bridge. At the other side we will meet another country. And new adventures.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.109s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0187s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jaap Elst, van
non-member comment
Ik geniet!!!
Ik lees alweer dagen mee. En verbaas me elke dag weer waar je de tijd vandaan haalt om zo uitgebreid te schrijven. Maar blijft dat vooral volhouden