Woke up and decided our day.
Went to see the Cathedrale, and found a beautiful young woman practising singing modern day Catholic hymns for the upcoming Mass. Her name was Sara Nyquist, and she had the sweetest, most beautiful voice. We just sat and were entranced. It felt so spiritual, and was interesting because at dinner the night before, we had a lively discussion on our differeing levels of spiritualism and religious beliefs.
Since the castle didn't open til 11, Hillary had found a local museum called the Kalmar Läns Musem. (I am so happy I finally get to use those extra letters on the keyboard)
This was a fascinating museum, hard to believe it's a local place. Interactive, video explanations, recreated tableaus and scenes. Amazing. it was mostly about the sinking of the ship Kronan", one of the largest ships to ever sink. It sank in 1676, during a war with Denmark. Eventually, they will bring up the entire hull, and it will need an entire museum to house this. The king of Sweden is involved in this fascinating project. The other part of the museum was a display of Jenny Nyström, a Swedish well known artist and illustrationist. She originated the elves that we see on Christmas cards today, and all over, really. This also was a charming exhibit, and we really liked her art work.
We ended this was a Fika at the cafe, again, charming! We had coffee and sweets. The Swedes actually say a coffee and a Danish, but we won't do that. The sweets were very good, the best baked goods we've had. Loved this museum, it was a highlight and we thank Hillary for her eagerness to read up and find things!
We then went to the castle, and took a tour. This too was fascinating, as it's a medieval castle still in operating shape. There are marriages performed in the chapel, the second most popular place to get married. (the first is Arlanda Airport!) We saw the mens and womens dungeons, gruesome! Saw where the royalty would have feasts, and sat at the table they had laid out with the foods of the time.
We then decided to drive over to Öland, but had to limit our time there. We weren't overly impressed with this, but it was cold and rainy, and we didn't see the beach. We looked for runes, or gravesites of the Vikings and people in the Bronze Age, did find some, pretty much in several places. This was interesting, and again, were glad Hillary pushed us to do this!
Ken drove the first part of the long way back, on a slippery wet road. It was 5:00 when we left Öland, and it seemed to be 5:00 the entire way back, because of how long it stays light! We had to stop for dinner at a buffet place outside AStrid Lingsten's amusement park, believe it or not, and it wasn't very good, but our only choice. We didn't care, we just needed to eat before the rest of the drive. The place had many children, many crying babies, we were the only people over 40 in the place, and they had Bob Dylan music playing the background.
Dan drove the rest of the way home, and, fortified by food, we got really silly. Were trying to come up with names of this blog, for each day. Some have no relevance to anyone but us, but since this is mainly our journal, i will mention some.
We Gota Canal and then we Kinda Gota Canal.
Nada Moose in sight.
Not from Rhode Island Dressing.
Why Can't I Get a Potato in Sweden?
We also noted that in the restaurant guides, the cuisine can be listed as something like "asian-swedish cajun fusion with a hint of provence". And "Rhode Island Dressing" is our Thousand Island Dressing, and no one from Rhode Island has heard of it.
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