Glimmingehus och Ales Stenar

I really must apologize, this blog is frustrating me a little bit. I feel as though my posts are lengthy and too cumbersome for my friends and family to read all the way through. And yet, I feel as though I am not really saying anything -- not painting a strong enough picture of my life here in Sverige, not detailing my stories -- or, indeed, skipping stories altogether. It is not fair to me because I want so much to tell you all, and it is not fair to you because you deserve so much more than this blog has provided. I am not sure how to remedy this situation without writing even longer posts. Please let me know what you think.

Today my class (now twice it's original size, thanks to the reinforcements of Russian and Chinese students), went on a field trip to Österlens, which contains the well preserved medieval fortress of Glimmengehus, and then on to the coast where we saw Kåseberga and Ales Stenar, the Swedish version of Stone Henge. It was a lovely drive, from the west coast of Sweden where Lund lies to the southeast coast of Sweden where the stones of Ales Stenar have stood for thousands of years. I have noticed one thing about the Swedish countryside, with its beautiful farmhouses and perfect Swedish rows of strawberries and wheat -- there is also the steeple of a church within sight. Across the rolling hills of Skåne, you can always find one of these outdated throwbacks to the time when Sweden was strictly Lutheran. Now, of course, Swedes are areligious -- more unconcerned than atheistic. They enjoy their Swedish nature and their knäckenbröd, and that is that.

Glimmengehus was my first castle. Of course, I have seen other castles, especially when I was in København, but this is the first one that I have gone inside of and gotten a proper tour of. And, of course, it is not really a castle but the house of a knight who needed a fortress to defend himself against the unhappy peasants which he taxed relentlessly -- a little Robin Hood-esque, don't you see? It was very impressive, strong stone and oak, surrounded by a moat. Our tour-guide, dressed in medieval finery (he had really cool shoes), even pointed out the various death traps which the builders put in place to surprise trespassers. The most fascinating bit was that all of the exterior and interior was original to 1499 when the fortress was built by Sir Jens Holgersens Ulfstand. So many ancient things now have been remodeled and retouched in order to "look like original" but the sheer fact that it had been messed with lends a sort of disappointment to viewing such monuments. This was definitely a sight to see!

After an unsuccessful attempt to find a bathroom with handsoap so that I could wash my hands (for some reason the medieval just seems so dirty to me!), we all got back onto our tourist buses and trekked over to Kåseberga, a small seaside fishing village which lies beside the ancient site of Ales Stenar. We stopped in Kåseberga and sampled the local delicacy -- smoked salmon and herring. I did, indeed, try some and it was very delicious! I even have pictures to prove it!

We hoofed our way up the hill to see Ales Stenar, with the monumental background of the sea. Ales Stenar is a construction of 60 stones, each about the height of a person, which is set in the shape of a ship, with keystones at each end. Archaeologists used to think that it was a viking burial ground, since other ship formations denoted viking burials in other areas. But Ales Stenar has a more remarkable purpose -- it was used to mark the midsummer and the winter solstice, as the sun would rise on which respective day precisely behind one of the keystones. It was tough to get good pictures of Ales Stenar because it was absolutely inundated with tourists. Some idiot tour-guide had actually led his group into the middle of the structure (which is a probably 60-100 meters long) and they all stood there like idiots for 20 minutes while he talked. It absolutely ruined everyone's pictures.

Actually, I had a hard time all day with people ruining my pictures. There I was, camera out in front of my face, eyes intent on an object, knees bent, shoulders rolled back, ready to snap -- and one of the Russian students would walk right in front of me so instead of taking a picture of the ancient chest of Jens Holgersens' wife, I took a picture of some Russian girls legs. How rude! Or I would be trying to take a picture of Ales Stenar, and some obnoxious tourist would walk right in front of me and stand there, entirely unaware of me about to take a picture, and refuse to get out of my shot! As much as I love traveling so far, I hate being a tourist. And I definitely hate other tourists! If only it weren't tourist season right now, maybe I would have gorgeous pictures of Ales Stenar and Glimmengehus, but alas, I have not.

For now I am exhausted, absolutely in need of a nap. I will keep you informed of my adventures, but I think that tomorrow I will sleep in late and clean my room. Quite the Swedish adventure!

Some Swedish for you to learn:
Stenar -- rocks
Sverige -- Sweden
Ryssland -- Russia
Kina -- China
Sill -- herring
Lax -- salmon
och -- and