Saturday
One thing that I’ve heard repeatedly upon arriving here in Sweden is to “brace myself” for winter. Yes, I know (but at the same time, I don’t know) that it is going to get very dark and cold very soon. Blah blah blah, but let’s not dwell on the future that is not yet here. From my view, it’s sunny and in the 70s, with zero humidity (had enough of that, Boston!) so, in other words, it’s perfect for exploring outside.
As I mentioned before, I live in the forest. What do people like doing in the forest? Well, many things I think, but one is hiking. So behind my apartment and around 6-7k in either direction (look at me, using the metric system!) is a hiking path that cuts through all these beautiful trees and fields. So on Saturday I took off in one direction towards the city center and walked in solace and warm sun beams for a couple hours until I reached the bus stop.
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| trail head to Gula Stigen near my apt |
From there, I hopped on for a short ride to the sight of Gamla Uppsala (or, ‘Old Uppsala’) where there are giant lumps in an otherwise relatively flat piece of land. What are these giant mounds, you ask? Why, they are some royal Viking burial mounds from approximately 500AC! Well. I’ve been to the Great Wall of China, so I can’t say it’s the oldest thing I’ve ever seen (and yes I’ve definitely seen other things that older but this is the best comparison I can make right now, ok!?) but it was still wild to be walking around and climbing up these giant mounds that contained the medieval remains of a medieval society. Here are some photos:
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| Gamla Uppsala |
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| From the top of a burial mound |
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| A Swedish Selfie |
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| The same mounds, except this time, horizontally! |
Saturday also happened to be the day when Uppsala hosted its annual Kulturnatten or Culture Night, where usually busy city streets were closed for pedestrians, all the museums were open all day, concerts were scattered throughout the city and there were food trucks at every corner. While for me, it absolutely was not anything compared to the Durham Fair (nothing is), I can only compare the town’s excitement, participation and overthrow of business as usual to the great Durham Fair annual event of all time. There were also pushy teenagers running around texting each other and looking way too dressed up for such a gathering, odd performances of the choral variety and tchotchkes for sale, galore. No cows, llamas or other livestock and definitely no mozzarella sticks in sight. There was, however, a truck claiming to be “America’s Pride” selling donuts so I guess that counts for something! It was good to see so many people out and about on a Saturday night, as usually the streets of Uppsala seem to be overtaken with those dang university students. But alas, it did just make me preemptively miss the fair!
Sunday
Sunday was another day for exploration, this time taking a series of buses and trains to 12km outside of Stockholm to Tyresta National Park. Together with my friend from France, we were able to decipher the connections, get a free round trip on the regional bus by not having pre-purchased our tickets (not recommended for travel), hike in pristine forest for hours and make friends with several ducks. There were many people there carrying around woven baskets looking for the season’s end batch of blueberries (or mushrooms? It was unclear) but enough space and solitude to be able to walk around in the whispers of the trees. Aside from being nearly eaten by a couple of hungry ducks, the day was pleasant, reflective and beautiful. Here are some pictures! Note: they are not paintings even if they may look fake.
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| 'The Virgin Forest' as they labeled this section of the trail |
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| A beautiful lake |
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| Don't eat these |
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| Very unafraid poultry |
You may notice that the season here looks similar to maybe early-mid October back home in the states. Don’t worry, it’s throwing me off as well. The seasons here seem to accelerate much more quickly than back home. The trees here are beginning to turn and the days are shortening by minutes at a time. When I got here, the sun was setting around 9pm and rising around 5:30am. Today it will set around 7:15pm and rise at 6:15am. Bracing myself for the darkness, I know! I will join the gym soon because they have a ‘light room.’
Anywho, enough procrastinating with my dear diary.
Xoxo
Swedish Jamie
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