Sweden's "Robins"

Sweden, as well as other Scandinavian and European countries, has birds that behave like robins in the US. One, the koltrast, has already been noted in a previous post about birds. Koltrast are the blackbirds in the English song

 "Sing A Song Of Sixpence" 
Four and Twenty Blackbirds. 
Baked in a Pie. 

Here is that bird. It is sometimes called "Sweden's National Bird" because of its melodious song.




Today I got some nice pictures of another "Swedish Robin", known as björktrast (birch thrush). Both koltrast and björktrast are common lawn birds. Björktrast are also known as "the trast that cannot sing"...even though it is often noisy in much the same way as American Robins, it is not nearly as good a singer as other thrushes.

 Being that time of year, there were numerous hungry youngsters. Here is a nice picture of one that just got a yummy worm to eat.

Still issing from my photo collection are the Dubbeltrast and the Taltrast (spruce trast), both primarily forest birds. Dubbeltrast is largest. Taltrast is known for its ability and habit of mimicking other birds. We have heard many Taltrast but seen none.

Stockholm's Skärgård

Lars and Gus took a day trip out to the island Sandhamn (Sand Harbor) on one of the many, many regular ferries that operate everywhere along the coast and especially in the various skärgårdar along the Swedish coast. We got off at Sandhamn, giving us 4 hours to walk around, eat lunch, and then take another boat back to Stockholm.

We went to Sandhamn on Cinderella II and returned on Askungen, the old Swedish name for Cinderella (aska = ashes & ungen = the young one). Yes, it is an older boat, although not THAT much older.

 Notice that the tip of the bow rises up to allow passengers to board and to exit. This allows these boats to "snuggle" their bow up to a makeshift or permanent dock for quick loading and unloading of people and freight.



There are many lovely houses on the island. Here are a few examples.

 

  

The short growth in the last picture is mostly blueberries and some lingon. The blueberries were just beginning to form and ripen and the few lingon bushes we saw were a bit behind in their production of berries.

Sandhamn has its own "Lookout Mountain". These six pictures give a 360 degree counter clockwise view from atop this little hill.

 It should be no surprise that this small community has few "roads" wide enough for cars. We only saw one short road wide enough. The path shown below is wide enough for two-way bicycle traffic. Some were not.

Midsommar Eve

A big part of summer in Sweden is the Midsommar celebration. Most of the festivites happen on Friday, and it’s a really big deal.  When you live somewhere that it’s dark for a good portion of the year, the longest day of the year is reason to celelbrate!  We spend the day with friends in the village of Lid, close to where we rented our second cabin.  We gather at their house, eat a bit of lunch, practice a few tunes, and then walk into the village to play around the Midsommar pole.  Then back to the house, play some music, drink some “bubbel” (champagne), and start fixing dinner.  Even though it’s a sort of potluck, there’s still a lot to do.  And usually the table is set outside, but it was cool and breezy with a good chance of rain, so we moved it all indoors…which made for cozy conditions.

Sunset the evening before….9:30 p.m.

There was more than this…still prepping.

Everyone pitched in….                              Good thing we’re all friends!
The pole is marched around the field, and then set in place.

Ring-dances                                            

It warmed up a bit after fika!

Kakelugnar (Tile Stoves)

How do you heat a castle?  In most of Northern Europe, you used a combination of fireplaces and "Kakelugnar" (literally "tile ovens", also called masonry heaters).  Ceramic and/or soapstone was used to build these free-standing stoves, which retain and radiate heat much longer than cast-iron stoves.  The fires burn much hotter, which reduces emissions, and depending on size, a kakelugn can radiate heat for as long as 36 hours, without ever becoming too hot to touch.  In some places, seating areas and even beds have been built directly adjoining the stove.

Aside from the outstanding features mentioned above, kakelunger require far less wood than fireplaces and are far more effecient heating devices. They were developed in part in response to the huge amounts of wood needed by fireplaces. Kakelunger have small fire boxes, where wood burns much more effeciently. Then, as the heated air rises up through the meters of convoluted pathways through the tiles, heat from the burned wood warms the tiles, which, in turn become a low temperature, long-lived heat source in the room.

Not only were they a good heat source, they were often quite decorative.  As would be expected in a royal residence, the ones we saw at Gripsholm were quite lovely....even the relatively plain green one in the maids' room.

   

Gripsholm’s Theatre

Thinking that perhaps not everyone would be interested in this 18th-century gem, we're putting it here by itself.

Gustav III was sometimes known as the "Theatre King", due to his passion for and dedication to the performing arts.  He had at least 2 theatres built at royal residences....Gripsholm and Drottningholm.  He also enjoyed acting until his advisors suggested it was unseemly for a king to be performing onstage.  After that, he limited himself to writing plays and directing.

The stage in all its (somewhat dim….) glory

The Proscenium

The "Dome"....not as deep as it looks.  Forced perspective at its best.

The outer round were trap-door windows, so the servants could watch also.

Backstage...scene-shifting machinery original to the 1700s

The ropes are new, the rest is original.

In the castle entryway, there is a model of the whole castle.  So, more pics of the theatre….

  

  

Gripsholm Castle

Yesterday we visited Gripsholm Castle.  We seem to do this sort of thing once or twice on every trip, but more than that and they all start to blend together.
Gripsholm was named for Bo Jonsson Grip, who built the original in the 1300s.  Very little remains of that...it was a cloister for awhile, and then in 1537, King Gustav Vasa ordered it renovated and expanded as part of a new national protection system.  It has been extensively added to, redecorated, and generally messed with ever since, but bits and pieces dating back to this period do still exist.
It was King Gustav Vasa's primary residence during much of his reign, and then became a sort of Dower House for widowed queens...Queen Maria Eleornora and Queen Hedvig Eleornora lived out their lives there in the 1600s.
A new beginning came in the 1700s, with King Gustav III, who was passionately interested in history and wished to surround himself with it.  He brought the court there, rather to their dismay, as they perceived it to be uncomfortable and outdated.  The King's other great passion was theatre, and he had one built in one of the Renaissance towers, now called the Theatre Tower.  It was an architectural challenge to build a functional theatre in a round tower, five stories up, and one of the castle wings had 3 stories added to it, in order to provide backstage areas and dressing rooms.  Gustav III was also the king responsible for the theatre at Drottningholm Palace, still in use today.  We'll put the theatre into a separate post, for those interested.
   
Runestones...they say things like "So-and-so had this carved in honor of....."

   
Gripsholm from the pier in Mariestad

  
From the back side                                             Mariestad

     
Entryway                                               Entryway ceiling

     
Canons captured from Russia in the 30-Year’s War….they’re called The Sow and The Boar

     

    

                                                                                     Inner courtyard
   
                                                    One of the original bedrooms….Gustav Vasa’s, maybe?


Thick walls for good defense

     
And looooong hallways…..

   
Some truly amazing woodwork!!

    
Inlays of various woods                             And fancy fittings!


A bedroom fit for a princess!  All of the hangings were
yellow originally, but some have faded.






Public rooms, reception halls, and a tower room for playing cards.