I will miss out watching the fireworks with my family at the middle school. They are always a treat. Maybe we will have our own little fireworks on display of a computer.
So here's a little tribute to America.
And now, a recap of yesterday's adventures to Borgholm Castle and the Ismantorp and Gråborg Ruins.
3 July 2011
At 11AM, my classmates and I embarked on another adventure in the 9 seated rental Mercedes. We made our way up to Borgholm Castle, an important cultural and heritage site of Sweden. It was first built in Öland in the 12th century, and its power has been passed from rivaling countries several times over the next few centuries. In the early 1800s, the castle caught on fire and it was abandoned. And now, it is a ruin of the fortress with fascinating nooks and dark passageways. In one of the windows where arrows are shot, there was a dead crow, giving the room a very eery environment. The ruins of the castle was fantastic and one can just imagine what it used to look like back in the day of chivalrous knights.
This is a picture from the second level of the castle.
This reminded me so much of A Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger that I had to post it. I though it was hilarious and I wanted to ride it, but of course all of the activities cost money.
This, in fact, did not cost money.
Afterward, we headed down to Borgholm (city) to the walking street filled with ice cream carts every 20 feet and several tourist shops and cafes. We stopped at a homemade ice cream cafe, where everyone ordered fantastic ice cream in such delicious flavors and gourmetish sandwiches. It was right near the waterfront, which had numerous boats lined up on docks. I would have loved to spend more time down there, and hopefully I will get a chance to before I leave for home.
As we were making our way back to the station, we wanted to hit the Ismantorp and Gråborg Ruins. Ismantorp was the first stop. Ismantorp is an old ring fortress dating back to 400-550 AD, which the outlines of 88 buildings made out of stone still present. In addition to the misty weather, the ruins were more secluded and we had to walk through a nature trail to get there, giving it an even more mysterious feeling. Walking in the fortress was very cool, and I could just imagine what the fortress used to look like with travelers going about their daily business.
The remains of the buildings.
This building was really neat because you could still make out the entrance. I made it a task to walk through the building like it was 1500 years ago.
And our last stop was to the Gråborg Ruins, which was near the place that our class had gone orchid hunting a couple weeks prior when a lightning storm came over us. The Gråborg Ruins was another ring fortress, however the remains of the buildings were no long there. It was a great big circle, outline with piles and piles of stone rock. Outside of the fortress remains the ruins of the small church.
It was a fantastic field trip to see more of Sweden and some of its culture and landscape. We even got lost on a side road that got more and more vegetation as we went on, until the road completely disappeared into grass and we had to turn our big ol' car around.
After ending the trip around 5pm, it was time to finally study for the midterm that I will be taking in approximately 10 minutes. Wish me good luck!
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