onsdag 5 augusti 2009

Sweden´s Medieval Times..

..returns for a hectic week every August to Visby, Gotland.
The Medieval Week on Gotland – you travel 600 years back in time
during eight days in August when the Middle Age is back. Gotland’s special settings, Visby’s 200 medieval houses on winding lanes, splendid church ruins, and the magnificent city wall frame a spectacle without equal.
Markets and music, theater and lectures. Knights clash in tournaments. It is an unforgettable journey in time and space.

It is a great event and the heavy drumbeat of those days lingers over the medeval town of Visby and mixes with the smells of roasted wild boars..
Many elements you associate with this era are there.. jesters..
..blacksmiths..
..fair maidens in decked out in dresses they made during long northern winter nights by the light from the kerosene lamps..
The ale brewess..In Gotland the typical ale is called "dricku"..
Monks and salesmen..
This man holding my sister, tells me he has made his impressive mail coat himself..Ring by ring..
A Medieval flirt in the sunshine..

Oh, this outfit is so warm! It is really a hot summer day! My medieval feet are acing. Can we go home now? Where on earth did we park the horse and carriage? Do we really have to stay for the tournament games?
Thanks god! I have been heading in the right direction!
The sign reads in old Swedish: "Full bath: a dime" "Foot bath: half a dime" "Back Scrub by Young Maid two dimes" "By Old Maid Half a dime.." "Soft soap and birch branches used.
"
However, I am too shy on a Medeval kind of way to ask the price of a back scrub by a young guy with a six pack body..Hmmm.
It is not listed anywhere and the place is full of those in handsome outfits! (But then again - six pack did not exist in those days! How on earth can such heretical thoughts dawn upon me? )
The sun sets after a long day. exposing the Middle Age silhouette of Visby..