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..

On my trips to Rome..

..I am priviledged to be able to stay with my friends Annika and Anders at the Swedish embassy residence close to the Termini station. This time en route to Capri I slept in Crown princess Victoria´suite, alas! (and found no pea under the matress! Ha!)

The entrance hall.
The residence of the Swedish Ambassador is some 1.500 sqm and situated in a lovely garden in the centre of Rome. This palace like mansion was acquired by the Swedish state in 1922.

The dining area.

The parlour, facing the lush gardens..

The stairwell to the second floor and the Ambassador´s private quarters.

The balcony (in the private quarters) facing the garden is a beautiful cool spot for long, Roman summer suppers..

Back home in Gotland..

..after one month´s of absence, I found that my entire basement has been filled with water. Due to heavy rains in Gotland this summer, the ground has been thoroughly saturated and many basement valves are spilling over..I am not he only one. It smells like a mushroom patch down below! I will just hope for better weather and keep the doors open for the rest of the summer and hope that it will do the trick!
Meanwhile, my sister and I receive a bunch of great guests from the mainland - some of whom arrived on magnificent Harley Davidsons - and that called for a celebration like a dinner party at Ihrebaden by the long white beach in northern Gotland last night!
While monsterous mosquitoes were devouring us, we were devouring salmon and roasted Gotland lamb with some sparkling for starters.. mmm..

Thalia in Sandhamn!

Thalia - a true water freak.. 

Thalia on her very first visit to Sweden! She spent a few weeks resting and "partying" in the lovely Stockholm archipelago after her long trip Washington-Paris-Naples-Capri-Naples-Paris-Stockholm. In Sandhamn she stayed in her grandmother´s house in Trouville . And she seemed to just love it! Here she is leafing through the Swedish daily papers with her father Malcolm in granma´s garden. Thalia is now 10 months old and just about to walk..

Capri revisited:

BBC today reports the following as a one of the main headlines:

A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car's GPS. 

Italian officials say the couple asked at Carpi's tourist office where they could find Capri's famous Blue Grotto.The car's sat nav system had sent them 650km (400 miles) off course to Carpi. "Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didn't cross any bridge or take any boat," said a bemused tourism official in Carpi. Once they realised their mistake, the couple got back in their car and headed south, the official added.

Another "Die dumme Schweden" story is getting a nice global coverage!

PS: It wasn´t me!! DS

One early morning..

..my sister and I steal away from the wedding buzz and board the chair lift (at 8 Euro) to Monte Solaro from Anacapri. Monte Solaro is the highest part of Capri, towering 589 meters above sea level, and boasting a 360° panorama of the island of Capri with a wonderful view of the Faraglioni, the Amalfi and Sorrento coastlines and the Marina Piccola and the Gulf of Naples..
You have to kick off your sandals and carry them in your hand not to lose them during the long trip up the mountain. The hills below under the cable trail are studded with hats and lost sandals..
The bare feet shown here are mine!

Climbing up, up and away. Anacapri below.

Terraces and my sister in the front chair. She yells to me that she once had to jump from a cable chair in the snowy Alps when she got stuck many years ago when she was a ski instructor in Austria. Great! I yell back. Not easily scared by little sisters!Hideous burial shrines are built below on the slopes.
Here a spooky mannequin is neatly dressed (in the clothes of the deceased?)

When we arrive at the top, a heavy mist shrouds the Faraglioni rocks below at Marina Piccola.

As we devour one of the most wonderful ice sorbets - gelati di limoni- you can imagine, the mist gradually give way and and we get our money´s worth of sighting. The sun breaks through and the butterflies roams and beacons among the flowers of the mountain. Even the smells of the typical mountain bush is now released and I can smell the scent of thyme and oregano of the Mediterranian mixing with the strong Italian coffee from the small bar here on the very peak of Capri..
The Faraglioni. Photo from the following clear day´s boat trip around the island.
The newly weds (to the left) with some of the wedding guests have just been passing through the hole of the famous Faraglioni rock. Anders - Sweden´s ambassador in Rome and now the bride´s father-in-law - is donning the white Borsalino to the right .

Colors of Capri..

..as in Lina´s wedding bouquet..or in the Grotta Azzurra..or..

The lady above:
"Buurrrrp. Too much of that great Capriense wine last night!
I should have remember what happened a similar night about 9 months ago..
Why do we never learn!?"

Pontus & Lina´s wedding

The view from the location of the marriage act. Capri´s Marina Grande down below.

Part of the marriage act at San Michele, Capri.The 65 guests start to arrive at the wedding dinner..
Lina´s Papa Dag and the very first speech of many..A beautiful sunset over the Mediterreanean..
The wedding cake - La Torta Nuziale.

Now they are married!

Wedding dinner, just before sunset at San Michele.

Lina and Pontus on the Mediterranean the day
after their beautiful wedding
at Capri´s San Michele!

Volvo Ocean Race´s last leg..

Yesterday I watched the start of the end of an amazing journey
that took place outside Sandhamn on Thursday in splendid weather and with winds at 11 knots. After eight months and over 37,000 nautical miles, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet today is in the home straight, headed up the Gulf of Finland to the finish line in St. Petersburg. The weather conditions at the start couldn´t be much better and hundreds of boats followed the event at 2PM when the boats took of on the last leg of their long journey ending at St Petersburg.

See the video of the start of the last leg of the race outside Sandhamn on Thursday.

The Volvo Ocean Race is undeniably the world’s premier global race and one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world.
During the nine months of the 2008-09 Volvo Occean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain in October 2008 and now concludes in St Petersburg, Russia, the teams have sailed over 37,000 nautical miles of the world’s most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, around Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Goteborg and Stockholm, Sandhamn. (I just happened to "sail" up to view to the start under Canadian flag!)

(photo: Pia Ehrenpreis)