A pandemic-adjusted event experience
2020-06-29 05:20 pmThis past weekend I saw and spoke to more friends than I have since December. I'm still working as usual, but a lot of that is solitary, and collegues and clients are not the same as friends. There were 14 of us in total.
The event was entirely unofficially organized by Duchess Vanna and Turid from the Shire of Ulvberget as a car-safari through their local environs in the trails of Arn, the fictional 12th Century hero from Jan Guillou's books.
Nothing was catered, and there was no site, instead we all came in our separate cars to Skara cathedral (Svenska kyrkans info) where Vanna had some opening remarks about Arn, and then about the real history of Skara and the area, following that we had about half an hour to go in and check out the Cathedral on our own.
The next stop was about 20 minutes away at Gudhem Abbey which we got a little history about from Vanna, and then time to explore the standing ruins, the little church and the even smaller museum. It was already +30 and blazing sun by this time, so each leg we got to hop into an airconditioned car was great.
The next stop was Varnhem Abbey (Svenska kyrkans info) which was gorgeous in the sun, and the tarred roof tiles smelled deliciously in the hot sun. We had lunch here, some had brough their own, me and Ed got a shrimp sandwich from the café, then we explored the area, and managed to pose for a group-photo before melting completely.
From Varnhem we went on in a column of all six cars to Husaby which was the first seat of a Bishop in Sweden, and where the first Christian King of Sweden was christened around the year 1000. It was even hotter by this time, and going inside a stone church with nice thick walls was very welcome!
The next stop was the church which according to Guillou was built by Arn, Forshem (Svenska kyrkans info). It is unique in that it's the only church dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre in Sweden. It was tiny, and cute, and I rested up on the lawn outside it for a bit before we headed off to the final stop at Blombergs Hamn and the re-production Gokstad ship Sigrid Storråda's berth.
Turid is a member of the club that's in charge of the upkeep of the ship, and we spread out a blanket each to have picnic dinner, as it had gotten to be 6pm by this time.
There was also a quiz, with 12 questions and a bonus, all dealing with information Vanna had told us during the stops.
All in all, it was a great way to spend a day together, but responsibly apart, and as a post-mortem on the way home,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
edricus and me talked about how we could do something similar in our local environs. There is plenty of history and cool sites around Uppland.
The event was entirely unofficially organized by Duchess Vanna and Turid from the Shire of Ulvberget as a car-safari through their local environs in the trails of Arn, the fictional 12th Century hero from Jan Guillou's books.
Nothing was catered, and there was no site, instead we all came in our separate cars to Skara cathedral (Svenska kyrkans info) where Vanna had some opening remarks about Arn, and then about the real history of Skara and the area, following that we had about half an hour to go in and check out the Cathedral on our own.
The next stop was about 20 minutes away at Gudhem Abbey which we got a little history about from Vanna, and then time to explore the standing ruins, the little church and the even smaller museum. It was already +30 and blazing sun by this time, so each leg we got to hop into an airconditioned car was great.
The next stop was Varnhem Abbey (Svenska kyrkans info) which was gorgeous in the sun, and the tarred roof tiles smelled deliciously in the hot sun. We had lunch here, some had brough their own, me and Ed got a shrimp sandwich from the café, then we explored the area, and managed to pose for a group-photo before melting completely.
From Varnhem we went on in a column of all six cars to Husaby which was the first seat of a Bishop in Sweden, and where the first Christian King of Sweden was christened around the year 1000. It was even hotter by this time, and going inside a stone church with nice thick walls was very welcome!
The next stop was the church which according to Guillou was built by Arn, Forshem (Svenska kyrkans info). It is unique in that it's the only church dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre in Sweden. It was tiny, and cute, and I rested up on the lawn outside it for a bit before we headed off to the final stop at Blombergs Hamn and the re-production Gokstad ship Sigrid Storråda's berth.
Turid is a member of the club that's in charge of the upkeep of the ship, and we spread out a blanket each to have picnic dinner, as it had gotten to be 6pm by this time.
There was also a quiz, with 12 questions and a bonus, all dealing with information Vanna had told us during the stops.
All in all, it was a great way to spend a day together, but responsibly apart, and as a post-mortem on the way home,
edricus and me talked about how we could do something similar in our local environs. There is plenty of history and cool sites around Uppland.
