Sweden

Earlier this month the three of us went to Sweden for 10 days. Paul gave a talk at the Palaeontological Association meetings in Uppsala and we were able to visit friends and spend a few days on our own in Stockholm and on the island of Gotland. Lena was a phenomenal traveler. Here she and Morgan take a break in the family area at the Copenhagen airport before our flight to Stockholm.

Our first night in Stockholm we ventured out for a dinner of crepes and then promptly crashed in our room. The next morning we spent walking around Skansen, a large open air museum located on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm. Historic buildings from around Sweden have been moved here, some of which house workshops of traditional craftspeople (e.g., glass blowers, bakers, potters, etc.). Here Morgan stands above one of the old textile buildings.

The view of Stockholm from Skansen. After walking around Skansen we made our way through Gamla Stan (Old Town) - passing by the Julmarknad (Christmas market) - and then back to our hotel before heading out for dinner at a traditional Swedish beer hall (complete with painted monkeys on the ceiling).

The next morning we got up very early and caught a commuter train to Nynäshamn, a town southeast of Stockholm, where we then boarded a ferry for the island of Gotland, located in the Baltic sea about three hours offshore of mainland Sweden. Lena was not a fan of the morning commuters but finally got some rest on the ferry.

On Gotland we stayed in the medeival town of Visby. The old portion of the town is surrounded by a stone wall datinig to the 13th century. On our first morning there we circled the town wall.

One of the fantastic things about Gotland is that it is world renowned for its fantastic exposures of fossiliferous marine sediments from the Silurian (~ 420 million years ago). Here are some fossil stromatoporoids (the blobby shapes with the key to our hostel for scale) in the ring wall surrounding the town; stromatoporoids are an extinct group of sponges and were one of the dominant reef builders in the past and many of the patch reefs preserved on Gotland composed of their remains.

Morgan and Lena outside the ringwall.

Stromatoporoids in the ringwall with Lena for scale.

Morgan and Lena beside the Baltic at dusk (~ 3 PM).

Lena, Morgan and Paul on the shores of the Baltic.

A favorite pastime of ours is combing the beach for stones. Here Morgan and Lena pick up rocks on the outskirts of Visby with the ferry dock in the distant background.

Visby has a small botanical garden. Morgan snapped this picture of their beautiful compost bin.

Another shot of Lena and Morgan adjacent to a 13th century structure composed of 400 million year old sea life. Now that is fun!

The remains of a beautiful cathedral in the central square of Visby.

The second day we set out to track down the actual rock outcrops where Visby's fossil-rich building stones were taken from. Here are fossil reef sediments located behind S:ta Maria cathedral in Visby.

View of Visby from on top of the fossil outcrop behind S:ta Maria.

Later that afternoon we stopped at another outcrop in a nature reserve north of Visby.

The second day we were able to venture further north of town. The coast there was particularly beautiful.

We were able to hike up the cliff and get a fantastic view back on Visby.

The fam in front of the Baltic.

Lovely late afternoon Scandinavian light.

When we left Visby, we spent a night with our friends Janne and Anette and their daughters Maia and Ellen outside Uppsala. Anette spent a year working in the collections at PRI when Paul was there. It was great to catch up with them and Lena had fun being around the girls.

The last few days of our trip were spent in Uppsala where Paul gave his talk. Morgan and Lena did some sight seeing there but we didn't get any noteworthy pictures. Morgan was particularly pleased to be able to see Linnaeus' orange house which was closed the last time we were there.