Week 23 Eskilstuna and Skokloster Castle

Monday night we headed northwest about 1 1/2 hours to Eskilstuna, a pretty town on a river.  We were meeting all the other senior couples for a birthday celebration for Elder Anderson.  (He and his wife are the "Apartment Couple, from Reno, Nevada.  They handle all the apartment needs for all the missionaries.  It is a big job, and you would never know he was a successful attorney, when you see him crawling under a bed to tighten it, putting together a new bicycle or cleaning an apartment that is being closed.  He's a great man with kind, thoughtful words and never a complaint.) After dinner at "Wild West Burgers" we headed to the motel (where everyone but us was staying) for birthday dessert.  All other the couples were in Eskilstuna for the week to help with Festinord.  This is a Young Single Adult Conference for all of Northern Europe, and anyone else who wants to come.  We met one girl who came from Australia, just for the conference!  About 800 participants enjoyed the weeklong festivities which filled every day with speakers, workshops and activities.  They wrapped up the week with a semi formal dance they called "The Prom." When our friends returned, they were worn out!  They had helped from beginning to end wherever they were needed:  registration, beachfront, shuttling, and cooking, serving and cleaning up at meals.  It was a good thing we didn't stay and returned to Stockholm that night.  We needed the week to catch up from the week before!

 The jail/kitchen at "Wild West Burgers."  Pretty clever.

 The official government building in the town square.  In Sweden, the town square is called the "Centrum"  or just the "stan"--the city.  The statue is hard to see, but it is of a woman holding up her baby, as though showing him the world.

 At the other end of the town square was this sculpture.  Unfortunately, I cut off the top, which came to a fine point.  I'm not sure what it is called, but I thought it looked like a raindrop and I could feel its aesthetic movement.  Very cool!

 Most towns have sculptures around--in the parks, on the streets, in the squares and in the traffic circles.  I'm beginning to appreciate modern art more.

View of Eskilstunåan River, which runs through the city.  Notice the little boat-boarding ramp on the dock.

A view back toward the town square from the river.  This is a pretty typical scene for any small city.

Our week was pretty full of much-needed office work, which isn't very exciting for us to write about or you to read about!  I also helped with a luncheon at the mission home for 24 missionaries and had two language tutoring lessons.  I nearly called it quits on my Swedish lessons, because I rarely hear it or speak it, except at church, but I realized I don't want to leave this country having spent 18 months here and not being able to speak better than I do now.  So, I decided to stick it out for another 3 months, until my tutoring opportunity through the MTC ends.  (I'm still hoping someday I will understand it when I hear it.  Right now, I still can't catch more than one or two words per sentence, nor can I catch any real meaning.  Ugh!)


Saturday we took a drive about 45 minutes from our home to another "castle."  John is disappointed that so many of the "castles" here are really just large estates.  I don't care; I like them all, and I appreciate this one more than others because we actually took a tour.  Incidentally, this is the second time we've unknowingly arrived for a Renaissance Festival!

Skokloster Castle--entrance view.  (I could't stand directly in front, because that was where the jousting tournament was set up.)  The back of the castle faces a body of water which is navigable all the way to Stockholm.

The owner and builder of the castle was Carl Gustaf Wrangel, who died in 1674.  He was a "warlord" during Sweden's "Stora Makt Tid"--translated=Great Power Time.  I guess we would refer to it as a "golden age."  At that time, they owned most of the Baltic countries.  Prior to this painting, only royalty was portrayed on a rearing horse and wearing gold.  However, Wrangel liked to view himself as a wealthy, powerful man, and he flaunted it throughout his castle.  

 Another way he showed his wealth was with his armory (a few of the more than 1,000 firearms in his collection are in the background of this picture).  He also had a significant art collection and liked to own exotic things, such as this seal skin kayak.  (I had to keep reminding myself that this man lived in the mid 1600s.)

Many of the walls were covered with painted calf leather "wallpaper."  Note how it was sewn together and painted with gold.  There were some rooms that sparkled from ground glass added to the paint.  Each piece, about 18x24 inches,  came from one calf's hide, so with 300-400 square meters of covered walls, these magnificent walls were another expensive showpiece.  

 Another unique feature of this castle is the unfinished banquet room.  Wrangle wanted the largest banquet hall in Sweden and work was underway when he died.  Upon word of his death, the workmen stopped, afraid they wouldn't be paid if they carried on, and the room was preserved just as they left it, work in progress and tools lying about.  (I read that the workers at been previously laid off from time to time because of money issues, so they were probably wise to quit and move on.)

 There was a special exhibit at the castle:   Jane Austen's World.  Of course, I couldn't resist and I was excited to know that Jane Austen's works were loved here as they are at home.  It was primarily an exhibit of the costumes from the Jane Austen movies.  Here Elizabeth and Darcy are represented.  At the end of the exhibit, there were bonnets and dresses to put on in front of mirrors or to wear for a picture.  The women were crazy about it!  Watching them enjoy the exhibit just made the world seem a little bit smaller to me.

Another wonder for me is how much I learn from the young missionaries.  This week at district meeting, one elder recalled that when he was eight years old he admired a certain professional basketball player and tried to do everything like him.  His admiration motivated this young boy to practice, to improve his 3-point shots, and to develop his skills on the court.  However, he realizes today that the person he should be trying to emulate is Jesus Christ.  He is the perfect example.  At first I thought, "That was a nice thought," but it stayed on my mind, and I started to realize how often I have tried to be like other people I admired rather than Jesus Christ.  Although I am always trying to better myself, if I would follow His example more closely, I could truly become my best self, and that is what I really want to do.