November 5, 2011:
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| One of the exhibits at Gustavianum |
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| Gustavianum Museum |
The last few days have been amazing! We have done so much and I cannot believe that our time here in Uppsala is coming to an end! Yesterday, we walked around Uppsala exploring more sights. First we started our adventure seeing the Uppsala Cathedral, unfortunately we could not get inside the church till 12:30 due to service starting at 11:00. We thought about going into the church for service, but we were not properly dressed. Instead we decided to try out the Gustavianum museum. The museum was presented to Uppsala University by Gustavus Adolphus and contains many cultural history collections and facts about Uppsala. Uppsala University is a research university and the oldest university in Scandinavia. The university was founded in 1477 and is considered one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in Europe. During the 15th century, Uppsala was known for theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. Gustavianum is the former main building of Uppsala University, which was named after King Gustavus Adolphus. The exhibits that are found within the museum include collections of Classical, Egyptian, and Nordic antiquities, and well as an exhibition on the history of science and the history of Uppsala University. While exploring the exhibit, I found it very interesting how they had collections of old telescopes, medical supplies, and information about the famous scientist and astronomers of the time era. I learned about the Egyptian archaeology, saw a collection of physical instruments that were used in teaching at the university, and much more! The museum was amazing and it was interesting learning about who was the founder temperature, the electric pump, the telegraph, the camera, and who proved that magnetism is generated by electric currents. If I had the chance to go back to that museum, I would go again! There was just so much information to learn about and the to see all the tools they used that dated back to the 15th century was an amazing sight to see! I think this museum was even better than going to the Field Museum in Chicago! Here is more on the museum (http://www.gustavianum.uu.se/en//node1).
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| Another exhibit at Gustavianum |
Next we made our way to Uppsala Cathedral, which dates back to the late 13th century, and the height of the 118.7 meters is the tallest church building in Scandinavia. Uppsala’s Cathedral is Scandinavia’s largest church, consecrated in 1435. It is the national sanctuary of the Church of Sweden. While visiting the cathedral, the interior of the church was amazing. Pictures and words cannot describe the interior of the building. The entire inside interior was so intricate with details that it was a breath taking sight to see. There were a number of burial sights that we could visit inside the cathedral. The people who are buried there are Swedish kings and notable people. Here is a list of some of the people buried in the cathedral:
§ Gustav Vasa, 15th century, King of Sweden. He is buried with his three wives, although only two are depicted on the sarcophagus designed by Willem Boy.
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| Uppsala Cathedral |
§ John III of Sweden (son of Gustav Vasa) and his wife Catherine Jagiellon.
§ Carolus Linnaeus, 18th century world-renowned botanist.
§ Olaus Rudbeck, famous Swedish polymath and one of the discoverers of the lymphatic system.
§ Emanuel Swedenborg, 18th century scientist and mystic. He was not originally interred here, but his remains were transported to Uppsala from England in 1908.
§ Nathan Söderblom, 19th-20th century notable archbishop, Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
§ Eric the Saint, 12th century king and national saint.
§ Laurentius Petri, Sweden's first Lutheran archbishop.
§ Relics of Saint Bridget (Heliga Birgitta) were placed in the chapel of Saint Eric and Bridget's parents.
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| Interior of Cathedral |
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| Antiques at Uppsalandmuseet |
After learning about the Museum and the Cathedral, we went to another museum called Upplandsmuseet. The museum was about the history of Uppsala. I wish I could explain more about the museum, but everything was written in Swedish and they did not have any English text next to the items we were viewing. But it was very interesting viewing the items from the history of Uppsala. After the museum, we went to this fabulous place to eat. It was a pasta restaurant where the servings actually filled you up! I had a pasta chicken, which tasted delicious. Then we went walking around Uppsala in the areas where we had not had the chance to visit. We found the “Golden Gate Bridge of Sweden”, which was nothing like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco! But it was a lot of fun today!
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| Golden Gate Bridge of Sweden |
November 6, 2011:
This morning, we got up around 9:00 because we had to be checked out of our hostel by 11:00. After getting all our luggage together, we decided to go to Uppsala Kommun, which is the Uppsala Art Museum. The Uppsala Art Museum houses the art from Uppsala University that spans a period from the 13th century to the 19th
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| Pottery at Uppsala Art Museum |
After visiting the art museum, we met up with Kim and Sara. They decided that they wanted to see the Upplandsmuseet, which they did not seewith us. Instead of using our phone to call them to meet us at a restaurant we had to find a location and a time to meet up there. We thought that we would meet up at 2:00 by our hostel so that we could have a final lunch together before making our way to Umeå. For lunch we went to an Irish Pub for lunch, which the food was amazing! After lunch, we came back to the hostel and decided to take naps, work on homework, and wait till we have to get on the train. Kim and Sara are not traveling with us tonight as the other four of us (Erika, Amanda, Shannon, and myself) are taking a 10:00 night train to Umeå. The train ride is about 8 hours long, just like our flight so we thought it would be better to take the night train so we could get some sleep. Tomorrow morning at 6:45 we will be in Umeå finally getting situated into our rooms!
We were all talking tonight how we feel that we have done so much in just a week! I cannot believe everything that we have seen. We went from Stockholm to Gothenburg, Gothenburg to Uppsala, and now we are making our way to our final destination! We cannot wait to be in the classroom teaching the students in Umeå! I miss everyone at home a lot but the experience has been amazing so far! I cannot wait to see where else we will be going throughout the next five weeks. We are looking into taking trips on the weekend visiting Norway and Finland! Everything here seems so much closer in distance unlike the United States. I mean we can take a four-hour ferry to Finland or eleven-hour train ride to Norway!
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