Last weekend we went for a drive south, stopping first at Hablingbo for lunch. We ate at the bakery & café.
Here is Stefan with the café in the background, with Hablingbo church visible beyond. The body of the church was rebuilt in the 13th century, but the tower is the original from when it was first built in the 12th century. They did that to many churches on Gotland, rebuilding them and making them larger and in the Gothic style, replacing the Romanesque church on the same site.
Here is Haylie in the tower of the church, posing with a runestone, with an older picture stone behind. The picture stones are very famous and are only found on Gotland. They were often placed near grave fields or other significant places. They were produced over a long period, starting in the Bronze Age and evolving gradually until they were in the form of runestones during the period of the late Iron Age known as the Viking Age. As christianity gained in popularity at that point, the creation of them discontinued, although they still retained a cultural or spiritual significance. They were then reused and often built into the churches or walls around the churchyards. In at least one known case from the Viking Age, at the dig where I was in Fröjel 1999, they were reused in graves.http://www.gotmus.i.se/1engelska/bildstenar/engelska/picture_stones.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_stone
On the wall of the church, a medieval ship, known as a cog because of the style of construction with which it was built, had been carved sometime during the Middle Ages.
There is also a wall painting of a Trojaborg present. These are found throughout southern Scandinavia, often in the form of a stone setting in the shape seen here.
Haylie was taking advantage of the acoustics to sing a song with inappropriate lyrics.
After that, we went to Burgsvik and visited Stefan's mom where she has her camper parked for the summer. It was still nice and sunny, but a cool wind made for a very brief dip for Haylie in the pool.
The next day, on sunday, we had Isabelle over to play and went to Haylie's daycare to play at the playground. You can see our apartment building in the background. Haylie is eating rhubarb, hence the puckered lips while going down the slide.
They have a big slide on the hill. The hill is used for lots of sledding in the winter.
