life, love, food!: Lund, Day 5: Excursion Day!!

The BOY says:

Day 5: Well, nothing on day 4 cause it was relatively uneventful. Though we managed to get our local SIM card for our handphones, so we’re now officially able to sms our friends here in Sweden without having to pay exhorbitant amounts!

Today we went on an excursion organized by the university as part of our orientation programme. We took a 1 hour bus ride to the south eastern tip of Sweden to visit a Middle Age Castle called “Glimmingehus”, pronounced [glimminghews]. It is apparently the BEST preserved Middle Age Nordic castle in the entire region, built by a Danish Lord over 500 years ago. The castle is not a typical one we see in paintings and movies, with battlements, turrets and the works, but it does come with a moat! It used to have drawbridges, fenced gates but was of course removed for the safety of tourists like us. Within the castle there were servants quarters, soldiers quarters and bedrooms for the lord and lady of the castle. There was even an archer loft right at the top for the defense of the castle. This was certainly an eye-opener. Goon, being the technological “genius” that she is, forgot to charge her camera batteries so not long after we arrived at the castle, the camera was dead. I hadn’t brought mine so throughout the day, we depended solely on her handphone camera, so you’ll have to pardon us for the poor quality pictures!

Glimmingehus - The Castle

Here it is again with a view of the moat

Goon in front of Glimmingehus - it's HUGE

The Banquet Hall

The Soldier's Quarters

Stairs to the top!

The Master Bedroom, with a fireplace

A window with built in seats!

Goon standing under an archway in the room of the Lady-of-the castle

Goon and I at the castle's front door

Next, we were shuttled to the nearby port-town of Ystad, pronounced [istahd]. At first glance, it seems largely similar to Lund but during our guided tour of the place, we were shown many facets of this port city that gave it its unique identity. The tour there would have been a lot more enjoyable of not for the horrendous wind. It blew at us non stop throughout our tour, freezing our faces and hands whenever we wanted to take a picture!

The streets of Ystad

Another picture of Ystad's streets

A pond in Ystad, ducks and all!

One of the museums in town.

The Church of Mary, a local landmark.

A Latin School (one of few remaining)

The Ystad theatre, well known throught Sweden!

A wine glass to mark out Wine Street, how apt!

Good luck finding a tree like that in Singapore!

We arrived back at Lund at 4pm and took the chance to pop into the Domkyrka or the Cathedral to have a look see. The interior was as good as it looked outside but because of the lighting and our lack of proper photo equipment, the pictures just do not do it justice....