Monday, August 1, 2022: Vaenern and Mariestad
Info:
Lake Vaenern has got a size of 5,500 km2 which makes it to the largest lake in Sweden and in the EU as well. Compared to all European lakes it’s number three. During the Ice Age it was connected to the sea. When the glaciers went back, the ground was raised. Nowadays Lake Vaenern is 44 m above sea level. There are 22,000 islands in the lake. This means a lot of space for swimming and fishing!
The town of Mariestad is situated at the eastern bank. It has got about 16,000 inhabitants. When walking through the old city center you can feel its special charm due to its position at the lakeside and the colourful woodden houses. They were built in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Mariestad was a diocesan town during the 16th century and a royal seat in the 17th century. The two most prominent buildings of the town are still the Cathedral with its more than 80 m high tower and Castle Marieholm.
My opinion:
Lake Vaenern is really impressing, and a walk through Mariestad is absolutely enjoyable!
Video:
Diary:
I have forgotten what’s today’s date.
This is a surprise. Thinking it over it turned out that yesterday and the day before I also had no idea what day it was.
Finally the cell phone told me: It’s Monday, August 1, my 8th day on this trip. At the same time it’s the first day on which I have enough energy left to write down my thoughts in the evening. And all this while I am sitting at the bank of Lake Vaenern in Sweden and watching the sun go down. It’s taking its time, the sun. It’s past eight p.m., and it still has a long way to go. It also won’t set where the water of the lake forms the horizon – yes, the lake is really that large! -, but behind the hills at the other side. No problem.
But back to Sweden. We. After a week on our trip I am referring to our enterprise as “we”, but not as a majesty plural. I am talking about Annie Way and me. We have become a unit, my campervan and me. Never say mobile home – yuck! – to a campervan, that’s something very different! Books have been written about that topic. Well, they were humorous books, but nevertheless. What I do is called vanlife, and Annie Way is the van of my life. Frankly, I have the suspicion that behind that Yuck! for mobile homes there is something like a kind of inferiority complex, because a – yuck! – mobile home usually is bigger than a campervan. Much bigger.
Fairy lights. For your vanlife you need fairy lights. I have not yet dived in that kind of life that far (or sunk that deep), I don’t own fairy lights (yet), but I admire the fairy lights on and around other campervans.
It’s not only the fairy lights I lack. I also lack a number of other things. Especially experience. But I am learning. I learn something new every day. In thirty years I will know everything about vanlife. On the other hand … in thirty years I will be ninety-one and a half years old. I am not sure if my vanlife experience will be of any use for me then. We’ll see.
A flock of birds has just flown by and sat down at the nearby pine trees which are a protection against the wind coming from the lake. Between the trunks of the trees I can see the water – what a wonderful view! Canada geese flying in V formation sometimes pass through the sunset which has the effect that theirs stomachs are illuminated from below, so that the birds seem to be pink and look a bit tacky. Canada geese – of all things! Here in Sweden! And seagulls. They keep sailing through the sky.
The shrieking of the birds adds to another shrieking. Nearby there’s a typical campground band playing yesterday’s hits. All summer long and so on.
Having forgotten what day it is today turns out to be a relief. I have arrived in my journey. The surprising thing is not that it has happend, but how quickly it has happened. After all, everything is new for me. But this is it: Life is change.