So here we are the final week of the dig. I have to post more about the dig site and what we've been working on these past couple of weeks but this post is strictly dedicated to my love of the Visby and it's Bustation. Two weekends out of my time here have been spent there in the wee hours of the morning.
Visby itself is beautiful. It's a walled medevial city right on the coast, with cobblestone streets and charming little houses all tucked next to each other. The town is very pedestrian friendly, you'll see the occasional car roll by but most of the time it's just people wandering in and out of shops.
During this trip I've made three different trips to Visby. The first was on the Saturday of our free weekend,the second was a field trip on the opening day of Medevial Week, and the last was another free day we had. Each time we spent the day exploring the city and just taking everything all in. Visby can be sort of a maze and it's easy to get turned around in the different streets. We did a little shopping and ate at the Black Sheep Arms, which is a English Pub with FANTASTIC fish and chips. Almost all the girls participating in my field school discovered a little hippie store with these awesome harem pants that are super comfy! My friends and I also discovered a little park near the university which is closely located to the beach club Kallis which is apparently " the best beach club in Europe". We had just arrived at the tail end of the infamous "white party." Although we weren't able to join the fun we could hear DJ Lucky Luc revving up the crowd in Kallis. He was one of the best DJs I've gotten to listen too even of we were just at the "lawn seats."
That night we went to Munkallern, the Monk's Cellar in English. It's perhaps one of the most confusing places in Visby. There are four dance floors that play diffrent kinds of music to dance and listen to. The cover fee was 120 SEK on that Saturday but they have a pretty good deal where you can purchase a shot and a beer for 100 SEK once you pay to get in. It's free before 10pm and they have a full restaurant where you can enjoy dinner. There's gambling as well and many people try their hand at blackjack. We returned to Munken ( as the locals call it) during medevial week. This is Visby's biggest event all year.
Medevial week is sort of like a renaissance fair on steroids. There's a huge market in the botanical gardens where you can buy armor, weaponry, jewelry, sheep pelts, apparel and much much more! One guy at my field school bought a drinking horn and a sheep skin which are both very cool. The market is basically the center of Medevial Week, many of the programs and activities are located there. The opening day there was a grand parade of all the costumed people and medevial music and dance were performed. It's common during medevial to see people dressed up all over the town. Ordinary lovers of medevial history come and show off their garb, some are extremely historically accurate. It's awesome to see that kind of passion for both the event and the craftsmanship of the articles of clothing.
Even in Munken, people were dressed to the nines in their medevial wear. We met one man who dressed up as Aragorn from Lord of the Rings ( although not technically medieval, it was still really cool since I'm a huge LOTR fan).
The one downside of going out in Visby is the bus schedule. Our folk high school is about an hour away from Visby and the last bus is at 12:40am, right when the party just gets started. So the two times we've gone out the group of us has slept at the Visby Bustation. It's pretty clean, and surprisingly for a bus station very safe. Maybe I'm just used to New York/New Jersey bus stations where it's very dirty and scary but Swedish bus stations are almost quaint. The clubs close at roughly 3 in the morning and the first bus is at 8:30am on the weekends, so the bus stop is my place to sleep for those 5 hours. My first experience sleeping here was spontaneous. I had missed the last bus and the taxi back home would have broke the bank. Sleeping wasn't too bad and surprisingly there are people roaming the streets at 4am in various states of club clothes. My second experience was a bit more planned. I had packed my comfy pants and a scarf to change into from my dress so sleeping would be a wee bit more comfortable.The streets of Visby are very calm and peaceful at these early hours. Walking around at this early hour is so tranquil and you really get to see how truly beautiful this city is. I think that was my last opportunity to visit Visby,at least on this trip! I'm definitely coming back in the future! I'm so happy I got to experience Medevial Week, the nightlife, and it's picturesque beauty.
As for this week it will be more lab work and finishing up my paper! More on that later!