Here's the train station part. I had some joke about people being so stiff and informal in Sweden, but the photo really brings out the fakiness in the mannequins. So insert your own Supercar/Thunderbirds joke here.
This was the power plant. I took this picture to show off the beautiful salmon sculpture in the middle, but as you can see, it was absorbed into the background.
The falls around this place are amazing. Sweden is full of natural treasures like this.
More falls. I am precariously perched atop a rock to take this picture, as the only way to really see the runes was via this route.
Here are the first set of runes (I think there's like 21 sets of over 2000 runes). This shows what they think is a scythe and the inside of a moose. These people were very studious about the insides of the animals they hunted. Sven's eyeglasses provide some sense of size perspective.
Here are some more runes from a different set. There are many runes that they don't know what the heck they really are. Some people think they were symbols for the shaman, and these runes were carved as part of a ceremony.
Here are some moose or reindeer being hunted. Notice the man shape with what looks like and axe with a loop on the bottom. They think this represented a moose headed staff that shamen used to carry. I had a picture of this staff taken in the museum, but the glass in front of it blinded with the flash. There were also a lot of other pictures that I took of the runes, but they were blocked by shows of my head or the head/bodies/trees of people behind me. You really had to climb some precarious and slippery rocks to get here. But it was fun. Other runes included a shaman in a longboat, more "moose guts" pictures, and a lot of "mysterious" symbols that no one has satisfyingly been able to explain.
Ever since my first trip, I have been determined to get a reindeer skin back to the states. Here is a picture of it, in case US Customs had a cow over the reindeer (snerk), and I never saw it again. When I spoke with Customs a few years ago, they didn't know if I was allowed to bring it in. I called a lot of places, and finally, one official said to mail it to myself, declare it as "leather goods," and I should have no problem. Well, she was right. But when I got it, I got two documents that said "Reindeer are not endangered, and this can be exported with the King's approval" and another by a vet who inspected the skin and said that it was free of disease, and Sweden did not have [list of 12 diseases common to hoofed mammals] since the last case in 1936 or something. This meant someone opened my package IN SWEDEN and inspected the skin. I'm not upset by this, but it was kind of weird this went on without me knowing about it.