Sarah vs. Thor

Today was an exciting day! Summer has arrived, above 20 and sunnnny!
Happy anniversary to my parents!

Besides that I went on a little day trip to a town called Eskilstuna to search for some Norse rune stones. Word on the street is that it is super easy to get to, so I figured, I have nothing to do today, I'll go hunt for some Vikings!

I took the train to Eskilstuna, it's an hour away from Örebro. Then took a bus 12km down a rural road towards a small rural town, hopped off at a small dirt road and walked through some very green trees. Past a vegetable garden, some orchards and crossed a small wooden bridge over a creek. Where I came across this view to the right. The bedrock out crop behind the trees is where the infamous rune stone that I was hunting lay.

Sigurdsristning!

This rune is next to an old bridge. That small creek that I had previously crossed used to be a much larger river and there was bridge erected over it. The rune is there to explain why the bridge is there - it was built to commemorate the dead soul of a rich man. Apparently this was all the rage in the 11thC. You know, build a bridge in honour of the dead. That explains the runic writing at the bottom of the image.
What makes this rune special is that there are drawings as well as the runic message! The drawings depict a well known saga from the time, Sigurd Fafnisbane (Sigurd the Dragonslayer).
The gist of the saga is that: Fafnir was a otter who at some gold and turned into a snake. Sigurd stabs the stomach of the snake Fafnir, to get the gold treasure in there. Sigurd roasts Fafnir's heart, but burns his finger and gets Fafnirs blood on it. Sigurd puts his finger in his mouth and tastes the blood then can suddenly understand birdsong. The end.

Kind of an odd story to draw with the bridge? Oh well. What was cool was that as I was there admiring the drawings, and trying to figure out how the drawings have stayed red over time thunder started ... thundering ... in the distance. Oooo! Norse god Thor was pleased (or not) that I was checking out Norse sagas! Or as my brother put it, I got to feel the wrath of Thor in a meaningful place!

So after my spiritual moment with Thor and the rune stone, I decided it would smart to walk back to town instead of waiting for the bus back. Yes, the 12km walk in my sandals (ugh), along the curb of the rural highway. All along being accompanied by thunder ... thundering ... It was a long, hot, sticky walk along side farm fields and horses back to town, but I got to watch a thunder-head form, cool, and I made it to the train station about 20min before the rain came!
Hooray for my day!