Hovdala Castle Nature Walk

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

Laurie starts her newest collection of

NFL gear

An interesting article from New Orleans about Scott Fujita's signing with the Cleveland Browns can be found at http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Scott-Fujita-knows-the-right-way-to-leave-a-city?urn=nfl,226444

Got a call around noon from our center, Johan Persson, about going out for a nature walk while he exercised his dog, a Boxer, named Dexter.

Hovdala Castle

This castle is in the midst of a large nature preserve about a five minute drive from Icelandia and served as the base camp of our trek.

One building in the castle compound has an incription dating it back to 1511 while this white gate tower was built in 1600 by one Sigvard Grubbe.

Bullet Holes in the Gate Tower Door

This castle has been under fire since the Kalmar War in the early 1600's. In 1678 the castle was assaulted by retreating Danes and "Snapphane" guerillas. Somewhere along the line, the door was wounded but still functioning!

Hovdala Castle Courtyard

Johan pumped for Nature at her finest!

Greenhouse

Back in the day they used this building to grow oranges amongst other exotic non-Nordic delights.

Hässleholm's Engagement Central

This is the spot where many a marriage proposal is tendered by local lovers. The reason is that these two separate trees, an oak and a beech, grow as one here.

I'm all about the symbolism!

The Castle's Wine Cellar

DEXTER!!!

Frozen Lake Finjasjön in the distance

After walking around for about 45 minutes, we returned to Johan's home to talk football for about two more hours.

I decided to walk home in order to train a little more and to also stop by the Tourism Center to get maps and information on the area.

A warning about people who snore?

I'm glad I don't live here, I'd be in BIG trouble with the neighbors!

Sculpture

Nittany Lion?

And more sculpture

Multi-purpose building

This is where you find Hässleholm's cinema, library, tourism office, art gallery, etc. A very useful building indeed!

In the evening five of our players asked about coming over to Icelandia to talk about the offensive plays that we are installing at Tuesday night's practice. We had a good two hour session.

GOOD SIGN!