Walking with Linnaeus

This afternoon I walked in Uppsala's City Forest or Stadsskogen.  There are many trails crisscrossing this forest, making navigation difficult for a newcomer even when armed with a map.

I began by walking west on the street outside our apartment building, Artillerigatan, until I reached the forest boundary. My intention was to walk on one of trails used by Carl Linnaeus to teach his students botany through observing in the real world. This I did, but was a little disappointed to see that there were very few interpretative signs. However, I soldiered on until somehow or other I got off Linnaeus' trail and had to depend on the kindness of strangers (in the form of a friendly Swedish woman) to find it again. I don't know how it happened because the trail is marked at very short intervals with signs like this:

I must have spaced out. The trails generally look like this:

So it was a pleasant walk. 

I decided to hike all the way to the western edge of the park which is also the western edge of the city of Uppsala. Here I found a nature preserve, Hagadalen Nasten, a very extensive tract of land that includes farmland as well as natural areas.  The Linnaeus trail continues for miles beyond this point but here I decided to turn back due to, as you will see, horses.

Parts of the preserve have been cultivated for thousands of years and they are still actively being farmed today.

Not what we Americans would think of as a nature preserve

 I have come to appreciate in recent years that farmland can be very beautiful. Not agribusinesses in the midwest or huge fields of alfalfa in Eastern Washington, but family farms in fertile valleys like the Teanaway Valley near Cle Elum. Or like the scene below in Hagadalen Nasten.

Beautiful farmland west of Uppsala

You may notice the post near the left edge of the picture.  This marks the continuation of the Linnaeus trail which continues through the pasture in which horses are grazing here and there.  I decided not to invade their territory today in spite of their studied equine placidity. For all I know, I could have gotten a hoof print in the middle of my back for my trouble.

On the way back, I noticed this charming grove of Beech trees planted in the 1930s.

The Beech Grove

Being in Sweden is an interesting feeling.  This is the first time I have traveled to a European country that did not play a major role in the military events of the last 200 years. Sweden has, of course, played an important role in the sciences and diplomacy but it doesn't feel the same as visiting, say, England or France whose histories are so intertwined with our own and are filled with empire, war, and tragedy. However, Sweden feels very friendly and livable and I can almost imagine staying here.