Sunday Tour and Lunch at a Privately Owned Swedish Castle, Followed by a Guitar-Cello Concert

How often does one get to visit a 14th Century castle and dine with the owner? We did that today with Janet and Staffan, old friends of the owner.

After a good night’s sleep and leisurely breakfast with Janet & Staffan, we four headed north to Orbyshus castle for a private tour by French count Gérard de Roquette-Buisson, the father of the three women who inherited the castle. We saw the 14th Century dungeon where King Eric XIV was imprisoned before being killed by poison. Then we visited the top floor of the tower, which is an amazing armory of hunting and other weapons before retreating to the middle floor where Gérard lives for a fabulous lunch. Here’s a 19-minute video of the whole adventure, excluding the lunch itself, which was delicious.

After lunch the four of us headed to an hour-long guitar/cello performance at the Mansion at Osterbybruks featuring guitarist Mats Bergstrom and cellist Amalie Stahlheim that was outstanding. Here’s a video clip of them performing one movement of a Franz Schubert sonata:

Here’s an audio recording of Amalie performing The Animal Carnival by Camille Saint-Saens.

Following the concert, we headed back to Norrtalje for dinner at the cafe in the hotel Atellet. I made this before-&-after video review:

Then it was back to the condo, where Rita packed for boarding the Viking Sky tomorrow, and I caught up on my blog posting. My next post will be Monday evening from the ship.