Summer 2003

Summer 2003 was a very fine summer with perfect weather for steamboat journeys. The timetable was principally the usual with trips to Birka-Adelsö and Drottningholm-Stockholm. One highlight was naturally the celebration of s/s Mariefreds 100s anniversary. That event has it's own heading at the " slideshow " page.
On this page you can read about, and look at pictures, from some of the journeys.

A Sunday at Birka

Sunday June 6 Ejdern went to Björkö/Birka. Usually we go there on Saturdays but some times we also have journeys there at Sundays. The Saturday journeys always continue to Adelsö but at the Sunday trips the ship stays at Björkö. We tie up at the northern jetty waiting for the return trip. These Sundays gives us in the crew possibility to have a look at the things going on at Birka.
This year we were especially curious of this summers theme: Food and food culture at Birka. Outside the museum a little village where Iron Age food was cooked with period equipment was built. It was inhabited by "contemporary" vikings from Kompani Bastard, a company specialize in educational programs for museums. In the village there were full activity, some struggling with building walls for a little house while others kept the pots boiling. They told us that there had been made a lot of research about what food Birka’s inhabitants eat. Among other things they had analyzed potsherd to reveal what ingredients they used and that had get caught in the pores in the material. This day they where cooking a Chicken stew made from Chicken, May- turnip and Onion boiled in dark beer and honey and seasoned with thyme. It both smelled and sounded tasty, but unfortunately they were not allowed to serve us.
Also the museum had food as a theme. A dinner table was laid out in the middle of the room. The food in there was fake, unlike in the village outside, but it looked tempting anyway with fish, steaks, sausage, etc. Round the table there were benches with skin and on the "Chieftains chair" there was a bearskin.
A very pleasant arrangement!

Ejdern in Södertälje canal

We don't have many pictures of Ejdern taken in Södertälje. This summer we tried to set things right. Here are some pictures of s/s Ejdern taken in the Södertälje Canal. At Friday June 11 it was a fine summer day and I (the webmaster) went out to take some pictures of our steamer when she went through the canal. Unfortunately I had to go to work that day and couldn’t join the journey. Here are the pictures:

Some more pictures taken by Rune and me (webmaster).

The last journey

The last journey of the year, September 13, was as usual headed to Birka/Björkö and Adelsö. This year we had luck with the weather! The sun was shining and it was a warm breeze. We had 46 passengers.

Text: Claes H Nygårdh
Pictures: Claes H Nygårdh and Rune Holm