While we were living in Stockholm, we thought we’d pop over to Uppsala, which is a forty-minute train ride away. Why? All kinds of reasons, but the most important is Linnaeus. If you know us, you know that we really like order and method. And 18th century botanist Carl Linnaeus was a systematizer par excellence! You could even call him a taxonomic genius: he’s the dude who came up with the double-naming system for plants. We went to his garden and the small museum on site that was once his house. The University now maintains both, and they are worth a trip all by themselves. We especially liked the annual and perennial parterres, and spent a lot of time admiring the plants you can eat. The museum had a lot of contemporary furniture and artifacts from Linnaeus’ expeditions around Sweden.
But that’s not all, folks! Being a university town, Uppsala also has tons of cozy bars and restaurants. And, also, a university. In a day trip we struggled to choose from among the eat-and-drinkeries, but we did our valiant best. We especially liked the bistro at the train station, Stationen, pictured below, the two cafés named after Linnaeus lower down, and a restaurant/bar called Peppar Peppar.
Uppsala University was founded in 1477, so it’s the oldest university in the Nordic countries. Gustavus Adolphus was an important 17th century patron. And Niklaus Zennström, co-founder of Skype, is an alum.
Uppsala has a number of impressive churches, including its Cathedral. The Cathedral was begun in the late 13th century, but not completed until the 15th century, with spires added in the 18th century. It has a height of 389 feet (118.7 m), which makes it the tallest church in the Nordic countries. It served as the coronation spot of Swedish monarchs for centuries, and contains the tomb of our old friend Linnaeus, his mentor Olaus Rudbeck (the namesake of the coneflower, Rudbeckia purpurea) and some other notables.
Gustav Vasa built Uppsala up as a kind of second capital, so there’s a certain grandeur to the buildings. The 16th century palace now houses a fortress museum and contemporary art museum; the latter is well worth a wander if that’s your thing. (Below, you’ll see Peter Johansson’s 2015 ‘Kannon’ – it’s a visual pun – get it?)
We also spent some time meandering along the meandering river Fyris, which runs through Uppsala (pictured at the top of the post). And it turns out we’re not the only ones who like water: check out the gray crane above, shopping for his lunch. All in all, Uppsala seems like the kind of place we’d like to return to.
