Though there are many villages and towns on Gotland, a persons address is designated by parishes. There are 92 parishes on the island. Most of the 92 churches are still used for regular worship. Here, in the church at Ostergarn, Gisela's son, Torkel was confirmed and her husband Sven's life was celebrated at the time of his death five years ago.
	The church in the neighboring parish of Gammelgarn has just been completely renovated. We attended the reopening where with great pomp and ceremony,  Bishop Biörn Fjärstedt unlocked the door and the people reentered. The parishes of Östergarn and Gammelgarn share a pastor and alternate their services between the two churches.
After the service, there was feasting and fellowship in the parish hall. These wonderful sandwiches (called Smörgåstårta) were passed around, filled with cheeses, shrimp, tomatoes, olives and other good things, topped with caviar and lemon slices. Cake and coffee were served and there was much laughter and conversation with stories of past happenings in the parish.
	This is the Ostergarn elementary school. Over the years, young families have moved from the small villages to the larger towns or to the mainland and unfortunately, the village no longer has enough population to sustain the school. It closed about a year ago.
This unusual structure is a limestone furnace. For many years it employed most of the villagers. The limestone was burned here, making cement which was sent in large buckets on cables which stretched from the furnace to the harbor to be shipped to the mainland. The furnace was productive until about the mid 1920's.
	Gotland has remarkable flora and fauna... One interesting wild flower is this orchid.. It is a protected species and this year was seen in abundance.. There are several colors, we saw shades of purple, white and a creamy yellow.
As one might expect on an island there is still a fishing industry in Gotland. We visited the fishing harbor where the fish are brought in, a fishery processes them, smokes some, and has a fish market where one can purchase the fresh catch of the day. We had delicious fish to accompany our fresh asparagus often during my visit.
	These unusual rock formations, called RAUK are most impressive along the beach near Katthammarsvik. They are found many places in Gotland... both on the beach and farther inland, and were formed when the sea washed over the island thousands of years ago leaving only these pillars of stone.
My pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the sky and sea in Gotland. The sky is absolutely remarkable and the sea is a wonderful, dark, mysterious blue. One unique attribute of the Baltic sea is that there are so many fresh water rivers and streams which flow into it that the salt content is much less than in any other ocean. I don't know if that contributes to the remarkable color or not. Pretty amazing isn't it??
	On Flag Day Gisela and I joined with the group at Ostergarn Church. The minister offers a blessing and  the men's choir provided the music. When we got home we watched the Flag Day ceremony on TV with the King presenting flags to various organizations. This was at the open air museum in Stockholm. Maria-Louise and her family were there and we were hoping we would catch a glimpse of them in the audience but there were just too many people.
There was folk dancing by some of the people from the community, dressed in the colorful folk costumes. It was delightful.  The dancers were a group of all ages.. some in their twenties, and some I would guess, in their 60's. They seemed to be having a grand time and we certainly all enjoyed them.

Music: I Have a Dream
by ABBA (one of Sweden's most famous exports)