Day 2 - Visit To Stave Church and Alingsas Town Center

En route to our next destination of Alingsas, the largest town in the eastern part of the Rotary District, we stopped by the oldest church in Sweden. The church is built with vertical planks of wood instead of the more common horizontal planks building style and is known as a stave church because of the construction method.

This picture shows Jennifer and Hans, who is a Rotarian, our dedicated suitcase courier from town to town, an energetic octogenerian, and all around nice guy, and the small stave church with the moss covered stone wall and a few grave stones.

After arriving in Alingsas, we had a short walk through the town square to the municipal offices and spent a couple of hours -- much to my delight -- talking with Bo, who works as a special researcher for long-term land use and environmental planning. Alingsas has 24,000 residents and the community faces similar challenges to the City of Fridley, where I work.

Here is a picture of the bicycle parking in downtown Alingsas. Note the cobblestone streets and sidewalks. As streets in the heart of the city need repairs, the town is replacing the asphalt with cobblestone streets. This is in part to maintain the historic feel of the town and to make future repairs easier.