[inasmuch]

I love stave churches so much.

I had the good fortune of visiting the Hopperstad stave church when it was getting a fresh coat of the traditional resinous mixture that preserves it and gives it its signature color. If I remember correctly (I probably don't), they said they give it a new coat every 26 years. The smell was heady.

The carvings throughout the building are as cool as the building itself: chimerical mashups of Christian and local pagan imagery, signatures from ancient travelers, and of course more runes than you can shake a stave at.

One of those places, like the Hagia Sophia, that overwhelms you with the depth of history. How tragic to only get one life; to only experience one era.