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| Inroads
By any standard, ours was the poorest. We lived in a small hut built in the middle of a coconut grove. We also had a small outhouse and a woodshed where we kept our sow, chickens, and the big gecko with red eyes. I never got the chance to see the last but I knew it really lived there.
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Browse for more stories Maria's Story > Chapters > Sweden and Swedes
| Date Range: 02/07/1945 To 02/10/2009 |
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| Views: 4,396 | | | | Attachments: No |
What do you know about Sweden?I want to tell you some facts about Sweden and the Swedes.
When you read about my country you will automatically understand more about me - I am Swedish and proud of it =)
In Northern Europe in the part called Scandinavia is Sweden together with Norway, Finland, Denmark and up north is Island.
In Sweden live a little more than 9 million people.
Although Sweden is small in area, the technology and the social status is high. The Swedish currency is still the Swedish Crown or Krona but some want to change that into Euro. Sweden is part of the European Union EU.
The Capital is Stockholm. I lived there for many years. Got to know all the little special places in the city and the suburbs too. Stockholm is so clean. You can acually swim in the water in Stockholm without fear. There is a beach in the middle of the town acually!
Another big town is Gothenburg on the west coast. They joke and say the this is the face of Sweden =)
Do you see the big white ship on this photo? It is a beautiful old ship turned into a youth hostel - af Chapman. She has modern beds and restaurant with a cafe on board.
Outside Arlanda Airport is another spectacular hostel. A Boeing747
Sweden is full of fully equipped youth hostels. I have stayed in many of them. Some are in old houses where the floor is squeeking when you walk. Some are in old mansions and you feel like a duch when you stay there. Often you have to bring your own bedding and towles but - that affect the prices of course. It is not expensive to stay in our youth hostels. If you prefer to stay in ordinary hotels - there are even more.
reconstructed into a modern "hotel". The suit is in cockpit =)
There is so much to see in Sweden. Winter or summer there are tourist friendly events going on. Up north they are building an enormous moose now. It is called Stoorn and you can click on the link to read more about it. There is a video showing the details. In Lapland there are also the Sami - Sapmi people. They are the natives that lived there from long ago. They don't have borders but move over Sweden, Norway and Finland in their territories. You can buy the most beautiful hand made crafts from them. The Sami are struggeling for their living. The raindeers are moving without fences and they have to to find food.
From Stockholm you can go by boat to the Archepelago. About 25 000 islands in different sizes are welcoming you. Personally I love that part of Sweden the most. I spent almost every summer in my life out there one way or the other. For years I was on our own boats but I also took the passanger ships that had stops on the islands. Here you can go in the morning and go back in the evening if you want to. I recommend it because of the silence and the beauty.
For you who like bird watching there is a spectacle every spring around Lake Hornborga. Thousands and thousands of CRANES are landing to rest before they continue up to the north to nest. Usually they start to arrive in March. See the link for more information about where to go and what to see. Of course there are more birds to watch. We have a 300 club. Who can spot 300 different birds? I never reach the full 300 but I was close. And there is still time! We have many coming up to Sweden from the south of Europe and even from Africa. One little bird comes from the Antarctis all the way to Arctis. My goodness!
We have monarchy and the royal family is very popular. The lovely Crown Princess Victoria will be the first queen in many years. Every year the Nobel prize award is the big event of December 10th. The royal family will be there as always. And the prizes are given to the award winner from the hand of The King Karl Gustav.
Even if Sweden is a small country we have a lot of FamousSwedes
ABBA - Ingvar Kamprad (IKEA) - Lars Magnus Ericsson (Ericsson telephone systems) - Niklas Zennström (Skype) - Hans Rausing (Tetra pak) - Stefan Perssons (H&M) - Volvo - Saab - Roxette - Janne Schaffer - Robert Wells - Lasse Hallström - Per Hallberg (photo here)- Ingmar Bergman - Max von Sydow - Lena Olin - Anita Ekberg - Greta Garbo - Dolf Lungren - Britt Ekland - Maud Addams - Isabella Scorupko - Björn Borg - Astrid Lindgren - Annika Sörenstam.
The list can be even longer. Some Swedish inventions are world famous too. The pace maker, the coca cola bottle and the wrench to mention some of them.
coming from us. Think about it - do you know about :
Sweden is a very old country. The vikings were living here in the beginning of year 1000. They lived in the whole of Scandinavia. In Oslo, Norway there is an excellent museum about the Vikings with a ship that is preserved from that time! They were good sailors and traveled far away both to what today is Turkey and to England and Russia. Stockholm is now planning to build a new Viking-museum too.
In thousands of places in Sweden you can see Runestones. Erected big stones with text on them. The text often tells a story about an event or a person. I thought about this. Who will read this story in a thousand years from now? Nobody! But WE are reading the rune stones today and that is really something - don't you agree?
These houses are very common in Sweden. The color is coming from a mine in Falun - a special red that you can see every where. The white corners are also tradition.
Sweden is tourist friendly. I have a link here with lots of really good information if you want to come here: Sweden
The link won the award of the best link about Sweden last year!
I also collected some posters for your pleasure. Sweden is really a beautiful country - and one more thing.... I am here :-D One thing that is really special is to watch the midnight sun. The day never ends. The sun is touching the earth and start to raise again! That is in June - you have to get here to see it!
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