Why be like the other sheep?
Upset and angry at the result and kicking myself for not having booked flights sooner.
To say I was disappointed would be a massive understatement.
Devastated, shocked, bewildered, angry, upset, frustrated … there aren’t any words that could come close to describing how I felt when I woke up on Friday morning and heard the results of the referendum. The one word that I definitely wouldn’t use to describe my feelings that morning is resignation. Continue reading “What Brexit Means For Me”
A World Heritage Site comprised of a little red houses.
I’d detoured to Luleå on the advice of a Swedish lady in the hostel in Jokkmokk. I was looking forward to seeing a city not many foreign tourists (or Swedish ones for that matter) get to and also visiting the World Heritage church village, Gammelstad.
I ended up having a very frustrating weekend and leaving without a particularly good impression. However, the village was interesting and all those little red houses did look very pretty, so I’m still glad I made the effort and went to see it.
I wrote about my time in Luleå here and about my visit to Gammelstad here. I’ve now put together a Flickr album with the pictures I took in Gammelstad.
To access the Flickr album click on the image below.
Why a church village?
Sunday services used to be the only time people from farms spread far and wide could get together to catch up on news and socialise. Because the farms were spread so far and wide over often inhospitable terrain, it wasn’t that easy to get to church and back in the one day. The solution in the north of Sweden was to build a small house near the church that could be used for an overnight stay. As everyone had the same idea, whole villages of little red houses sprang up around remote churches. Gammelstad near Luleå is the largest and best preserved example and thus is now a World Heritage Site.
Sunshine, sea and sculpture. A great way to spend my first day back in Stockholm.
For this week’s Friday Flickr I’ve returned to Sweden.
Millesgården, just outside of city centre Stockholm, is the former home of sculptor Carl Milles.
His house is now a gallery for sculpture and artwork. Best of all, the beautiful grounds, running down through terraced levels from the house to the sea, are a fabulous sculpture park.
I visited on my first day back in Stockholm when I returned from Northern Sweden. It was a hot, sunny, blue skies kind of day and Millesgården was the perfect way to spend most of it outside.
I took so many photos. I’d take a photo of a particular sculpture, then see if from a different angle or with a different backdrop and shoot a few more.
To access the Flickr album click on the image below.
My first Friday Flickr album is from Skansen Open-Air Museum in Stockholm. It was the world’s first open-air museum and is huge. AND it has bears!
As part of being super-organised with my new website (and being super-enthusiastic) I’ve decided to have a regular feature.
Yes, just like the real bloggers.
As I have an abundance of photos that I’m slowly trying to upload to Flickr, I thought I could do myself a favour and make my Flickr albums multi-functional by using them on here.
I’m also thinking that linking my social media accounts in this way might generate more readers and be good for my SEO. I sort of understand what SEO is and why it’s important, but actually I don’t really. Pearls of wisdom in the comments section below will be welcomed.
So, onto my first Friday Flickr (drummm rollll) …
It’s an album filled with the best of my photos from Skansen, a photogenic place if ever there was one.
Skansen can be found on the outskirts of Stockholm and was the world’s first open-air museum. It was opened in 1891 and has been growing ever since.
It showcases historic buildings from the full length of Sweden and also has a zoo and an aquarium. People dressed in periodic costume demonstrate crafts from times gone by like breadmaking and glass-blowing.
But best of all, I got to see bears. Real ones! They looked so cute and cuddly. Well, except for their huge claws. I think I’m probably glad I didn’t meet any in the wild when I walked the Kungsleden.
I spent a very long day wandering round and only stopped for one quick coffee (couldn’t miss out on fika, especially when it looked like this). I saw pretty much everything except the aquarium, but felt like I was rushing. I would have liked to have taken it slower and had more time to watch the animals. Two days would have been much better, but there were so many other things to see in Stockholm and my time was running out, so I couldn’t really justify it. I’d definitely go back again though.
Click on the image below to access the Flickr album.
The website for Skansen can be found here.
Photographs from the Kungsleden; Sweden’s spectacular Arctic wilderness.
In the summer of 2014 I walked about half of Sweden’s Kungsleden (it translates as the King’s Way or the King of Ways, depending on who you choose to believe).
The Kungsleden begins well above the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland and follows a trail through valleys, over mountains and across rivers and lakes. Although there are camping huts spaced roughly a day apart, for the most part this is true wilderness with the nearest road often being several days walk away.
Basic food supplies can be bought at some of the huts, but for the most part you have to carry everything you need. The food in the huts is of the dried, canned and processed variety as it all has to be brought in my snow-mobile in March when the snow is at its deepest. It then has to last till the end of summer.
Water for washing and drinking is taken from the lakes and rivers and is some of the purest I’ve ever drank (and washed in).
I’ve put some photograhs (actually, I’ve put a LOT of photographs) on Flickr, but even the best photography can’t do justice to the beauty of this place. It’s one of those places you just have to see for yourself.
Click on the image below to access the album.
Ascending the exterior of the world’s largest spherical building to get a last look at Stockholm.
I’d crammed every minute of the last four days with touristy activities and I’d loved every one of those minutes.
So I didn’t see why I should stop just because it was my final evening and I needed to collect my bags and head to the airport.
I could fit one last thing in surely? Well, one last thing before the very last thing which was to sleep in a hostel on a plane.
I took the subway to the appropriately named Globen. There is a globe at Globen and as I alighted from the train I could see it peeping above the buildings.
The Globe is a concert arena that just happens to be the world’s largest spherical building. It is also part of the ‘Sweden Solar System’ which is a scale model of the solar system runing the length of Sweden at a scale of 1/20million. Being the biggest sphere, the Globe represents the sun.
I wasn’t going to merely look at it however, or even attend a concert inside. I was going to stand on the very top and admire the view.
As intrepid as climbing up the exterior of the world’s largest sphere and standing on top of the sun might sound, I have to ‘fess up. There are a couple of gondolas that go up and down the outside all day and this was how I was getting to the top.
I’d bought a 3 day Stockholm Pass which had been really good value as it had covered the cost of my last three days sightseeing and my public transport. The SkyView gondolas are included in the Pass and wanting to well and truly get my money’s worth was another reason for squeezing this last activity into my itinerary.
I queued up to get a timed-ticket. Even though it was early evening it was still quite busy and I had to wait about 20 minutes.
The two gondolas are also spherical and as they are made mostly from glass give a good all round view. They are constantly going up and down, passing each at the midway point.
From the ground to the top of the Globe, 130m above, the journey takes about 10 minutes. Overall, the experience lasts about 20 minutes.
The gondola perches on the very top of the Globe for a few minutes before beginning its descent.
The views over Stockholm were great. I don’t think Stockholm is the prettiest city I’ve seen from above, but it was still lovely to see.
And I loved the feeling the feeling of being on top of world. Sorry, I mean on top of the sun!
Stockholm’s metro system hosts the world’s longest art gallery.
One of my surprise finds in Stockholm was the subway. I knew there was a subway and I knew it was supposed to be quite simple to use. What I didn’t know was that the subway system is also a massive art gallery.
Out of 100 stations, ninety are highly decorated with a range of sculptures, mosaics, paintings and engravings created by over 150 artists. As the subway stretches over 110km, it claims to be the world’s longest art gallery.
I shouldn’t have been surprised as it’s no secret.
This Stockholm website even has a page dedicated to it and advises the best stations to visit. I really don’t know how I missed finding out about it, but I guess it had something to do with me focussing all my research on the Kungsleden and not thinking too much about what I’d do after I’d finished walking.
The good thing about not knowing anything about it in advance was that I got to be surprised when I found myself in my first decorated station. I wandered round taking photos before getting on the train and finding another decorated station when I alighted.
Art in the stations began in the 1950s as a way of making culture accessible to all. Throughout the intervening decades more art has been added with the art from each decade encapsulating the hopes and fears of the time.
The 1950s and ’60s were a time of new prosperity after the Second World War, but were also the era of the Cold War. Both are reflected in the art.
As time progresses the art reflects the women’s rights movement of the 1970s, the individualism of the 1980s and the environmental concerns of more recent times.
I didn’t get to visit many stations, but next time I’m in Stockhom I’m going to work out a route so I get to see as many as possible.
Update: The Guardian has featured the art in the Tunnelbana and has a good write-up.
A boat trip was the perfect chance to sit down for an hour.
Stockholm is a watery city. Built on the edge of the Baltic coastline, the city is the gateway to an archipelago of 30,000 islands and skerries.
I didn’t have time to explore the outer reaches of the island area, but I couldn’t leave without spending at least some time on the water.
The 3 day Stockholm Pass I’d bought had a scenic boat tour included and so early(ish) on my last morning I was standing in line for the first trip of the day.
Having spent the last three days racing around trying to do as much as possible, I was quite tired and was looking forward to starting my last day chilling out on a boat for an hour or so.
It was another lovely morning and would have been nice to sit out on deck, but the only seating was inside. I suppose this is practical for most of the year, but it was a shame that it couldn’t be opened up on such a nice day.
Having to take pics through the windows also meant that most of my photos have refections in them.
The tour itself was worth doing despite the lack of fresh air and dodgy photos. The boat was comfortable and each seat came with a multi-lingual headset, so I was able to hear the commentary in English.
We saw lots, including some places I recognised – Skansen and Vasa for example – and were given lots of information. Being tired and ready to relax a bit, I focussed more on what I was seeing than listening to the spiel.
I’ve put pics on here without much info because, well, I don’t really remember what I was looking at or where it was.
It was a good way to start the morning though and by the time the tour was over, I’d woken up enough to race around making the most of my last day.
Accommodation with a difference
I love having the chance to stay in unusual places. So when I found out the hostel in Falun was actually in an old prison, I had to go there.
I arrived in Falun in the Dalarna region of middle Sweden in the late afternoon. The bus stopped in the town centre by the river. The hostel was on the edge of town up a big hill. I trudged up with my heavy pack, but decided it was worth it once I got there. The prisoners had had the best views in town!
The imposing building was built in the 1840s and only ceased operating as a prison in 1995. Five years later it was opened as a hostel.
I was staying in a cell for two, which I was lucky enough to have to myself. It really would have been cramped with two people sharing. The window was barred and the cell door was heavy. The bunks were hard with no mattresses. I wondered if this was part of the ‘prison’ experience, though the photos on the website did show the beds with mattresses. By the time I’d sorted myself out and got back downstairs the reception had closed and so I had to wait until the following morning to find out that yes, I should have had a mattress. Fortunately I had my Therm-a-Rest and so had a more comfortable night than I otherwise would’ve done.
The hostel layout hadn’t been changed since its prison days, though I’m sure it’s much nicer now.
The wide corridors on each floor have a mix of comfy chairs and sofas providing lots of smaller communal areas rather than one big common room.
Each floor has a shared bathroom and kitchen. I’m sure the kitchens were nothing like this in the building’s prison days. There was even a nice coffee machine.
On the ground floor there is the reception, more communal areas and a cafe/restaurant, though it wasn’t open when I was there. The walls are covered in old photos of the town and lots of memorabilia.
The hostel also has a prison museum in the basement and a couple of cells on the accommodation floor decked out as they would have been back in the day.
The museum smelt and felt damp and musty. It was dingy and crammed with stuff. All of which just added to the atmosphere.
I stayed two nights in the prison and found Falun a really interesting town to explore. As well as the prison, there’s the museum with a replica of writer Selma Lagerlöf’s study. Her house had been on the street where the prison is, but I wasn’t able to find it. I think it’s been demolished which is a shame.
There’s also the huge mine, the river and an old town with traditional red painted houses.
And it’s only a bus ride away from Sundborn where Carl Larsson’s home – my original reason for wanting to come to Falun – can be found.
The website for Falun prison hostel can be found here.
Following in the tracks of Selma Lagerlöf.
Selma Lagerlöf is one of Sweden’s classic authors. She lived from 1858 to 1940 and worked as a teacher until the Swedish royal family persuaded her to give up teaching and supported her financially so she could develop her writing career. (Note to self: write to Queen and ask her to support me to give up teaching so I can write full-time).
Although she’d been writing since childhood, she wasn’t published until 1890. Once published there was no stopping her and it was only five years later that the royals began supporting her along with the Swedish Academy.
She travelled and some of her novels are set in the places she visited such as Italy and Jerusalem. In 1909 she became the first woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
I first came across her when I was researching my trip to Sweden and looking for books to read by Swedish authors who write outside of the Nordic-Noir genre (of which I’d already devoured massively).
The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, published in 1906, tells the story of a young boy who misbehaves and is rather nasty. He is shrunk by a passing elf and ends up on the back of his famly’s white goose just as it decides to join a flock of passing wild geese and migrate to the far north of Sweden.
The book is all about the adventures he has travelling the length and breadth of Sweden with the geese.
Lagerlöf was commissioned to write the book by the National Teachers’ Association and it was intended as a geography reader for schools. She spent three years researching wildlife, geography and folklore before eventually publishing the book in 1906.
Although the book was intended for children, its remit made it a useful resource for me. I learnt a lot from it, as well as enjoying the story and her style of writing. It was in this book that I first heard of Skansen, a place I made sure I visited and spent a wonderful day at when I was in Stockholm.
Selma moved to Falun in the Dalarna region of central Sweden in 1897. Consequently, the Dalarnas Museum in Falun has a permanent exhibition on her and her work, including a replica of her study.
How wonderful is this study? I want one just like it.
She lived on the hill overlooking the town on what just happened to be the street where the prison I was staying in was. I tried to find her house, but as far as I can make out it no longer exists. Which is probably why her study is in the museum.
As well as the exhibition on Selma Lagerlöf, the museum gave an interesting overview on the culture of the region.
Paintings pictured different aspects of the culture and daily life. There were some great ones of the mine in Falun.
The local traditional costume is so colourful and detailed.
Dala horses are iconic images of this region. They have been made and sold since the 17th century. Even today the genuine articles are still hand-carved and hand-painted in the traditional colours.
The horses are decorated in a folk art style known as kurbits. This style was used on material, walls, crockery … just about everything that could be painted or printed really.
But back to Selma … the more I learn about her, the more I think I have in common with her. I made a list:
So to continue following in her tracks, I just need to:
Don’t mock! It could happen!
