Notes from Sweden...

Snowboarding

2007-02-14T15:48:00.000+01:00

We've just got back from a fantastic week snowboarding with our English friends Carrie and Simon and Swedes Andreas and David. We hired a little log cabin and have had an action packed week of snowboarding, sledging, 'sauna-challenges' (ruuning outside in the snow after a sauna!) and an eventful ski scooter ride where Daniel crashed and nearly broke my hip!!

Snowboarding seemed a lot easier than last year with a lot less aches and pains but I still think I've got a bit of a way to go to match Daniel's speed and stunts!!

Just a few pictures from our trip....

(Carrie & Simon filmed some movies of us all skiiing and snowboarding so I'll have to fgure out how to put them on here)

Simon, Carrie, Daniel & Andreas

Our top floor 'stuga' - the stairs were a bit lethal for running down during the 'sauna challenge'

All straped onto our boards and ready to go!

A well dererved 'after ski' drink!!

Just admiring the view!

Sunset from the top of the slopes!

Feeling Christmassy!

2006-12-07T08:28:00.000+01:00

We had Daniel's Mum and Dad to stay this weekend, and no visit to Gothenburg in December would be complete without a trip to Liseberg. To reach Liseberg theme park we took an old 1920's tram that they only run during the Christmas period. It had beautiful wooden interiors and is complete with a driver and conductor in old fashioned uniforms and white gloves!

All of the rides at Liseberg are shut during the winter, but instead they cover the park with just under 5 million tiny fairy lights and have lots of little market stall selling Christmassy produce.

They even had an ice bar, which is made from the same ice they use to build the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi in the North of Sweden. I don't think the bar staff looked as though they were enjoying themselves too much!

I think our tree needs a few more lights before it can compete with Liseberg!

Sorry!

2006-11-13T10:00:00.000+01:00

I've been sooo busy with work for the last few weeks that I've not had a chance to post anything on here.... so here comes 3 postdated entries! Promise I'll try harder to make time to post!

Snow!!

2006-11-01T10:26:00.000+01:00

We've been having a very mild autumn, so were amazed to wake up to snow this morning!! The temperature dropped from +12 C to -5C in the space of 12 hours - brrrrrr!!

Mum & Dad to stay

2006-10-30T10:10:00.000+01:00

Mum and Dad came to stay this weekend, although they didn't time it very well as it rained just about all weekend! Mum came armed with wedding magazines for me and Dad came armed with whisky for Daniel, so we were both happy!

On the Friday we just wandered around Gothenburg popping into little shops and cafes along the way - generally just giving Mum and Dad the guided tour of our new town!

On Saturday we drove out to the little island of Marstrand, just up the coast from Gothenburg. It was sunny when we set out but when we arrived it was really rainy and dark! We only saw about 5 other people on the island during the whole day!!

To round off their weekend, I took Mum and Dad to see the elks in the park up the road. The whole family of elks was out enjoying the short burst of sunshine, and this Daddy Elk was very keen on having his photo taken!!

Engagement ring

2006-10-14T10:04:00.000+02:00

I am now the proud wearer of a beautiful white gold engagement ring with 3 square cut diamonds set into the band - its beautiful!! We chose it together in a little jewellers down the road. I've noticed that I keep sitting and looking at it and seeing which light it's most sparkly in!!

Portugal

2006-10-13T15:24:00.000+02:00

We got back from a brilliant week in Portugal late on Tuesday night. The holiday was made even more special by Daniel's proposal - see post below! There were no direct flights from Gothenburg to Faro, so we flew from Copenhagen instead. As the flight was super early in the morning we decided to travel down to Copenhagen by bus the day before and spend the day exploring Copenhagen and then to stay in a hotel before heading to the airport at 4am!

We'd been to Copenhagen 2 summers ago, so the weather was a bit different this time round -grey and wet! Below is a photo of Nyhavn which is a very picturesque row of restaurants and bars, one of which Danish author Hans Christian Andersen used to live above.

Once in Portugal we were very lazy - just spending our time wandering along the beach and round the marina, or lazing by the pool reading - perfect!!

Most evening we walked into the nearby town of Vilamoura for drinks and a meal. We even managed to find a Swedish restaurant where we could speak Swedish to the waitress!

I thought this looked like the Portuguese version of the Nyhavn row of coloured bars and restaurants! I quite fancied living in the purple house!

The end of our holiday :(

Exciting news!!

2006-10-11T16:06:00.000+02:00

We've come back from Portugal with some very exciting news... Daniel proposed and I said yes!! Below is a photo after the big question and when I'd finally stopped crying!!

We've no idea yet about when/where/who but I'm sure I'll have bored you all stupid with the details by the time the big day comes!!

I'll add the rest of our holiday photos over the weekend! xxx

Off to Portugal!

2006-10-01T17:26:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow we are leaving rainy old Sweden for a sunny (well hopefully!) week in Portugal - yay!! A friend of our has a villa there and I designed him a website to promote the villa, and as a thank you he's letting us stay there for a week FREE!! We're flying from Copenhagen as there didn't seem to be any flights from Sweden to The Algarve, so we're taking the bus to Copenhagen tomorrow and staying there for the day before flying to Portugal on Tuesday morning.

Just off to finish our packing now - I'm sure I've forgotten something!!

Back in business!

2006-09-20T08:33:00.000+02:00

Hooray!! We've fixed the computer now and its finally back to full working order!! I felt very lost without email and the internet!

There isn't much to report really - we've both been really busy at work and the end of August was very rainy, so we had several lazy weekends just staying in watching DVD's and catching up on bits and pieces.

At the beginning of September we had Daniel's brother and his family to stay which was great fun. We'd planned lots of 'sunny' activities such as trips to the beach and canoeing, but the Swedish weather made sure we couldn't do any of the trips we had planned! Instead we stayed in Gothenburg and dashed outside for as long as we could inbetween the thunder storms! The tourist office in Gothenburg sells cards for 210 kronor (£14) which allow you to visit any museum in Gothenburg, plus the amusement park and to travel free for 24 hours, so we made the most of our cards and managed to squeeze in a lot!

Below are some photos from the Maritime museum which was really good fun. There are several old warships and submarines moored up together in the harbour which you can explore (or do as we did and play hide and seek in!!)

Thinking the sun had come out and summer had returned to Sweden we went to the amusement park Liseberg. We had several hours on the rides until a giant thunder storm meant the rides all had to be shut down for safety reasons - just as we had reached the front of the hour long queue to the newest and biggest rollarcoaster! (We've got some ride coupons left so we might go and try again by ourselves this weekend - fingers crossed!)

The company Daniel works for has rooms above the office which are usually used for clients, but can be borrowed for private use at the weekend, so for a change of scenary we stayed there for a night. The rooms, jacuzzi/relazation room and giant dining room are all overlooking the harbour, so it feels like you've got your very own penthouse suite!

Back soon!

2006-09-04T17:10:00.000+02:00

Our computer has managed to pick us some virus and is refusing to do anything that involves having 2 windows open at the same time - hence the lack of posts here. We've tried fixing it but nothing seems to work, so we're now painstakingly saving every last file and photo, ready to wipe the whole computer and start again! Fingers crossed I'll be back with a post soon!!

Wedding

2006-08-18T14:51:00.000+02:00

We had a busy few days to the end of our Swedish summer holiday last week; on Wednesday we went fishing, on Thursday we went to watch the athletics and on Saturday it was Richard and Linda's wedding. I've posted 3 separate posts about them below, but it has taken me all week to do it as I've been super busy at work and every time I've tried to post them Blogger has refused to let me add any photos...but I got there in the end!!

On Saturday we travelled back to Trollhattan for Richard and Linda's wedding. Richard is English (Daniel used to work with him at Saab) and Linda is Swedish so it was a traditional Swedish wedding service and reception, but held in English! Richard's Dad and step-Mum are both priests so were able to conduct the wedding service themselves, with the Swedish vicar actually pronouncing them 'man and wife' to make it official!

Linda's daughters Fanny and Emilia were bridesmaids - I have only ever been to weddings where I have been a bridesmaid (4 times!) so I was ready on standby if they needed me to step in!

The reception was held in Alberts Hotel, which is a beautiful old hotel opposite our old flat. We had a 3 course meal, which was punctuted with lots of Swedish songs, one of which included putting a bag on your head, paper plates on your ears, platic glasses over your eyes and sugar cubes in your mouth as buck teeth (I was laughing too hard to do this!) - I think seeing everyone in the room looking soooo stupid was one of the funniest things I have ever seen!

Athletics

2006-08-18T14:30:00.000+02:00

All of this week the European Athletics have been taking place here in Gothenburg. We have been to watch several of the firework displays to celebrate the event and on Thursday we went to watch the athletics at Ullevi stadium. We'd never been to see live athletics before so it was great to the athelites competing right infront of you. Sweden had a very strong team so the crowd were very patriotic cheering on thier home team!

"My fish is bigger than yours!"

2006-08-18T14:00:00.000+02:00

On Wednesday we went fishing with David (above) and Magnus (below) off the coast of Hunnebostrand, near Magnus's summerhouse.

I've never been fishing before so was amazed that it was as easy as it was! It was just a case of sticking the rod off the side of the boat, waiting a few minutes and pulling up the fish! Between the 4 of us we caught around 7 mackerel in only 3 hours!

The highlight of the day was when I managed to catch a monster, giant cod!! It was the biggest fish caught by anyone on the boat and was lovely when we had it for dinner later on in the evening - of course in true English style with chips and tartar sauce!

Möhippa

2006-08-06T11:10:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was Linda's Möhippa (hen party) ready for her wedding next Saturday. In Sweden it is traditional for the bride to know nothing about her Möhippa and to be kidnapped and taken away for a day of stupid games and drinking! The day was planned in total secrecy and with military precision...

11:50 - Waiting in the woods before sneeking into Linda's House and kidnapping her!

12:10 - Linda being made to wear a bee-keepers outfit! (No real reason for this other than to make her look stupid when we went outside!)

12:30 - Picnic and Femkamp. Femkamp is a series of 5 silly games, such as throwing wellies, tying a knot in string with one hand, and the game in the photo below - trying to get a pen which is tied round your middle in a beer bottle! Not a very lady-like pose!

14:00 - Bowling

(Continued below as Blogger didn't want to let me have lots of photos...)

Continued...

2006-08-06T11:05:00.000+02:00

Continued...

15:00 - Afternoon at a spa, with wine and chocolate tasting!

18:00 - Dress up Linda and do her makeup. You can't quite see in this photo just how bad her makeup was - very 80's style!!

19:00 - Dinner and far too many tequilas!

23:00 - Off out to get as many men as possible to write words of wisdom on Linda's veil.

I think she's all set now for the wedding on Saturday!

Tjörn

2006-08-03T12:04:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we went to Tjörn, a small island off the coast of Gothenburg, with Andreas to visit his parents, Pappa Janne and Mamma Gullan. We spent most of the day inside as the rain was pouring down, being spoilt by Mamma Gullan and her cooking - lots of homemade bread and hot cinamon buns! Mmmm!

I've just discovered a black and white photo button on my camera so it seemed like the right time to try it out in the gloomy, overcast weather.

Last time we were in Tjörn it looked like this - I'm not looking forward to it being winter again!!

Start of the holidays!

2006-07-31T15:41:00.000+02:00

Saturday was the beginning of our 2 week summer holiday in Sweden. We were going to go camping in Skåne, on the south coast of Sweden like last year, but the weather forecast said rain, rain, rain everyday so we have decided instead to stay in Gothenburg and explore a bit closer to home.

On Saturday there was bright sunshine despite the weather forecast so we jumped on a tram and went to the fishing village of Saltholmen. We spent a beautiful sunny day lazing around reading on the rocks and I also plucked up the courage to go swimming in the sea - brrrrr! No photos of Saltholmen I'm afriad as I forgot to pack my camera!

On Sunday we went for a wander round the park up the road and managed to discover some penguins and seals!

We also saw the Daddy elk that I spotted a few weeks ago sunbathing with his calf (below).

Across the road from the park is Gothenburgs Botanical Gardens which were built in 1910. It was really nice to wander round in the sunshine and forget you were in the middle of town!

I thought this pavilion looked like the one in the Sound of Music that Liesel dances round with Rolf! Daniel wouldn't do the dance with me though!

Hot in the city!

2006-07-24T17:43:00.000+02:00

We've just come back from a very lazy 9 days at home. I think we picked the right week to be at home for a holiday as the temperature was up to 35C/95F for most of the week so we just spent a lot of time lounging around in the garden - it's a hard life!

We were also home for Mum's birthday and celebrated with a meal out...

On Thursday we had arranged to meet up some friends in London. Despite having lived in London for the 5 years (university and working) prior to moving to Sweden, we've not been back to London for nearly 2 years so it felt very strange to be back! After living in Trollhättan with a population of 52,000 and then moving to Gothenburg where there are 879,000 people it felt very cramped to be back in London with another 7 and a half million people!!

The photos below are from Oxford Street - there aren't many things I miss about London, but the shops on Oxford Street are definitely one of the things I do!

Look who I met..

2006-07-12T10:04:00.000+02:00

Look who I met in the park today...

Well, I didn't quite 'meet' him as he lives in the animal enclosure in the park up the road! There is however an elk on the loose on the other side of Gothenburg who has been seen wandering along the main shopping street and drinking from fountains so I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for him too!

Just after I took this photo the batteries on my camera unfortunately ran out, which was a shame as the Mummy elk came out of her stable and right up to the fence to have her photo taken. There were 2 calves there too last time we went to look so I'll have to try and take thier photos next time...

I've only seen a glimpse of an elk in the wild so its quite amazing to watch them and realise how huge they really are!

(Carrie and Simon - next time you come we won't have to drive around for miles 'elk spotting' - we can just go to the park!!)

Canoeing

2006-07-09T11:50:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we spent the day canoeing at Vättlefjäll which is a series of lakes just north of Gothenburg. Although it wasn't as sunny as it had been all week, the rain managed to stay away for most of the day.

There were 4 lakes that were linked by little streams or some areas where you had to take the canoe out of the water and carry it over the land which was hard work!

We stopped for a BBQ on an island at lunchtime only to discover that no-one had packed matches, so had to wait awhile for another boat with matches to turn up!

End of World Cup dream and sunbathing

2006-07-03T10:53:00.000+02:00

On Saturday we had a few friends round to watch England play Portugal in the Quarter Final of the World Cup. Sadly England got knocked out on penalties, but the most contravertial part of the match was when Wayne Rooney (above) was sent off for stamping on another player in a rather sensitive area! David Beckham has said he will stand down as Captain and it was Sven's last match as Manager, so it will be all change for the next England match....

We rounded off watching the football in true English style, with one of Daniel's monster curries, plus a bit of a dance-off between Magnus and Daniel! (Why do all our parties end with cheesy dancing?!)

Yesterday we cycled 15 km to the coast and spent the day sunbathing at Fiskebäck.

We thought no one else would have the same idea as us, but we were proved wrong when we cycled up and realised half of Gothenburg was there too!

A lot of Swedes were out swimming in the sea, but it was a bit cold for us - maybe next time!

Midsummer

2006-06-26T11:24:00.000+02:00

On Friday we went to Magnus' summer house (below) in Hunnebostrand on the West Coast to celebrate Midsummer. Midsummer is a celebration of the longest day of the year and is probably Sweden's biggest festival. It is celebrated on the weekend closest to the Summer Solstice on the 24th June.

Magnus' summerhouse was built by his great-grandfather and it is the 3rd time we have celebrated Midsummer there.

It is traditional at Midsummer to dance around a Midsummer pole decorated with greenery and flowers. We didn't have a Midsummer pole to dance around so instead I followed the other tradition and made a Midsummer crown...

After lazing around in the sunshine we ate a traditional Midsummer meal of pickled herring, prawns, fresh potatoes and dill, meatballs, beetroot salad, cheese, bread and strawberries, washed down with some disgusting Swedish schnapps while we sang drinking songs!

After dinner we went across the road to the local football ground and played a few games of football - luckily each of the countries represented (England, Sweden, Australia and Italy) had made it through to the second round of the World Cup, so there weren't too many arguements!

Below: Lilly, Marina, Andreas and Stretchie

Below: Ken, David and Charles

Below: Charles, Daniel, David and Magnus

The photo below was taken at about midnight - it never really gets dark in Sweden during the summer and Midsummer is the lightest day of the year.

Having a sing-song in the evening!

The following morning in preperation for the Sweden/Germany game, Andreas shaved 'SWE' into the back of Charles' hair! It seemed like a good idea until Sweden lost 2-0 later in the afternoon and were knocked out of the World Cup!

To see more Midsummer photos click here

Volvo Ocean Race

2006-06-18T10:19:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we went to watch the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race come into the harbour in Gothenburg. The round the world race is 31,000 nautical miles (57,000 km) and takes 8 months to complete! 7 boats took part, but the Moviestar crew had to abandon ship as thier keel broke and their boat was taking in too much water. One of the crew members from the ABN AMRO TWO boat was swept overboard between New York and Portsmouth and sadly died too.

The company Daniel works for, Semcon, had co-designed part of the Swedish Ericsson Racing Team boat, so they had organised a big company day out to watch the race. We had a great spot up on the cliffs by the side of the finish line to watch the boats come in, sunbathe and eat a giant picnic.

The winning boat of the final leg (2nd overall) was the Pirates of the Caribbean/Disney boat. The crew sailed up to the finish line (just a few metres before the bridge) brandishing cutlasses and wearing eye patches!

The racing boats were followed by a huge armada of security, police, military, sailing and motor boats, plus a few brave people on jetskis!

After watching the first 2 boats cross the finish line we headed over to the other side of the harbour where Semcon had laid on a huge party, with drinks, a band and a big prawn buffet. As we sat outside eating we finally saw the Ericsson Racing Team Boat coming into harbour in 5th place, both in the final leg and overall ranking.

Nothing like a bit of cheesy dancing to round the night off!

Happy Fathers Day!

2006-06-18T09:41:00.000+02:00

Dad,

Happy Fathers Day! Sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you,

but looking forward to being back home next month!

Lots of love, Helly xxx

(Photo from May 2004, when Mum and Dad came to stay)

Rock climbing!

2006-06-15T22:10:00.000+02:00

There is quite a steep rock face on the other side of the road opposite our flat, and this evening when I loooked out of the window I saw this guy climbing along it! He had no ropes so when we came back after watching the football (England/Trinidad and Tobago 2-0) we half expected to find him sprawled out on a car bonnet!

Lipstick, parades and football!

2006-06-12T10:48:00.000+02:00

Last Thursday I had a work training day in the building on the right, which is known as Läppstiftet (The Lipstick) for obvious reasons! It is an office building with a cafe and viewing point at the top, but sadly the cafe was shut so I wasn't abale to go up and take some photos of the great view over the harbour. Next time...

On Friday I was back in Trollhättan working, but did manage to see some of the graduation parade. It was to celebrate the students gradutation from gymnasium (high school) and they ride around town on the back of trailers decorated with banners and branches, pulled by tractors! The students wear white gradutation caps, with a band of blue and yellow, the colours of the Swedish flag. The parade tradition dates back to when this would have been the last time students saw each other before going to take part in their military service, but as military service is no longer compulsary in Sween its now just to a chance to celebrate (and get drunk!)

As this was our first proper weekend in the flat without any moving or unpacking involved we were very lazy! Summer has finally come to Sweden so we spent most of the weekend wandering round our new neighbourhood and sitting in the park. On Saturday we also met up with some friends to watch the England/Paraguay (1-0) and Sweden/Trindad and Tobago (0-0) World Cup matches. Both matches were equally uneventful although I did notice that when I watched the England match I cheered in English (come on/nooooo!) and then cheered in Swedish during the Sweden match (kom igen/oi/neeeej!). My other observation was how polite the Swedish fans were, politely clapping when their players missed a shot, compared with the English shouting and swearing!! We'll have to wait and see how polite the Swedes are next week during the England/Sweden match!!

Back again!

2006-06-08T12:37:00.000+02:00

The internet is finally up and running after our move - yay! The flat moving went smoothly enough, with us only needing 3 trips back and forth in the van - although the last trip ended at 2.30am! We put the last of our empty boxes in the attic last night, so all that is left to do now is hang the curtain poles and some pictures and we're all done!

We've had a busy 10 days since moving, the highlight of which was my birthday last week! Daniel bought me a new digital camera to replace the super-unreliable one I've been using up until now! I had the day off work on my birthday so wanted to go out and about to try out my new camera but sadly it rained all day, so all I managed was a few photos of the lovely birthday dinner Daniel cooked!

Were we back home in England this weekend for Daniel's nephew and godson Harry's Christening.

After the church service we spent a lovely day in the sunshine celebrating in the garden, which ended up with a big water fight! Below: Daniel's nephew George and his friend Matthew.

Above: Ellie, Daniel's neice and Harry's big sister.

Where did it all come from?!

2006-05-24T13:04:00.000+02:00

The big move down to Gothenburg begins tomorrow and every room in our flat has a big pile of boxes like this one, and we're still not even half way through packing!! I don't know where all this stuff keeps appearing from! We've got several friends roped into helping us load up the van tomorrow so hopefully it won't be too painful. Its a 4 days weekend (yay!) so luckily we've got plenty of time to go backwards and forwards moving things and cleaning the old flat. It was almost easier moving from England to Sweden than now having to move within Sweden, as when we moved here the removal company did all of the packing and unpacking, while we just sat around pointing where we wanted everything!

I'm not sure how long it will take to re-connect the internet, but hopefully it won't take too long before its up and running again.

'Eu-eu-euro-vision Pardy!'

2006-05-21T10:58:00.000+02:00

Saturday saw the return of our second annual Eurovision Song Contest Party! The rules are simple: pick a flag to choose which country you will represent while wearing the fur hat (don't ask!)...

...then watch the song contest cheering along your appropriate countries. When it comes to the voting round if your country has scored the top 12 points you have to vote someone else in the room to 'drink the drink!'. There are 38 countries voting so 38 rounds of 'drinking the drink!'. As we had 12 people this year it was much less messy than last time we celebrated Eurovision with only 6 of us!

Then end the night with some moonwalking!

Unfortunately neither the UK or Sweden won this years contest, with the grand prize going to Finland's death metal group Lordi.

As you can see they are not the usual happy, smiley, cheesy Eurovision winners so I think this result has upset a few people, especially the die-hard fans over here in Sweden! To watch their winning entry click here.

Swedish veteran Carola (this is her 3rd Eurovision final) came in 5th place and can be seen here. The entry from the UK was embarrassingly awful and hardly suprising that it didn't win, but if you really want to see it click here.

Parcels, running and crowns!

2006-05-15T14:59:00.000+02:00

When Daniel and I took another car load of boxes down to our new flat this weekend and I was greeted by a big parcel from Connie. Inside was a wonderful housewarming present of placemats and napkins (which were put to use later in the evening), a great wine cooler which will definitely get used a lot and is perfect for taking out on picnics, plus a little scented pillow which Connie had made. Thank you so much for the thoughtful present Connie and for the card wishing us luck in our new flat - I'm sure it won't be long before it feels like home.

On Saturday afternoon we headed into town to watch GöteborgsVarvet which is a 21km half marathon through town. Below is a shot of the leader at the 18km mark, but sadly he didn't win the race as he took a wrong turn in the last 200metres and was overtaken! Oops!

Over 28,000 people took part in the race, but next year there might be 2 more as Daniel and I are thinking of entering! Watch this space!

From our kitchen and bedroom window we can see this building with a sparkly crown on top, so on Sunday we set off to investigate what it was...

After clambering up the hill to the building we found out it was infact an old miltary fortress called Skansen Kronan (Crown). The fortress was built in the late 17th century to protect Gothenburg from invading Danes, but is now used as a military museum. The view from the fortress was quite impressive and it was interesting to look back and see our flat...

Waterfalls and camping in the flat!

2006-05-09T14:37:00.000+02:00

On Saturday we took Daniel's parents to see the waterfall just across the road from our flat. The waterfall is dammed up nowadays (photo above) and boats use the man-made canal instead, but during the summer the sluice gates are opened and the water is released down the falls again. It is mainly a tourist attraction but it also powers the local powerstation.

When the gates are opened over 300,000 litres rush through every second so it is easy to see why the canal and lock system were built!

While checking the times for the waterfall on the internet I also came across this video all about where we live if anyone is interested - we thought it was quite amusing they made a tourist film about such a small town!

After taking Daniel's parents to the airport for their flight back home we headed to our new flat in Gothenburg where we camped out for the night! We've not taken any of our furniture down there yet so we had a duvet on the floor as a sofa and slept on an air-matress with sleeping bags, but it was great to be there and start to plan where everything will go when we move in properly.

I had yesterday off work, so spent a nice lazy day in the sunshine exploring our new neighbourhood. Below is a shot of Haga Nygata which is a pedestrian street lined with interesting shops and cafes just 2 minutes walk from our new flat. It was so nice just to wander round in the sunshine planning which bars and resturants we will be visiting when we move there!

Smögen

2006-05-05T22:08:00.000+02:00

Spring seems to have forgotten to come to the West of Sweden as we have gone straight from winter to full blown summer! Last week we were all wrapped up in big winter coats and hats with the very last of the snow melting, and this week there is suddenly baking hot summer sunshine and we're wearing shorts and t-shirts! All very strange but we're not complaining!

To make the most of our new summer weather we went to Smögen with Daniel's parents for a BBQ. Smögen is a beautiful little fishing village on the West coast and is one of our favourite places in Sweden. It is made up of small brightly painted fishing huts...

...and a wooden landing stage (apparently the longest in Europe!) which is lined by boats on one side and little gift shops and cafes on the other.

After a wander round the shops we settled on a spot right on top of the rocks for a BBQ and a spot of sunbathing!!

The rocks in Smögen are amazingly soft and smooth, which is due to the Ice Age glaciers melting and the water running down over the rocks for so many years. You often find a little stone in the middle of a big hole in the rocks - the holes are called 'Giants Cauldrons' and were caused by huge stones rolling round and round on the rocks as the glaciers melted.

(Marie - be sure to stop here on your trip up the West Coast!)

On the move!!

2006-05-01T12:30:00.000+02:00

Hooray!! We have finally got the keys to our new flat and moved the first load of boxes down this weekend. We've got both our flats for the whole of May so we'll take down our furniture gradually and then properly move at the end of the month.

Everything was as nice as we had remembered - Daniel is excited because he has got a nice big kitchen to 'create' in and I'm happy because there are huge wardrobes and lots of cupboards - we're easily pleased! Plus a bath to soak in after a long day!

I think I needed an estate agent's wide angle camera in order to fit the rooms into the photo, but you get the general idea!

Daniel's parents are here to visit for the week, so it was nice to show them the new flat. We also spent a very wet, cold afternoon watching the Chalmers Cortège which is the graduation parade for students from Chalmers University. It was pouring with rain all afternoon and all the students looked a bit miserable marching round in the rain!

Dags att grilla! (BBQ time!)

2006-04-24T12:47:00.000+02:00

We had our first bit of spring sunshine this weekend so we decided it was time to dust off the barbeque for our first barbeque of the year! True to form though it clouded over and turned positively wintery as soon as the barbeque was lit!!

We recently bought a freezer-full of English sausages from Taylors of Sweden, which is an English butchers in Gothenburg, so we sat in the freezing cold enjoying our barbequed sausages and English Coleman's mustard! Mmmm!

Below: Just how many men does it take to keep a barbeque alight??!

Notes from a plane!

2006-04-20T10:38:00.000+02:00

We had a lovely 5 days at home over Easter, doing very little apart from seeing friends and family and eating lots - perfect! On the plane home I realised I hadn't taken any photos during the whole time at home, so here are some shots from the plane ride back instead!!

Goodbye England...

...over Denmark...

...hello Sweden!

Gothenburg's archipelago

Just coming into Gothenburg.

Glad Påsk!

2006-04-13T08:48:00.000+02:00

Easter is a much biggest celebration here than it is at home in England, so I thought I'd share some Swedish Påsk (Easter) traditions with you...

When I first came to Sweden I was confused as to why young girls dressed up as witches at Easter, but the reason is that there is an old superstition which said that witches would fly on their broomsticks to Blåkulla (Blue Mountain), where the devil lived, on Skärtorsdag (Maundy Thursday) to plot their evil doings! Children now dress up as Påskakärring (Easter witches) and visit their neighbours with an Easter letter (usually a drawing or colouring in) in return for sweets. There are often large bonfire and firework celebrations to ward off the witches too!

Many people also decorate their houses with Påskris, which doesn't really have a translation in English, but are birch twigs decorated with brightly coloured fathers. Originally the birch twigs were used to give children and servants a beating on Långfredagen (Good Friday) to remind them of Jesus' suffering on the cross, but thankfully I don't think they do that any more!

In England all of our eggs at Easter are chocolate but here they are beautifully decorated cardboard eggs which are then filled with sweets or chocolate or small gifts. Below are some of the eggs we're taking back home with us this evening - that is if they can survive me picking sweets out of them every 2 seconds!

We filled them with all sorts of Swedish sweets including my favourite - Plopp!

I hope you all have a very Happy Easter!

Keep on running!

2006-04-11T19:20:00.000+02:00

We had a lot of rain over the weekend, which has finally washed away the last of the snow and ice, so when Daniel asked me if I wanted to go running earlier I didn't really have an excuse! We've been running on the treadmill at the gym during the Winter but to go running again on real ground was really hard work! We ran a lap of the canal which runs infront of our flat - it was so nice to see this familer route free from snow at last!

Last summer we ran a 12km race called Kraftprovet (The Power Test) which follows a route along by the river and canal, twisting through the forest and over a waterfall, finally coming very steeply up the towpath by the side of the lock system. We completed it in just over an hour, but the Kenyan winner completed it in 36 minutes, so I think we've got a bit more training to do if we want to beat him this year! Below are before and after photos, with our friend Thomas.

Before...

... and after (absolutely exhausted!)

Smörgåstårta

2006-04-03T11:11:00.000+02:00

This amazing creation was the Smörgåstårta (sandwich cake) which we ate on Friday night! It is exactly as it sounds and looks - a giant 'sandwich cake' which was made up of layers of prawns, mayonaise, ham, mayonaise, cheese, more mayonaise and egg between slices of bread and then decorated with more prawns, and swirls of cheese and ham!! It is a traditional Swedish party dish and we ate it at a party we held on Friday evening as it was Daniel's last day working at Saab. We bought this Smörgåstårta but if you fancy having a go yourself, there are some recipes here.

Daniel has started his new work contract at Volvo in Gothenburg this morning. It will mean that he'll have to travel down to Gothenburg for 2 months before we move into our new flat there, and then I'll have to travel back to Trollhattan for a month before I finish my teaching contract here and start working in Gothenburg. It's all a bit back to front and will mean a bit of travelling for a while, but it won't be too long before we'll be living and working in Gothenburg properly!

Tagged!

2006-03-31T08:20:00.000+02:00

I've been tagged by Emmie so here goes...

Place an X by all the things you've done. This is for your entire life:
( ) Smoked a cigarette
(X) Drank so much you threw up
( ) Crashed a friend's car
( ) Stolen a car
(X) Been in love
(X) Been dumped
( ) Shoplifted
(X) Quit your job
( ) Been in a fist fight
( ) Snuck out of your parent's house
(X) Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back
( ) Been arrested
( ) Gone on a blind date
(X) Lied to a friend
( ) Skipped school
( ) Seen someone die
( ) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
(X) Been on a plane
(X) Been lost
(X) Been on the opposite side of the country
(X) Swam in the ocean
( ) Felt like dying
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
( ) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently coloured your hair
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't
(X) Made prank phone calls
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Danced in the rain
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sun rise with someone you care about
(X) Blown bubbles
( ) Made a bonfire on the beach
( ) Crashed a party
(X) Gone roller-skating
(X) Ice-skating

I'm tagging Niki, Kimananda, Connie, Vernicious Knids and DaybyDay4-2Day

Happy Mothers Day

2006-03-26T10:20:00.000+02:00

Happy Mothers Day Mum,

Thanks for being the best Mum in the world. Looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks!

Lots of love Helen xxx

(Photo from 2004 when Mum & Dad came over for my birthday)

Våffeldagen

2006-03-25T17:25:00.000+01:00

Today is Våffeldagen (Waffle Day) - I've quizzed all of our friends as to why you should eat waffles on 25th March but no one had any idea! A quick scout of the internet came up with many different reasons, such as eating waffles to celebrate the day that the Angel Gabrielle came to Mary to say that she had been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. This day is called Vårfrudagen in Swedish, which when said fast can sound a bit like Våffeldagen!! Other internet sites said that waffles are eaten to celebrate the beginning of spring.

Either way I don't need too much of a reason to eat waffles!! Happy Waffle Day!!

No swimming

2006-03-22T20:04:00.000+01:00

This no swimming sign made me giggle earlier; I don't think anyone will be swimming when the water looks like this....!!

Sill factory party!

2006-03-19T21:08:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was our friend Charles' 30th Birthday and he had a great party to celebrate. The party was held in Tjörn which is a small island off the west coast of Sweden. Charles' grandpa started a sill (pickled herring) factory about 100 years ago and the party was held in the now refurbished factory. Charles and his family have renovated the factory so that they can now use it as a summer house and the main part of the factory where the sill was stored before it was pickled is now used as a large function room. It is an amazing place with all the original woodwork still intact and lots of interesting black and white photos and fishing memorabilia hung up. Below is a photo of Charles's grandpa out on the jetty outside the factory selling sill (excuse the reflection of me in the glass!)

Unfortunately my photos from the party have not come out as the factory was lit by candles so it was a bit dark for photos, but here are some photos taken this morning from the front of the factory. As you can see it was a little bit cold for a day at the seaside!!

Good news...

2006-03-12T18:54:00.000+01:00

Good news... We got the flat in Gothenburg!! We've signed the contract and will be getting the keys so we can move in at the beginning of May!! Yay!! The contract on our current flat won't expire until the end of May so we'll end up paying 2 lots of rent for a month which is a bit annoying, but at least we can move in our stuff gradually over the month, rather than rushing to do it all in one day!

I went into Gothenburg yesterday for a bit of a girlie shopping trip as Daniel was away on a company ski trip. It was really nice to wander round what will be our new neighbourhood and spy out nice restaurants and interesting shops. Our new flat is right in the centre of town, close to all the shops, bars, restaurants and museums, which will be great after living for 2 years in our little village! I think the thing we'll miss most from our current flat is being so close to the lakes and countryside, but as Gothenburg is on the coast I guess we'll make up for it with trips to the seaside - although the though of it ever being warm enough to go to the beach and sunbathe is a very strange one at the moment!!

Brrrrrr!!

2006-03-08T21:10:00.000+01:00

Don't let the bright blue sky in these photos deceive you into thinking spring has arrived in Sweden! I took these photos along the canal path infront of our flat yesterday when I walked home from my Swedish lesson at lunchtime and the temperature was down to -16 C!! It had been starting to warm up a little bit, but this week it has turned really cold and wintery again!

Snowboarding & flat hunting

2006-03-06T14:10:00.000+01:00

On Saturday we woke up at the horribly early time of 5am to go on a days ski trip organised by a bar in town, Butlers. We left Butlers at 6am and arrived in Hovfjället at 10am, ready to spend a day snowboarding (and drinking as there were free drinks all day!). There was lots of thick, fresh snow and the temperature was down to -15 C which meant my nose kept icing together, which is a very strange sensation! By the end of the day I feeling a bit more comfortable and confident snowboarding, but I was still amazed by the tiny 3 year old Swedish children zooming fearlessly down the black runs - I think I've got a thing or two left to learn!

On Sunday we drove down to Gothenburg again to look at a flat. The flat was in Linne, which is right in the centre of Gothenburg and is full of lots of little cafes and interesting book and antique shops - it reminds me of London's Notting Hill. Linne is our favourite area of Gothenburg but also one of the most popular, so we were amazed when we found a flat that was available and in our price range. The flat we looked at is a beautiful 1890's building, and all the rooms have huge windows, high ceilings with the original architrave and lovely restored wooden floors. We really, really loved the flat but just have to wait until tomorrow to get a definite 'yes' that we can have it. Keep everything crossed for us!!

Below: Its the light cream building in the middle.

Pink sunset

2006-03-03T18:41:00.000+01:00

Just a quick photo of our pink sunset out of the window. It is light until about 6pm now, which is so nice after having a long, dark winter when it was dark at 3pm. Roll on summer, when we've got nearly 24 hours of daylight!!

Pancakes versus Semlor

2006-02-28T16:45:00.000+01:00

As today is Shrove Tuesday I will be celebrating later by eating as many pancakes as possible, however Swedes celebrate 'Fettis Dagen' a little differently by eating a semla (plural semlor). Semlor are cardamon flavoured buns which are split in half and filled with a marzipan paste and whipped cream. Swedes rave about how wonderful they taste, and even though they should traditionally only be eaten today, many shops sell them from as early as January, but to me are most disgusting tasting thing in the world!! They taste like dry, stale rolls filled with masses of cream and almond paste - eeeuuurrrgghhh! Give me a pancake with sugar and lemon juice anyday! Happy Pancake Day!

(To read about semlor from someone who likes them go and see Marie!)

Flat hunting

2006-02-26T20:17:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we drove down to Gothenburg again to have another look around areas we might like to move to. We drove around Hisingen, which is the area across the water, slightly away from the centre of town. It is actually a large island which is separated from mainland Gothenburg by the Göta älv river, which then continues to run up from Gothenburg to Trollhättan where we live now. Hisingen wasn't quite as pretty as the other areas of Gothenburg we visited last time, but there does seem to be more flats available there and most of them are slightly bigger and cheaper than those in the centre of town.

The system of looking for flats to rent in Sweden is very strange, as you actually have to be selected by the landlord/lady to even go and look at a property. For example, we've registered with a letting agency and have applied for 134 flats in the last month and we still haven't been selected to go and view any of the properties! Some of the flats have had over 2000 applicants, so I think it could take us a bit longer than the afternoon it look us to find our flat in London!! Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

It's that time of year again...

2006-02-19T18:29:00.000+01:00

Saturday saw the start of one of the most important events in the Swedish calander.... the first heat of Melodifestival!! For those un-initiated in the world of Eurovision, Melodifestival is a 6 week long competition to find the singer/band who will represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. The Melodifestival consists of 4 heats, a semi final and a final with each show being broadcast at primetime on Saturday nights for about 2 hours!! A little bit different from the 1/2 hour 'Making your Mind up' show they have in England to decide who will represent the United Kingdom!!

After winning Eurovision several times before (1974 ABBA, 1984 Herreys and 1991 Carola) Sweden came an amazingly bad 19th place last year, meaning that they now have to compete to get into the Eurovision final in Athens rather than being allowed straight through like in recent years. Despite last years winner being Greek, Sweden still managed to claim the victory as its own as the singer currently lives in Sweden!

I'm not a huge Eurovision fan but I just find it amazing how seriously Swedes take the whole event and I can't help but get caught up in all the discussions about it!!

Snowboarding

2006-02-13T14:47:00.000+01:00

Daniel and I have spent the last week snowboarding in Stöten, which is about 450km north of us, just on the border to Norway. It was absolutely freezing (-21 one day!) but we had lots of new snow and bright blue skies to make up for it. We were staying in a little stuga (Swedish for cabin) right at the bottom of the slopes.

I had only been snowboarding for 3 days before, so 6 whole days of snowboarding nearly finished me off (I can barely walk today!) but by the end of the week I felt as if I'd finally cracked it! Daniel was a real show off and started practicing his jumps, but I think I'll save that until next time!

One afternoon we went out on a scooter safari up the mountain which was great, although my face got soooo cold I thought it might actually fall off! It was only us on the safari with a guide so we were able to really zoom along without having to wait for any other scooters behind us.

To see the rest of out photos click here.

Notes from Germany

2006-01-30T16:25:00.000+01:00

Daniel has been working in Germany for the last fortnight, so on Thursday I flew down to spend the weekend there with him. He has been working at the Opel Design office in Russelsheim which will be taking over the new Saab designs from the office in Trollhättan where Daniel currently works.

I've always imagined Germany as being a very industrial, grey country (sorry to any Germans out there!) so was pleasantly suprised to see it how pretty it was. We were staying in the town of Mainz, which is close to Frankfurt on the banks of the Rhine.

Mainz is made up of lots of little cobbled streets centered around a large cathedral, so we spent most of the day wandering around the shops...

...and then stuffing ourselves silly with food and drinks in the evenings as it was so cheap compared to Sweden! We ate in some great restaurants, including a beautiful place called Heiliger Geist (Holy Ghost) which was built in an old church, and managed to sample the local beer at the Eisgrub brewery bar.

Click here to see all of the photos from Mainz.

Weekend in the snow

2006-01-23T09:39:00.000+01:00

We had a huge snowfall on Friday night so when it came to Saturday morning and time to 'defrost' the car we had to wade through knee deep snow to actually get to the car!!

Luckily the roads are ploughed and well gritted so spurred on by my elk sighting earlier in the week, we headed up to Hunneberg and Halleberg again. We thought it would be a bit easier to see the silhouette of an elk against the white of the snow, so we were very excited when we spotted what we guessed to be elk tracks in the snow...

We followed the tracks as far as we could but they ended up leading into quite dense forest so we couldn't follow. We continued our walk to the top of the plateau and once or twice the snow felt really slippery underfoot. We dug down through the snow and realised we had been walking along the top of a frozen stream!! Oops!

On Sunday we went out for another walk in the snow round the canal. We didn't make it that far though and had to come back after half an hour as we were soooo frozen - not suprising really as it was -14!!

Above: Anyone for a picnic??!

ELK!!

2006-01-17T17:26:00.000+01:00

After 19 months of living in Sweden I have finally seen my first elk! I was speaking to a Swedish friend earlier and told her that every time we have guests to stay from home we always go on a elk spotting drive through the forest but we never see any! Her great uncle hunts elks, so after a quick phone call to him to find out the best spots to see one we set off...

We drove to the nearby hills of Hunneberg and Halleberg which is where the King of Sweden hunts elks during the hunting season. My friends uncle said that after the hunting season there were only 29 elks left in the hills, but if we drove slowly and looked carefully in the open areas of forest we might just see one. Sure enough after driving for about 30 minutes we saw a small elk calf! We could see its legs through the trees and its nose when it bent down to eat! We stopped the car and waited to see if it would come out onto the road or if its mother would appear. Sadly neither happened and after we put the window down he ran off.

The calf was too camouflaged behind the trees for me to take a photo but it was about the size of a pony. Fingers crossed we see another one a bit closer up next time!

Mmmm cheese!

2006-01-15T17:56:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we spent the day wandering and driving around Gothenburg trying to work out which areas we would like or not like to live in. Daniel is still waiting to sign his contract but hopefully we'll be moving around April/May time. We liked the areas of Majorna, Masthugget and Kungsladugård to the west of the centre of town, so will start looking for a flat there as soon as Daniel signs his contract. They were close enough to the centre of town for going out and shopping, but far enough out to feel as though they had there own little community. We've heard some horror stories of how long it takes to find a flat in Gothenburg so fingers crossed we'll be lucky and it won't take too long!

During our wander round town we came across a tiny little cheese shop, and popped in to see if they had any really strong cheddar as it is one of the things we miss most from home. We were given 3 types of cheddar to try ranging from 12 to 47 months old! The 47 month old one was so strong it made my mouth itchy! We decided on a 36 month old one which was really strong and tasty, so now we know we have to move to this part of Gothenburg to supply our cheese addiction!

Brrrrrrr!

2006-01-09T13:14:00.000+01:00

Even though we have had no new snow for over a week now, or Narnia world is still here. The snow is still about 20cm thick and the temperature was down to -9 this morning when I walked to school. It was so cold that when I breathed in through my nose my nostrils stuck together and the hair that was poking out of the bottom of my hat froze into tiny ice crystals!

There are lots of signs along the pavements like the one below which says 'Warning for falling snow and icicles' and after looking up at the icicles I decided to cross the road just in case!

The canal in front of our flat is now almost completely frozen and the ice breaker chips its way through the canal every morning to make sure the big cargo ships can actually make it as far as Karlstad and Stockholm.

Death of a Christmas tree!

2006-01-04T15:01:00.000+01:00

Our poor Christmas tree couldn't hold out until the twelfth night before we took him down so he has had a premature death. He was looking a little on the sparse side, but after taking the decorations off, getting him out of our front door, in the lift and out of the flat he is now pretty much completely bald! We're lucky as our local council collects the Christmas trees and recycles them, so I was just able to prop him up by the side of the road ready to be collected.

Not a good start to the year!

2006-01-02T16:03:00.000+01:00

After a second day out sledging yesterday, Daniel and I are now sporting sledging injuries! Daniel has a rather bruised and swollen finger, which looks as though it might be broken and I'm suffering from what feels like whiplash after flying over a jump backwards and landing on my head! I think we might just stay in this evening with a hot chocolate instead!

Everywhere looks like 'Narnia' at the moment and the weather forecast says the snow is going to continue for at least the next week!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-01T20:44:00.000+01:00

Whenever a Swede hears that we are English one of the first questions they ask after which football team we support is do we watch 'Dinner for One' on New Years Eve in England? We always reply that we have never heard of this TV programme, but despite this they always continue to reel off the script from the show.

Last night we finally got to watch this infamous show and see what all the fuss is about. 'Dinner for One' was filmed in Germany in the 1960's and has been shown every year since in most European countries on New Years Eve. It is comedy sketch involving a 90 year old wowan at her birthday party, along with her bulter who has to impersonate each of the other guests as they are dead, with him gradually getting drunker and drunker as he has their drinks. Both the actors are English and the script is English but the BBC never wanted to buy the programme to broadcast it in Britain. After watching it last night we can't quite understand why it is broadcast 10 times on New Years Eve with most of the population of Sweden watching, but we can see why the BBC didn't want it!!

Sledging at the beach!

2005-12-31T16:05:00.000+01:00

We've just come back from an afternoon sledging on the beach! The sanddunes at Gaddesanda (which looked like this last time we went) were the only place we could find to sledge down which weren't hills in the middle of someones field or garden. Amazingly there was no-one else around so we didn't feel too embarassed flinging ourselves across the snow!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Snow update!

2005-12-29T16:26:00.000+01:00

I've just popped out to the shops and in about 5 hours approx. 15cm of snow has fallen!! Being English and not used to snow I'm always very excited every time it snows and always make the most of trampling through any unspoilt areas of snow I can find!!

As we left England yesterday the news was reporting that there would be a big snowfall in South England and was advising everyone to stay at home from work for the day! I don't think that excuse would go down too well over here!

Snow storm

2005-12-29T12:39:00.000+01:00

We flew back to Sweden last night after a fantastic Christmas at home, filled with lots of food, pressies and silly games!! Our suitcases were 9kg over weight but luckily we managed to get away without paying for any excess baggage!

I had read on the internet that a big snow storm was heading for us in Southern Sweden and looking out of the window at the moment I can barely see anything as there is sooooo much snow blowing past! The weather forecast says we should have about 9cm of new snow by the end of the day so hopefully we can go sledging later!

Brown paper packages tied up with string!

2005-12-22T13:35:00.000+01:00

All the presents are bought and wrapped up - I just need to squeeze them into our suitcase before we fly home tonight! Arrghh! Looking forward to seeing all of you at home very soon!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Vintersolstånd

2005-12-21T14:50:00.000+01:00

Today is Vintersolstånd or Winter Solstice, which means it is the day of the year with the least amount of daylight as the earth is the furthest away from the sun on this day. In Trollhättan the forecast says sunrise is 9am and sunset is 3pm today, meaning we have 6 hours of daylight, but in the north of Sweden some towns have 24 hours of darkness!

The winter solstice used to be celebrated by the Druids by cutting a piece of mistletoe as it was thought to be magical as it had fruit on it during the winter. They also lit a log and kept it burning for 12 hours to conquer the evil spirits the darkness brought. Both traditions have now made their way into modern Christmas with kissing under the mistletoe and having a Yule Log, or lighting candles on a Christmas tree.

Today the day passes without much celebration other than people knowing that it will gradually start to get lighter now until we reach Midsummer on 25th June where we will have nearly 24 hours of daylight!

Below: Making the most of my 6 hours of daylight with a walk to Kopparklinten before it gets dark!

Lucia

2005-12-14T16:09:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Lucia Day, which is one of the most important dates during Swedish advent. It is traditional for the girl of the family to dress as Lucia in a long white dress, red sash and a crown of lingonberry twigs and candles, and bring lussekatter (saffron buns) and coffee to the rest of the family while they are in bed (ooops , forgot to do that!). Many towns and schools elect their own Lucia, who with her followers (tärnorna) leads a procession while singing 'Sankta Lucia' and other Christmas songs. Above is Trollhättans Lucia and below is Lucia from the school where I work. I'll have to try and learn the words to the song and get myself elected next year!

The celebration is a mixture of remembrance of Saint Lucia, who was a Catholic Sicilian martyr, and a pagan tradition of bringing food to those less fortunate during the long dark winter.

Julbord

2005-12-11T20:47:00.000+01:00

Last night about 18 of us all met to eat Christmas dinner in a little log cabin in the woods. It is the second year we have done this and I think we'll be doing the same again next year. We ate a traditional Swedish julbord (Christmas dinner) with everyone bringing a different dish . The food included ham, pickled herring, smoked salmon, deer heart (!!), hard boiled eggs with caviar, Janssons frestelse (potato and anchovy pie), spare ribs, boiled potatoes, mini sausages, pate etc. It was all lovely but so different from the English Christmas dinner of roast turkey and vegetables!! To add a bit of English tradition we brought mulled wine, mince pies and Yule log with us.

Nobeldagen

2005-12-11T11:48:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was Nobeldagen, which is the day when the Nobel Prizes for literature, chemistry, physics, medicine, economics and peace are given out. The Nobel Prize ceremony began in 1901 after Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel (the inventor of dynamite) left a request in his will for the prize giving to be established. The prizes are awarded at formal ceremonies held annually in the Stockholm Concert Hall and the Oslo City Hall on December 10th, which is date that Alfred Nobel passed away.

The ceremony is shown on Swedish TV and is a fairly big event here, with some shops shutting early to honour the occassion. Apart from tuning in to watch the prize giving, many people watch to rate/slate the dresses worn, especially those worn by the Swedish Royal Family! The papers are full of photos of Princesses Victoria and Madeleine today, and for once they actually approved of what they were wearing!

Feeling Christmassy

2005-12-07T12:09:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling very Christmassy now after putting up our Christmas tree last night. It's only the second Christmas tree we've had so it's still very exciting! It's a lot bigger than the tree we had last year, so its looking a bit sparse in terms of decorations! It's decorated with little stars made out of straw which are traditional Swedish decorations, plus some straw goats too. Traditionally it is the Christmas goat who delivers presents rather than Father Christmas in Sweden.

The other thing which made me feel Christmassy was the arrival of our friend David with a Glögg set for me. I've been looking after his flat while he's been working in Germany for the past 6 months, so he bought me a Glögg set as a thank you present. Glögg is a hot, sweet, mulled wine which Swedes drink at Christmas. You add almonds and raisons to it, hence the little spoons and dishes. It's potent stuff so you only need a few cupfuls to warm you up! You can buy it premixed or make it yourself, and its traditionally drunk with pepparkakor (ginger snaps).

Marstrand

2005-12-04T19:41:00.000+01:00

On Friday evening we went to Marstrand for Daniel's work Christmas party. Marstrand is a tiny little island off the coast of Gothenburg, which can only be reached by ferry. We were supposed to have been catching a bus there and back, but as a suprise Daniel had booked for us to stay in one of the rooms in the castle on the island! Carstens Fästning (fortress) was built in the 1600's to protect Sweden from neighbouring Norway and Denmark, and has been used as recently as the Second World War as a military base.

We were given instruction to ring when we arrived at door 23 (which turned out to be a huge wooden portcullis door!) but when we rang we were told we couldn't be let into the castle yet as they were just about to fire the cannon!! We weren't sure if we'd missunderstood the Swedish, but seconds later we heard the cannon! We were eventually met and shown to our room in the 'newer' part of the castle, which was built in 1840 to house the soldiers. (photo below)

After checking for ghosts we got changed and walked round to Societetshuset where the party was taking place. Societetshuset is a beautiful old bath house built in 1886 for the King of Sweden. We did our best to join in with the Swedish Christmas carols but struggled a bit with the impromptu drinking songs!

The following morning we spent a very cold couple of hours walking round the island and exploring the castle. The whole place was nearly desserted and so different from when we visited last summer.

Walk to work

2005-11-30T20:04:00.000+01:00

I got a bit carried away taking photos in the snow on my walk to work today!

It's snowing!!

2005-11-29T20:04:00.000+01:00

It has been snowing for most of the day and the forecast says it'll continue to snow for the rest of the week - yay!! It's -7 at the moment, a little bit chilly, but everything looks so nice in the snow I don't mind braving the cold so much!

One thing I had forgotten about the snow is how quiet it makes everything, and how you need to add 10 minutes onto any walk anywhere!!

Light at 9.30am

2005-11-29T09:41:00.000+01:00

A few photos through the window this morning when it finally got light at 9.30am!! It's getting dark at about 3.30pm here but it's not quite as bad as the north of Sweden where they've nearly got 24 hours of darkness. We're looking forward to the 21st December, which is the shortest day of the year, and then after which the days will start to get lighter again.

Weekend in Gothenburg

2005-11-28T15:02:00.000+01:00

We spent this weekend in Gothenburg with Ross to make the most of seeing him before he heads back home to Australia.

To start with on Saturday we went to Universeum, which is a sort of science/natural history museum with lots of hands on displays. I think we were the only ones there without children but we had just as much fun as them playing with each of the experiments!

One of the best parts of the museum was the underwater world where they had a pool of rays which you could touch. They seemed to really like the attention and kept coming up to the surface to be stroked!

Universeum is an environmentally friendly museum and even recycles your urine after you've been to the toilet - you just need to make sure you wee in the correct part of the toilet!!

After Universeum we headed to Liseberg to see the Christmas lights. They cover every tree in the theme park with millions of tiny fairy lights which looks absolutely incredible. They also have a Christmas market with stalls full of traditional Swedish gifts and crafts.

There was also a ice skating rink, but sadly we didn't have any skates with us!

On Sunday we went to a Christmas Market located in the Kronhuset which is the oldest building in Gothenburg. It was originally a warehouse for the Swedish artillery but is now home to several traditional shops, including a glassblower, a goldsmith, a clockmakers and a chocolate shop. They had several stalls selling traditional Swedish gifts including these Julbockar (Christmas goats) which are supposed to be the Swedish predecessor to Father Christmas.

To round off the weekend we went for a coffee in a cafe on a boat! 'The Viking' was completely moored up and anchored but we still felt sure we were bobbing about on the water!!

Least favourite job

2005-11-20T19:37:00.000+01:00

Daniel had to carry out his least favourite job in the world yesterday - changing the summer tyres to studded winter tyres on our car! By law we have to have winter tyres from December to April, so we're all set for the snow now!!

The newspapers keep saying it is going to be the coldest winter in 10 years, but we've still not had any proper snow, so maybe we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves by putting our winter tyres on early!

English goodies!

2005-11-14T20:51:00.000+01:00

We've just come back after a weekend at home in England and have stocked up on all the food goodies that we've been missing...sausages, bacon, super strong cheese, marmite, pickle, crumpets...the list is endless!!

Saunas and meatballs!

2005-11-07T13:40:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we went to stay in Gothenburg in the flats at the head office of the company Daniel works for. They have an amazing building over-looking the harbour and we were able to make the most of using their jacuzzi and sauna, which had a built in fridge which we stocked up with beer and wine! We cooked meatballs for dinner (very Swedish!) and then sat in an amazing penthouse dining room pretending that we actually lived there!!

(Better photos to follow as these are a bit dark and blurry)

Kopparklinten

2005-11-05T19:00:00.000+01:00

Our friends Carrie and Simon have come to stay from England, so we went on a long walk up to Kopparklinten where there was an amazing view over the town and down to the river which runs along the base of the cliffs.

They apparently used to throw women who were believed to be witches from the top of Kopparklinten - if they floated they were declared witches and burnt at the stake!

Happy Halloween!

2005-11-04T09:43:00.000+01:00

No, I haven't got the date wrong - Halloween is celebrated a bit later in Sweden!

Today is Alla Helgons Afton (All Saints Eve) and is a time to remember family and friends who have died. Many Swedes go to church and place candles at the graves of loved ones. In the evening the graveyards in town and across the county are beautifully illuminated with twinkling candles. Because of the connections to graveyards and death, the tradition of Halloween has also become incorporated and is now celebrated on the same day rather than on the 31st October.

Curtain panels

2005-11-02T15:12:00.000+01:00

I bought some fabric in Ikea yesterday and have just finished making some curtain panels for the kitchen. Panels seem to be more popular than actual curtains here, so now I feel very Swedish with mine!

Not a bad job without a sewing machine to zoom along the hems I thought!

I can stay for another year!

2005-11-01T13:32:00.000+01:00

I had to go to the Migrationsverket (Immigration office) in Gothenburg today to pick up residency permit - I can stay for another year! I applied for it in May but it has taken them this long to decide that I can stay. It's a bit of a trek to the office as it is in the middle of nowhere outside Gothenburg, but luckily there is an Ikea nextdoor, so I was able to combine my trip!!

Before going to an Ikea in Sweden I thought they would be somehow 'more Swedish' so I was very disappointed on my first visit to discover they were exactly the same as at home and probably exactly the same as any other Ikea store in the world!!

Christmas decorations

2005-10-31T15:42:00.000+01:00

I saw the first of the Christmas decorations in the shops today. They were all very tasteful and minimalist - not like some of the naff decorations at home! The advent candles and stars seem most popular, but there were also quite a few decorations with drawers to put sweets in for each day in December leading up to Christmas. My favourite was a pretend gingerbread house with 24 tiny drawers - might have to treat myself!

New camera

2005-10-28T19:26:00.000+02:00

We ordered a digital camera from Ebay recently and it finally arrived today. In an attempt to find out how it works, I've been hanging out of the window taking photos, so here are some shots of the view from our flat.

I'm sure it won't be long before I take the next set of photos out of the window with everything covered in snow!

Its snowing!!

2005-10-25T19:27:00.000+02:00

Well it was for about 15 minutes early this morning! It was our first snowfall this winter, but sadly it had all melted by the time it was light outside. The news has been saying that it is going to be the coldest winter in Sweden for 10 years so hopefully they'll be plenty more snow to come!

Last picnic of the summer

2005-10-18T17:23:00.000+02:00

I had a friend from home to stay last weekend and luckily the weather was nice enough for us all to have one last picnic by the lake. We went to Gaddesanda, on the edge of Lake Vänern, which is the largest lake in Europe, being the size of the M25 area. It was fairly chilly and windy but we managed to sit out long enough to eat our skagenröra sandwiches and go for a walk.

Life in Sweden

2005-10-18T13:42:00.000+02:00

I've set up this blog to keep track of things I've done in Sweden, places I've been to and other general day to day goings on....