Arholma Nord och Kallt Krigen

Hejsan!

This past weekend, B. and I headed out on an adventure to one of the island's in the Stockholm archipelago. Did you know that Stockholm had an archipelago? It is the largest archipelago in Sweden and one of the biggest in the Baltic sea. It stretches 60 km to the east of Stockholm and is made up of approximately 24,000 islands and islets (which is by the way a small island - I had to look that up). The village of Ytterby situated on Resarö island is one of the most famous villages in the archipelago as it is home to a quarry that contains many rare earth minerals. The village is famous for naming no fewer than 4 chemical elements - erbium, terbium, ytterbium and yttrium (once again, I came across this info on Wikipedia - it wasn't just lying around in my head). But we did not go to Resarö, we went to Arholma, which is situated in the North Archipelago.

To get to Arholma, we took two buses and a ferry from Uppsala, on the way back it wasn't so easy and we had to take a ferry, two buses, the subway and the train from Stockholm to get back (this trip totaled 5 hours vs. our 3 hour trip there). Upon our arrival in Arholma, we actually managed to go to the wrong hostel (who knew there would be two on such a small island) and were surprised to find a) no one in the office, since they didn't mention that it would be unmanned and b) that it was nowhere near the ocean since we had rented kayaks. We dropped off our stuff and proceeded to walk back to "town" to ask for some info only to pass another sign which named the hostel we were looking for, so we walked on to this hostel and then had to walk back 2 km to pick up our stuff and 2 km back to drop it off. We were slightly grouchy at this point.

Our real hostel was on the ocean, it was near the north of the Island. And to our surprise, it was actually on an old army battery (but more about this later). So, on to the kayaking. We walked down to the beach and put the kayaks in the water...later B. told me that he was surprised I even got in the water as the ocean was pretty rough (I asked why he didn't mention this before we left the shore!). We paddled to the southeast and ended up going down the inside of the Island, where it was supposed to be calmer. It was easy going to start as the wind was at our back and we pulled our kayaks up on an island to lie in the sun for awhile. We proceeded to paddle a bit farther and then it was time to turn back. OH MY GOD! I could barely get my kayak to move. It was so windy. B. estimates there were 60km/hr winds. The waves were splashing us but that wasn't really worrisome, the kayaks are pretty stable, it was just so frustrating. Needless to say, I am not the world's strongest paddler and my technique is not great, but I'm not a weakling either. B. offered to tow me but I thought that was a bit wimpy so instead we paddled separately and it took us nearly three times as long to get back to the hostel. I was not a happy camper.

But, things got better, we had a nice evening, and we walked into the "town" for dessert at the one restaurant in "town". On the way back it was getting dark and we came across numerous frogs on the road, and fairly big ones, so that was cool. The next morning it was raining, but since we had arranged to go on a tour of the battery (and it was inside the hill) it didn't bother us much. The tour was in Swedish so it was good practice for us, although we are not that familiar with terms of war in Swedish :) The guide did translate some things for us, but the Swedish version would take 5 minutes while the English version was one sentence. He did however, give us a private tour after the main tour was done and let us go up into the firing mechanism room of the 10.5 cm Bofors that was there (which no one else got to do).

So the short version of the tour is that this battery was constructed in 1965 but was not ready until 1968. It was built to be a last line of defense against a Russian attack during the Cold War. There were several other guns situated on islands along the coast and many of them could be fired from the Arholma base. There were over a hundred men posted at this base, although not all of them slept inside the hill, some slept in tents outside in the woods. The base was disbanded in the 90s and then the residents had to convince the government to keep it intact for use as a museum. It now runs four tours daily and people come from all over to see it...including off sailboats that pull into the bay. One of the funniest things we saw on the tour was a switch box with the words "Krig" -war and "Fred" - peace on it. Apparently, if the lever was on war, then the gun could be aimed back towards Sweden in case the Russians had made it to shore, whereas if the lever was on peace then it could only be fired out towards the sea.

Since the weather wasn't so nice on Saturday we left the island in the early afternoon but it was still a nice getaway. Here are some shots from our quick visit!
Photos from Arholma

The weather has now turned cool but hopefully it will turn back for S. and M.'s visit in a couple weeks...also for me who is stuck at home trying to fill my summer days!
Ciao
E.

Ticks in Stockholm

Hejsan Alla,

Well, I made it through my whole week of camping in Norway without any mosquito bites or any other bug encounters of that kind...only to go to Stockholm for the day and get bitten by a tick!!! Crazy eh? S., J., B. and I went to play mini-golf (golfbana) and when we returned to the apartment I discovered a small black beastie behind my knee. He had already started gorging himself on my juicy blood but I managed to rip him out and he hadn't gotten too big yet. Of course, this started me thinking about Lyme Disease and Tick Borne Encephalitis, but I did a little digging on the internet and discovered that if you remove a tick within 36 hours of being bitten it reduces your chances of contracting the disease to pretty much nil. Regardless, I bought myself a thermometer and proceeded to take my temperature several times a day over the next few days. I know, I have an overactive imagination and it doesn't help when its left to entertain itself.

Besides that adventure I have settled into a summer-time routine. Go to the gym, cook supper, check out the internet, perhaps have a fika with friends, sleepwalk...well, the last one isn't exactly a routine, but since we've moved to our new place I seem to be sleepwalking or sleep talking almost every night. My favourite story to date is the morning that B. asked me if I remembered talking to him, I said "No, what did I say?" And he said, "Don't let the chicken out!". As soon as he said that I remembered my dream about coming upon a cave with a wooden door covering the entrance. There was a sign on the door that read "Don't let the chicken out", someone did in fact let the chicken out, hence my verbal admonishment. Unfortunately, its gotten to be somewhat of a routine, so the other night when I rose to use the facilities, B. can be forgiven for saying, somewhat exasperatedly, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?". To which I responded, "I'm awake! I'm just going to the bathroom! And do you have to be so mean about it!!!"

Well, B. is gone for a couple nights so we'll see if that affects my night episodes!
E.

Tunnels and Trolls

I just finished writing a super long email about our trip to Norway so I'm not going to repeat myself here other than to say that it was a great trip and that the scenery was amazing. So different from Sweden, somewhat similar to B.C. but in much larger doses. It seemed like every time we entered another valley it was more impressive than the last. One thing that I forgot to mention about our trip was the extensive amount of tunneling that the Norwegians have done. And I'm not talking about short tunnels. Most of the tunnels were at least 1.5km long if not longer. We ended up going through the longest tunnel in the world (at least on land) and it was 24.5km long. Can you believe that? I guess its more expensive to repair roads every year due to landslides than to tunnel right through the middle of the mountain. We kept expecting to see intersections in the tunnels that's how long they were! I have to say though, that tunnels do prevent you from seeing the scenery :)

The other thing I learned about Norway is that they have an affinity for trolls. I just looked up some information about Norway and Trolls on Wikipedia and found the following excerpt:

The Troll is a fearsome member of a mythical race from Norse mythology. Originally more or less the Nordic equivalents of giants, although often smaller in size, the different depictions have come to range from the fiendish giants – similar to the ogres of England (also called Trolls at times, see Troller's Gill) – to a devious, more human-like folk of the wilderness, living underground in hills, caves or mounds. In the Faroe islands, Orkney and Shetland tales, trolls are called trows, adopted from the Norse language when these islands were settled by Vikings.

Nordic literature, art and music from the romantic era and onwards has adapted trolls in various manners – often in the form of an aboriginal race, endowed with oversized ears and noses. From here, as well as from Scandinavian fairy tales such as Three Billy Goats Gruff, trolls have achieved international recognition, and in modern fantasy literature and
role-playing games, trolls are featured to the extent of being stock characters.

On our last day in Norway we drove down a mountain known as Trollstigen (sp?). In English, this translates to Troll's ladder. It had some serious hairpin turns on it, as well as the only Troll crossing sign in all of Norway :). That same day we stopped at the Troll's wall, the tallest vertical rock face in Europe at 1100m. Needless to say, the souvenir shops have profited off this love of trolls. There were trolls for sale in every shop, we did succumb and we purchased a small troll for our Christmas tree (we collect ornaments from the places we have travelled to). But by and large we managed to avoid the temptation to purchase some large troll statues for our home :)

I've finally posted the photos from our trip and you can check them out here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137808&l=f4326&id=842465120
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137811&l=c18eb&id=842465120

Trevlig helg!
E.

Canada Day Fest

Hejsan!

We held our very own Canada Day party a couple of weekends ago...thanks to J. and R. for all the decorations! We decided to create a mix of Swedish party traditions and Canadian ones so we held a trivia quiz called a Tipspromenad (where you walk around with a partner or small group and try to answer trivia questions). We created a quiz about Canada to test our international friends on their Canadian knowledge (which is turns out was somewhat poor). I've included the questions in this entry so you can test your knowledge. Please keep in mind that we did have some Canadians participating so we had to make it hard enough to challenge them as well!For photos from our party click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136921&l=cdd62&id=842465120

Canadian Tipspromenad:


1. Which of the following was NOT a Canadian Invention?

a) Telephone
b) Zipper
c) Wonderbra
d) Can-Opener

2. In what year did Canada become the country it is today?

a) 1949
b) 1962
c) 1999
d) 2001

3. Which of the following is NOT a Canadian comedian?

a) Mike Myers
b) Will Ferrell
c) Jim Carrey
d) John Candy

4. What is the approximate distance from Vancouver to Newfoundland (coast to coast)?

a) 10,000 km
b) 5500 km
c) 7000 km
d) 12,000 km

5. Who was the first Prime Minister of Canada?

a) Robert Borden
b) Lester Pearson
c) William Lyon Mackenzie King
d) Sir John A. Macdonald

6. Canada is known as a hockey playing nation, but what other sport was invented by a Canadian?

a) Baseball
b) Curling
c) Basketball
d) Water Polo

7. What medical invention/discover was NOT invented/discovered by a Canadian?

a) Electric Wheelchair
b) Pacemaker
c) Dialysis Machine
d) Insulin Treatment

8. Which superhero was created by a Canadian?

a) Spiderman
b) Superman
c) Wonderwoman
d) Aquaman

9. What is the National Animal of Canada?

a) Moose
b) Cariboo
c) Beaver
d) Bison


10. If you were to travel from east to west across Canada, which of the combinations of cities is in the correct order?

a) St. John, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Winnipeg
b) Charlottetown, Montreal, Whitehorse, Yellowknife
c) Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay
d) St. John’s, Quebec, Toronto, Saskatoon


11. How many times would Sweden fit into Canada?

(You’re on your own for this one….take a guess!) (This was the tie-breaker)

Answers: 1. d 2.c 3.b 4.c 5.d 6.c 7.c 8.a 9.c 10.d 11. 22.2 times

Have fun!
E.