Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden

28 February 2025 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© Chris06/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Chris06/cc-by-sa-4.0

Uppsala Cathedral (Swedish: Uppsala domkyrka) is a cathedral located between the University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in the Lutheran tradition, Uppsala Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Uppsala, the primate of Sweden. It is also the burial site of King Eric IX (c. 1120–1160, reigned 1156–1160), who became the patron saint of the nation, and it was the traditional location for the coronation of new Kings of Sweden.   read more…

Skagenröra

24 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  3 minutes

© Liamking17/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Liamking17/cc-by-sa-4.0

Skagenröra is a mixture of shrimp, mayonnaise and dill, as well as other ingredients that vary according to taste and recipe. Common ingredients, in addition to those mentioned above, are crème fraiche, sour cream and red onion. Common additions are lemon and fennel or sikrom. A common ingredient on the west coast (Sweden) is white fish or surimi in small pieces. It is not uncommon to add this to make the mixture more balanced.   read more…

Cinnamon Roll Day

4 October 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  5 minutes

© flickr.com - Eric Petruno/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Eric Petruno/cc-by-sa-2.0

Cinnamon Roll Day or Cinnamon Bun Day (Swedish: kanelbullens dag, Finnish: korvapuustipäivä) falls on 4 October each year. It is an annual theme day created for marketing purposes in Sweden and Finland that was instituted in 1999 by Kaeth Gardestedt. At the time, she was a project manager for Home Baking Council (Hembakningsrådet) which was historically a trade group supported by yeast, flour, sugar, and margarine manufacturers and is now supported by the Dansukker brand of sugar.   read more…

Fika

8 September 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  4 minutes

Fika © flickr.com - Tim Boyd cc-by-2.0

Fika © flickr.com – Tim Boyd cc-by-2.0

Fika is a social institution in Sweden. It means taking a break from an activity to have coffee or, more rarely, another drink with family, friends or colleagues.   read more…

Göta Canal in Sweden

20 February 2024 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Göta Canal at Söderköping © Barnos/cc-by-sa-4.0

Göta Canal at Söderköping © Barnos/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Göta Canal (Swedish: Göta kanal) is a Swedish canal constructed in the early 19th century. The canal is 190 km (120 mi) long, of which 87 km (54 mi) were dug or blasted, with a width varying between 7–14 m (23–46 ft) and a maximum depth of about 3 m (9.8 ft). The speed is limited to 5 knots in the canal.   read more…

The European Union: European Sky Shield Initiative

12 September 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Editorial, EU blog post series, European Union Reading Time:  6 minutes

Flag_of_Europe European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) is a project to build a ground-based integrated European air defense system which includes anti-ballistic missile capability. As of July 2023, nineteen European states participate in the initiative. ESSI is part of the Common Security and Defense Policy and as such is designed to complement and relieve the burden on NATO.   read more…

Theme Week Lapland – Tornio

24 August 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

View from Suensaari water tower © Estormiz

View from Suensaari water tower © Estormiz

Tornio is a city and municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of 1,348.83 square kilometres (520.79 sq mi), of which 161.59 km² (62.39 sq mi) is water. The population density is 17.97 inhabitants per square kilometre (46.5/sq mi), with a total population of 21,000. It borders the Swedish municipality of Haparanda (in Finnish: Haaparanta). Tornio and Haparanda have a history as twin cities, and are currently set to merge under the names TornioHaparanda and HaparandaTornio. A new city centre is under construction on the international border and several municipal services are shared. The towns also share a common golf course, situated astride the border. The new IKEA store in Haparanda has signposting in Finnish as well as in Swedish, and all prices are signposted in two currencies. In spite of being a border city Tornio is unilingually Finnish with a negligible number of native Swedish speakers, although this does not count vast numbers of bilinguals who speak Swedish as a second language, with an official target of universal working bilingualism for both border municipalities.   read more…

Nationalmuseum in Stockholm

24 June 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - allen watkin/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – allen watkin/cc-by-sa-2.0

Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum’s operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manage the National Portrait gallery collection at Gripshom, Gustavsbergporclain museum, a handful of castle collections and the Swedish Institute in Paris (Institut Tessin). In the summer of 2018 Nationalmuseum Jamtli opened in Östersund as a way to show a part of the collection in the north of Sweden.   read more…

Abisko in Sweden

22 April 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Living, Working, Building Reading Time:  6 minutes

Abisko Östra © Helleborus

Abisko Östra © Helleborus

Abisko is a village in Sápmi (Lapland), in northern Sweden, roughly 250 km within the Arctic Circle, and near Abisko National Park, located 4 km west of the village. It has 130 inhabitants. Abisko is home to the Abisko Scientific Research Station, an important centre for research into Arctic ecology and climate change. The research station hosts the Climate Impacts Research Centre, Umeå University, where research, education and outreach on aquatic and terrestrial ecology are undertaken.   read more…

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