Sverige...
historically has been very different than the Sweden of today. On this trip I have learned and been reminded that the friendly blonde tanned people of the north have in fact been savages in the past. Of course their is the Viking period when, though they were not known as Swedes, they inhabited that part of the world. Then beginning in the medieval period Swedes, as a country, began to expand west into Norway, a little bit south into Denmark and then east into Finland. Norway and Denmark are considered Scandinavian and share a similar background and language. Though there is variation in the language it is by and large the same and someone speaking Swedish can understand someone speaking Norwegian and so on. But there are differences. The bid oddity is Finland as the language there is completely different but more on that in another post. So Norway is mountainous and full of fjords whereas Sweden is much more flat and full of forests and fields. The driving through Sweden was quick and easy and the 500 or so kilometers went really quick. Also the sun came out and welcomed Veronika to her homeland. Other differences noted was that meatballs in Norway are call kottkaker and in Sweden kottbullar. As anyone who has a Swedish meatball, probably on a trip to Ikea, the exterior is brown due to it being fried and the interior is a greyish brown. They are also small and about the size of a marble. In Norway the meatball is much larger and more of a oval. Additionally, the meat is brown all the way through. I found this odd but so far cannot explain the difference as it certainly seemed the meatball was fried. Anyway. Stockholm was very nice and sunny as we took in the sites. We saw the canals, Wasa warship, Gamlastan, Swedish Architecture Museum and the others. It was a good two days in Stockholm. Having been to southern Sweden exclusively before it was odd to see a big Swedish city. Previously I had thought Sweden to be one big suburb but Stockholm is definitely a city and a very pleasant one at that. It also helped that we could stay with Veronika's aunt and uncle who were very accommodating and excited to see us. On the 27th of August in the evening we caught the ferry from Stockholm to Turku, Finland. The ferries are nice and relaxing. This one was about 11 hours long so we took the overnight arriving bright and early in Turku. The Finnish language is certainly unique and I found it impossible to understand. Something I forgot about Europe is the Roma gypsies. There was a load on the ferry and they dress just like they probably have for centuries. It was odd and scary and reminded me of the time when I was little and scared of gypsies. I remember being little and visiting Poland with my parents and my friends their pointed out the gypsies and for some strange reason I remember being scared. Anyway on the dance floor in the ferry nightclub they can certainly dance and Veronika and I enjoyed watching them cut a rug. Turku and Helsinki in the next entry.
posted by NV @ 6:53 pm
1 Comments:
Nic nie widzialam o tym ze balas sie cyganow a moze juz o tym zapomnialam. Pamietam ze bylo ich troche prze jakis czas w Warszawie, pewno sa tam w dalszym ciagu ale nie rzucaja sie tak w oczy jak w latach o
90-tych. Wspaniala podroz niema co.
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