LearnSweden Blog

Spooked

It's Halloween weekend. Tomorrow night everyone will be dressed in costumes and going door to door to gather as much candy as possible. Today,however, is the Halloween Eve as my son calls it. So this calls for a treat of a different order and that is spooking.

     

Together we prepare little packages of little goodies. When it is dark we set them before our friend's front doors,ring the door bells and run. Here's the poem we put on gift cards that we place inside of the bags. Our gift bag is white with a ghost drawn on the front. This is the true signature that you have been spooked. The spookies then tape the ghost bag to the front window and then spook two more houses. It's very fun to see all of the ghost in neigbor's front windows. Happy Halloween and many lovely treats to you and yours.

The phantom Ghost has come to town,

To leave you some goodies, I see you have found.

If you do not wish a curse to fall,

Continue this greeting, this Phantom’s call.

 

First, post this Phantom where it can be seen,

And leave it there until Halloween.

This will scare other Phantoms who may visit.

Be sure to participate, you don’t want to miss it!

 

Second, make two treats & two copies of this Ghost with a grin

 Deliver them to two neighbors where this Phantom hasn’t been

Don’t let them see you, be sneaky, no doubt….

And make sure they put their Phantom Ghost out!

 

Next, you have only one day to act, so be quick!

Leave it at doors where the Phantom hasn’t hit.

Deliver at dark when there isn’t much light..

Ring the doorbell and run, and stay out of sight!!!

 

And last, but not least, come join in the season.

Don’t worry, be happy, you need no good reason.

This is all in good fun and we are just trying to say…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN AND HAVE A GREAT DAY

Ölandsbron

by Per Svangren

Connecting the island of Öland with Kalmar and the rest of Sweden, is the Bridge of Öland, Ölandsbron. Built and ready in 1972 and about six kilometers long, it's free of charge to use and cost Sweden XXX to build. 

Öland is the second biggest island in Sweden, after Gotland. The island is about 130 kilometers long and about 20 kilometers from east to west at it's broadest part. Living on Öland are about 25.000 people, but during the summer there is about  double the people living on the island. One of them visiting Öland and the castle Borgholm, is the Royal family and every year the Crown princess Victoria celebrates her birthday on July 14th here.

On the other side of the bridge you´ll find Kalmar. One of the ten biggest cities in Sweden. The town is famous for its castle, Kalmar slott, built in the 12^th century and a very beautiful place to visit. 

 

Karlskrona

by Per Svangren

Recently,Valarie and I went to Karlskrona for the SACC convent, Catwalk XX. We went there by car from Stockholm and took our time to see and visit some interesting parts of the south east area of Sweden. We stopped in Söderköpng, Vimmerby, Kosta and Orrefors. 

It's been a couple of years since I was in Karlskrona and then I just stayed there for a couple of hours. Now we were there for three days and had time to explore the city. The camera was working hard and here are some shots which speak for themselves. 

London Docklands

By Per Svangren

In the old wharf and harbor district a new part of London is growing. Around the Thames, houses are built. Houses with apartments and houses with offices. It is a very modern and beautiful new part of the city. When walking around ,some parts of Dockland reminds me of the feeling you get when walking in Manhattan. Huge skyscrapers of different companies are built high up in the sky. Everywhere you find small cafés and restaurants, crowded during lunchtime and after work. Here Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey have one restaurant each and we were visiting Jamie’s Italian restaurant. Very nice 

The Docklands are connected with a new self going tram. And from the tram you have a fantastic view of the new part of city and you will see a top ntoch modern city growing around the river Thames. Here one can also find the London City Airport and the Olympic Village. 

 

 
 

 
 
  
  

Experiencing Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874-1965) described himself as "an English-Speaking Union," being the son of Lord Randolph Churchill and the American heiress Jennie Jerome. He was educated at Harrow and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, and was sent to India with a cavalry commission in 1895. He won early fame as a war correspondent, covering the Cuban revolt against Spain (1895), and British campaigns in the Northwest Frontier of India (1897), the Sudan (1898) and South Africa during the Boer War (1899). Churchill had authored five books by the age of 26. His daring escape from a Boer prison camp in 1899 made him a national hero and ushered him into the House of Commons, where his career spanned 60 years.

In London a newly opened museum, you can follow his life from birth to death, via second world war, The Nobel Prize and so on. Here you also can see all rooms used during the war, bedrooms, offices, meeting rooms and so on. When walking around here you can feel the smoke of Churchill’s cigars, you can hear the bombs over and suddenly you are in the middle of World War II.

 
 
 

London Tourist Attractions

By Per Svangren

What to see in London? A lot if you are here for the first time, less and less for every new visit. I have been here so many times in my life, so when walking around I just took some pictures for the blog of tourist attractions. Two quite new things are The London eye and the Churchill museum. New compared with Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and so on. London Eye is a huge Ferris wheel with a height of 135 meters. And the Churchill museum, is tomorrows blog as it is a lot to say about it.

So for today, just take a sightseeing tour with these pictures 

  

 

 

The Fun Theory

What if you could change people's behavior by doing something fun? There was an article in the New York Times this week that stated, "When we have fun, we find more creative solutions to our problems and create better long lasting alternatives to the issues we're working on. Does that apply to taking the stairs? Would you take the stairs as opposed to the esacalator? Here's a look at how a fun moment in Stockholm had people making notes of a fun solution.

Afternoon Tea in London

By Per Svangren

Many years ago, London’s richer people, maybe mostly wives of rich men, spent the afternoon having afternoon tea. Today there still are some places serving afternoon tea. We went to The Ritz and had afternoon tea, or coffee for me.

So dressed in a suit and tie and proper shoes we sat down for a relaxing afternoon, feeling that we had travelled back in time. Polite waiters and very beautiful surroundings with gold, flowers, mirrors and in the background a piano player, playing light music.

Afternoon tea is divided into three parts, except from the tea drinking.

First sandwiches, cheese, turkey, salmon, cucumber and so on and then warm scones with clotted cream and jam. To finish it all, different pastries.

 
 
So very full and very satisfied, we took a very long walk afterwards. 

London Pigeons

By Per Svangren

Once up on a time Trafalgar Square was famous for the pigeons. You could buy food there to feed them and then take pictures with you standing there surrounded with millions of birds. Nowadays pigeons are not so exotic anymore and maybe more comparative to rats than birds. But London is really full of pigeons. Everywhere you see them, sitting on the grass, the streets, indoors in the underground and, well everywhere.

And people are feeding them everywhere, so I suppose they love their life in the city. Here's to the pigeons of London.

 

 

 

A Long Weekend in London

 

Early morning, we went away from a dark fall cold Stockholm, with British Airways to London. We, my mother, my sister and myself. Thursday to Sunday in the capital of England. My mother just had her eighties birthday and this was a present to herself to go to London with her children. 

Early in the morning, on a dark cold fall day, we left Stockholm. We, being my mother,sister and myself, to spend Thursday through Sunday in London. My mother has just had her 80th birthday and this was a present to herself,to go to London with her children.

So let's start today's talk from the air. Sitting in the plane, we are just being served breakfast. Somehow my thoughts are mulling over the differences between SAS and Bristish Airways, and all other airline companies one has to choose from. So why did we choose BA instead of SAS? Us being Swedes, we should have chosen SAS. I must say in this circumstance that price comes first and when you also get better service, it's a win, win situation.

When I fly internationally, I always go with SAS. One for the bonus points program and two it feels more personal, when using the same thing you are used to.

It's been a long time since I flew with BA and now the idea of choosing other airlines is mulling itself over in my head. I won't always just leap to SAS anymore.

British Airways had a very fast check in, very friendly staff all the way through from check in to stewards. Lovely, free breakfast with coffee and juice, for all passengers. The plane took off on time and landed 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

 
  So what are your experiences with different airline companies and what are your thoughts about waht is important when choosing which airline you fly with?