Nordicway

June Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Wed, 30 May 2012 07:36:00 +0000

Just after we had gone to press last month, media in Sweden and elsewhere was ablaze with a picture of Minister of Culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth cutting a cake in the shape of the naked upper body of a black woman, filled with a blood-red sponge (above). The incident took place at an art performance at the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm. After she cut the cake, the Minister offered a piece to the screaming artist whose painted face was part of the artwork.

There has been an outcry in Sweden against the "tasteless, racist spectacle" and the blogosphere is still full of condemnations from all corners of the world. We have also received many calls from upset readers (and I, as Consul of Sweden in Vancouver, have received a few e-mails).

If the aim of every artist is to get a reaction from the viewer, the Afro-Swedish artist Makode Linde, whose art tries to illustrate the degrading stereotypes of black people through history, scored big time. He was one of several artists to contribute a cake to the KRO, the Swedish Artists Organization, celebration of its 75th Anniversary on "World Art Day" April 15, but it is his cake that will go down in history. Yet it comes at a price. Makode Linde now has to put up with being called a racist.

Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth has apologized for her part in the scandal, but the National Afro-Swedish Association is not satisfied with her apology and is still calling for the Minister to step down. The Association also quite rightfully notes that "the 'cake party' was meant to problematize female circumcision but how that is accomplished through a cake representing a racist caricature of a black woman complete with 'black face' is unclear." And the artist has never come up with an explanation.

Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth also has many supporters. "Of course it would have been easier to do as PR consultants and nervous press spokesmen probably would have recommended. Politely decline cutting the cake, to avoid tough questions afterwards. But such sterile politicians, who never take a risk, are not wanted," wrote the culture editor of daily Expressen.

It is one thing if the cake-incident had happened at the inauguration of a new shopping mall in a suburb with many far- right Sverige Demokrater supporters. But this was an art installation, albeit controversial, at one of the world's foremost museums of modern art. Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth (interviewed in SwPr Sep'10) who attended the event to speak about the “freedom of art and the right to provoke" was of course naive in not choosing one of the "safer" cakes, but should she step down over the cake incident? I think not.

But cudos to Makode Linde for his performance art that got us talking and hopefully thinking about endemic racism!

Have a really nice June!

Anders

PS. Go to page 17 if you want to read more about controversial art and page 26 for the origin of the Princess Cake in this month's issue of Swedish Press!

May Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:17:00 +0000

When I asked Marcus Jernmark (the Aquavit New York chef that we have a feature about in the May issue of Swedish Press) what his favorite dish was, he straight away answered Pelle Janzon.

This is a delicious Swedish "surf and turf" combination of a slice of rye bread (or toast) with one thin slice of fillet of beef (raw like carpaccio), topped with a ring of caviar and of red onion with a raw egg yolk in the center. The dish is named after opera singer Pelle Janzon who is also believed by some to be the namesake of the popular anchovy and potato gratin, Janssons Frestelse.

But then there are many different theories about how Janssons Frestelse or Jansson’s Temptation got its name. The issue even rendered an article in the Boston Globe a few years back. The newspaper presented three theories:

The first is that the anchovy and potato gratin was named after the famous religious zealot and self-appointed prophet, Erik Jansson who in the 19th century led a large group of Swedes from Biskopskulla to Bishop Hill in Illinois. Pastor Jansson was, according to hearsay, very fond of the dish, rich on anchovy, cream and potato, and keenly aware of its calorie content, he called it his “temptation”.

Another theory is that the dish became popular in the 1920s and was named after a contemporary movie called Janssons frestelse. The first film with that name was shown on board M/S Kungsholm’s maiden voyage to New York in 1928. The second one came in 1936.

A third theory points to the dish being named after the food-loving opera singer Pelle Janzon (1844-1889), but published under this name for the first time in 1940.

Now comes my two cents worth. When I was a kid my mother used to call upon a Fröken Jansson to prepare the dinner when she was entertaining. Miss Jansson also cooked for my grandfather and other families in Stockholm and she had to be booked months ahead. She was a true professional who refused to have anything to do with the serving, but she always took care of all the dishes before she left.

The only criticism I ever heard about her was that she had quite a penchant for the wine that was being served.

Now Miss Jansson always claimed that it was she who had invented Jansson’s Temptation. This happened one late evening when a desperate hostess had rushed out into the kitchen and told her to serve a “vickning” - a late night supper - and the only ingredients Miss Jansson could find were potatoes, onions, cream and anchovy. She was very specific about the name of the family and the party where this happened, in the 1940s.

I don’t believe this claim ever made it outside Fröken Jansson’s circle, but I always take every opportunity to promote this theory of the origins of Janssons Frestelse in honour of a woman whose culinary inventiveness I can vouch for.

The Gastronomic Academy of Sweden promotes a story about a cook called Mrs. Sofie Brogårde who loved Edvin Adolphson in the movie Janssons Frestelse, but my Miss Jansson makes much more sense.

April Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:15:00 +0000

The namesake of Sweden’s new little princess is Estelle Manville, who was born in Pleasantville, New York. Her marriage to Count Folke Bernadotte in 1928 marked the first time a member of a European royal family was married on U.S. soil.

Estelle was an only child and her father, who was an industrialist, gave her a lavish $1.5 million wedding with more than 1500 guests, at the family's Hi-Esmaro estate.

The American socialite left for Sweden as the Countess of Wisborg. She quickly became involved in charity work together with her husband. The couple had four children, two of whom died at a young age. More tragedy was to follow.

During World War II, Folke Bernadotte was initially given the mission to rescue the Jews in Budapest, but he was unable to get a visa to transfer to Hungary from Germany, and it was left to Raoul Wallen-berg to carry out this monumental task.

Bernadotte, instead, led the largest rescue effort inside Germany, liberating as many as 17 000 concentration camp prisoners with his Red Cross "white buses" (see page 18). During his negotiations with SS head Heinrich Himmler, Bernadotte also got an offer of surrender by the Germans but this was rejected by the Allies.

After the war Folke Bernadotte was appointed United Nation mediator in Palestine. He succeeded in achieving a truce in the first Israeli-Arab war.

On September 17, 1948, just days before his second plan for a political solution was to be presented to the UN, the Swedish Count and his French deputy were assassinated by members of the Jewish nationalist Zionist group Lehi, commonly knownn as the Stern Gang. The group felt that Bernadotte had to be eliminated “because he disturbed our national ambitions”.

The Israelis later declared that they were “adapting rigorous and energetic measures to bring the assassins to justice to eradicate this evil”. But this never happened despite the fact that the perpetrators came forward themselves and admitted to the crime.

It has been established that the person who held the gun was Yeshoshua Cohen, who became a good friend of “the nestor of the Israeli state”, David Ben Gurion. It was Yitshak Shamir, who later became prime minister, who gave the order to kill. This is probably why Folke Bernadotte's name is not among the Yad Vashem - "Righteous Among The Nation", even though his white buses rescued thousands of Jews.

When Folke Bernadotte’s godson, King Carl Gustaf of Sweden, was to visit the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC in 1995, a commitment was made to include Bernadotte on the plaque listing the righteous Swedes, but after the King had to cancel his visit, no change was made.

It is well known that the King and Queen are dissatisfied with the fact that no Swedish government has touched the issue of Folke Bernadotte since 1950. When Israel's Pre-sident Chaim Herzog visited Sweden, the royals wanted to say something pointed about Folke Bernadotte, but the foreign ministry wouldn't allow it. The royal couple has never paid a return visit to Israel.

March Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:52:00 +0000

When I was looking for pictures of the Andrée expedition (pages 17-19) I found an illustration from an old issue of Popu-lar Mechanics. Many old issues of the magazine can be found on the internet and the picture came up on a Google search.

Hardly a week later I got an offer from Amazon to subscribe to Popular Mechanics. Funny, because I haven't really seen or thought much about that magazine since I was a kid in the 50s. It struck me that this subscription offer was no coincidence. In fact this kind of thing has happened to me before. What it boils down to is Google passing on my online activities to Amazon and, in all likelihood, other parties.

Should I be grateful for the convenience of a giant like Amazon helping me to fulfill what it imagines are my wishes, or should I be outraged by this breach of privacy? This said, I may already have to allow my employer to snoop through my email and browsing. The same goes for the Canadian government that soon will no longer need a search warrant to check my online activities, just like the Patriot Act has already allowed the US government to do since September 11, 2001.

But then again, for a long time we have anyway only had a semblance of privacy. Already in the 1960s the Echelon System started monitoring all telephone calls, fax, e-mail and other data traffic worldwide (through the interception of communication bearers including satellite transmission, public-switched telephone networks, fiber optics and microwave links). This analysis network is maintained by Austra-lia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to intercept terrorists and criminals, but it has also allegedly been used for industrial espionage. The system raises a red flag every time certain words like "jihad" are used.

Big Brother indeed.

You could say the CIA's Echelon System is another form of hacking, an activity we otherwise associate with idealistic nerds or enterprising Chinese who manage to do such a lot of damage. Indeed ten years of incessant Chinese hacking a k a spying is now being blamed for the fall of Canada’s most valuable company, Nortel.

This makes the tapping and interception of cell phone conversations of the rich and famous by media mogul Robert Murdoch's empire in Britain look like chickenfeed.

What can I say - we have truly entered the twilight zone.

February Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:44:00 +0000

We had not planned it that way, but this month’s Swedish Press has turned into somewhat of a theme issue on successful immigrants in Sweden. It started with an interview with Somali-born Abbe Ibrahim who was the king of Stockholm nightlife as the head of the trendy Cafe Opera night club. An inspiring conversation with him (most of which you can read on page 20) led to an in-depth research and article about the richest or most successful immigrants in Sweden (on page 17) and what they have done to achieve that.

And then as an example we take a look at what one refugee from Lebanon has achieved at Ur&Penn (on page 23), the company that once propelled the Persson family of H&M fame to becoming one of Sweden's absolutely richest families.

My interest in the fate of immigrants was given a further boost by the Last Word in the November issue entitled "My grandfather was an economic refugee" (that you can read in English on the SweMail site http://members.shaw.ca/swemail). In the article Swedish journalist Annika Lindquist visited the house in Manhattan where her grandfather had lived as an immigrant to the United States. She went on to reflect on why so many Swedes, who were proud of the emigrants in their families, were so negative to immigrants to their country.

We have a similar phenomenom in North America, where we are all basically immigrants, but always tend to think of those that come after us as "the immigrant problem". Just like Swedes talk condescendingly about "juggar" (people from ex Yugo-slavia) and Somalis, North Americans talk about Mexicans and Muslims.

There seems to be somewhat of a discrepancy between emigration having a positive connotation but not immigration. They are just the different sides of the same coin.

At a time when most Swedish immigrants in North America are so well established that newer arrivals just think of themselves as ‘global citizens’, we also tend to forget how looked down upon our ancestors were over here when the great wave of Swedish emigration descended on the continent. We were the "dumb Swedes" then. That should perhaps make us more understanding of the struggle of those who came after us.

Have a really nice February

Anders

PS. If you are reading the electronic issue of Swedish Press the link to the LastWord article refrenced above is just a click away. That is one of the great advantages of the less expensive all-color electronic edition of Swedish Press.

January Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Pelle Forshed och Stefan Thungren’s skickligt tecknade Stockholmsnatt i Svenska Dagbladet har säkert höjt hip-faktorn och kanske sänkt åldern bland tidningsläsarna - så att de känner igen sig i serien om trendiga 30-åringar i huvudstaden.

Just back from a short holiday in Sweden, I can attest to the scene in the cartoon above playing out in many homes across the country. The parents are watching the Christmas television special Kalle Anka och hans vänner önskar God Jul while the children couldn’t care less.

The quirky tradition, that each year sees millions of Swedes hunkering down in front of their television sets at 3 pm sharp on December 24, is unique in the world.

Where else would a Disney program from 1958, with mostly antiquated film clips of Mickey Mouse, Snowwhite, Lady and the Tramp, Mowgli and Baloo, Robin Hood, Ferdinand the Bull and of course Donald Duck, Sweden's Kalle Anka, be an integral part of a national Christmas celebration.

I hadn't celebrated Christmas in Sweden for almost thirty years, and had only seen the Kalle Anka programme once during this time when the Silicon Vikings sent me a bootleg. So settling down in front of the television with much-loved relatives in a cozy cottage in Dalarna, I was thrilled to find everything in the Disney parade to be the same, with the exception of a couple of new clips as SVT is obliged to include something from a current Disney production. Bengt Feldreich still sings the Jiminy Cricket "Wishing upon a star", but the narration of the program is done by a current Christmas host. I missed the Chip and Dale clip, but loved Kalle Anka as an ornithologist trying to photograph the demented Araucan Bird.

When I was growing up in Stockholm, going to a Disney movie program at the Sture cinema on Birger Jarlsgatan was part of the Christmas holidays. So you can imagine what a thrill it was when we got a one-hour programme of favorites on our black-and-white television set for free in 1960! This was at a time when we only had one public service channel that did not run any animation features and that had a general disdain for the kind of commercialism that Disney represented.

There has been an outcry every time SVT has tried to scrap the program. But being the most watched television programme in Sweden (except for Melodifestivalen and certain sport cliff hangers) it remains a keeper.

That is, until the next generation takes over.

December Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:18:00 +0000

Sweden is one of the few places in the world where a real (dressed up) walking talking Santa comes to your home on Christmas Eve to drop off a sack of gifts (as you can read in the LastWord). Tomte myths still persist and folklorist Bengt af Klintberg (interviewed in the current Scandinavian Press) told me the true story of a relative of his who always put out a bowl of porridge for the farm's tomte each Christmas Eve. One year the porridge was left untouched and shortly after that the farm burnt down.

The basis of all the myths about the tomte will once again be vigorously discussed in Swedish media in the days leading up to Christmas. I don’t have a favourite theory myself. But it is a different matter when it comes to trolls. After seeing the film Beowulf and Grendel a few years back, I believe that they were Neanderthals. The Icelandic Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson does not portray Grendel as an evil monster, but rather as someone "that has spawned off the same evolutionary tree who happens to be a little bit bigger and who lives down the valley". In North America Neanderthals tie in with the Sasquatch myth and they are a perfect fit for the trolls in Scandinavia.

In Swedish folklore trolls have cattle and make a living from farming so, although they are culturally and physically different from us, they live a similar life to ours but in a parallel dimension. In some early fairy tales by Elsa Beskow (who we write about on page 17), trolls are depicted as an aboriginal race of hunters and gatherers who are fleeing the encroaching human civilization.

The Neanderthal theory is not completely new. Although some folklorists argue that the troll is entirely a figment of our imagination, there are others who believe that trolls emanate from tales from the time of the Neanderthals (that overlapped with Homo Sapiens for 30 000 to 50 000 years). Researchers at Uppsala university have recently proved that there was much more interaction and also sexual interaction between humans and Neanderthals than previously thought. There are genetic similarities and we may even have inherited some of our immune system genes from them.

Could the tomte fit in with the troll theory? In Iceland it is not a tomte but the 13 yule lads who bring gifts at Christmas time. Both scary and kind, they are clearly descendants of trolls and have not adopted the persona of Santa Claus, something that the tomte in Sweden has gradually morphed into during the last century.

May you get a visit from the tomte and may he be generous this year.

Anders

November Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:31:00 +0000

Economics is not an exact science. This is the one thing that is clear during these times of economic upheaval. There are no rules and the so-called experts sound more and more like hollow weathermen in denial.

Indeed Christopher Sims and Thomas Sargent, who won this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics, have no easy answers on how Europe should solve its debt crisis, neither do they have a magic bullet for solving the U.S. economy’s woes.

The economics prize, officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was not part of the original group of awards set out in the dynamite tycoon's 1895 will.

The prize was established by the Bank of Sweden in 1968 in celebration of its 300th anniversary. The Nobel Foundation receives a fee from the Riksbank to administer the prize and include it on the Nobelprize.org site. The economics prize is the only non-Nobel prize to be awarded with the same pomp and circumstance as the regular Nobel prizes. And one can really ask why?

Alfred Nobel (page16) was an inventor, chemist, engineer and above all realist. He dabbled in philosophy and literature and held surprisingly radical political views. He hated lawyers and joked that "humbug" was the second biggest industry of his age.

I don’t think that Alfred Nobel would have been delighted to know that an economics prize is handed out in his name. As a scientist he wanted there to be prizes in physics, chemistry and medicine, while the prizes in literature and peace are a reflection of his philosophical and idealistic sides. Economics does not quite fit in.

Alfred Nobel’s great-grandnephew, the civil rights lawyer Peter Nobel, has, on behalf of his family, objected to the prize being associated with the Nobel Prizes.

In his speech at the 1974 Nobel Banquet, even the winner Friedrich Hayek stated that if he had been consulted on the establishment of a Nobel Prize in economics he would "have decidedly advised against it” primarily because "the Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess... This does not matter in the natural sciences. Here the influence exercised by an individual is chiefly an influence on his fellow experts; and they will soon cut him down to size if he exceeds his competence. But the influence of the economist that mainly matters is an influence over laymen: politicians, journalists, civil servants and the public generally."

After other controversies the economics prize was redefined in 1995 as a prize in social science, open also to political scientists, psychologists, and sociology researchers.

I feel that it is now time for the Nobel Foundation to cut the economics prize lose, before it damages the Nobel Prize itself.

October Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:13:00 +0000

Fall is upon us and soon Sweden will become a dark place where kids in many parts of the country will go to school in the dark and not be back home until after the sun has set.

The long days of barbecues and socializing outdoors are over for a while and it is time to hunker down for the dark season with plans of spending cozy evenings at home, or partaking of all the cultural activities that restart after the summer hiatus.

Swedes are used to the seasonal change and even look forward to fall but for people from abroad, the dark season in Sweden can feel very inhospitable.

So I was very happy to read about Scan-dinavia's first Global Expat Centre (Oden-gatan 62, globalexpatpartners.com) that has opened in Stockholm and provides all sorts of support to make the stay of diplomats and business people, and above all their spouses, much more pleasant.

Between 12 and 20 percent of all international assignments fail and this is largely due to partner dissatisfaction. The "Stock-holm Model", developed by a Dutch spouse with an HR background, could go a long way to alleviate this problem.

The four pillars of Claudia de Leeuw's programme are Integration and Cultural Awareness, Language Training, Spouse Support and Social Network. When I read about the activities, that range from Parent and Toddler to Adult Cooking Classes, an International Breakfast Club and Happy Hours Mingling, it strikes me that this is a little like what we are doing in all our Swedish American organizations. Just like the Expat Centre we offer activities and “a place to go to”.

The Expat Centre is non-profit and run primarily by volunteers. It is sponsored by the embassies, a lot of companies and the Stockholm Business Region Development that wants to make the capital of Sweden a more attractive place for foreign workers.

A full membership for a family costs SEK 10 000 and this includes individual language courses and all activities.

The high fees, although mostly paid by employers, are a good reminder of how in-expensive Swedish American organizations and facilities are for us “cultural expats”!

Greta Garbo.

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 21:57:00 +0000

When Selma Lagerlöf wrote Gösta Berlings Saga she set it in her beloved province of Värmland and in particular at the Rottneros manor, that she calls Ekeby in the book. We write about Rottneros and its beautiful park in the September issue of Swedish Press and as we are not your typical magazine, we also help you to connect with Gösta Berlings Saga. If you select "September'11" in our "MustHave" section you will find the story both in Swedish and English and an easy way to order it. We have also posted the film version of the story that made Greta Garbo a star. It used to be that Sweden's "Gone With the Wind" was required reading and most Swedes had read it, but Gösta Berling's Saga is now being forgotten. Do read the romantic story of the good-looking but de-frocked clergyman who was taken in by the Majoress of Ekeby to live with her twelve aging cavaliers and then "in a turn of events that bear the devil's stamp" given one year's run of the estate. Or you can see the movie with Greta Garbo as Gösta Berling's love interest. Greta Garbo liked her privacy, but she did slip in to Swendsens on Manhattan for some Swedish goodies and one of the servers told me that she read Swedish Press there. We never got an interview with the elusive star, but in 2005 we interviewed her nephew Scott Reisfeld and you can even read that interview on several Greta Garbo sites including "Hommage an Greta Garbo" : http://www.greta-garbo.de/com/Greta-Garbos-great-nephew-Derek-Reisfields.html

September Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:43:00 +0000

Are you too old to be on Facebook if you are 82? No, I am not talking about myself, not yet. What I have been mulling about during the last few months is if it is time for 82-year-old Swedish Press to embrace social media. Should we be taking this step into the future or should we accept that you simply cannot teach old dogs to sit?

I think about all the steps into the future we have taken, albeit kicking and screaming, during the 25 years I have been the publisher and editor of this magazine. I remember our old typesetter and Headliner, and the first KayPro computer.

Then it was onto the first of many Apple computers. How revolutionary that was!

But we still had to get PMTs done of all the pictures and do the whole layout on a sheet big enough for 4 pages. These sheets we then had to hand over physically to the printer.

Today it is all done on the computers and electronically uploaded for the printer. We also have an active website and our electronic editions are becoming increasingly popular. We actually even twittered every day during the virtual trip "Around Swedish America in 548 Days".

But we have never been on Facebook, LikedIn or any of the other social media.

And that is not okay according to the speakers at a magazine conference I attended in June, because visitors on the web are abandoning the traditional sites in favor of social media.

I have never joined Facebook myself but I can see that Swedish Press has to be there. This is, however, all new to us and we are now hoping for help from our readers to steer us right!

By the time you are reading this issue of Swedish Press we will be on Facebook, so please check us out, “share” and tell your friends about Swedish Press and let us know if you "like" it, because we need every friend we can get!

It is going to be fun to meet you readers on Facebook and we hope you will share your love of Sweden in the features that we plan to include on our page. You can share your Swedish pictures, sightings of famous Swedes, favorite Swedish places and above all your opinions. Facebook will be the place we meet for quick information, while www.nordicway.com will remain the place for background and all the "hard" information. Other social media will follow so in this way many more people interested in Sweden will see that we exist.

Swedish Press exists for its readers, so let us know on Facebook that you are there!

Have a nice September!

Anders

August Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 01:34:00 +0000

Since the 1960s Sweden has been widely admired not only for its “third way” of dealing with the economy and social issues but also for its design and high quality innovative products. This is something that naturally comes and goes in waves.

There have been times when Sweden’s star has fallen and other times, like the present, when Sweden is attracting a great deal of attention for its thriving economy and general well-being.

"Sweden’s 5.5 percent growth rate last year was stronger than any other developed nation in Europe and beat the 2.8 percent expansion in the United States" wrote the Washington Post almost reluctantly about "Sweden, the rock star of the recovery."

This is just one of the myriad of accolades Sweden is getting from around the world.

There are, however, detractors and the one causing the biggest stir now is Tyler Brulé, who has for many years been one of the biggest fans of Sweden. The Financial Times columnist, editor-in-chief of Monocle and founder of the Wallpaper magazine has been an influential promoter of Swedish design and, through his magazines, made Swedish fashion, food, art and architecture hip around the world. Tyler Brûlé who has also had a summer house on his own island in the Stockholm archipelago for many years became an outspoken advocate of the Swedish way of life.

Now he has changed his tune.

“Swedish goods and services used to be a refreshing constant in my daily life but somehow they’ve vanished – no cars, no telecommunications, no media, no hotels, no airlines," he writes. "H&M and Ikea might continue their global assault (along with the odd crime author), waving a small blue and yellow flag, but increasingly Sweden Inc seems a little less potent”.

“Ten years ago it was a pleasure to board an aircraft belonging to Scandinavian Airlines. But I flew on SAS a couple of times this week and was more saddened than shocked by the experience. And I wondered if the SAS brand would be around this time next year".

I flew SAS this week myself and was surprised when I was asked to pay 20 kronor for a cup of tea. (In fact I apparently looked so chocked that the stewardess told me that it was fine if I did not pay anything this time, as I obviously did not know that they had had to start charging for everything except water on European routes).

Apart from this I really have no complaints either about SAS or Sweden.

Wherever I went during the last few weeks there was a general feeling of well-being. All the closure “Stängt för semester” signs on stores and even restaurants exude a sense of confidence and security.

There are naturally some negative aspects but I will leave them for another time.

Have a nice August

Anders

July Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 01:45:00 +0000

By the time you are reading this piece I should be in Tuscany to attend the wedding of my goddaughter. Just like me, she loves Italy and has through the years built up a strong relationship with the country.

My own relationship with Italy started when I was about two years old. My father who was a freshly graduated architect had been awarded a travel grant to study the Mediterranean architecture and it was de-cided that he would have the Swedish Institute in Rome as a base and my mother and I were to go with him.

My parents’ decision to take me along to post-war Italy, “where you could not even get hold of fresh milk” did not sit well with my grandparents. But my parents persisted and not only did I survive “the ordeal”, I have some of my earliest and best memories from this time.

My father was also consulted on Villa San Michele (see page 17) that the Swedish state had received as a gift from Queen Victoria's physician Axel Munthe. And that is how I got to spend part of my pre-school childhood on the island of Capri.

Among the few Swedish kids on the island were Staffan De Mistura (in this month's interview) and his brother Peter. Their mother and Italian father had come to Capri to prospect for water, a resource that would possibly be considered even more valuable than oil for an island which gets its water either through collection of rainwater or from the nearby island of Ischia from where it is transported over by boat. The Marquis De Mistura had brought drilling equipment from Alfa Laval in Sweden, but he never found any water.

In the picture above (that I got from a cousin in Sweden last year), we children are on our way to classes in the monastery right behind the main piazza in Capri that nowadays is crammed with tourists.

Staffan, who was the clever one, is wearing a black uniform with a red ribbon because he was in a higher class than me, even though I was a year older. Peter and I had white uniforms with blue ribbons and we had little pockets in the front where we could put the sugar candies that we bought from the nuns before class.

On the back of the post card that one of the rowing photographers had snapped of us, my mother writes that we had just seen a man walking around with a leopard on a leach. I still remember that, because the big cat, that did not have a muzzle, was always trying to lunge at the meat carcasses that hung outside the butcher shops.

In those days Capri was a gathering ground for everybody from Somerset Maug-ham to Esther Williams. I still remember seeing the very fat King Farouk of Egypt who had fled to Capri on his huge sailboat.

But I don't remember much from school, except that for exercise the whole class had to walk back and forth along the corridors for what seemed like hours.

Have a really nice July!

Anders

June Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 06:39:00 +0000

I did not do an all-nighter nor did I get into the whole tea and scones thing, but I was one of the two billion or so people around the world who caught some of the highlights of the royal wedding in London, and I found it to be a very pleasant romantic interlude in the midst of all the dismal news pouring in during a cold and rainy spring.

My ears perked up when one of the commentators remarked that there had been much more pomp and circumstance at Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling's wedding in Stockholm last year. So it is rather sad that the Swedish royal wedding was hardly mentioned in international media. And the reason for this was that the three major world news agencies decided to boycott the event.

The exclusive broadcasting rights for the wedding in the Storkyrkan cathedral were granted by the Royal Court to the public-service Sveriges Television, SVT because it is commercial free. Yet this same state-financed public service broadcaster demanded such a high fee for its footage, that AFP, AP and Reuters had to decline and all three agencies decided subsequently not to cover the event in any format, including text and stills pictures.

SVT claimed that it was charging "standard" fees, but the news organizations argued that a news event of historical importance should not be treated in the same way as a sports or entertainment event. Furthermore the charge fees "largely surpassed the market price". In a last-minute attempt to cover the event the three agencies even e-mailed the royal Court as well as the Prime Minister of Sweden citing freedom of the press and complaining about "the increasingly commercialized" use of events. But it was to no avail.

After the wedding MediaPilot estimated the publicity value of the royal wedding to be SEK 2.7 billion, with almost half of the coverage being in German periodicals and news sites. MediaPilot did not measure the value from broadcast media neither did it estimate the value had all the 45 accredited television broadcasters and 700 foreign journalists been given more access to the event.

As the Brits demonstrated, a royal wedding is a huge public relations event in which everybody in the country pulls for the common good. It is embarrassing for Sweden when a state-financed public broadcaster doesn't do its part.

I myself am still mad at SVT for not allowing the Scandinavian Center in Vancouver to re-broadcast its Olympic coverage. Why could it not have shown the same level of generosity as the public broadcasters in Norway and Finland did with their coverage?

Have a really nice June

Anders

PS. "We were very lucky with the weather. Sunny blue skies and warm," writes Kathryn Hallsten (above) who won the Swedish Press trip for two with Icelandair to Sweden and Iceland with the added bonus of a stay at Grand Hotel in Stockholm. "We biked the National Park trail, walked around Gamla Stan and Djurgården and toured the city on a boat. Iceland was fascinating...Glaciers, waterfalls and geysers...unbelievable wilderness and interesting geology...Lots of fish and striking Scandinavian art and architecture. I just wanted to thank you and let you know that we had a phenomenal experience in Stockholm and Iceland."

May Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sun, 01 May 2011 07:27:00 +0000

One of the best Swedish characteristic is honesty. Sweden always ranks among the highest in the world on the anti-corruption scale. When you shake hands on a deal it stands. You know that you can always trust your Swedish friends.

Even at the Swedish Press one of our strongest selling points is trust. Subscribers know that they can trust us with their credit card numbers or that we will not overcharge them for products or pass their e-mail addresses on to other marketeers.

Dealing, as we do, mostly with "Scandinavians" and Nordic-related companies, we also know that we can rely on our advertisers and it is very rare that a person or a company has reneged on a payment without an explicable cause.

A case in point is Solhem, the poetical name of the lovely "Swedish Home for the Aged" on Staten Island, that had been a long-time advertiser. Purchased by the United Swedish Societies of New York in 1912, it was a really nice and well-managed resthome for some forty mostly Swedish guests. However a few years ago Solhem ran into financial difficulties and our invoices remained unpaid or when they were paid the checks bounced. Eventually the Home was put into receivership and we wrote off the debt.

Then a few years later we were told that the facilities on Staten Island were sold and the board wanted to settle all old bills. There was that Swedish honesty at play again.

It took a while but eventually we were contacted by a lawyer in New York who had been put in charge of taking care of old business. I was informed that all the documentation, including copies of unpaid invoices, that the lawyer had in his possession was not sufficient to release the funds owed to us. In other words he did not trust me or the Swedish Press. I had to go and sign a document in the presence of a US Consul. No other consul would do (I happen to be the Honorary Consul of Sweden), neither could this be done in front of a regular notary.

I could not help feeling that my honesty had been violated not to mention the time and money involved to get the payment that the board of Solhem had made such an honest effort to settle.

It was also so sad to see an old Swedish American institution go. For almost a hundred years, the Solhem Swedish resthome on Staten Island was a lovely oasis just a ferry trip away from the bustling metropolis of New York. The original historic building, that was a wedding gift for the daughter of Commodore Vanderbuilt, housed the social rooms and a beautiful dining room. I wrote in the Swedish Press after one of my visits there that "you could not find a nicer place to retire in".

Have a nice May

Anders

April Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:57:00 +0000

For many years the Canadian government bought advertising space to impart important information to readers of Swedish Press. There was an understanding that ethnic publications were an important tool in reaching all sectors of the population.

During the last few years Swedes have been shut out, only because Swedish Press is printed in a magazine format rather than as a tabloid or a semi-tab.

Swedish Press started out as a broadsheet in 1929, but switched to a magazine format in 1986 to raise the quality of the publication and to prepare it for computerization. For a long time the bureaucrats did not mind the change as the frequency and content remained the same, but suddenly the 8"x11" format stopped us from being eligible for government advertising!

Similarly Swedish Press does not receive any advertising from the province of Ontario because the magazine is not printed there! The fact that Swedish Press is the only way to reach Swedish Canadians in Ontario does not seem to matter.

If information is important enough to im-part to all citizens, this should be done in the best and most fair way possible and the format and where in the country it is printed should not be considerations.

The issue of format is in general a form of discrimination against Canadians of Euro-pean origin as their publications are often magazines. I am acutely aware that the Swe-dish community, like many other European communities, is small compared to the various Asian communities and hence easily ignored on the political scene. It is only natural that the Asian communities, primarily the Chinese and the East Indian, are heavily targeted by political parties and, above all, commercial advertisers such as banks, immigration lawyers, car salesmen and realtors. But shouldn’t you expect a degree of fairness from the government?

On top of this, the Government of Canada spends only $800 000 on ads in the ethnic media (with 3 million readers a day), compared to about $100 million in the general media, which does not sound reasonable for a country that professes to be multicultural.

March Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:13:00 +0000

As the editor of Swedish Press I may be forgiven for being partial to most things Swedish. It's my job to give you Sweden "warts and all" but I know that I tend to expand on the positive side because I think that there is a lot this continent could learn from little Sweden.

On a personal level I am impressed by things like the solidly built houses, the high level of workmanship, the efficient banking system, the postal service, and the recycling systems among other things.

Until now I have also been very partial to the service I have got from my insurance company in Sweden compared to insurance companies here (like when Swedish Press had a break-in) but I am not so sure about this anymore.

We have had two break-ins in our little cottage in Östergötland. The first was fifteen years ago and the thieves got away with all my Karl Johan armchairs and other odds and ends. The insurance company was very helpful and paid us the full replacement value for the stolen goods. In fact the following summer when we realized that there were some Karl Johan stools that were also missing, the insurance company swiftly settled that claim too.

I always talked about this "positive" Swedish insurance story when I heard stories about how some North American companies behaved. I myself had a company tell me to either double my premiums or die before the age of 69 if I wanted to maintain my life insurance at the agreed upon level!

Back in Sweden we had another much more devastating break-in in our cottage in April. This time the thieves must have had a lot of time as they had expertly gone through absolutely everything and taken anything of value. They had even managed to find all our hiding places. Many things, like miniatures of my mother, had a primarily nostalgic value, but there was a lot of very valuable stuff that we had not brought with us to Canada. You just don’t risk shipping valuable glass and porcelain.

After getting expert appraisals of the most important objects we realized that we had been underinsured. The value of all that we had lost was double the amount we were insured for. Resigning ourselves to the loss, we presented our claim to the insurance company only to find out that it would pay out only 50 percent of the amount we were insured for, citing as a reason that we had been underinsured.

I take full responsibility for this. Living abroad, I have been out of touch with the Swedish antiques market and hence not updated the insurance accordingly. At the same time I feel that the insurance company should at least compensate me up to the value I am insured for minus the deductible. I get furious when I think of all the years that I have dutifully paid the hefty premiums only to be rewarded in this way. I think I could even make a case for coming out ahead if I had saved on the premiums all these years.

I guess the lesson here is that insurance companies ultimately put their owners and employees ahead of those they are supposed to give protection to. So be warned!

Have a nice March

Anders

February Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 04:27:00 +0000

An ad in Systembolagets campaign with the headline "We Swedes invented the smartest way in the world to sell alcohol. (Perhaps because we needed it more than others.)"

I dislike monopolies out of principle, but there is one monopoly I really like. In my opinion the Swedish Systembolaget wine and spirits monopoly is a great institution that I hope will prevail in some form, even though the European Union would love to crush it. In response to the nagging from Brussels, Systemet has launched an advertising campaign touting the virtues of the Swedish way of dealing with alcohol.

It wasn't the politicians who created the Swedish alcohol distribution monopoly, it was the miners. The mining authorities in the city of Falun formed the world's first alcohol dispensing monopoly in 1850 to reduce accidents in the mine. By getting rid of the private profit motive they could stem the consumption which then was four times what it is today. Gradually more cities adopted the idea and in 1955 all the local mono-polies were rolled into one - Systembolaget.

Many countries have experimented with alcohol retail monopolies including the United States that, in 1930, realized it was a bad idea to forbid consumption in view of the prevailing attitude towards alcohol.

The billionaire John D Rockefeller sponsored a gigantic study to find the best way to sell alcohol and the answer was the "Swedish method". To this day many US states and Canadian provinces maintain alcohol monopolies.

In Sweden a new study details the probable effects of closing down the alcohol monopoly. According to experts, if strong beer, wine and alcohol would be freely available in all grocery stores, consumption would rise by 30 percent. This would lead to 16 million more sick days and 1 600 alcohol-related deaths. Not to speak of about 14 000 more cases of common assault.

There are no special offers in the boring Systembolaget stores that often dispense their wares across old-fashioned counters. The choice is limited, but the prices are the same wherever you go and you can rely on the value of what they sell. Being the world’s biggest buyer of wine, Systemet often offers great wines at very reasonable prices.

In the olden days British wine merchants used to take the ferry to Göteborg to buy up the grand brands like Lafite Rothschild, because of the relatively low prices for more expensive wines at Systemet stores.

Systembolaget buyers were the first to discover Australian and Chilean wines and they regularly buy some of the best wines from entire regions in Italy, France and Spain.

Have a nice February

Anders

PS. When we write about an interesting book or CD in scandinavian and Swedish Press, many readers contact us to find out where they can buy it. In response to this we are introducing a new service, together with Amazon, making it possible for you to conveniently buy most products we write about at “MustHave” in our www.nordicway.com "Market".

January Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 22:28:00 +0000

Just as we are gearing up for Christmas and looking forward to some peace and quiet during the last days of 2010, two terrorist bombs explode in central Stockholm. As you can read in our "First Page News" (on page 9), a mass casualty incident was luckily averted, albeit narrowly, with the only loss of life being that of the perpetrator.

In 2004 Osama Bin Laden, in a video broadcast on al-Jazeera, explained why Sweden would not be an al-Qaeda target. According to some experts there has not been a change in this state of affairs, and the explosions on Drottninggatan may have been the work of a lone jihadist. We will in all likelihood never get the full story behind the first terrorism attack in the history of Sweden.

What we are left with is a feeling of disbelief, outrage and, above all, insecurity. My daughter works just around the corner from where the explosions went off. If you have been in Stockholm you are sure to have been at this spot. Things like this are just not supposed to happen in the city I grew up in.

This is a brutal reminder that Sweden is now both a participant and a target in the war against terrorism. The country, that prides itself as a fair and generous champion of the third world, has truly lost its innocence.

Domestically Swedes, with their open democracy, have to tackle the issue of how to guard civil liberties while meeting 21st century security threats. This is especially problematic in light of the profound changes in the country’s demographics that have put new strains on the tradition for consensual, enlightened politics. The issue of home-grown terrorism must be tackled head-on without any political correctness. An open debate on issues such as this is vital if Sweden is to remain the open, democratic and secure society we all have such great love and admiration for.

Happy New Year

Anders

PS. Every month in 2011 we will bring you a portrait of a famous Swedish birthday boy or girl. We start with August Strindberg (on page 16) and invite your comments. For those of you who keep all magazines we provide an Index to 2010 (on page 4). Check out everything we covered and let us know if you think we are on the right track. Your feedback is very important to us!

December Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 07:47:00 +0000

In an interview about his Swedish best-seller "Hundraåringen Som Klev Ut Genom Fönstret och Försvann" (The Hundred-year Old Who Stepped Out Through the Window and Disappeared, see page 30) Jonas Jonasson noted that his main character reminded him of the carefree and disrespectful Pippi Longstocking. Having just seen The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the third film in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, I thought of another person who reminded me of Pippi Longstocking - the antisocial and fiercely independent Lisbeth Salander.

If you are one of the millions and millions who have read any or all of Stieg Larsson's three best-selling crime novels, you know what I am talking about. Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of Larsson's award-winning Millennium Trilogy, is a 24-year-old pierced goth with a dragoon tattoo. With her martial arts prowess and photographic memory, the brilliant hacker, with a stern moral conscience, has become a strong symbol of this century of the woman. The fact that she also has all the money in the world, compensates, just like in the real world, for her lack of social graces. Her misogynistic looks not withstanding, she is a hero of many young adult women - their Pippi Longstocking.

Astrid Lindgren’s fictional character, with her carrot-colored hair in braids that stick out, and one brown and one black stocking, had the same rebellious look as Lisbeth Salander when the 9-year old made an appearance in 1945. Just like Lisbeth, Pippi drinks a lot of coffee, has lots of money and is so strong that she can easily manhandle the two policemen who come to take her to "a home".

Both Pippi and Lisbeth have their run-ins with social services because of their complicated family situations. Pippi has no mother and her absent father is a king on a South Sea island. Lisbeth’s mum is in an institution while her criminal father, who has been absent during a large part of her life, wants to get rid of her. Lisbeth was bullied at school while Pippi was sure to have been bullied if she had not ditched school altogether after her first day in class.

Lisbeth's side-kick Mikael Blomkvist shares the surname of another of Astrid Lindgren's children's book characters, Mästerdetektiven Kalle Blomkvist (lead detective Kalle Blomkvist). There is another reference to Pippi Longstocking with Lisbeth Salander using Pippi Longstocking’s house Villa Villekulla as a cover name.

As I am writing this, I come across some material about Stieg Larsson and lo and behold I see that he has stated in interviews with an old colleague and his publisher that he was fascinated with the idea of a grown up Pippi Longstocking, "a dysfunctional girl, probably with attention deficit disorder who would have had a hard time finding a regular place in society but would nonetheless take a firm hand in directing her own destiny", and that he used those characteristics to create Lisbeth Salander.

All I can say is hats off to Stieg Larsson for giving the women of the world another memorable Swedish role model.

God Jul

Anders

November Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 07:05:00 +0000

In November 2006 the Filipino sailor Jesus Sumook saved the life of a man who had been overcome by carbon monoxide poisoning in the cargo hold of a ship docked in the Swedish port of Helsingborg. Hearing about this heroic act, the Swedish Carnegie Foundation wanted to pay tribute to Sumook but it took some time to locate him as he travels around the world on the M/V Saga Tucano.

However when the ship was loading in the port of Vancouver in the beginning of October, I, as the Consul of Sweden, was able to present Jesus Sumook with a Diploma, a gold watch and a sum of money from the Foundation. This was one of the most fun and rewarding consular duties during the last few years. It felt good to give recognition to somebody who thought he was just doing what anybody would have done. I am not so sure about that.

Sumook’s heroic act took place when M/V Saga Spray was unloading wood pellets from British Columbia. A worker collecting the pellets left behind by the scoops down in the hold lay unconscious having been over-come by carbon monoxide. When the emergency alarm sounded, Sumook grabbed a breathing apparatus and descended three floors down into the hold. First he administered CPR on the man and then gave him his mask so that the gasping stevedore would not breathe in the deadly carbon monoxide.

The two men then shared the mask’s oxygen until emergency personnel after some time could help them up from the cargo hold. Several of the people involved in the rescue operation were poisoned by the carbon monoxide and six were admitted to hospital. One dockworker did not make it.

The Swedish Carnegie Hero Fund (carnegiestiftelsen.se) was established in the beginning of 1911 after the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie, born in Scotland, wrote a letter to the King of Sweden with an offer of $230 000 to establish the fund. According to the by-laws of the fund its main purpose is "to give awards to persons who voluntarily or otherwise beyond what may be deemed to be their duty, have, by some gallant action in the peaceful walks of life risked their lives in order to save human lives in the territory of Sweden and on Swedish ships."

Andrew Carnegie’s life philosophy was that the first third of one’s life should be devoted to learning, the second to making money and the third to giving it away "as it was shameful to die wealthy". One of the world's richest men, Carnegie donated almost three thousand libraries in the United States alone.

The world would a better place if we had more people like Jesus Sumook and Andrew Carnegie in it.

Have a nice November

Anders

October Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 06:13:00 +0000

"A lot of IKEA products are not so cheap," said a parking attendant to me when he figured out that I was Swedish. (Was it the car I was driving or could it possibly be my accent that gave me away?)

I thought of his remark when I was at IKEA recently. Having just had a huge plate of meatballs for $5.99 and having picked up a LACK side table for two dollars more, I had to wonder what he was talking about. On the contrary you have to wonder how it is possible to buy the material, make the table, paint it, transport it from the country where it is manufactured to a central warehouse and from there to a store, make a profit at all stages of the process, and then charge only $7.99 for a piece of brand new furniture. I wonder what IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, who reportedly could work out the cost of manufacturing a table by just looking at it, would have to say about this?

Another thing I can’t get my head around is the inconsistency in some IKEA prices. For instance the HELMER drawer unit on casters costs only $49.99 in Canada. With six drawers, this is a lot of beautifully powder-coated steel. Compare this with the IKEA 365+ BRASA pendant lamp, at $59.99, that is also made out of powder-coated steel, but probably only requiring a single punch to get it into shape. The “really radical” lamp has been given remarkable prominence in the IKEA catalogue with its “function and quality of material” emphasized and with statements like “sometimes you need to stay basic to stand out”, but I cannot see why it should cost more than a substantial piece of furniture.

I talked with some IKEA people about this and they explained that the main reason for the difference in price is that “the lamp has to go through CSA approvals, testing, and the cost of parts of the lamp are greater than the drawer unit."

My guess would be that both HELMER and BRASA are made at a really inexpensive factory in China but that it is a higher margin and the commission to the Swedish designers A Nilsson, H Preutz and T Eliasson that makes BRASA that much more expensive. And there is nothing wrong with that.

Have a nice October

Anders

September Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:45:00 +0000

I have received my election papers from Sweden now. Have you?

I hope all readers who have Swedish citizenship will vote in the general election. The election authorities in Sweden have some 130 000 Swedish citizens with foreign addresses on their register. All these citizens but even those who are not registered have the opportunity to vote at embassies and consulates or send in their votes by mail so that they are counted in the September 19 election.

Sadly, only 29 percent of registered voters abroad cast their vote in the last election, as compared to 82 percent participation in Sweden itself. Furthermore the 125 000 registered Swedes were only a fraction of the estimated half a million Swedes living abroad (according to the organization Svenskar i Världen) so in fact voter participation among this group was in all likelihood an embarrassing single digit figure.

If you live in Sweden you are constantly reminded of the election and you are well informed about the voting process. When it comes to Swedes living abroad, it is only the registered voters who receive the pertinent voting information. Swedish Press is attempting to keep you informed, but we have not been getting much help from the election authorities in Sweden. You would think that reminding Swedes of their right to vote in the only Swedish monthly in North America would be a non-brainer, but no. (I contacted the embassies and the Swedish Election Authority without getting any response. When I finally got hold of a bureaucrat in Sweden over the phone I was told that the authorities had no mandate to advertise the election abroad.)

When I first came to North America it was during the Social Democratic reign in Sweden. During election time I was told that the dearth of information about the elections here could be attributed to the Social Democrats not expecting much support from Swedes abroad. If that was true the Alliance should be more interested in getting in the votes from abroad.

General elections are at the heart of democracy and a low voter participation is an indication that it is not working. In Sweden there have been discussions about lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 years to establish a voting pattern early in life and in that way increase future voter participation. In all likelihood this will not happen until voter participation drops even further.

I hope you will find all the information about the election in this issue useful and if you are a Swedish citizen, make use of your democratic right and make your voice heard in this exciting election.

Have a nice September

Anders

August Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:01:00 +0000

After more than a year hopping around the continent, I finally ended my trip "Around Swedish America in 548 Days" on July 2. At lunch time, I arrived at Victory Square in Vancouver where Swedish Press saw the light of day 82 years ago. You can read about all the places of Swedish interest on nordicway.com

This trip was of course “virtual”, even though my original dream had been a real road trip.

So for now I am following the Mongol Rally on the internet (http://mongolrally10.theadventurists.com). Starting from England, Spain and Italy at the end of July, the rally finishes, around four weeks and a whole heap of adventure later, in Mongolia. GPS is not allowed and the vehicle used for the trip must be a minimum of ten years old and for extra challenge have only a tiny 1.2 liter engine. Speed is not the object and all participants who make it to the Mongolian capitol of Ulan Bator have to donate their cars to an aid organization.

The 10 000 mile rally is organized by The Adventurists to make "the world a less boring place". There were six teams in the first "festival of slow" in 2004. Three years later the Mongol Rally sold out in 22 seconds with 200 teams participating. This year’s participants include my cousin's son, Mats Horn and his three friends from Sweden (http://swedentomongolia.com). They are travelling in a Mercedes ambulance from 1999 that, with a 2.4 liter engine, had to receive special permission. The Swedes bought the car for SEK 25 000, and they each invested SEK 20 000 for gas, supplies and visas for some of the 14 countries they are going to cross. As participants they also have to raise money for charity and you can help them at http://justgiving.com/swedentomongolia1. Last year’s rally raised more than $300,000.

What a great adventure! I can't help thinking of August Larson from Sweden who went to Mongolia as a missionary in 1892 and became a titled hero. You can read about Duke Larson of Mongolia, who turned up in Silverhill in Alabama, on day 433 of my trip around Swedish America!

Have a nice August

Anders

July Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Nordicway) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:47:00 +0000

When people hear that we have just come back from Sweden they immediately assume that we were there for the royal wedding. But in fact the focal point for this Swedish visit was to fix up our summer house after a break-in. We had a break-in 15 years ago and at that time the thieves took all our antique armchairs. This time they really wiped us out of almost everything of sentimental or monetary value.

One of the items that was stolen was a painting of the Vasaorden royal sloop (appraised at 2 kronor when I inherited it in 1975) that played a major role at the royal wedding this year. It was on this quite stunning rowing barge that Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel crossed the inner harbour of Stockholm at the end of the cortege that took them around the central parts of the city after the wedding ceremony.

Vasaorden is a beautiful Gustavian sloop in white and blue with lots of gold that was originally designed and built in 1774 on royal command by "the father of naval architecture", Fredrik Henrik Chapman.

The present vessel is a 1920s replica of the original. Used only for special state occasions in the waters surrounding Stockholm, it has had royalty like Queen Elizabeth of England and Queen Juliana of Holland on board. It is now being moved to the Stockholm Naval Museum where it will be on show before it goes into storage in an old torpedo boat shed at Djurgården until it is time for the next state occasion.

I have a special interest in the Vasaorden because it was my grandfather who commanded her when Queen Victoria was buried in 1930 and when Princess Ingrid married the Danish Crown Prince Frederik in 1935. My grandfather also wrote the instructions on how to control and maneuver Vasaorden under the pull of her 18 naval oarsmen. Very much in the spotlight on state occasions, often with a royal party on board, Vasaorden has to be handled very carefully so that she does not carry too much way, with a fair wind and perhaps a current, and pass the pontoon or if the oars are tossed too soon, fail to reach it.

Judging from the footage from the wedding, the royal couple seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the mini cruise on board the Vasaorden. As they were welcomed on board the commander of Vasaorden even had a little private bouquet of yellow and blue flowers for the bride. I am sure that I will eventually find some souvenir picture of Victoria and Daniel on Vasaorden to put where my old painting was stolen.