Of Elks and Blondes...

Elks and blondes shape Sweden's image abroad

Published: 29 Jul 08 11:20 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/13336/

When foreigners think of Sweden they think of elks, royalty, the great outdoors and beautiful women, according to a new survey from VisitSweden.

VisitSweden (formerly the Swedish Travel & Tourism Council) asked a group of 1,000 British, German, French and Dutch people for their views on the country as a tourist destination.

Many thought of the cold, the snow, the winter and the high prices. Others answered: nature, countryside and the expansive forests. There was some variation across the nations however with every tenth Frenchman citing the beautiful women and every tenth German noting the (beautiful) elks and the royal family.

VisitSweden is jointly owned by the Swedish government and the tourism industry and is focused on marketing the country to overseas visitors and investors.

"We want to shift the focus of Sweden's image towards the exotic," said Thomas Brühl, VisitSweden CEO.

"The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi is a perfect example where the cold, winter and ice is used for something exotic."

While the French dream of blue-eyed blondes, the Dutch lend their thoughts to Sweden's profile for peace and freedom.

The Brits, in turn, think of Sweden as a clean country.

Germans, while admiring the magnificent nature from the windows of their caravans, also had time to admire the progressive and modern about Sweden, VisitSweden wrote in a press release.

"That the Germans associate Sweden with elk is probably because they, more than other tourist groups, drive through Sweden. We want to give them that extra spice to their journey and show them the new, exciting Sweden."

Visit Sweden's view of 'the new, exciting Sweden' is one of gastronomy, culture, fashion and design.

A view shared by Sweden's agriculture minister, Eskil Erlandsson who, The Local reported on July 22nd, aims to knock France off its gastronomic pedestal and establish Sweden "on the world map as a country of good food."

Kobenhavn, Wonderful, Wonderful... Kobenhavn For Me!

Guest Writer: Sister Swede Reports...

I've had a great time in Denmark so far! Ben met me at the airport (he was early, I was late) and we headed out for our European adventure. After spending three days in Copenhagen, we made the trip to Sonderborg this afternoon. It is a beautiful city!

It's getting late (and Ben has an exam early tomorrow morning), so I'm going to keep this short. Here are the highlights from our first three days.

Day 1:

Tivoli, the main city square, the walking street, dinner in Nyhavn and back to Tivoli.

Day 2:

Lots of sightseeing! Highlights include royal gardens, the Little Mermaid, Nyhavn (again) and eating a Fransk hot dog!

Day 3:

The Carlsberg Brewery, getting a birds eye view of the city, Christiana and more Nyhavn!

Enjoy! More tomorrow...

Little Mermaid statue defaced — again

The Copenhagen Post is reporting that once again, Denmark hippies retaliated in the government takeover of their "Freetown Christiana." The city is demolishing old buildings in the district to make room for a new government subsidized housing project, which has upset the squatters that have been living there for free since the government abandoned the old military barracks in 1971.

Whilst I'm as hippie as the next guy, these "non-violent" protests have gotten a bit out of hand. They have culminated into large gatherings where protesters start big fires and throw Molotov cocktails at police. That being said, I'm totally okay with painting the joke of a statue that is the Little Mermaid though... I hope I'm not brought in for questioning for saying that.

Tragedy in Legoland: Woman Dies in Lego Rollercoaster Accident

BILLUND, Denmark — A 21-year-old employee at the Legoland amusement park was killed in a roller coaster accident, police and park officials said Monday.

The woman, who was not identified, died immediately Sunday after being hit by a coaster car, police said.

"We're shocked," Legoland manager Henrik Hoehrman said. Nothing like this has happened before."

First of all... I went on that ride, and it was pretty sweet. Second of all, if my Lego Princess was in any way harmed because of this coaster, so help me god... I'll unbuild the entire coaster brick by brick and build a castle for us to live in happily ever after.

BKASC: Kristiansand

Today's Better Know a Scandinavian City, "The Town that Shall Stand," Kristiansand:

Kristiansand was founded by King Christian IV, who in 1641 said "here the town shall stand". It was created as a market town to encourage growth in this area of strategic significance, providing a local economic base for construction of fortifications and population for defense of the area (see Swedish dominance).

The wilderness of Kristiansand

Norway has the distinct territorial claim to the many miles of North Sea on its cost. It just so happens that in the 1960's, a vast oil field was discovered under these waters, which settled Norway's economic woes for the foreseeable future. Norway is the 3rd largest exporter of oil in the world. They smartly invested all this income into The Norwegian Government Petroleum Fund, and the country's residents have been living off of their oil profits ever since (thanks to their socialized welfare government). One would think gas would be cheap in a country such as this, but to encourage innovation and conservation, prices for petrol in Norway are the highest in all of Europe. (for more oil related goodness, read this)

In the spirit of nature, I'm riding a bear

Whilst the cities of Norway (especially Kristiansand) leave much to be desired, it is their vast expanses of nature that left me wanting more. No wonder their cities are lacking... the residents prefer to spend their time in nature skiing, hiking, and otherwise living life.

Like a Norwegian, I don't need much to enjoy life...

Norwegians are very kind, helpful, and most of all, fun-loving. They don't need fancy cars or high-rise apartments, they have all they need with their cross country skis and their faithful dingy .

My ship, the "SS Quit Playing with your Dingy"

BKASC: Oslo

Today's Better Know a Scandinavian City, the most expensive city in the world: Oslo.

Oslo is the capitol of modern Norway, and home to about 800,000 Oslites. It was once a city of vast importance to the Danish/Norwegian alliance against the Swedish empire in the 16th century (yes, it took two empires to stand up against Sweden). As it seems for every old city, in 1624 a fire devastated old Oslo, and the city was rebuilt some kilometers west.

Expansion of the Swedish Empire

As we later found out, Norway isn't about the city life, it is about the nature that surrounds the cities. Whilst Oslo is beautiful in its own respect, the true beauty of Oslo comes into perspective when one ventures outside of the walls.

Oslo Port

Oslo was home to the 1952 Winter Olympics, which found their home among the many mountains and slopes of the glacier carved land. No wonder Norway has won more medals than any country for cross-country skiing!

Got Skis?

Oslo was the home of famed painter, Edvard Munch. His childhood was spent surrounded by the death of family members, which may attribute to the style of his paintings.

"Sickness, insanity and death were the angels that surrounded my cradle and they have followed me throughout my life." -Munch

The Edvard Munch Museum is home to over 1,100 Munch works (The Scream however is not on display as we found out, because it had been recently stolen and damaged)

Munch's Scream, recreated on a building

As we soon found out, the best of Norway was yet to come... stay tuned for a special feature, "Better Know a Scandinavian Mountain Range."

BKASC: Kobenhavn (Copenhagen)

Today's Better Know a Scandinavian City: Kobenhavn

Kobenhaven is Denmark's largest city, with 1.8 million Danes living in the greater Kobenhavn area. The name Kovenhavn, literally translates to merchants harbor, and it couldn't be more true.

Denmark

The city is situated on the Island of Sjælland, which is connected to the rest of Denmark by the Great Belt Fixed Link, which is the worlds second longest suspension bridge. The two towers that make up the bridge are actually the highest points in all of Denmark.

Despite being an expensive city to live in, it has been rated the number 10 city in the world to live in. It is home to Strøget, the longest pedestrian shopping street in the world, which does not disappoint (if you like shopping.) I also made my European debut at a karaoke bar on this street, which will quickly become known as "The street Ben made his big break."

Strøget at Night

Perhaps the biggest draw of the city, however, is the port and its surrounding waters. The city was founded by Vikings around 1167, so a location along the water and trade routes was vital.

Viking Ship Museum

The area of the city known as Nyhavn is home to the famous colored buildings along the harbor, which today offer a variety of places to eat. The north side of the port used to be called the naughty side, with sailors visiting small flats during their shore leave. The south, or nice side of the port was home to the markets which sailors sold their goods at.

Nyhavn

A controversial portion of the city, known as Christiania, cannot be described, but is rather experienced. The neighborhood covers 85 acres in Copenhagen and is home to 850 pseudo-residents in the "lawless" city (recently regulations on hard drugs have been enforced by Copenhagen Politi). This "Freetown" has established semi-legal status as an independent community, and has been passed as a social experiment by the Danish Government.

A walk down pusher street

Who could forget that Hans Christian Anderson comes from Denmark? Many of his stories were inspired by the sights and sounds in Denmark.

"Far out at sea the water´s as blue as the petals of the loveliest cornflower, and as clear as the purest glass; but it´s very deep, deeper than any anchor can reach. Many church steeples would have to be piled up one above the other to reach from the bottom of the sea to the surface. Right down there live the sea people."

Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid)

Also born and buried in Copenhagen was famous Philosopher, the Father of Existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

Kierkegaard's Grave

It is easy to see why the arts have flourished in this city, and it has quickly become the cultural center of Scandinavia. A stroll down Nyhavn Vej clearly gave and continues to give inspiration to all that walk in its path.

BKASC: Billund

Scandinavian Cities... they all have their charms. In today's installment of the 436 part series, "Better Know a Scandinavian City," Billund.

Billund is home of The Lego Group, where 90% of the world's Legos are produced. Billund is also home to Legoland, consisting of Duplo Land, ImaginationZone, LEGOREDO Town, Adventure Land, Miniland, Pirate Land, Lego City, Knights Kingdom and Viking land.

The park opened in 1968 and sees 1.6 million visitors annually. The original part of the park is home to acres and acres of Lego creations, from a scale model of the Statue of Liberty to a life-sized elephant.

Take a stroll down Lego Lane and you'll see replicas of cities such as Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, New York, and Tokyo.

Don't forget the "It's a Small World" lazy boat tour through the Lego world.

The modernized portion of the park has rides such as the Lego Teacups and the LegoBuilder. The LegoBuilder is essentially a GM car building robot arm with a harness attached to the end.

No trip to Legoland would be complete without a snapshot with one of the seemingly hundreds of Lego Princesses present in the park (the more Lego bricks used to make the Lego Crown, the more beautiful the princess)

I handed in my application as a Lego architect, and am anxiously waiting to hear back. I think being a Lego Prince in Legoland has moved up to number 1 on my list of things to do when I grow up (which obviously isn't going to happen for a while!)

All of Legoland can be enjoyed here.

Check-in from Oslo...

Easter is upon us! Happy Easter to all readers, and look forward to some wonderful Easter pics from Norway, Sweden, ect... Here are some appitizers from Germany, Denmark, and Sweden...

Click on the thumbnails on the right to view the cities...

Day 4-5: Paris

Ah, Peri. Beauty and the Beast nailed it. The neighborhood our hostel was in was quite charming, with little cafes and fruit stands surrounding the area. I was just waiting for the town to burst into song. I would have to say that the Eiffel Tower isn't all that impressive, but the Arc de Triomphe more than makes up for it. It must have been from all those years of watching Le Tour de France. I could feel the electricity as thousands of fans lined the streets to see the 2,200 mile race come to an end on the Champs-Elysées. Moulin Rouge is hardly impressive at 8:00AM, but I would imagine the area becomes Vegas like at night. There really isn't enough time in the day to see all that is to see in The Louvre. The more I saw, the more I wanted to see... the cathedral of large-scale French paintings, mainly the 20x32 foot Coronation of Napoleon by David, gives you goose-bumps in its shear scale yet such detail. The 2000 year old statue Venus de Milo was another unexpected gem, further making me want to visit Greece while here. The Seated Scribe, one of the oldest works I have seen, was also an impressive look at another destination I would like to see, Egypt. The Mona Lisa didn't disappoint, as I knew ahead of time it would be small and unimpressive.

Day 3-4: London

Mind the Gap! I took an early morning stroll while James caught up on sleep. When I crossed the Victoria Bridge, I was angered to see a huge sign hanging from Big Ben, obstructing the view to my Tower. Greenpeace had hung a huge sign in protest of WMD's in England. As I made my way towards Parliament Square, I came across another riot of sorts (well more of a protest than a riot.) Parliament was voting that same day on the decision to upgrade Briton's aging nuclear arsenal for the year 2022. I struck up a conversation with a member of Greenpeace, and marched around the block a few times with the calm mob. After my protesting itch was scratched, I went back to get James. We made our way to see Buckingham Palace, and were surprised to see not the changing of the guard, but something much bigger and grander. The President of Ghana was in town to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ghana's independence from the UK, and there was no shortage of spirit. Ghanese people lined the streets as hundreds of guard mounted white horses made their way down the streets, followed by golden chariots carrying England's Queen and the President of Ghana. So yes I was England and I didn't see the changing of the guard, but I think what we saw was much more memorable! I did however miss my chance to pose, Austin Powers style with a guard, as the square was closed for the celebrations.

We wandered all over the city, seeing the usual sights, and as dusk was approaching, took a commuter boat up and down The River Thames. This is a must do, as you cannot really enjoy London Bridge until you pass under it and view it from the river. The most beautiful thing I had seen... so far.

Si Si!

Madrid was beautiful. The key word there is "was," because I have returned home to rain and cold again in Denmark. The sun shone in our 17th century church turned hostel every morning, and brought with it the spirit of Madrid. The list of places I planned to go to was met with great success, along with a few other exciting things. The three museums in Madrid did not disappoint: El Prado, Rena Sophia, Thyssen. I would have to say I enjoyed El Prado the most, because it included an entire floor of Goya, my favorite artist (thanks to Mr. J for exposing us to art in AP Euro History). It was very easy to get around the city in the metro, with trains running from each station every three minutes. Each afternoon we took a siesta in El Retiro, the most famous park in Madrid, to "tomar sol" (take sun). On Sunday morning, we went to El Rastro, which is the HUGE market that stretches on for miles in the streets. The shopper that I am, I bought absolutely nothing, but it was amazing to browse around and watch as thousands of thousands (no exaggeration) people filled the streets. I was pleasantly surprised how much Spanish I remembered, and I was able to keep up with the fast speaking locals when they spoke. Whenever I said something however, it took a while to conjugate the verbs and all the other dreaded high school memories of taking Spanish. It was sad when I returned to Denmark and was no longer able to understand anything being said around me. I also made my way to Bernabeu, the most famous football stadium in the world. Whilst I wasn't present during a match, I could feel the presence of 80,000 fans screaming their traditional chant for Real Madrid. Molly and Mal were great hosts during my stay, in spite of their suffering from the Spanish flu. I was greeted with great fanfare to find a huge sign hung at the reception desk of my hostel welcoming me. It was great to see some Americans, not to mention great friends! Check out all of the pics here.

Voy a ir a Madrid!

It's official... March 2 at 20:55 I depart for Madrid, Spain for a weekend with Madrileños Molly and Mallory. I will be staying at backpacker stop Cat's Hostel, and visiting all of Madrid's finest. Do they really piss in the streets and take naps every afternoon? We'll see...

Prague (Part 2)

Saw the Kafka Museum today, which was sombre, but interesting. It has rained almost all day, but I managed to cover the final one square mile in Prague that I haven't seen in the last three days I have been here. Whilst a beautiful city, I can't wait to get home (Sonderborg) and meet my Danish homies. I also managed to snap a few pics of the Swedish Embasy, which has no meaning now, but may one day hold my dual citizenship.

The hostel environment is much different from the 5 star hotel Jon and I stayed in to begin the trip, but i have had the chance to meet some people from all over the world. I spent most of the day with two girls from St. Olaf's College.

I think the rain is letting up, so i'm back out and at it!

Prague (Part 1)

How dare you force me to try and describe about Prague... see for yourself and look at the pictures here.

If you don't believe me... come here for $433 round trip and I'll prove you this is the best city since Dublin (aka the second city I've seen...) Meet me in Old Town and I'll prove it (ask me why it's good... I'll give you my 9,546,9832 minute explanation and we can go from there!)

We saw a ballet in the Prague National Theatre, (Mozart? Mozart!) We saw the Jewish Ghettos, and that was just in the first day! I'll let you know the rest of what i see in the next 3 days i have in Prague!

Dublin, et all.

Not much time... just have to say, Dublin is beautiful! Click here for all the pics from Dublin... more from Prague to come!

Mmmmmmmmmm... Guinness

Thursday, January 25, 2007:
Aer Lingus Flight 124
Depart: 6:00pm Chicago, IL evening Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)
Arrive: 7:20am Dublin, Ireland
Change planes. Time between flights: 8hr 50min (insert Guenniss Brewery Tour/Pint(s) Here!!!)
Depart: 4:10pm Dublin, Ireland afternoon Dublin (DUB)
Arrive: 7:40pm Prague, Czech Republic evening Prague Ruzyne (PRG)