My beautiful homeisland is invaded by brats from Stockholm every summer during what is now called Stockholmsveckan, the Stockholm week. The goal for these brats from the Swedish capital is to show-off their wealth amongst eachother and to everyone else. Last year they wasted money buying expensive champagne in the Visby restaurants and showering each other with the bubbly. Obviously the brats enjoyed this so much that thry had to do it all the time and it became an annoyance tourists and locals. After many complaints the Gotland authorities put a ban on the bubbly showers. The brats then came up with two new ways of enjoying themselves the only ways these extremely limited and uneducated group of people know, wasting money.  The number one obviously to themselves hilarious activity is to order two bottles of champagne and ask the waiter to serve one and pour the other out in the sink. The number two "cool" thing to do is, as reported by some hamburger chains in Visby, to order 50 hamburgers, eat one and throw the other 49 hamburgers in the trash.

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Tomorrow the Swedish crown princess is marrying her man of the people, a man from the hicks, Ockelbo and yes I have been there, and the European royalty and nobility is dancing the night away in Swedish fairytale castles. This man is living the Swedish dream, coming  from nothing and getting the woman, the title, the lifestyle of an envied few. The royal marriage has been first page news all over Sweden for many days and tomorrow's wedding will be celebrated by many Swedes travelling to Stockholm to try to get a glimpse of the couple.  This would never happen in the USA.

Yesterday, a man was tied to a chair in Utah, a target was pinned to his shirt over his heart, and a firing squad of five shot the man to death on orders from the US government.  This, would never happen in Sweden.

Some complain over the Swedish royalty, their position, the cost to maintain the royalty to the Swedish tax payers. However, the king and his family, brings a certain air of civilization to a country, I think we can afford to keep our king and his family, to unite the country, to inspire to beautify.

Capital punishment does not belong in a civilization, bloody revenge, horror, death, should not be the deed of a civilized government, only of criminals and deranged people.

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The Swedish vampire book Let me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist is being filmed in Hollywood. The book is a success in Sweden and a Swedish film version has been very popular among film critics areound the world. The US version will be released at the end of this year. This is a perfect book for the beach!

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Is Sven an Alexander Skarsgard or Lill Babs?

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THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is the first of a trilogy of novels by the late Swedish writer Stieg Larsson that have become a worldwide publishing phenomenon. Director Niels Arden Oplev’s film version, with a box office of $100 million, has become the biggest grossing European film of 2009.  Subsequent European release of film versions of the other books in the trilogy  – THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS NEST – have extended the success of the franchise.

Synopsis

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her beloved uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and the tattooed and troubled but resourceful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate.

When the pair link Harriet’s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vanger’s are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

The film opens on the Florida east coast and Sarasota on April 9 and in Orlando and Tampa on April 30.  I will be at the Tampa Theatre on April 30 for sure. A great place to watch a great film! If you haven't read the book yet, read it!

More about the film here http://dragontattoofilm.com

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New York New York

Scandinavian Baltic Trade Association, SBTA's contribution to the International Business Summit in Tampa was a show performed by Scandinavian teens backed up with singers and dancers from Orange Grove Middle Magnet School of the Arts performed Scandinavian hits from the 70's until today in a Musical Express through Scandinavia.
The show was opened with New York New York as for many Scandinavians, New York is the first port of entry to the USA. The Musical Express then took us to Sweden with an ABBA medley  Norway with the 1985 Eurovision Song Contest, or as it is called in Norway Grand Prix, winner Let it Swing by Bobbysocks, Roxette from Sweden was next followed by Iceland's most famous singer Bjork's Oh So Quiet.

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Do not miss the Florida Film Festival April 9 - April 18 in Orlando. There will be a lot of interesting independent films to view and some cool events to attend as well. Check out the web site here www.floridafilmfestival.com

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This cool gadget is made in Sweden, and visited Tampa last Friday, guess what it does!

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Love, love, love

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     Visby domkyrka my home church

The Swedish church is very present in Swedish every day life, more than 7 million Swedes of a total population of 9 millions belong to the Evengelical Lutheran church of Sweden. Our churches are beautiful buildings with attracitve exteriors and heavenly interiors. Walking into a Swedish church is a very special feeling of greatness and warmth. The church is of course more than the building it is also a sacred place and a place for communion. The Swedish church abroad is not so much about a place but to provide a place for Swedish speaking friendship, a place to worship.

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This comic strip is called Sister America and is created by Humon

for more fun go to http://humon.deviantart.com/gallery/#Scandinavia-and-the-World

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I took my daughters with me as photographers for an equestrian clinic in Wellington. It was cold to sit outside and watch the riders and instructors so we took a break to visit the largest art museum in Florida, the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach. We arrived a little bit late and had only a little bit more than an hour to spend in the museum.

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The Swedes have a different way to remember their deceased than the Americans, however, the Halloween parties are becoming more popular in Sweden every year. November 1 is always the All Saints’ Day. It used to be a national holiday up until 1773 when King Gustaf III removed it as holiday. The All Saints’ Day is celebrated in the memory of the saints and martyrs of the church. The celebration of the saints and the martyrs expanded to be also a day to remember deceased family and friends.  In 1954 the Saturday falling closest to the Allahelgonadagen was declared a national holiday in honor of all deceased forefathers and family members.  On that day, Swedes visit the graves of their family and light candles on their graves. It is a very quiet and beautiful tradition where hundreds of candles are lighting up the dark November night and in silence, people visit the graves of loved ones no longer with them.

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Swedes have had crayfish parties since the 16th century. It was adopted by the nobility from the monks during the 19^th century. The monks had crayfish since the Middle Ages as crayfish was allowed to eat during the religious periods of fasting.

Kärt barn har många namn, a Swedish saying that translates a beloved child has many different names – the Swedish kräfta has two translations in English, crawfish and crayfish. Crawfish was used by the first American zoologist that studied the freshwater scavengers. The word crayfish was later introduced by an English zoologist.
The crayfish is popular in the south of the USA, in the Creole kitchen where they boil the mudbugs or crawdads, that they are also called in spices and serve them warm.  

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The week beginning July 18 and ending with July 24 is called Ladie’s Week in Sweden.

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Swedes love nature and in the summertime when days are warm and welcoming and the nights are short, the most beloved tradition is to celebrate the earth’s generosity at the summer solstice.

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