Stockholm was "born" in 1252.
Three-point seatbelt invented by Swedish.
Part of the EU but don't use their currency. They use Swedish Kronor.
Abba from Sweden. They opened a museum last year.
The city is comprised of two bodies of water: Lake mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The difference in height is increasing between these two bodies of water.
The land is rising by 3.5 millimetres each year.
Most important commodity is iron.
Old town architecture is not allowed to change.
You are not allowed to build houses higher than six stories in order to maintain the unity of the city and because the winters are so dark and the sun only rises a bit above the horizon, they do not want the houses to be so high.
Sweden's population: 9.5 million
Sweden is one third water, one third forest and one third houses.
The Zipper was created by Swedish.
Dynamite created by Swedish, Alfred Nobel who also founded the Nobel prize. Nobel's brother was killed in one of his dynamite experiments,but because his brother's name also began with an A, people thought that Alfred had died. He therefore got to read his own obituary and discovered that a lot of people did not like him. This is when he decided to donate a large sum of money towards the Nobel peace prize.
Swedish traditional food: pickled herring and lax (salmon).
One of the least actively religious countries in the world.
No pre-Christian religious holidays left, except for the mid-summer celebration. This is the biggest party of the year where they celebrate the fertility of the earth. They dance around a big phallic symbol.
They drink a lot of Schnapps and sing Swedish drinking songs.
Tack means thank you, hey means hello, and heydor means goodbye (spelling could be completely wrong).
There are three extra letters in the Swedish alphabet.
There are a few sculptures of Thor, a pre-Christianity Viking god.
The brick building with the green roof and solid gold crowns on the top is the City Hall. It is 106 metres high. Three crowns on buildings is an important sign for the Swedish. This building is well-known for its architecture, mosaics, and for being the site of the annual Nobel Prize Ceremony.
The last person was executed in 1910 by guillotine.
You can erect a tent anywhere in Stockholm for 24 hours, as long as it is not on someone's lawn.
Sweden has the bloodiest history with Denmark, and then Russia.
Sweden has one of the greatest tap water in the world.
It is roughly $2 for one litre of petrol, which is R22.
Finland is the first and Sweden the second,biggest coffee-consuming countries in the world.
A Swedish fastfood restaurant called Max caused a McDonalds situated in the north to close down because they were so much more popular and the people were loyal to their own restaurant.
Employees receive five weeks paid vacation, and six weeks if they're over fifty.
Sweden was the first to have maternity leave. You can have paid maternity leave for over a year. If your child is sick and you have to stay at home, you will be paid 80% of your paycheck.
H & M comes from Sweden.
NK, a department store, was the first store in Stockholm to bring in an escalator, but people came in to ride the escalator and not shop so they disabled it for a while.
Stockholm Syndrome is described as when you start developing feeling for the people who captured you. This occurred during the early 1900s when people were held captive for robbing a bank, and they started relating to their captives.
Sweden has the most leisure boats per person in the world, but all these boats need to find a place to go during winter because the water freezes. It is possible to walk over the ice in most areas of Stockholm.
Skansen is an area with beautiful walks, and culturally-preserved homes that only a very few are lucky enough to live in.
Barack Obama stayed at the Grand Hotel (the building with the many flags) when he visited Sweden and he rented an entire floor to himself.
The Royal Palace has 608 rooms and is the largest active palace in Europe. The King comes here once a year.
It has Italian design on the outside and French design on the inside.
Took almost 60 years to finish the Royal Palace. Palace was completed in 1754.
Old royal castle burned down in 17th century.
Current king is not allowed to wear the royal crown or vote.
We had an amazing time in Stockholm today. Our tour guide had the most hilarious stories....and a very dry humour. The first words out of his mouth were "so I know what you're all thinking 'are all Swedish men this beautiful....and so humble?'" He even sang us a few Swedish drinking songs, minus the Schnapps of course. We also had the little girl on our tour bus that we have been stalking on the boat. She is the cutest baby that all of us have ever seen. Her mom puts her hair up into a water fountain every day making her look like the little blonde from the grinch, Cindy Loo.
Stockholm was extremely beautiful. The area is dotted with thousands of islands. Every thirty years, the islands need to be recounted around Sweden because more islands are appearing due to the land rising. My favourite part of the day was riding the glass gondola on the famous Swedish attraction Skyview. In early spring of 2010 the two glass gondolas that travel along the outside and on top of this giant golf-ball was opened to the public. Skyview or more formally known as the Ericsson Globe Arena, is the largest spherical building in the world. It is mainly used as a sports arena, but the ride allows tourists to marvel over a panoramic view of Stockholm. It is130 metres above sea-level, contains 48 pillars weighing 30 tons each, and is made out of a sound-absorbing material that changes appearance depending on the weather, often looking matte or gloss, and white or soft pink. It is able to welcome more than 25 000 visitors. It has hosted 20 world cups and various artists such as Paul McCartney, ACDC, Bryan Adams, Robbie Williams and Meatloaf. The Tele2 Arena which opened in 2013 will be seeing Katy Perry and Pharrell this year and has the capacity to welcome 30 000 visitors. If the globe were filled with water from a tap, it would only be filled in 40 years time.
One thing that even the Brits were shocked about was how pricey Sweden is. I collect keyrings from different countries that I visit, and I even had to face the fact that I would not be going home with a Swedish keyring. The cheapest one that I could find was R90...but the living standards are amazing so I guess Swedes learn to live with it. I mean, I'd learn to live with the idea of receiving a "welcome gift" very time I choose to have a kid. However, it was very sad to hear how unreligious they are. Our tourist guide even said, "Swedes don't pray so maybe you could pray for us". Maybe Visby will be slightly different...
Our tour ended quite interestingly...as I was snapping away at some lovely pictures of my gorgeous sisters standing next to a fountain, my mom's iPad decided to detach itself from my fingers and rearrange its screen on the cobblestones...you can just imagine how my parents reacted. Thankfully, the actual iPad is still working, I just slice my finger a few times a day while writing out these posts.
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