Karlskrona - Page 2

Lucia celebration in Karlskrona December 13, 2010 9:03 PM Tweet Today we celebrate Lucia in Sweden. Which means that across Sweden you can hear and see Lucia march and sing carols with her entourage of maidens - tärnor and star boys - stjärngossar. On this day we also eat Lucia cats (see my previous post Lucia cats all over the place for more info about these buns). Here in Karlskrona we choose a Lucia every year to represent our city. Her job is to visit different places around Karlskrona and sing. Tonight it was time for Lucia and her entourage to sing at our town square, Stortorget. So to town I went, even though it was freezing outside! Traditions, traditions, lol! Below are some pics from this evening, and a short video of Lucia and company singing a traditional Lucia song called "Natten går tunga fjät". Originally our Lucia celebration is based on the saint Lucia, a holy virgin of the 200's who lived in Syracuse, Sicily. However, her destiny to be killed for her Christian faith has nothing to do with our Swedish Lucia tradition. Actually, our current Lucia tradition did not emerge until the late 1800s. But as long as the Julian calendar was used, the solstice fell on December 13, and Lucia was also a harbinger of better times and longer days. Sources: nordiskamuseet.se, historiesajten.se If you want to read more about Swedish Christmas traditions CLICK HERE! /A.L Add comment to this post
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Old fashioned Christmas market December 12, 2010 9:48 PM Tweet Today is Advent third. And besides lighting a candle in my Advent candlestick and eating rice pudding every Advent Sunday, I try to visit at least one old fashioned Christmas market every year. So this afternoon I decided to uphold yet another of my December traditions. I grabbed my sister and off we went to an old farm called Hässlelyckans gård, located a few kilometres outside of Lyckeby. Every Advent Sunday they have a small and cosy Christmas market here, inspired by the 1600s. In the above pic is the farm, Hässlelyckans gård. Second pic from above; a suspicious doggie. I bet he thought those Christmas goats looked a bit weird (which they do). LOL! In the third and fourth pic; more Christmas goats, and a stand where they sold different kinds of smoked fish. And here are some pics of the old farm shop, which was filled with lovely traditional home made products. Like different kind of drinks made according to traditional recipes, home made crisp bread, candy, honey etc. I bought something called juniper berry root beer. All in all it was a nice and charming Christmas market. :-) /A.L Add comment to this post
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Promo Karlskrona, some pics and history October 27, 2010 4:06 PM Yesterday I did a little promo thing for Go Hunt Cards. They sell play cards and asked me if I could take some pics from Sweden with me holding their card. And I thought, hey why not :-) So I grabbed my mum to help me snap some shots in our beautiful town of Karlskrona. I chose to pose in front of some historical places and statues. Of course I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to share some history about Karlskrona on my blog as well. Here are pics from yesterday + some history.
This is the Great Square, one of the largest squares in Europe's northern regions. And the yellow building is the Frederick Church, which has been a part of Karlskronas Great Square since 1744.	The statue here is of Karlskronas founder and person who Karlskrona is named after, King Karl XI. Actually, Karlskrona is one of the 14 places in Sweden that is now on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
The church in the pic is the Holy Trinity Church or the German Church. When Karlskrona was founded in 1680, a lot of Germans moved here. And after a few years they wanted their own congregation and church, which is how this church came to be. It is located at the Great Square and was first opened in 1709.	This dude is Rosenbom. He has been standing in front of Sweden's largest wooden church, the Admiralty Church (also known as Ulrica Pia), since the 1700s. Rosenbom was a real person and is believed to be one of the first settlers in Karlskrona. To make a long story short; he lost his job, started begging in the streets and one cold night he froze to death next to the church wall. Rosenbom is also in the book "Nils Holgersson's wonderful journey through Sweden" by Selma Lagerlof. There is a lot more to tell about this fellow, but I'll do that another time :-)
Source: sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlskrona /A.L

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Stuck behind music
September 24, 2010 12:30

On my way to work, when this happens...really!? Do you have to march and play music in the middle of the street? And I could not take another road...Anyway, I was on time so I guess it's aaall good.

On another note, I have received my free Iphone bumper from Apple, yay! I guess it helps improve my reception...not sure actually? But it feels better to have it on though, a bit more comfortable to hold it. Actually I read in a Swedish online paper (link to article) that over 700 000 Swedes own an Iphone, wow! That's like one in ten Swedes! I wonder what the total number all over the world is, hm...?

Have a wonderful weekend! :-)

/A.L

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Time to vote!
September 19, 2010 12:16

Today is the big election day here in Sweden. Will our Parliament remain the same for another four years or not? Well, however you vote, I think the most important thing is that you do vote! So this morning I grabbed Lisen and wandered to my local polling house here in Lyckeby to cast my vote.

Lisen waiting for me while I'm in the yellow house voting.

/A.L

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Time to get political
August 29, 2010 13:28

We have an election to Parliament on September 19 here in Sweden, which we have every fourth year. Now I know a lot of people prefer to keep their political opinions to themselves, as well as which party they vote for. That's fine with me and I respect that. I'm just not one of those people, LOL!

I don't mind sharing which party I vote for and why. I have the privilege and freedom to do so and I don't see any reason not to. That doesn't mean I am one of those people who bring up this topic, or very much enjoy discussing it, but if anyone asks - I tell.

I bet you want to know wich party I'm voting for this year...no? Yes? Well I'm going to tell you anyway. I'm voting for the Social Democrats’ (in Swedish - Socialdemokraterna). It's been a long time since just one party had a majority in our Parliament so the seven major parties have divided themselves into two blocks, the red block and the blue block. The red block is the one with the Social Democrats’, but the blue block are those who won the election last time. I'm hoping for a change this year. Unfortunately I'm not sure we'll get one, simply because the Social Democrats’ don't have a very strong leader...

Oh well, enough political chatter. I saw these signs when I was on my walk with Lisen today and they got me thinking about this.

/A.L

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Lyckeby, Karlskrona, Sweden
August 26, 2010 16:43

I moved away from home when I was 19. My very first apartment was in Lyckeby, right outside Karlskrona. For some reason, counting out when I was travelling and right after when I got home, I have remained in this little suburb. I like it here, it's close to everything, but not too close, and surrounded by nature.

Actually I have lived here in Karlskrona basically all my life. Sure I was born in Uppsala, Sweden, but I only spent my first two years there. Karlskrona is not a big city, I think we have a population of around 60 000. And of course, like in any minor town, everyone knows everyone in one way or another.

I used to think I had to get out of here, move somewhere else - anywhere else. But I have realized that it's quite nice to have a home, a real home. Not just a house or apartment where I eat and sleep, but a place that I feel as close to as my own family. I might not always like it, but I stick around because it's simply where I'm suppose to be.

Top left: Shops, about five minutes walk from my apartment.
Top right: I'm taking the pic from the same spot as in the the top left pic, I live behind the flags.
Below left: Lyckebys "main street".
Below right: I live in one of those brown buildings.

/A.L

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Ok, it wasn’t that bad - just in my head!
August 17, 2010 20:17

Actually it was kind of nice to be back at work again. And the project I am working on is fine as well, so it’s aaaall good! I don’t know what my anxiety was about…just head games I guess. I mean people have phobias of all kinds of things and would rather die than hold a harmless spider in their hands. That just shows how powerful our mind is!

Anyway, on my lunch break I was out and about in town. Shot a few pics while I was waiting for my mum to meet me for lunch. I'm standing right in the middle of our main street, Ronnebygatan. This is the "big one", but it's not, haha. It takes about 5 minutes to walk from one end to the other.

As you can see on the big clock below, my mum is fifteen minutes late...Where the purple signs are, in the right pic below, is where we ate. Thai Royal, very good food!

I will never forget that day when I was waiting for the bus, down the hill in the left pic. A lady was walking across the crosswalk in the right pic, and in her hands she held two bags of liquor. I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden she started to stumble a few steps forward, she was trying to stop the fall by waving her arms in the air, but no. She fell, flat on her face. All the bottles in her bags hit the ground with a big smash. Booze and broken glass everywhere. I felt so bad for her! And glad it wasn't me...

/A.L

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Sailing
August 13, 2010 12:06

Yesterday I was at our lovely little towns yearly Sail, as it’s called. It is a market with beer tents, food stands and boats. However the last few years the boat part has kind of almost disappeared…but I don’t really pay attention to them anyway, haha. I just love walking around by the harbour and feel the atmosphere, even though for me, this event marks the end of the summer and vacation.

I met up with a friend I had not seen for quite a while and we chatted and drank a few beers. The downside of these events are the toilet issue, more specific - portable toilets only. When I drink beer it runs right through me. Of course I feel like I have to pee all the time, more than usual, just because I don‘t want to use the toilets. Three times in two hours yesterday, jiiiiz!

Anyway, I had a nice time and of course I shot a few pics.

/A.L

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