GoOverseas

Have you heard of the website GoOverseas? It's the place to go if you're looking to study, teach or volunteer overseas. It's full of great up-to-date information about even the most out of the way places and is easy to navigate and great looking too. The very nice people that they are at GoOverseas have decided to include 'Travels in C Minor' in their 10 top Swedish blogs. Thank you very much guys. Much appreciated. If you are interested in having a look just click on the badge on the right side of the page and it'll take you there. Happy journeying!

Stockholm: Planet of the Animals

The Akalla pond in Stockholm, Sweden.

Two Canada Geese sailing across the pond in Akalla. Last week a flock of geese (two parents and 8 goslings) that we got to know last winter arrived back after a short holiday down south. It was the first flight for them and I'm glad they got back.

There are so many animals in our neighbourhood. You meet them every time you go for a walk. I suppose if you're not an animal lover it wouldn't be that interesting but I am. I always think there's something wrong with a person if they don't like animals. For me what's not to like. They bring joy and colour into your life. I love birds a lot and have to resist buying one everytime we go to the pet shop. I can't stand birds in cages. You really miss the colour and screetching of Australia's parrots here in Sweden. Seeing the budgerigars in the petshop at the mall makes me more aware of the reality of the size of the world. From Australia to Sweden is such a long way. Sometimes I feel like one of those budgerigars.

Here's just a sample of all the animals we saw on just one Sunday walk. Along with a paraglider and a lone balloonist. It was a magical autumn day.

Cafe Butik is in a 17th century farm.

I have no idea what these pointy cattle scratching themselves are called. If someone knows drop us a line. I presume some sort of rare breed.

This was the last great autumn day. All the leaves dropped off the next day.

It's hard to get a good photo of these birds (perhaps a sparrow?) cos they hide whenever there's a camera around.

There are a number of stables around Akalla so you see horses quite frequently while you're walking. They show horse jumping on tv in prime time. You wouldn't think of Sweden as a horsy nation but they're quite into it.

Ballooning's quite common during autumn as it's mostly clear skies and hardly any wind.

The streaks from a plane give direction to a paraglider.

Yet another photo of autumn trees.

Public fence showing a fantastic use of local wood. It's beautifully made and not a nail to be seen.

This goat reminds me of someone I used to live with!

Cat in the grass. I think everyone in Stockholm has a cat. They're everywhere.

Autumn Sonata: Höst in Sweden

Autumn (höst) in Stockholm, Sweden. Dazzling silhouettes of colour against the sky.

I'd give up sweeping if I lived in that house.

An explosion of pink in the Lynköping Botanical Gardens. Linköping's south of Stockholm in the province of Östergötland.

Brilliant autumn flowers await you on your daily walk.

Nowhere to hide.

This is my first autumn in Stockholm or höst as they call it in Sweden and it's absolutely stunning. While in Australia we have a scattering of big, old elms and oaks and birches, especially in Melbourne and Tasmania, it's not like it is here obviously. They blanket the countryside along with the pines. Everywhere you look trees are turning golden yellow and red. The wind gushes and you get caught up in a rain of leaves. It's already pretty cold here so soon we'll be dressed up like the abominable snowman. Actually it's not like that at all it's super fashionable in Sweden in winter.

Tropical plant hothouse in the Linköping Botanical Gardens.

Linköping at dusk.

Magnificent elm pathway in Linköping botanical gardens.

Meanwhile we've been visiting various towns around Sweden by the ever reliable train system. I love those trains. Hiie had to go to a conference in Linköping so I went along to see what it was like. It's a picture book swedish town, quiet and well behaved and full of art nouveau and art deco apartments and buildings which was a surprise. They, like everything else in Sweden, are beautifully maintained. The whole town is so clean. No graffiti. How do they do it?  The high taxes at work I guess. Even McDonalds, not that I make a habit of going there but sometimes it's the only thing open late for a hot drink, was relatively clean. Most people clean up after themselves in Sweden, even teenagers! Everything is so well maintained and orderly. I think this is why the Swedes love heavy metal music. And all those dark, murderous novels like Stieg Larsson's. It's the contrast.

Lynköping has a strong studenty vibe and  there are lots of people riding their bicycles everywhere. Watch out crossing the road. You can basically walk around the whole town in a couple of hours.

Dutch painter Van Heemskerck in the Linköping cathedral.

On one of my walking trips I stopped off at the Linköping cathedral which was founded in the 13th century and contains some beautiful medieval stone carvings alongside contemporary photography. The carvings make stone seem soft, like they're carved into mud.

Though I really went to see the huge renaissance painting by Dutch painter Van Heemskerck. It's in mint condition and hard to believe it wasn't painted yesterday, the colour is so brilliant. It details the usual torture and suffering of the end of Jesus' life. It didn't move me in the slightest. For me this style is the equivalent of  the violent storytelling in the movies today obviously nowhere near as bad. It just glamourises violence.

Medieval stone carving.

I find swedish churches in general have a really good vibe in them. Very light and uplifting. Supposedly not many people go to church in Sweden. But those that do must have good vibes I reckon because it's in the churches. And the Church of Sweden is very progressive. It even has gay marraige services. They're absolutely not religiously overt here though. You barely see anyone with religious symbols on. Interesting. Except for the new muslim immigrants.

Also on my walking tour was the botanical garden which is beautiful but small. The Swedes are great gardeners judging by the extent of gardening that goes on. Really imaginative arrangements of plants featuring vegetables amongst the flowers. They have a great sense of design and sensitivity to colour too. Flower arranging is really big here too. I noticed that a Swede, Ulf Nordfyell, won a gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2007 and he also designed the entrance to the botanical gardens.

Cabbages amongst the flowers.

Another walk was to the Östergötland museum and on the way there's a small garden dedicated to the assasinated Prime Minister Olaf Palme. He's still a very significant figure in Sweden. It's next to the museum, which needs a serious building upgrade. It houses Swedish art from the medieval period to 20th century local painters. It's pretty ramshackle but it's reasonably interesting. There's a great painting called 'The Fall of Man' by Lucas Cranach behind glass. It would want to be because you could just walk out with anything in there as there's no guards or cameras at all. But that's also a nice thing about the museum. And about Linköping in general.

We also visited my favourite town in Sweden, Uppsala, this time to see Linnaeus' baroque style garden. Carl von Linne or Linnaeus was the 18th century botanist who gave the world the system of classifying plants. He lived and taught in Uppsala and his house and garden is a great place to visit if you're interested in ecology or botany, or just history in general. All his experiments on plants were done on the plants in this garden. An extremely knowledgeable botanist, who was related to one of the botanist's on Captain Cook's voyage to Australia, charmingly showed us around.

Linnaeus' garden, Uppsala.

Sweden Info:
Linköping Cathedral  Sankt Persgatan, Linköping.
Östergötlands Länsmuseum Raoul Wallengbergs Plats, Linköping.

Linköping Botanical Gardens  Entrance at Drottningatan, Linköping.

The Linnaeus Garden Svartbäcksgatan 27, Uppsala.

If you want to read more about Linnaeus' garden click here.