Positive Outcomes With COVID came people traveling in their home countries and introducing us to many things. I have got to get to Sweden as there so so many things to see that I wasn't aware of until I read these blogs this year. I may have to pick up a couple of those books.
Indonesia What a great experience it might have been to see Komodo dragons!! For me, especially that reptiles are my favorite kind of animals. I plan to go there hopefully in a few years! I like that you include various elements in your account, the good and the bad, to give an authentic portrait of a place.
Astrid Lindgren Oh wow, I remember reading and loving the stories of Emil when I was young. I didn't realise they were written by Astrid Lindgren. What a lovely trip down memory lane this must have been for you, seeing the places that it seems you grew up with. Thanks for writing about this Ake ?
I was afraid of Emil's dad When I was a child and saw Emil on TV I was afraid of his dad. So, yes it really was a trip down memory lane to see the place where they shot the films and to see the tool shed Emil hid in when his father was angry. /Ake
Red houses I miss my trips to Sweden now that my son is living in Spain ( not complaining about that though) ... but thanks for reminding me about Pippi and Vimmerby and all the red wooden houses that I love.
Wonderful! I feel a bit embarrassed to say that the only work by Astrid Lindgren that I have previously heard of was "Pippi Longstocking", but I enjoyed learning about the other stories she wrote. Seeing the places and people which inspired her stories was quite wonderful even if some of them were the filming locations. Great post!
Tup Tim has been castrated… When I lived in Bangkok in the 1990s, this shrine was located closer to the canal, and it had hundreds (maybe thousands) of penises piled up everywhere. As this was/is a fertility shrine, the phalluses were placed there by people who wanted children. When I revisited in 2017, I learned they relocated the shrine, sanitized it, and kept a token few penises. It’s a shadow of its former self.
I'd have loved to see it in its former glory I would really have loved to see it when it was in its old location. That probably would have been more special. /Ake
Windmills I love windmills! What a treat to be able to see so many in just one small area. And I like your idea of publishing a blog entry on a theme, rather than a destination or a trip.
We really like windmills We really like windmills. We think they are nice to look at. Glad you enjoyed reading our blog entry about them and thank you forbcommenting. / Ake
Öland Before reading these blog entries, I had thought about a trip to Öland for a future visit to Sweden. It seems very much my cup of tea, with interesting and off-the-beaten-track attractions. Reading this has confirmed it's still a place I'd like to visit. And I do like getting to the end of your photos, Ake ?
You need a car We would recommend that you have your own wheels when traveling on Öland. A car makes sense but a bicycle or a motorbike can also do the trick. Public transport is scarce and trains are non-existing. Ake
Roxette Ah, I love Roxette! And when I read you had written a blog entry on Öland Island, I immediately thought of their "Listen to your Heart" video. I'm glad you were able to visit Borgholm Castle - legendary in my eyes for Roxette reminiscence ? The rest of the island looks very interesting too ?
Öland has gone under our radar Actually, we were not aware of how interesting Öland really is before we went there. As a travel destination it has sort of gone under the radar for us. But now that we've been there we would put it in the top five of places worth visiting in Sweden. /Åke
I Love Hjo I'm glad you mentioned how to pronounce it, otherwise I would have had no idea! Ah, it seems like a lovely nostalgic trip, and I love the photo of Ake and his sister before and after ? I also stock up my freezer regularly with Swedish meatballs from Ikea, so it's nice to read about where they come from! Such a lot of interesting places to visit in such a short space of time - well done you both! ?
Great Collection! I like this collection of windmill photos which shows how similar, yet how different they can be! This particular windmill looks like it could be the subject of a nursery rhyme to me!
That one was on private land I had to use a large zoom lens to take that photo because the windmill sits on private land and the owners didn't want people to wander up to it. All of the others we could walk up to though. /Ake
The Windmills of Öland Talk about fascinating...can imagine heads popping out of the base structures in days of yore. Two questions. Do they draw water from the water table being their use in Australia, or is their use just for grinding or wind energy? Have the vanes or blades been stripped as they appear to be mainly frames?
Almost exclusively for grinding flour Almost all of these windmills were built for grinding flour. Typically in northern Europe we have so much rain during a growing season that using a windmill for pumping water has not been necessary. Two of the windmills that we included in the blog entry have have been built for other purposes. One of the old ones was used for polishing stones and a new one was built for generating electricity. When the windmills were in use the blades would have been covered probably with some kind of cloth acting more or less as a sail. Since the windmills are not in use our guess is that they have removed this cloth since otherwise they would have to change it regularly. /Ake
We are Emma Holmbro and Ake Dahllof. We live in Stockholm, Sweden.
We have travelled more or less regularly since the mid 1990-ies and it seems like the more we travel the more difficult it is to decide where to go next. Not because we are running out of places to visit but because we find more places we want to go to faster than we manage to travel to them.
Some of the things from our travel bucket list we have ticked off since we started this blog in 2006 are
Angel Falls in Ven... full info
D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Positive Outcomes
With COVID came people traveling in their home countries and introducing us to many things. I have got to get to Sweden as there so so many things to see that I wasn't aware of until I read these blogs this year. I may have to pick up a couple of those books.