PROJECT SVERIGE

[BIRDIEMANGO]

HELLO GUYS,

SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT,IF LIKE ME YOU ARE TROUBLED BY WORKING ON CARS FOR A LIVING.......EVERY DAY?

RATHER THAN POST A DUPLICATE ACCOUNT OF ADVENTURES IN SWEDEN HERE.....

PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK...........A BIT OF CHRISTMAS READING

http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81196

I GOT THIS SOUVENEIR FROM A MARKET STALL IN GOTEBORG........


OH,HAPPY HOLIDAYS BY THE WAY...

BIRDIE

[DeLorean]

SHOUTING? Why?

[saabfan9]

very cool thank you for sharing the link amazing pictures! (my daughter wanted the happy face we were looking together)

[Jordan]

SHOUTING? Why?

He gets a pass. He has a note from his doctor.

[Geoff]

I found most of the same experiences that you've found on your visits. One thing you didn't mention is that many people speak a fair amount of English and many restaurants and cafes have English menus (probably only the over priced stuff on those though )

The one time we went we stayed about half of the nights in Vandrarhems, which are sort of like a cross between a hostel and a Bo på Lantgård. Our favorite was one that was an old farm house near Lidkoping.

We've thought of painting our house Falun Red to match the houses in Sweden. We'd paint the garage that tan/yellow color (with red roofs) that many of the other houses in central Sweden are painted.

We met a lot of people that were surprised to see "American" tourists (especially because we weren't part of a tour group!). Some told us that they're wary of the British travelers because "they come and misbehave."

We traveled from Stockholm, up to Mora, down to Karlstad, to Trollhattan, to Goteborg, to Lidkoping, to Uppsala. Got stuck in some rush-hour traffic in Goteborg on the way to drop off a friend at the airport... But the Volvo museum in Goteborg is very nice, it's much larger and has more cars than the SAAB museum. Of course the scenery isn't is good. My wife wore a "SAAB" T-shirt to the Volvo museum.

We liked everywhere we went. Everything is calm and peaceful, the forests are nice, the towns are nice, Lake Vanern is just great to go for a walk along and sit. We would have liked to spend two to three times longer everywhere we were but one place we would have liked to spend more time in (other than just an evening and breakfast the next day) is Uppsala. There just seemed to be some neat things to see and do there.

The midnight sun was pretty confusing for us. We kept losing track of time and showing up late to our accommodations because it looked like it was only 6:00 at night to us. Of course finding a place to eat dinner isn't always easy due to the rural nature of things AND because we'd show up late because the sun fooled us into thinking it was early.

I stayed in a building in one of your pictures!

Where else do girls wear dresses while riding bicycles?

[TunnanXWD]

HE IS FROM UK AND YOU ALWAYS SHOUT AT FOREIGNERS SO WE UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO SAY.

I think his piano has been drinking.

[BIRDIEMANGO]

I found most of the same experiences that you've found on your visits. One thing you didn't mention is that many people speak a fair amount of English and many restaurants and cafes have English menus

We met a lot of people that were surprised to see "American" tourists (especially because we weren't part of a tour group!). Some told us that they're wary of the British travelers because "they come and misbehave."

HELLO GEOFF,

YEP BACK IN 2007 WHEN WE FIRST VENTURED TO SCANDINAVIA,WE HIRED A CAR IN NORWAY,CATCHING THE FERRY TO SWEDEN.......

TRYING TO FIND OUR ACCOMODATION IN 'MELLERUD',ON SHORES OF LAKE VANERN......I WOUND THE WINDOW DOWN,TO ASK SOME PEDESTRIANS.......ELDERLY PEDESTRIANS.

THEY LOOKED AT THE NORWEGIAN LICENCE PLATES,THE SWEDISH FLAGS STUCK OUT OF BOTH WINDOWS,AND LISTENED TO OUR NATIVE TONGUE.......

A LOOK OF BEWILDERMENT FOLLOWED ,BY A SHRUG OF THE SHOULDERS..

THIS YEAR WE STAYED AT 'BITTERNA' JUST NORTH OF 'HERRLJUNGA',BORAS..........

THE FARMER AND HIS WIFE WERE AROUND 40 YEARS OF AGE,COULD SPEAK ONLY BROKEN ENGLISH....I MANAGED WITH A LITTLE 'SWE-NGLISH',WE GOT ALONG FINE.....

THEY TOLD US THAT THE MONEY/RESOURCES WAS NEVER INVESTED IN THE RURAL FARMLAND SCHOOLS,SO ENGLISH WAS NEVER CONCENTRATED ON AS A SECOND LANGUAGE WHEN THEY WERE GROWING UP.......

TO REINFORCE THIS NOTION,WE HAD DINNER OUT IN THE GARDEN ONE EVENING WITH THE FAMILY......THE ELDERS COULD SPEAK NO ENGLISH AT ALL.

IT WAS FUN TO DRAW,AND TO QUESTION THE VARIOUS ITEMS AND FOODS ON THE TABLE.......? MY FAVOURITE WORD SO FAR.......? JORDGUBBAR..........=STRAWBERRY

I ALWAYS TRY TO CONVERSE A LITTLE IN THE NATIVE SWEDE TONGUE,EVEN IF IT SOUNDS MAYBE A LITTLE ODD TO THEM?

CLOSER TO THE CITIES&TOWNS SWEDES HAVE ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE &SEEMED TO BE MUCH MORE PREDOMINAT&FLUENT AS A RESULT OF THAT.....

A SMALL RESTARAUNT NEXT TO 'HOTEL AVALON' IN GOTEBORG,BY THE NAME OF 'BRUNSTORGET'.......INDEED,THE MENUS CAME IN ENGLISH.........ON I-PADS

IT WAS MENTIONED THAT BRITISH TOURISTS,MADE UP THE LARGER PERCENTAGE OF VISISTORS,CERTAINLY TO GOTEBORG WHILST WE WERE THERE........

[ReinO]

My wife wore a "SAAB" T-shirt to the Volvo museum.

We would have liked to spend two to three times longer everywhere we were but one place we would have liked to spend more time in (other than just an evening and breakfast the next day) is Uppsala. There just seemed to be some neat things to see and do there.

Uppsala is really nice, because that's where I live. If you're around sometime again, you are very welcome to stop by for a coffee.

The midnight sun was pretty confusing for us. We kept losing track of time and showing up late to our accommodations because it looked like it was only 6:00 at night to us. Of course finding a place to eat dinner isn't always easy due to the rural nature of things AND because we'd show up late because the sun fooled us into thinking it was early.

Just for the record, The real midnight sun is north of the polar circle, wich is waay up north. You can experience it in Kiruna if you ever want to go there. Tip for next time might be to get a watch. haha

Glad you guys like our country anyway.

[DrewP]

I would like to get up to see the Midnatsol rally to Nordkap someday.

I didn't have any trouble not being able to communicate, between my wife's Norwegian and our mostly sticking to urban areas for our trip, but definitely had a good time with the locals around Kiruna and Jukkasjarvi learning new words. And how to make correct coffee of course.

[Crazyswede]

I wonder if we could enter the WRC round in Sweden.....somehow Bill Caswell entered his old bmw in the mexico wrc event.

Just checked...they actually ran a regional rally that happened to coincide with the WRC...so while they were behind the WRC Cars, along side in some cases, they were in a seperate event.

[Geoff]

[quote="ReinO"]Just for the record, The real midnight sun is north of the polar circle, wich is waay up north. /quote]

I get impressed when the sun comes up before 6:30 AM and goes down after 9:30 PM...

[BIRDIEMANGO]

I didn't have any trouble not being able to communicate, between my wife's Norwegian.....

MAYBE THIS WILL BRING BACK SOME MEMORIES,DREW......?

CANNOT SEEM TO STAY AWAY FROM SCANDINAVIA......

http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic. ... 6&start=40

JUST BACK FROM NORGE.....

BIRDIE

[BIRDIEMANGO]

OH DEAR, ANOTHER TRIP TO NORWAY......

http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewtopic. ... 6&start=60

JOURNEY STARTS NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.....

THIS TIME WE WERE VERY FORTUNATE TO GO........

'VIVA SCANDINAVIA...........'

BIRDIE