Sweden Photo Of The Day Weekly Recap, Week 102

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #463: Diving island near Gothenburg (cc photo courtesy of Thierry Gregorius)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #460: Gamla Stan at night

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #461: Lake Kultsjön in Lapland

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #462: View from a window

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Sweden Photo Of The Day Weekly Recap, Week 81

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #383: light tree (at Mosebacke in Stockholm) (cc photo courtesy of anna_t)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #384: Sergels Fountain

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #385: Escape the bubble!

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #386: The Stroke of Midnight

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Sweden Photo Of The Day Weekly Recap, Week 80

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #379: Scandinavian beach (cc photo courtesy of Let Ideas Compete)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #380: A late evening (mid May) view over Riddarholmen in Stockholm

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #381: tunnelbana (another art shot from the Stockholm subway)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #382: rolling stones

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Sweden Photo Of The Day Weekly Recap, Week 79

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #375: Horsing Around (cc photo courtesy of Steffe)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #376: Rainbow, Tännforsen

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #377: N Koster Island (gorgeous!)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #378: Driving in Midnight Sun

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Sweden Photo Of The Day Weekly Recap, Week 74

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #356: Wave Swinger at Gröna Lund (cc photo courtesy of BlurDotBlog (@dave))

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #357: ...a different way to drum...

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #358: This was a beautiful night

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #359: Hemavan

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Sweden Photo Of The Day Weekly Recap, Week 73

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #353: Boating into the Stockholm sunrise (cc photo courtesy of Let Ideas Compete)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #354: Backstroke start

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #355: Aurora borealis (in the far north of Sweden, you'll find more information on this spectacular lightshow here)

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Sweden Photo Of The Day Weekly Recap, Week 71

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #345: Up (cc photo courtesy of EugeniusD80)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #346: (shortly after) Sunset in Stockholm

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #347: Midsommarföda (midsummer food :))

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #348: Sarek – Europe’s last wilderness

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Midsommar: Perfect Time to Toast the Midnight Sun in Sweden

From late May to mid July, the sun never sets north of the Arctic Circle. The Midnight Sun. I can’t think of a better time to toast the midnight sun than on the most celebrated, non-religious holiday of the year in Sweden: Midsommar, coming up this Saturday, one of the biggest holidays of the year in all of Scandinavia (always on the Saturday closest to the summer solstice. Midsummer’s Eve/Midsommarafton, is also a big afternoon/evening for parties).

You'll experience 24 hours of daylight in the far north of Sweden at this time of year. In Stockholm, the sun always sets (too far south), but the sky never turns pitch dark in June (unless it’s stormy), with the sun setting in Stockholm around 10:10 pm at Midsommar and rising at 3:30 am.

I hope to spend a future Midsommar in awe of the midnight sun while hiking through Abisko National Park (200 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle, near the border with Norway):

(cc photo of Abisko courtesy of timrawle)

A view of the midnight light from Abisko:

(cc photo courtesy of skidave32289)

Glad Midsommar! (Swedish for Happy Midsummer!)
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Sweden Photo Of The Day Weekly Recap, Week 21

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #101: Kukkesvagge stream (in Sarek National Park, great place to see the midnight sun, late May-mid July) (cc photo courtesy of grapetonix)

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #102: Skåne

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #103: Moose and Mum

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #104: Railcar at the bridge

Favorite Sweden photo of the day #105: Mors dag (this Sunday is Mother's Day in Sweden)

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Sweden and Switzerland Are Not The Same!

Why do so many people confuse Sweden with Switzerland? One of my closest friends is vacationing in Switzerland this week. Before she left on her trip, I told her that I belonged to a "just for fun" group on Facebook called "Sweden and Switzerland are not the same!" I also told her that in the past two months, I've heard a television commentator at the World Cup ski races in Europe accidentally call a Swedish skier Swiss a few too many times (and I love everything else about this particular commentator's ski coverage). A few summers ago, before leaving for a trip to Sweden, a friend of mine wished me "a great trip to Switzerland!" Common mistake according to the Facebook group.

So "just for fun," let's take a look at some anonymous examples posted on the group page for "Sweden and Switzerland are not the same!"

~ "nice group that makes me smile. I am Swiss and living in Miami...it is incredible how much confusion there is...The good thing is I love the two countries both Switzerland and Sweden...so to be taken for Swedish is not a problem. We just need to educate our friends a little more :-)"

~ "So where are you from?
-Sweden
Switzerland! Wow that's great!
-No. Sweden.
Right. Umm...isn't that what I just said? "

~ "LOL, I know exactly what u mean.. I'm from Sweden and I lived in Italy for one year. Every time someone asked me where I'm from, I answered Swezia. And they went like "oh, Swizzeria".. I explained that it was Sweden and NOT Switzerland. Most funny was when we went skiing in the Dolomites, Cortina d'Ampezzo.. then they were like "Oh, now you really near to your home country" hahaha ;o)"

~ "I'm English - but I cannot for the life of me work out why people think Sweden and Switzerland are the same country. So they both start with "sw".... and?"

~ "lovely. i am aussie but have swiss parents and i speak swiss german and we have a guy from sweden at work and everyone thinks we're from the same place :|"

~ "there's also something to be said of "Are there kangaroos in Austria?"
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Earthquakes in Sweden?

We're used to earthquakes in California. When it starts to shake in San Francisco, we just wait it out a few moments, wondering "is this the build up to the Big One? Do I need to bolt?" Up until last week, I never knew Swedes experienced temblors as well. The Swedish landscape, after all, is mostly flat, except in the northwest near the mountainous border with Norway. Last week, a quake on the northeast coast, measuring 2.46 on the Richter scale with an epicenter near Skellefteå, rattled some Swedish nerves. No reports of injuries or damages.

Granted, only small tremors have been recorded in Sweden for more than 100 years. Sweden has experienced one significant quake since 1900. In 1904, two years before the 7.8 San Francisco earthquake, a temblor that measured nearly 6.0 on the Richter scale, centered off Sweden's west coast, shook the Koster Islands (near Strömstad).

Sweden may shake, rattle and roll now and again, but lucky for Swedes, it's far from being a tectonic hotspot.

The Midnight Sun

My family in California cautions me to be prepared for the short hours of daylight during the Nordic winter after I move to Stockholm. On the shortest day of the year in December, Stockholm is graced with six hours of daylight, with the sun rising around 8:45am and setting around 2:45pm. My California relatives are forgetting that I'm nocturnal and function well during the darkness.

I am from San Francisco after all. July is typically our coldest month of the year when the thick fog envelopes the city. The sun can be missing for days during July. Sure, it's not "Nordic winter" dark. But it's a foggy darkness, when the tourists waiting in line for the cable cars, expecting California sunshine, are found freezing in their shorts and have their arms wrapped around themselves, the wind whipping their hair like a vacuum cleaner.

What amazes me about the far north is the never-ending daylight above the Arctic Circle during the summer. The Midnight Sun. It sounds exotic. Some people might have trouble sleeping when the sun is out, but I don't. I look forward to seeing the Midnight Sun firsthand. It can't be seen in Stockholm (which is too far south), although darkness only descends on Stockholm for a few hours during the summer, with the mid June sun setting around 10:15pm and rising around 3:30am. If you want to see the true Midnight Sun, travel north of the Arctic Circle. Between late May and mid July, the sun never sets in the far north of Sweden.

I caught my first ever glimpse of the Midnight Sun yesterday, through a live webcam in Karesuando, the northernmost village in Sweden. You can view it here. Karesuando shares the same latitude as central Greenland and northern Canada. A bridge connects the village with Finland. Karesuando is located 250 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. After I move to Stockholm, I will make a summertime pilgrimage to the Arctic Circle to hike through the Swedish mountain wilderness of Lappland in the middle of the night! A summer night of endless light sounds wonderful to me.