Posts tagged with "royal family"

The Royal Wedding: 28 hours to go

Posted by jennie 1 Comment
Jun 18 2010

The guests have arrived, along with 2300 journalists, 2000 policemen and numerous tourists. In other words, Stockholm is ready to host the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling. 

When? The ceremony will take place 3.30 pm, Swedish time. An hour later, at 4.30 pm, the newlyweds will go in a parade through Stockholm and show themselves to the masses. At 6.00 pm, the couple will do the classical wave to the people from Lejonbacken and hopefully say a few lovey dovey thank you-words. The official wedding dinner kicks off at 7.30 pm at the Royal Palace – everything will be broadcast live.

Who?  The official guest list includes figures from the worlds of showbiz, royalty, politics, diplomacy and of course some of Victoria and Daniels personal friends. Amonst the royalities (kungligheter), look out for King Albert and Queen Paola of the Belgians,  King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway, Queen Margarethe of Denmark and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Prince Harry and Prince William of England decided to go to South Africa and the World Cup instead, which some find “rude” and “inappropriate” and others “totally understandable, I would have done the same”. Anyway, forty members of foreign royal families will stay at the Royal Palace as guests of the King, and from what I read yesterday, I definitely think he should have hosted a few more. The Royal Palace has 1 200 rooms… Amongst the non royal guests we have the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Social Democrat leader Mona Sahlin, the opera singer Malena Ernman, who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest last year, the singer Peter Jöback and his partner Oscar Nilsson and Roxette’s Per Gessle, with wife Åsa.  All foreign ambassadors in Stockholm have been invited and the expected presence of ambassadors from North Korea and Eritrea has sparked a raging debate. Also, the left party leader and republican Lars Ohly has turned down the invitation on principle.

How? Well, nothing will really be reviled until it’s showtime, but we do know that Victoria  have chosen not to have any bridesmaids (brudtärnor). Instead she has chosen ten children as little bridesmaids, (brudnäbbar); eight children of royal families and Daniel’s two nieces Hedvig and Vera. And regarding the weather forecast… well, let’s put it this way. It doesn’t look bright.

Where? If you are extremely into this, Sveriges Television are brodcasting live from 8.00 am Swedish time until midnight! 

So, anyone more than me up for a royal Saturday? Does anyone care about this – in our eyes – big event where you are in the world?

Blogs in Swedish

Posted by jennie 7 Comments
Mar 30 2010

There has been a few requests about good Swedish blogs lately and jag är inte den som är den! But what is a good blog? To use another great Swedish expression, smaken är som baken – delad (Your taste is like your butt -divided) and there is a strong possibility that the blogs I like might not be your cup of tea. So, this is – once again – why I need you guys. Please share your favourite blogs (preferably in Swedish) and I can make the list longer. But for now, here’s a random selection of a few blogs   - in Swedish, by Swedes – about anything and everything. Happy reading and let the blog sharing begin!

Life in general-stuff:
I have said it before and I promise, I won’t say it again. Writer Alex Schulman’s blog is filled with brilliant thoughts, great observations and fun glimpses of his and his family’s everyday life. Alex brother Calle Schulman also writes a great blog, voted one of the best blog of 2009 in Sweden. You can find it here.

Julia Skott is young a journalist and multi blogger that writes on and runs several different blogs. This is her own personal one, but I strongly recommend to nose around her links. If you are lucky, you’ll end up here, on a brilliant technical blog written by ten female gadget nerds.

A blog written by a woman wo has children together with Sweden’s most famous actor, Mikael Persbrant AND is the daughter of one of Sweden’s most famous musicians, Ulf Lundell, must be interesting, surely. But of course! Read Sanna Lundell’s blog here.

Lotta Gray is a famous gossip journalist, wife and mother whose life drastically changed two years ago when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Read about her life and struggle here.

Music/TV/film/books-stuff:

Poppony is a blog about anything vaguely cultural, both Swedish and international. A must read for music/movie/tv-junkies. Kulturbloggen is another great blog in the same field, great stuff written by great people.

If books do the trick it for you, this is without a doubt the blog for you. And – if you have kids  and would like to explore the beautiful world of Swedish (and international) children’s books, Bokunge is a brilliant place to start.

Political stuff:
2010 is election year in Sweden, and if you want to keep up with what’s happening on our political stage, Politkerbloggen is the place.

Royal stuff:
2010 is not only election year, it’s the big fat royal wedding year! Both princesses are getting married and if royalites, princesses and weddings is your bag, make sure to click here.

One again, I must recommend Bloggportalen. There you can find over 50 000 links to Swedish blogs,  personal and professional, divided either into categories or geographically.

Okay, that’s 12 blogs to start with from me. Your turn now. Your favourite blog in Swedish is…

Sweden according to mig.

Posted by jennie 6 Comments
Jan 27 2010

Today, it happens to be all about me me me and my favourites from up north. And since I’m a sucker for list, here’s my list of things I love about, from and in Sverige. Click away!

Favourite Famous Swede:
The remarkable children’s authur Astrid Lindgren. If you still haven’t read the amazing stories about the Lionheart Brothers, Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter or Mio, My Mio, please do so. Immediately.

Favourite Swedish Word:
Smultronställe = a place that you love and cherish is your “wild strawberry place”. Smultron = Wild strawberry. Ställe = Place.

Favourite Swedish Slang:
Gött = great
Möla = stuff your face with something yummy
Asar = Lurch around doing nothing

Favourite Swedish Sayings:
Smaken är som baken – delad = The taste is like your butt – divided.
Man ska inte ropa hej förrän man är över bäcken = Don’t shout hello until you have crossed the stream.

Favourite Swedish Food:
Without a doubt Falukorv. Followed by a newly baked, big and moist cinnamon bun after this recipe. Mmm heavenly.

Favourite Swedish Candy:
Polly – a little chocolate covered foam-thing with butter fudge filling that has been a Swedish classic since 1965 and can be purchased at IKEA. A must, I tell you. And horribly salty liquorice, of course!

Favourite Swedish Movie:
“En Kärlekshistoria” (A Love Story/Roy Andersson, 1970)
“Tilsammans” (Together/Lukas Moodysson 2000)
“Farväl Falkenberg” (Goodbye Falkenberg/Jesper Ganslandt 2006)
(All are available with subtiles)

Favourite Swedish Webpage:
www.blocket.se – where the Swedes buy and sell their used cars/furniture/clothes/cell phones… Last year, we bought and sold tings for almost two billions on there! Simple, fun AND environmental friendly.

Favourite Swedish blog:
Well, apart from the obvious, I – and almost half of Sweden’s population – love to read this funny a sharp blog by the Swedish journalist and author Alex Schulman.

Favourite Swedish Book:
Apart from everything with Astrid Lindgren I can read Swedish crime until my eyes bleed. The favourite author at the moment is Mons Kallentoft and his novel “Sommardöden” (The Summer Death) gives me the creeps just by standing there in the book shelf.

Favourite Swedish TV-show:
“Mia och Klara”, Swedish humour at its best. Have a sneakpeak – in Swedish – here!

Favourite Swedish Magazine:
Without a doubt Filter. It’s thick like a book and contains billiant, long articles about everything. Literally everything.

Favourite Swedish Brand:
String has made classic and great looking shelves since the 1950′s. Welcome to design heaven!

Favourite Swedish Shop:
Monki makes great and stylish women’s clothes to very much affordable prices.

Favourite Swedish Song:
At the moment, it’s  Hästpojkens “Gitarrer och bas, trummor och hat”. (Guitars and base, drums and hate).

Favourite Swedish Royalty:
Our one and only female regent, Queen Kristina (1632-1654) a very interesting and strong character. Amongst the now living it must be the middle kid, 28-year old Madeleine. Both her and her older sister Victoria, our next regent, are getting married this summer. Talk about wedding fever!

Favourite Swedish City:
Göteborg. Make sure to visit Slottskogen, a huge and beautiful park with lovely surroundings, lots of animals and great events. And, more important, have an ice cold beer on the 23d floor of Gothia West Tower.

Favourite Place In Sweden:
Bohuslän, the little county on the south west coast. There’s noting like it. My smultronställe.

Favourite Thing To Do In Sweden:
Right this moment, after writing this, I would probably say to möla Polly while reading Mons Kallentoft and listening to Hästpojken somewhere on a warm cliff in Bohuslän. Try it, it’s gött.

But remember, smaken är som baken so please feel free to share your list!

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