I feel like I should start with some facts about Sweden, and some of the things that attracted me there before I talk about specific cities. That seems to be the most logical place to start. That way I can make comparisons between the cities and the country as a whole.
First things first, here are some of the very basic facts about Sweden. We'll get to some interesting facts in a moment.
1. The national language is Swedish, although the majority of Swedes born after 1940 can understand and speak, some if not a good amount, of English. (Its estimated that about 89% of Swedes speak English)
2. The population of Sweden is small compared to the United States. The whole country houses around 9.4 million people. For comparison the population of Ohio (my home state) is over 11.5 million people, according to the 2010 census. The three largest cities in Sweden are Stockholm which has a metro population of 2,019,182 , Gothenburg which has a metro population of 926,654, and Malmö which has a metro population of 635,224. To put it in perspective the United States top three populated cities New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago have metro populations of: 18,897,109; 15,250,000; and 9,461,105 respectively.
3. Ohio is a little less than 1/4 of the size of Sweden. The total area of Sweden is 173,745 sq miles, compared with Ohio's area of 44,825 sq miles.
4.The government there is a Unitary Parliamentary Democracy, as well as a Constitutional Monarchy. This could be compared to the government in England. Although the royal family of Sweden are just figureheads. Their primary duty is to attend important public engagements for the country.
5. Sweden is the 5th largest European country in terms of land area, although it is the third biggest country in the EU (European Union). It was not always a part of the union. It officially became part of the union in January of 1995. Unlike the majority of the countries in the EU Sweden still uses its own form of currency (Kronor) instead of the Euro.
6. Sweden's high tax rate pays for free education for all residents, as well as health care.
7. Sweden has 25 provinces (landscapes), that are divided based on culture, geography and history. They serve no political or administrative purpose, but are very important in self identification.
8.The actual age of the of Sweden is unknown. It really all depends on when you want to start counting from. You could start counting from the time that the Svar (sweonas) ruled what was then called Svealand, or if you start counting its age from the time that the Svar, and the Götar of Götaland united under one ruler.
9. Sweden allows gay marriage, or as they call it "gender neutral marriage"
10. From the north to the south, the temperature can vary greatly, just like here in the United States. Southern and central parts of the country have warm summers and cold winters, with average high temperatures of 68 to 77 °F and lows of 54 to 59 °F summer, and average temperatures of 25 to 36 °F in the winter. This is important (at least to me), because I will mostly be spending time in the southern and central regions of the country.
Now that I got all those basic facts out of the way; Here are some FUN facts about Sweden.
1. A popular souvenir is the road sign for moose-crossing. Every year a huge number of these signs are stolen from Swedish roads. In case a road sign was not enough to fill your fascination with moose, you can also buy various forms of moose poo, such as jarred poo, and poo keychains... In general according to Anton, Germans seem to be more interested in it than anyone else.
2. Sweden is the second most technologically advanced country in Europe. This is reflected by the fact that Swedes have been known for a number of inventions, including an astronomical lens, the zipper, a marine propeller, the refrigerator, the computer mouse and a pace-maker. The proportion of personal computers, per capita, in Sweden is the highest in Europe, which also shows their love for technology and being technologically advanced.
3.This next fact is not actually a fact, but more-so an opinion, but Sweden has some pretty sweet hotels: Including the Ice Hotel, and TreeHotel. (see below)
4. Swedes have been driving on the right side of the road since 1965... when they switched from driving on the left hand side. Although the design of the cars has always been the same with the steering wheel on the left side.
5.Sweden has the highest number of McDonald restaurants, per capita, in Europe.
6. A popular christmas soft drink, Julmust (Jul = Christmas, Must = Juice), causes the sales of coca-cola to drop by as much as 50%. This drink is typically available only in the Christmas season, although its found during the Easter season under a different name. (påskmust). 45 million litres of julmust were consumed during December of 1999, compared with the 9 million residents of the country at that time, thats an average of 5 litres of julmust per person, in December alone!
7. Sweden has the highest percentage of working mothers in the developed world. Sweden was also the first country to grant suffrage for (married) women in local elections.
8. A traditional dish that many Swedes enjoy usually comprises of meatballs, with potatoes and lingonberry sauce.
9. Carolus Linnaeus – better known in the U.S. as Carl von Linné – was Swedish, most famous for inventing the system for classifying plants and animals into different species and families. He wrote the epoch-making book Systema Nature (The System of Nature) in 1735, which is still being used by botanists and zoologists today!
10. All the Tsars of Russia till the last one, Nicholas II, were of Swedish Viking descent.
So I guess for this post this enough facts. I'll talk about the cities in the next one. I didn't realize there were SO many interesting things about Sweden. I have so many more things, that I wanted to include.... But I'm not out to bore anyone. I think that those things will come up eventually as I visit landmarks, and other places in Sweden.
