Thank you for all the kind words 🥰 I just wanted to mention an organisation called Friluftsfrämjandet. They work with inspiring swedes to discover nature and enjoy nature. Their leaders are volonteers and they have activities within all the outdoor areas you mentioned. They even have groups for kids to discover nature and even join barbecues in the forest 😊 I myself just got back from a kayaking trip organised by them 🤩
@@LivingSwedish Some year ago we (me and my spanish girlfriend) spent midsummer by friends in Stockholm. At midsummer day we walked in the center. There were no people at all except us. We passed a newspaperkiosk. The main news that day was "How to cure your hangover" This can only happen in Sweden my girlfriend said :D
@@LivingSwedish Midsummer's Eve is the Friday. Whole day, not just the evening. Midsummer Day is the Saturday. There are usually not that many celebrations on that day. It's the same as Christmas. Swedes mainly celebrate on Christmas Eve, the 24th, in the Day.
That part about making the most of summer is something most people who move to Sweden tend to start doing. My colleagues from India and various African countries also do it. Everyone gets tired of the thick winter clothes, and will eventually start trying their luck and leaving their coat at home when it's still a bit too cold to do it. And of course having a bath and hope they'll cope with the water temperature. Lucia is always on December 13. The next thing Swedes typically celebrate after midsummer is crayfish premiere. Crayfish fishing used to be regulated so it was only allowed during a number of weeks in autumn, typically starting somewhere in August. Nowadays crayfish fishing is allowed all year, but Swedes stick to the old "crayfish times", and will have crayfish parties in August-October. Of course the crayfish is just an excuse to be social (Tough I find a toasted bread sandwich with crayfish and mayonnaise pretty delicious), the salty taste makes you want to drink beer, and of course nubbe will be served, and nubbevisor will be sung. Oh, and I suggest putting the tent up in the garden this year. Perhaps not to sleep in it but just to see what your kids think of it. OK, the rule is that you shouldn't camp if they can see you from their windows, but that doesn't apply if it's from your own windows. 🙂 Oh, and Visby is so close. Someone already mentioned it. Commuter train to Nynäshamn and from there it's less than five minutes walk to the ferry. Personally I think I like Öland a little bit better, but getting there takes a lot more time.
What you must take some time to do now when the summer is here is take the ferry to gotland and visit Visby. It´s an really old town from the 1300. If your lucky you come when they hold the viking games. The whole island is worth a visit. Visby is also known for the ringwall.
The Gotland nature is very different to the mainland because it's made up of limestone. The rauks (stacks) are peculiar for Gotland compared to the mainland.
Midsummer is to celebrate the longest day of the year. Since the longest day is a fixed date it means that it could be any day of the week. They later change it so now its always on a friday.
All those things you mention make me happy to hear. As a swede you takeit for granted. Its easy to not appreciate. One thing I came to mind, have you noticed? We all have a small pocket calendar to note activities, meetings etc. (Perhaps in Germany it is even more common?) But what is a real memory for me, is when I talked to a German girl many years ago. We would meet for some reason. I said (in Swedish) I will look in my pocket calendar (fick kalender) when I can. With wide eyes she asked me "do you have a calendar for that?" As a German, you may understand the fun of the situation
My husband was Swedish and he always carried the little pocket calendar. Even when he started keeping up with things in his phone, he kept the little black pocket calendar. I still have our summer home near Stockholm. It is so very special.
As a retired swedish ww2 hero I want to add to the story: We should be thankful and grateful to Norway since most of the nature in the form of scenery, soil / stones and wildlife etc has drifted from the Norwegian hills and mountains during the last ice age to form what today is called sweden. Not many mention this fact - but we should do more to show gratitude toward Norway and the norwegian people. And we should also finally admit that the vikings originally came from Norway (and later spread to sweden and denmark).
Insightful to learn how Swedes stay positive in an otherwise dark climate! You mentioned briefly about the lay-offs. Could you share any link to article that elaborates it?
I'm a swede and I think our nature is more beautiful here in the north than further down in Europe. But I think I have figured out why. The reason why is because we have much more greenery. We have much more trees, bushes, flowers, lakes, berries, mushrooms and stuff like that here compared to further south. We have old big forrests were you can walk alone without a lot of people. It makes it even more special, like you have the whole forrest for yourself. Also, the nature is more beautiful becaue of the long days, the increased daylight that we have here in the summer. It feels like the days are never ending, but in very good way. You get more energy from the daylight in the summer. If you think about it, take Spain or Italy for example. Their grass is like brown, they don't have many trees, instead they only have bushes and stuff like that. It's to hot in these countries so they only have a limited set of plants that can survive that heat. We have much more variance when it comes to plants, herbs, trees, etc. And if you take it to the extreme and go even more south there is only deserts and sand. I think people don't realize that we have so much greenary because they think we are a cold country with only snow. That's true in the winter, but in the summer everything springs to life, more so than in more souhern countries I would say, and that's because of the mix of greenary and daylight that they don't have in the summer. So yeah, it's definitley greener here compared to further south and that's what makes swedish nature so beautiful.. ;)
As a retired swedish ww2 hero I want to add to the story: We should be thankful and grateful to Norway since most of the nature in the form of scenery, soil / stones and wildlife etc has drifted from the Norwegian hills and mountains during the last ice age to form what today is called sweden. Not many mention this fact - but we should do more to show gratitude toward Norway and the norwegian people. And we should also finally admit that the vikings originally came from Norway (and later spread to sweden and denmark).
In Upstate NY our summers must be warmer than yours but July and August are the only months I want to swim in our lakes. I’m working on the boat now for just that reason! Sometimes early September is good too!
Hmm... difficult to answer. It probably also depends on your efforts.It's definitely easier if you speak the language and take initiative to talk to people or meet Swedish people.
@@LarsStinell Ja men varför plocka bort dem? Det blir ju Jul igen, och varje Jul kommer snabbare och snabbare och... Ska vi börja prata om påskkycklingarna?
Hi there , thanks for another nice video. However, there are some news that many stabbings are taking place in Sweden. That's pretty shocking 😳 Is it not so safe there anymore? Is it really that bad?
Media is always quite horrible. I'm sure some of it is true, maybe gangs but it's not something you see here on the street. Stockholm or other cities have crime. I don't want to know what happens in London all the time. And I lived there for almost 10 years and it was fine. It's definitely safer here than in London 😉
It hurts me as a swede to admit this since swedes and danes has tried to steal Norways thunder for such a long time: But vikings came orginally from Norway. This video proves it beyond any doubt. The fjords FORCED the vikings to make boats to be able to travel inside Norway crossing the hundreds of fjords in Norway. Sweden and Denmark are both without fjords - so there was no need to invent boats there. Your video just made me realize this fact.
