Friday, May 30, 2008

Skärgårdsnytt i Washington Post

It is not everyday you can read about Dalarö, Fjärdlång and Utö in an american news paper, but here it is. Some excerpts:

"Layer upon layer of isles, islets and barren outcroppings instantly begin to reveal themselves. There are more than 24,000 in all, stretching across a 50-mile arc that extends nearly into Finnish waters. The vast majority are uninhabited."

"The farmer surprises us all: Arriving in his truck, chatting on his cellphone, we soon realize that he doesn't speak English. That's rare in Sweden, even on a rural island, even for a farmer, even one who looks about 60. In fact, there's a good chance that anyone you happen to run into under the age of 65 or so will speak English nearly as well as you do.
Which is almost a shame, because the Swedish language is so melodic and sometimes so wonderfully confounding. Sure, it often seems easy, especially in writing: "bageri" for bakery, "parkering" for parking. Then there are the words that look like you should know them, such as "snart" (soon) or "snabbacash" (the "speedy cash" offered at the ATM)."

Maybe EH or O.K. could post some nice pics of the Stockholm archipelago (skärgården, which literally means the "island garden'), one of my favorite areas in the whole world? Please?

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