Day 3: All Things Swedish

Yesterday was a day of rest in Nykoping. The usual catch up on e-mail and writing and then a stroll through the town in search of lunch. Water, water everywhere we’ve gone in Sweden, including canals and rivers winding through towns. Nykoping was no exception. What a difference water can make in the feel of a place. We picnicked looking over the river, climbed a hill or two and wound our way back to the hotel. At some point, we started naming all our associations with Sweden, without the help of Mr. Google. Here’s what I came up with:

NOTABLE PEOPLE

• Dag Hammmerskold —U.N. diplomat

• Greta Garbo—film actress: "I vant to be alone!"

• Ingrid Bergman—film actress: Hitchcock and Casablanca. Love her!

• Ingmar Bergman—film director: even our Swedish host tonight said, "Ach! Depressing!"

• Jenny Linn—Opera singer: “The Swedish Nightingale”

• Alfred Nobel—scientist/ inventor/ philanthropist: inventor of dynamite and when his brother died, the paper made a mistake and wrote his obituary as "Mr. Death dies. Grew rich by discovering how to kill more people more quickly." After reading it, Nobel had his Scrooge "A-ha!" and decided to donate his fortune to …you guessed it, the Nobel Prize!

OTHER

• Sankta Lucia— the December holiday and young girls wearing a garland of lit candles

• Swedish meatballs/ pancakes—the former served at dinner tonight, the latter for breakfast

•The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo—the thriller series written by two different authors

•Elvira Madigan—the romantic movie of my college ears, with Mozart soundtrack

•The 100- Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared­—the international best-seller by Jonas Jonasson that I’m reading now. Fun!

• Saab/ Volvo— the car I once had, the one I used to hope to have

• IKEA— provider of shelves in the school music room

And of course, 

•The Swedish Sisters!! —my favorite part of the story of how Carl Orff created the approach to music education that created my life as I know it. People who know me know the story! I’ll save it for the rest at a later time.

On to Day 4!

PS Found out that Ann-Margret of Bye Bye Birdie fame was born in Sweden!