08:14 mareku 0 Comments

One of the oldest hydro power stations is Porjus in the Lule river. It has turned into a museum and research facility so you can go on  a guided tour and visit the place. You go 50 meters under ground and see the generators and the old control rooms. Vattenfall is producing so much eneergy from these type of power plants that it is enough to cover all the lighting needs of Sweden. Funny thing is that they actually stop the plant at night, because not a lot of engergy is needed then.

I have been bitten (25 times or more)

08:10 mareku 0 Comments

 
Jokkmokk would have been paradise, if it weren't for the mosquitoes. It is June - so this should be a quiet time (in July and certainly in August there a swarms of mosquitoes haunting the place). But then again with this very hot weather we can not escape to get bitten. Despite all the DEET 50%, Radar RAID etc. The stuff we really need is Salubrin, which helps after you are bitten...

Jokkmokk - the Sami capital of Sweden

08:04 mareku 0 Comments

 
The last time Iwe visited Jokkmokk was about 20 years ago and it didn't change a bit. A quiet village in the middle of lapland nowhere. The Sami parlement is here and an impressive museum. Next to the local church there are sheds where the sami used to lay there dead in winter, waiting for the earth to defrost in spring to bury them.. I am not sre what they do with them now...

Crossing the Artic Cicle

08:01 mareku 0 Comments

Well this is a "must do" picture opportunity isn't it? But when you cross the artic circile it is good to remember that it is way up there in Greenland, upper Siberia and here in Zweden... The temperature right now? 25C!

Gay pride in Shanghai - It really happened

07:57 mareku 0 Comments

 
Although the authorities tried to make it as difficult as possible - Shanghai held it's first Gay Pride last week. There was even a "hot body" contest - hmm.... I guess that now might be a good time to invest in fitness centers in Shanghai ;-))

Fancy some skinny dipping?

17:32 mareku 0 Comments

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At the Steps waterfall

17:31 mareku 0 Comments

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An other room with a view (in Lapland)

17:29 mareku 0 Comments

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Easy rider

17:17 mareku 0 Comments

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Vilhelmina

17:16 mareku 0 Comments

We are here in Lapland at a village named Vilhelmina and we are staying at hotel...Vilhelmina. It lies beautifully between a couple of lakes in a forrest (like everything here in northen Sweden I guess..)

Bear spotting

17:16 mareku 0 Comments

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Meanwhile in Amsterdam: Bruno opens the pink light district

09:06 mareku 0 Comments



To promote his movie, Bruno opened a pink light district next to the famous red light one...Maybe I have to take a look sometime. :-)

At one of the thousand lakes

21:00 mareku 0 Comments


The main road in the inlnads od Sweden - the E45 - is perfect. It has nice curves and bends, good surface and in a nice tempo (90km/u) you can see the various landscape rolling by. There are many many lakes and rivers here where we can relaxe now and then. No trucks, no cars - nobody - only us two...

At lake Siljan

20:58 mareku 0 Comments

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Room with a view

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Flowers where ever you look

20:57 mareku 0 Comments

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Sunday's Best: Top Ten flowers in a Swedish Meadow (in June)

20:56 mareku 0 Comments




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Still life

20:45 mareku 0 Comments

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Lacko Castle

20:54 mareku 1 Comments

This castle lies beautifully at  the Vanern lake in the middle of Sweden.

In the Saab Museum

20:52 mareku 0 Comments




Some of my favourite models including Eddie's first Saab, the 99 EMS and our first the 900, Turbo convertible. The museum is tiny- but nice. It is no wonder that Saab is doing so bad lately, seeing that between the 1970's 99 and the 9-3 there's almost no difference...

Trollhattan lock system

20:51 mareku 0 Comments

The locks of Trollhatan date from the early 18 century and span a considerable height with a complex of locks, some of them still in use.