Swedish Alfred Nobel

Nobel, a name familiar to most everyone and especially in Stockholm, Sweden each year on December 10 on the day that the Nobel Laureates receive their medals and Nobel Prize Diplomas confirming the amount of their prize from the King of Sweden. The banquet that follows the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony is held in the Blue Hall of Stockholm City Hall, here some 1,300 guests in their formal best dine in a splendid setting.

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm into a family of engineers in 1833. At a young age his family moved to St. Petersburg where he received a quality education becoming fluent in 5 languages and developing a special interest in chemistry and engineering.

Because of his interest in poetry his father thought him to be too introverted and arranged for visits to Germany, France and the United States. In Paris, the city he came to like best, he worked in the private laboratory of Professor T. J. Pelouze, a famous chemist. There he met the young Italian chemist Ascanio Sobrero who, three years earlier, had invented nitroglycerine, highly explosive and considered too dangerous to be of any practical use. Although its explosive power greatly exceeded that of gunpowder, the liquid would explode in a very unpredictable manner if subjected to heat and pressure.

Through experimentation and to make the handling of nitroglycerine safer Nobel experimented with different additives and found that by mixing nitroglycerine with a type of silica he was able to turn the liquid into a paste then shaped into rods of a size and form suitable for insertion into drilling holes. In 1867 he patented this material under the name of dynamite. To be able to detonate the dynamite rods he also invented a detonator (blasting cap) which could be ignited by lighting a fuse. These inventions were made at the same time as the diamond drilling crown and the pneumatic drill came into general use. Together these inventions drastically reduced the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and many other forms of construction work.

Alfred Nobel had many different homes during the final decades of his life. In 1891, after controversies with the French authorities he left Paris to live in San Remo, Italy. Four years later, he purchased the Bofors ironworks and armaments factory in Karlskoga in the province of Värmland Sweden and established his Swedish home at nearby Björkborn Manor. He equipped all his residences with laboratories where he could continue his experiments. He was apparently homesick for Sweden but complained of the Swedish winter weather. When his health began to falter, he visited doctors and health resorts more frequently, but never had time to heed their most important advice - "to rest and nurse my health," as he put it himself. On December 10, 1896, Alfred Nobel passed away at his home in San Remo.

Björkborn Manor is now a museum where visitors can go back in time and imagine what it was like when Alfred Nobel spent his summers here. Apart from the manor another point of interest is the laboratory where Nobel continued with his experiments before his death in 1896. A visit here is easy to arrange during your visit to Sweden. it is just a little over 200 km. west of Stockholm. And while in Stockholm, experience the Nobel Dinner served in Stadshuskällaren, the restaurant in Stockholm City Hall, the dinner of the previous two years can be enjoyed for a party of two upon reservation.

Please feel free to learn more by visiting nobelprize.org or stop by your local library.

Sincerely,

John and Don

Discover Lofoten, Norway

Could you imagine a place located well within the reaches of the Arctic Circle where average temperatures barely drop below freezing?

The Lofoten islands are a natural Norwegian beauty situated between the 67th and 68th parallels. The mild temperatures in the winter are warmed by the Gulf Stream, making it inhabitable year-round.

While fishing and agriculture is a main industry in that region, tourism is also a large industry. Although the population of Lofoton’s largest city, Svolvær has a population of 4,290, approximately 200,000 tourists visit each year!

Svolvær began as a transit harbor, and continues to be a major stop along the Hurtigruten cruise route. Just some of the activities can include kayaking through the archipelago, wave surfing, fishing, hiking, catching a glimpse of the northern lights, experiencing the Midnight Sun or Polar Night, biking, shopping, viewing one of many art galleries, and visiting the largest house discovered from the Viking Age, at 275 feet long, which has been reconstructed as a living museum with findings reconstructions, exhibitions and domestic animals.

125 miles southwest of Svolvær, on the steep and towering islands southwest of the populated island of Røstlandet you will find the "home" to the largest number of nesting birds across Norway – with approximately a quarter of the country’s seabird population. That is about 2.5 million adult birds! Scientists, Ornithologists and bird lovers travel from all over to regularly visit this region with average temperatures that remain above freezing all year round.

Traveling to Lofoten has gotten much easier in the past few years. The most popular route for tourists is commonly the Hurtigruten Cruise Line. Also popular is via airplane - the Lofoten area has three small airports in Leknes, Svolvær and Røst. If driving from the mainland, prepare for a lengthy drive, but it is now possible! In 2007, highway E10 finally connected Lofoten with the mainland for the first time via roadway. Ferries are also available and public bus transportation as well.

For any additional information, please visit Lofoten’s official website at http://www.lofoten.info/

Sincerely,
John and Don

The Beautiful Danish 'Skagen'

Did you know there’s a place in Northern Denmark where you can actually walk out on a sandbank and place your right foot in the Skagerrak and your left foot in the North Sea?

This place is called Grenen ("The Branch" in Danish) and is located just north of Skagen. This is where the famous Danish painters Ancher, P.S. Krøyer and Denmark’s national poet Holger Drachman lived and worked.

Skagen is thought to have been founded in the 13th Century and began to flourish during the 1800’s when painters and poets discovered the area and during that period Skagen was regarded as Denmark’s most fashionable holiday destination and is still today one of Denmark’s most popular tourist areas.

65 kms of white sandy beaches meet visitors and sand dunes make the area perfect for outdoor activities and bathing. The beach along Skagerrak to the west can have powerful waves and treacherous currents, while the Kattegat beaches to the east are milder and more suitable for leisurely bathing. In Skagen there is a wide variety of flora and fauna with many rare birds that attract ornithologists from far and wide. Skagen Harbor is a focal point for visitors with thousands of pleasure boats and a small fishing fleet supplying fresh fish for auction everyday.

OK, now how to get there? Most will think of Copenhagen first and on your way to Skagen as mentioned above, a visit to Århus may be of interest where it is possible to view the 2000 year old Graubelle Man in the Museum Moesgard. Then there is Aalborg the lively city on the Lim Fjord and home of world famous Aalborg Akvavit. The Danish national archives are located here and visitors that may have Danish ancestry in their lineage will find a visit here rewarding.

Continuing by car, drive on to Skagen for a rewarding visit before boarding a ferry from either Hirtshals to Stavanger or Oslo in Norwary or from Fredrickshavn to Gothenburg in Sweden.

Important: don’t forget your bathing suit when packing for your extended stay in Denmark!

Sincerely,
John and Don

Finnish Savonlinna Opera Festival

Is Opera one of your interests? Then the Finnish Savonlinna Opera Festival is for you, this year held July 1 through August 3, 2009

The birth of the Savonlinna Opera Festival ties in closely with the emerging Finnish musical identity and Finland’s striving for independence at the beginning of the 20th century. Attending a patriotic meeting in Olavinlinna Castle in 1907, the Finnish soprano Aino Ackté, already famous at opera houses the world over and an ardent patriot, immediately spotted the potential of the medieval castle built in 1475 as the venue for an opera festival. The romantic castle set amid lake scenery of ‘supernatural beauty’ could not, in her opinion, fail to impress all who beheld it.

For various reasons the festival laid dormant for almost 40 years but returned to life again in 1967 when Savonlinna Music Days arranged an academic course for aspiring singers. The leader of the course staged a performance of Beethoven’s Fidelio in the castle court yard and joining the young students were singers of international fame. The performance was a great success and is today regarded as the start of the present festival.

Over the years the Savonlinna Opera Festival has grown from a one-week event into an international festival lasting a month. Each year it performs to a total audience of around 60,000, a good 10 per cent from abroad. Savonlinna has become a byword among opera lovers the world over. Its artistic standard was already attracting widespread interest and admiration back in the 1970s, due greatly to the uncompromising efforts of its Artistic Director, the world-famous bass singer Martti Talvela, to achieve the same objective as Aino Ackté in her day: to place Savonlinna on an artistic par with the great European festivals while presenting the world with Finnish opera at its very best.

The Savonlinna Opera Festival has become one of the most illustrious fixtures in the Finnish cultural calendar, and an event of the greatest international significance. Aino Ackté was right: first-class opera in a romantic, medieval castle amid lake scenery of ‘supernatural beauty’ is a unique and hence unforgettable experience.

The festival season July 3 – August 1, 2009 begins with one of the most popular works in the operatic repertoire, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. This production telling the tragic tale of a Japanese Geisha and an American officer will be in the hands of experts with an inside view of both cultures, for stage director Henry Akina, stage designer Dean Shibuya and costume designer Anna Namba are all Americans of Asian descent.

Savonlinna’s other own productions will be Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele, Puccini’s Turandot and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Singing the title role in Mefistofele will be star Italian bass Carlo Colombara and the conductor is Philippe Auguin. Mefistofele is an opera that allows the Savonlinna Opera Festival Choir to demonstrate its vocal and dramatic skills to the fullest. Pet Halmen’s visualisation of Turandot is in turn one of the Festival’s most popular and most spectacular productions. Excelling in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor is the Festival’s Artist of the Year for 2009, soprano Eglise Gutiérrez, who shot to international fame after appearing at the Savonlinna Festival in the summer 2007.

Savonlinna is approximately 200 miles northeast of Helsinki by car and air, bus and train connections are also available as are packages for events and lodging.

Sincerely,

John and Don

Please visit www.operafestival.fi/In_English/Front_Page.iw3 for more information

Norway and World War II

On this day, April 9, sixty-nine years ago, the German forces began their invasion of the neutral country, Norway. After a two month struggle even with the assistance of the British and French military, Norway had no choice but to surrender, leaving the Norwegian governmental authorities in exile. Over the following five years until liberation, the Norwegian people struggled through amazing hardship under German control. To this day there are many who remember the difficulties during the Nazi occupation, and several museums exist to preserve the remembrance of Norway’s role in World War II, which included valiant resistance by the Norwegian people during this war time.

Some World War II museums that you may choose to visit:


Bergen – Theta Museum of Resistance on Bryggen
Svolvaer – Lofoten – World War II Memorial Museum
Oslo – Norway’s Resistance Museum
Narvik – Red Cross World War II Museum


Today, we remember the brave Norwegians who fought so hard for their country in World War II.


Sincerely,
John and Don


Portions of our information have been obtained on the web at www.norway.org/history. Please feel free to visit the site for further information.

How did Swedish IKEA company start?

IKEA, most everyone is familiar with this innovative company but how and where did it begin?

The founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, was born in Småland, in the south of Sweden. He was raised on a farm called Elmtaryd, near the small village of Agunnaryd. Even as a young boy his entrepreneurial skills were showing. He started by selling matches to neighbors when he discovered that matches could be purchased inexpensively in bulk and resold at a lower price but still with a profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later ball-point pens and pencils.

In 1943, when Ingvar was 17, his father gave him a gift for succeeding in his studies, he used this to establish his own business. The name IKEA was formed from the founder's initials (I.K.) plus the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village where he grew up. In the beginning pens, wallets, picture frames, table runners, watches, jewelry and nylon stockings were sold, any product where there was a need and could be filled at a reduced price.

The first IKEA advertisements appeared in local newspapers in 1945 when the business outgrew individual sales calls, he began advertising in local newspapers and operating a makeshift mail order catalogue. His products were now distributed via the county milk van and delivered to the nearby train station.

Furniture produced by local manufacturers was first introduced into the IKEA product line in 1947, the response was positive and offerings were expanded. In 1951 the first IKEA furniture catalogue was published and with this success the opportunity of becoming a furniture provider on a larger scale became a possibility. Mr. Kamprad now made the decision to discontinue all other products and focus exclusively on low-priced furniture, and the IKEA that we know today was born.

In 1953 IKEA found itself in a price war with its main competitor. As both companies lowered prices quality was also at risk. To counter this, the company opened its first furniture showroom in Älmhult thus presenting their products in three dimensions function, quality and low price. Customers did just what IKEA had hoped, they wisely chose the products with the best value for the money and for the first time it was possible to see and touch the product before ordering.

By 1955 IKEA began designing their own furniture as pressure from competitors caused suppliers to boycott the successful firm. This move lead to a more innovative design and function and even lower prices. Then, by lucky inspiration, one early IKEA employee decided to remove a table’s legs so it would fit into a car, and avoid transport damage. From there flat packaging was introduced leading to even further reductions in price.

With many innovative designs and national and international expansion IKEA now numbers 127,000 co-workers across a global network of over 250 stores in 24 countries and in 1985 the first store opened in the U.S.

You may wish to visit Älmhult during your visit to Sweden just 62 kilometers southwest of Växjö off of route 23.

Sincerely, John and Don

Our research was based on information from www.IKEA.com- feel free to visit their website, or visit a location near you.