Easter in Sweden

I really didn't think that Easter in Sweden would be much different to Easter in Australia, but it seems that there are a few differences...

To start with, the obvious. Easter in the Northern Hemisphere occurs in spring, meaning that there are bulbs blooming everywhere (like in our lawn), and the trees are starting to show signs of life.

Out the front

 

Next to the driveway

Oh, and it is starting to get warmer, not cooler.

With the actual Easter celebrations, traditionally they began with three days of  Shrovetide, full of carnivals, games and revelry. Activities included playfully thrashing each other with birch twigs and tobogganing down steep slopes. People were also supposed to mark Shrove Tuesday by eating seven hearty meals before observing a 40-day fast.

The birch twigs are now used as a decorative piece, either by the front door, or as a table piece.
Walking down the main street has been a colourful experience since the beginning of Lent.

Bjorkris with feathers, also called påskris

Påskris on the hotdog van

General houses get into the Easter decorating gig too- a bit like Christmas, but all things Easter related. Unfortunately I missed the house with the egg wreath on it, but the following photos are a few of the ways people get into decorating their houses.

Decorated eggs hanging from a tree in someones front yard.

Påskris on a door.

Feathered wreaths on the door

Why put feathers on twigs by the door when you can do the whole tree!

Some of the main differences I have noticed is the lack of Easter eggs for sale. In the last two weeks they have slowly been hitting the shelves, but not in a form any Australian would be used to seeing. Here, the eggs are traditionally paper, and you fill them with lollies- Easter themed of course!

Pick the size sugar high you would like!

There is also an Easter Witch, who is reported to fly to Blåkulla on Maundy Thursday (skärtorsdag), and quite often children will dress up as witches and visit neighbours where they try to trade their drawings for treats- kind of like a mini Halloween.

The Easter Bunny gets a bit of a break over here, as his only job is to lay out an egg hunt, if he really feels like it- oh, and it is done on Saturday, as with the receiving of any other Easter treats.

For all the Australians reading---- Sweden does NOT do Hot Cross Buns!!!!
This blew me away! They have buns for Fat Tuesday, Christmas, and Fika that we have experienced so far, but not a poor HCB to be seen.

It's not Easter without a humble HCB, so I had to get into the kitchen and make my own... or as it turned out, make my own 12 dozen. I now have a stash of fruit, fruitless, chocolate, and chocolate choc chip to get me through the weekend (and to hand out to anyone else who needs a quick HCB fix).

Fruit HCB's on their first proof

Chocolate choc chip- hurry up!!!

Fruitless (apparently this year Tom does not eat HCB's with fruit in them)

Tray 1 of many ready for a second round of rising

ALL DONE!!

Skagen and Århus - 21st Mar

Skagen is the northernmost tip of Denmark.  It is famous for a few things, but mostly it is the place where two seas meet - the North Sea (Skagerrak) and the Baltic Sea (Kattegat).  It is an interesting sight because the waves from both seas collide in the middle and also because the Skagerrak is saltier and more dense so it has a slightly different colouring.

Skagen is also home to some huge moving sand dunes that scour the ground behind them stripping it down to rock or even ground water.  Many of the buildings that once lined the coastline, such as lighthouses, are at risk of being buried or falling into the sea due to erosion.

Finally, Skagen made up part of the northern Nordic defences and has some World War II bunkers.

Skagen was about an three hour drive north of Billund and Legoland.

Heading up the sand hills to Grenen Beach 

The grave of Holgar Drachmann a famous poet (1846-1908)

World War II bunker

Beach walk at Grenen

Container ships traveling between the seas

Panoramic view of Grenen beach

Panoramic view further along

A bunker

The seas meet

The seas meet

Us at Grenen where the seas meet

The bunker and one of Grenen's lighthouses - The Grey Lighthouse

The Bascular Light - built in 1626 this lighthouse can be levered down to fill the bucket and the bucket set on fire and raised

After exploring the beach we headed to Den Tilsanded Kirke (Sand Covered Church, Buried Church or the Church of St Lawrence).

The church was built in the late 14th century.  In the 18th century it began to get buried by sand dunes and parishioners had to dig in order to attend the church.  It was eventually abandoned in 1795. The church was demolished and only the gable remains.

Den Tilsanded Kirke

After that we headed to Århus where we were due to catch a ferry back to the Zealand island and from there drive home.

Church in Århus

Side wall of the church

Doorway of church

Market road in Århus

Århus

Another Århus church

Art center in Århus

Dragon on the roof

Old houses in Århus

We waited at Århus until almost 7pm for our ferry.  When it was time we drove to the ferry stop but it rejected our tickets.  I had previously booked a ticket from Århus to Zealand for 240 DKK (about $50) for the five of us and our car - not bad.  It was about the same time as driving (70min) but would give us a break (we'd been driving 5 hours at this point) and save petrol.

When I clicked to confirm the ticket purchase the page failed to load and I had to refresh it.  It seems that reset the direction so I'd booked Zealand to Århus.  Kris and I had checked multiple times before the page failed to make sure.

Since we booked a non-flex ticket it was 100 DKK to change it and the trip was actually 600 DKK at this time and at the book at the ferry rate (about $125).  So our cheap ferry trip ended up not being so cheap.  I joked to Kris that this time we avoided a traffic infringement so its only fair we copped some other fine.

It was dark when we boarded the ferry and the ride was quite smooth.  We landed uneventfully on Zealand with our wallets a little lighter and then drove back past Roskilde, across the Oresund bridge and back home, getting home around 10:30.

The first night Kris and I sat up until 1am sorting the Legoland pictures.  The second night (Tuesday) I was up until 1am trying to sort all of the miniland photos into their sections.  The same with the next night as I finished sorting and started writing.  It's now Thursday, 10pm and I have finally finished.... Until our next trip...

Legoland - 19-Mar Part 13 - Hotel Legoland

Hotel Legoland is the hotel attached to the park. We really wanted to stay here, but the price was looking to be too prohibitive.

After the park closed we took a walk around the outside to the hotel to see what we were missing.

The Skywalk connecting the Hotel to the Park

The Hotel sign

The Hotel Entry

Dragon in the entry tower

R2D2 in the hotel foyer

Darth Vader

Jango Fett

Ollie the dragon in the foyer

Play area on Ollies back

This one came out a little blurry but its a working, moving model of the Haunted House

 

Toilet Door marker - Hers

Toilet Door marker - His

Toilet door markers - Unisex Disabled

That's pretty much it for our trip to Legoland, but the holiday wasn't completely over.  We slept in the Pirate Inn Sunday night, had breakfast buffet and left around 9:30am on Monday morning to make our way up to Skagen.