VIKTOR DONOVAN: August 2011

Monday, August 29, 2011

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IN SWEDEN?

Yes, there is indeed a Statue of Liberty in Gothenburg Sweden. It is not as big as the original, in fact it is so small that it is hardly noticeable. It can be found in a sculpture originally called The Five Continents 1927 by Tore Strindberg. The sculpture is placed on the fountain in the Iron Market, celebrating the Swedish iron trade.
Let's go looking for The Statue of Liberty...

Here in the hands of the woman representing the continent of America is the very small Statue of Liberty.

You have to be very observant to see it.

Note the American Indian feather in her hair. Below are pictures of women representing the other continents.

Asia

Australia

Africa

Europe

Saturday, August 20, 2011

LONGING FOR LONDON...

If you miss London, and cannot go there just now, there is comfort on the Internet:

Picture courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/people/ugardener/

Look at TOWER BRIDGE and watch the flow of traffic. Click on full screen mode and unclick the ads and get that "London feel" for a while.

Look at pictures from LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM taken by visitors.

If you live in Sweden, visit THE ENGLISH SHOP

Take a walk in fashionable MAYFAIR.

Check out a MEWS HOUSE. Formerly places for servants and horse and carriage, they are now extremely desirable, and expensive!

Why not visit a museum you might not have enough time to visit when in London: MUSEUM OF BRANDS, PACKAGING AND ADVERTISING

For those who love VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM in South Kensington. Check out the photos taken by visitors.

Learn more about England

LONDON TOPIC och PROJECT BRITAIN

Read A LONDON MYSTERY

10.

Finish with this tour of ENGLISH GARDENS. Photos by Nigel Burkitt.

Friday, August 19, 2011

CNN GIGGLES

http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2011/08/18/anderson-gets-the-giggles.html

Thursday, August 18, 2011

GOTHENBURG CULTURAL FESTIVAL: INTERNATIONAL MARKET

Every year Gothenburg arranges a "Cultural Festival" and the motto behind this arrangement is: "Gothenburg Culture Festival will offer an annual party that contributes to a warmer, more humane and fun community."

English Food and Cups

Wonderful French Vegetables

Greek delikatessen

Polish food

Dutch cooking

Thai food

German food

There was an long line for the Spanish food

Lovely French Cheeses

The Australian Barbecue was very popular

Monday, August 15, 2011

HAGA OLD TOWN IN GOTHENBURG

Haga is a city district in Gothenburg, Sweden, renowned for its picturesque wooden houses, 19th century-atmosphere and cafés. Originally a working class suburb of the city with a rather bad reputation, it was gradually transformed into a popular visiting place for tourists and Gothenburgers

Landshövding style house

Saturday, August 13, 2011

SWALLOWS

There is no other building in Gothenburg (Sweden) that has so many swallows. It is the Telegraph building built 1909-12.

The swallows fly beautifully in the portico ceiling

The floral design around the swallows reminds one of William Morris designs.

The doors and stained glass are very much in the Arts and Crafts style.

This is how it looks from a distance. Note the carvings above..

..here you find more swallows carved in granite.

A man sends off swallows...

... they all fly around the corner...

... they have just turned the corner...

... the first swallow arrives and is greeted by a woman.

Another swallow carved in granite...

...with its mates...

...all lined up !

Here is the entire pillar with swallows, dogs and vegetation.

The building style is called National Romantic -- a look back at older Swedish architectural traditions where the choice of building material was domestic granite, brick and wrought iron. Very arts and craftsy. The swallows and other Swedish animals were preferred to traditional decorations such as lions and angels.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

AS SWEDISH AS IT GETS...

In Sweden you cannot get liquor in just any store. You have to go to a government shop, SYSTEMBOLAGET. This is how the monopoly is explained: "The first alcohol monopoly ever started in the mid 1800s in Sweden. It worked so well that the model was spread all over the country."

Once a year, a special limited assortment is sold and I was amazed to see these people line up early outside a SYSTEMBOLAGET on a hot and steamy Monday morning in August.

Some had waited for hours.

The SYSTEMBOLAGET is very well run and they have an excellent assortment so they are liked for this reason.

NEW BOOK!

Much of human activity is centered around food. We think of food whether we’re hungry or not. We spend a great deal of time buying it. We take hours preparing it (well, some do). We talk about it. We read about it in cook books. We watch television when chefs talk about it (sometimes to excess). When we socialize, it is often centered around the communal intake of it. We give it as gifts. Food, we can’t escape it! Some people become keenly interested in preparing food for themselves and others; many have become what we call “good cooks”. Usually a degree of creativity is involved together with a keen interest to entertain and a need to take care of others, to be a good host. It is such people that one remembers, and that is how I got started on Food & Folk, remembering, for example that excellent couple, Beatrice and Clayburn La Force on their ranch in Alpine California. After that I just kept going.

MY HOMETOWN GOTHENBURG

A series of closeups (224 photos) of Gothenburg, Sweden. Language: English and Swedish.----- This book consists of a series of closeups of Gothenburg. It is no history book but, hopefully, it will generate some curiosity about our city. When you walk in a city like London you are struck by Britain’s colonial past and its enormous wealth which manifests itself in buildings and institutions all over the city. When you walk in “Little London” as Gothenburg is often called, one is keenly aware of its importance as the best fortified city in Northern Europe. Two forts still watch over it. Remnants of the seventeenth century wall, and the meandering moat are a reminder of the city’s military past. Positioned on the West coast of Sweden, Gothenburg was once a world leader in ship building and shipping and evolved naturally into a merchant’s city. The English and Scottish heritage here is very important. There are clues and traces everywhere. One has only to look.

A GARDEN IN MY HOMETOWN

A book in English and Swedish about the Garden Society of Gothenburg--TRÄDGÅRDSFÖRENINGEN -----The Garden Society of Gothenburg is one of the best preserved early 19th century parks in Europe. It is situated directly downtown, offering lovely walks in the park or in the shaded woodland areas along the canal/moat, waterfront. The garden recently went through a major renovation under the auspices of Ulf Nordfjell, the internationally known landscape designer. The aim was to bring the garden back to its old nineteenth century glory. Carpet bedding returned and five new woodland areas were designed by five international garden designers. A superb new rose park was added, a successful blending of historical roses and perennials.

Love letters from my Swedish grandfather Folke to my American grandmother Olga 1909 - 1961

My American grandmother, Olga, met my Swedish grandfather, Folke Jonsson, in Brussels in 1909. Olga was 18 and Folke, 23. They settled in Gothenburg and Särö, Sweden. Olga, being American, had her family in Florida, and Folke soon came to realize that if you marry a woman from another continent, and this woman is charmingly independent, innovative and brave, and has her own means to boot, she is bound to want to visit her native country some time -- or several times -- or more than several times. To Folke, a sensitive soul, the long separations were quite painful and he suffered till his darling Olga returned. He “talked” to her in his frequent letters. Olga saved all his letters, in their original envelopes, in neat little bundles held together with different coloured ribbons. They were a treasured lifelong testament of his love. Olga and Folke corresponded in English as Olga was American and preferred writing in English. Had my grandfather Folke married a Swedish woman who had stayed at home, there would not be this stack of his letters today. He never intended the letters to be shown to others, but more than one hundred years have passed since Folke wrote them to his darling Olga. I have enjoyed getting to know my grandfather in this manner and I think others, not only relatives, should also share that privilege.

A pictorial Companion to the letters in the book above: 150 pictures of Olga & Folke 1909-1978

NEW BOOK BY DONOVAN O'MALLEY

REVIEW: "...O'Malley continues to prove that he is one of the more important writers around, a writer who with every book brings into our lives some very strange, often exceedingly humorous, and now, frequently very lonely people. His ability to create language for each of his characters is sharp, well studied and written, and without belittling anyone he, in language, shows the difference between class, and education, and exposure. Likely that comes from his experience in writing plays where characters are alive and moving, but with his considerable literary skills he makes his written page people morph into real life folks. He is in top form here ... " Grady Harp, June 12 (Hall of Fame reviewer)