Some Sightseeing in Sweden...Falun Mines, Vasa Museum, Strolling Old Town Stockholm

Since the kids had off last week, it was a perfect time to take some day trips.  We had planned on spending a couple days in Stockholm, but haven't quite found a place for Sox to board yet, so we decided on a few places we were interested in seeing and were on our way...

On Friday, we headed only 1 hour away to a town called Falun.  They have an old copper mine that is open for tourists and it was fascinating...For starters, when I say old, they began mining it in the 700s and continued mining it until December 1992.  It was a major export for Sweden in the 17th century and at times, this mine itself accounted for 2/3 of the copper needed in Europe and helped fund many of Sweden's wars.

The mine was open for visitors and we went 220 feet into the mine stopping at various places along the way with a guided tour.  It was a balmy 37 degrees inside and damp, it really gave you an inside look into the life of a miner.

 In 1687, the mine was open everyday of the year except for Christmas and Midsummer (a large celebration day in Sweden).  On that particular Midsummer Day, parts of the mine collapsed giving way to a 100 m deep pit...since no one was working that day, miraculously no one was hurt!

The typical red color you see on many Swedish houses today comes from this mine still.  The red paint gets its color from the waste heaps around the mine, copper-poor ores are allowed to oxidize in the air, forming "red dirt" ground into pigment for Falu Red Paint.

The next day we headed 2 hours away to Stockholm.  We had only been to an amusement park in Stockholm earlier this summer, but there are many things to do in Stockholm, including many museums.  The one we had heard was great was the Vasa museum so we headed there.  The entire family loved this museum and we got a lot out of the visit there and learned even more about some Swedish history.

On August 10, 1628, the Vasa ship took her maiden voyage and after sailing only 1400 ft, it sunk... 333 years later, they brought it up from the waters and today it is being housed in the Vasa Museum with 98% of it being original and intact.  

They estimated 30 people died aboard, but when they brought it up from the water, they found remains from 15 different skeletons and they were on display at the museum complete with reconstructed figures of what the people might have actually looked like then. 

We spent a good portion of our day there, then went strolling in the Old Town section of Stockholm which was charming with its shoppes...

We even stumbled past the Noble Museum which is still where they hand out the Noble Prizes each year...

It was a fun week and we enjoyed discovering many things about Swedish history. 

Halloween in Sweden...How We Celebrated it and How it is Celebrated in Sweden

I wasn't sure how Halloween was celebrated here, I had heard that some did go Trick-or-Treating, but not many and I didn't want to take the kids out to do that if people were expecting us (I also couldn't tell what day they actually celebrated it because it sounds like they might do it on the weekends), Since Halloween was one of our family's favorite holidays, I wanted to be sure it was fun here and so we planned a party!  I made invitations that the boys handed out in school (Ben invited his whole class of 24 kids, and Alex invited just the boys in his class, about 6 kids).  It is fall break this week and many are away on vacation so I had no idea who could come since I didn't write to RSVP on the invitation...I planned for 30 kids just in case, all the while thinking maybe 10 would show...
25 kids later, we had a party!!!

   Ben is a Zombie and I am a witch (Ben talked me in to the green face makeup)!

We prepared all week (since we were off and there wasn't a lot going on this week...

It started with pumpkin carving...We were able to buy pumpkins here and I had read that if you see them available then buy them ASAP because once they are out, they won't restock them so about 2 weeks ago I found one for about $10 which I though was a good deal!  Ben and I carved the pumpkin with a carving kit that I still had from previous Halloween's...

Then we prepared spooky food for the party, these Witches Fingers were like short-bread cookies, yummy!!!

We also had Mummy hot dogs and I usually make them with cresent dough from Pilsbury, but I improvised with premade Pizza dough that was just as tasty...

Other treats included apples wedges with caramel and Halloween sprinkles we called Poison Apples, Bloody Punch, and more...


I think everyone that could make it did and the kids from Ben's class were very well dressed for Halloween!  (Alex and his buddies chose not to dress, but that was ok:))  I didn't realize it, but in Sweden I think it is customary if you are invited to someone's house to bring something so it was so cute when the kids showed up, they handed us gifts such as bags of candy, flowers, and chocolates...(It was like my kids went trick or treating with all that these kids brought us.)  Also, everybody was very prompt...Literally everybody showed up at once (about 5 minutes early), and they left at once as well...I think at one point about 10 minutes before the party was to end, I saw parents gathering outside so I went out to ask if I was to get everyone ready and send them out...I'm still not sure, but after that the parents came to the house and the kids got ready to leave, and of course we gave them a Trick-or-Treat bag filled with candy:) Everyone had a good time!


So I have been asked a lot how is Halloween celebrated here in Sweden and I will tell you what I know...

Like I mentioned, there are people that go Trick-or-Treating, we actually had about 8 kids come to the door on Halloween (it may be because our house was lit up with ghosts and cobwebs from our American decorations that worked with our converter thanks to Thomas), but I do not think all kids go nor can I tell if they go on a different night like this weekend (I have heard it's usually on a Saturday so we will see if more come).  But there are celebrations that go on and it is mostly planned through the schools for the younger children.  Alex's class had no celebration, but Ben's class actually had an evening party where the parents organized it and it was actually very impressive!  It was held at a High School gym and there was dancing and Halloween type food and everyone was in a costume! It was held the Friday before Halloween.

We saw stores carry some Halloween decorations and costumes, and especially at a few stores at the mall...

Other than seeing stores carrying things, we really hadn't heard of any extra celebrations outside of Ben's class party, but we happened to find a new mall in the large town next to us, and while we were there Halloween day, they were adding decorations to all the stores and out in the center areas preparing I think for Trick-or-Treating at the stores.  I even asked if they did anything special in the mall to one employee and she said they were staying open 2 hours later until 9:00.  There was one store we saw there that was only opened seasonally to sell costumes and they were quite impressive, they also would do Halloween makeup for you for about $10...

That is what I know about their Halloween celebrations, on a side note, we had our time change a week ahead of the US, and now it is getting pretty dark here around 4:15 in the afternoon, we are getting very close to the shortest day of the year though in December and from then it will be getting lighter and lighter so I can't wait for that!  We have had a mild fall from what I understand and got through the month of October without a snowflake (some claim they saw some at 6:00AM one morning, but I didn't so it doesn't count yet:))...