It is one of the oldest and most breathtaking cities in Europe and has been around for several centuries. It is a unique city and Sweden is, most assuredly, a unique country. Here are some things you really don’t know about Stockholm and Sweden.
- The country of Sweden has a Twitter account. Every week a name of a citizen is drawn and, for one week, that Swedish citizen gets to manage the country’s Twitter handle.
- In Sweden, it is against the law to name your kid Elvis or IKEA.
- The name Stockholm, it is believed, has originated from a combination of the words “log” and “islet” in the ancient Viking language. It is believed that when the Vikings first staked their claim to the area they stuck a giant log into the ground and covered it in gold. Reference to the name first made its appearance on the world stage in the year 1252.
- In Stockholm’s Old Town, the streets are perfectly preserved, and ancient, cobblestones. They had remained that way because no vehicle traffic is allowed to traverse them. There is a street in Old Town that is only 35 inches or so wide and is made up of 36 separate steps.
- Nearly 90% of the population speaks English fluently and each Swedish high school student is paid by the government $187 month to go to high school.
- The Royal Palace is seven stories tall and had 600 rooms and you can go and see the changing of the guard which happens everyday at 12:30 PM. Also, since 1901, if you win a Nobel Prize, you have to go to Stockholm to pick up the award and the prize money.
- Stockholm is the capital city of Sweden and it entirely floats on the water as it is composed of 14 little islands.
- The largest scale model of our solar system is in Sweden. It stretches out nearly 1000 miles and was built to 1.2 million scale and Swedish wasn’t even the country’s official language until 2009.
- The oldest amusement park in the country was built in 1883 and 99% of the population can read as their library system lends over four million books every year.
- Finally, don’t leave Sweden without sampling their world famous meatballs. There is a great place in downtown Stockholm called Meatballs for the People where you can try out 14 different kinds of legendary Swedish meatballs. Some of the varieties are made from reindeer, wild boar, rooster, salmon, ox and moose.
PHOTO CREDITS: Pixabay