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Author Archives: oconbach
Church of the Day – St. Erik’s, Stockholm, Sweden
St. Erik’s is the Catholic cathedral in Stockholm. In the 1840s to 1850s Sweden’s Catholic Queen Josefina from Bavaria helped begin liberalizing the rules for Catholics in Sweden. These new rules allowed immigrant Catholics (like her) to practice their faith … Continue reading
Posted in Church of the Day
Tagged Church of the Day, Saint Birgitta, Saint Erik, Stockholm, Sweden
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Church of the Day – Uppsala Cathedral. Uppsala, Sweden
Uppsala Cathedral was started by the Catholics in 1270 and consecrated in 1435. Church history explains that money shortages, cold climate and the plague of the 1300s contributed to this long time for completion. Quite understandable. Unfortunately, 100 years later … Continue reading
From Göteborg to Uppsala, with stops along the way
Where else but Scandinavia will you find a traditional windmill… and a few miles down the road a modern wind farm? We rented a car and drove north along the Øresund and then the Kattegat sea from Malmø toward Göteborg. … Continue reading
Hej Hej, Malmö
We crossed the Øresund Bridge by train from Copenhagen to Malmo, not much different from crossing the Golden Gate. No immigration control, no COVID checks, no passport stamp. Is this a different country? Yes, we are in Sweden! Hej! (pronounced … Continue reading
Church of the Day – St. Peter’s in Malmö, Sweden
We stopped in Malmö, Sweden, and found St Peter’s (Sankt Petri kyrka). It was built between 1300 and 1380 as a Catholic church in Malmö, which was then Denmark’s second-largest city. Then 200 years later as the Reformation took hold … Continue reading
Our Swan Song to Copenhagen
We wondered which came first in Denmark, Hans Christian Andersen’s stories about swans or the Danes’ love for swans. Probably a lot of synergy involved. We know Andersen appreciated swans from the loving way that he wrote about them. The … Continue reading
Posted in Smell the Roses, Travel Journal
Tagged Copenhagen, Denmark, H.C. Andersen, swans
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Copenhagen, One of the World’s Most Bike-Friendly Cities
At first Copenhagen seemed like a traffic nightmare, with cars and bicycles whizzing past in every direction. But very quickly we realized that everything was extremely well organized with lanes and lights and rules for cars, bikes and pedestrians AND … Continue reading
Church of the Day – Grundtvig’s Church, Copenhagen
Grundtvig’s Church was built in memory of the priest, hymn writer, and educator Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783 – 1872). His significance for Denmark was so great that it was decided to build a memorial in his honor. Two competitions for … Continue reading
Posted in Church of the Day, Travel Journal
Tagged Church of the Day, Copenhagen, Denmark, Grundtvig
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More Amsterdam Images
Bringing you along to enjoy several more sights in the city… A few folks famous for their Amsterdam connections: A Rembrandt self-portrait in the Rijksmuseum We couldn’t get tickets to the Van Gogh Museum but we saw this Van Gogh … Continue reading
Lovely visit to Amsterdam!
A year and a half after we originally planned to visit Scandinavia, we have arrived. Well, almost. Our planned trip last April was via a repositioning cruise to the Atlantic coast of Europe, then Netherlands, then Sweden and Norway on … Continue reading
Finger Lakes to Lavender Fields 