Ahh, this is what Sweden is all about, a comfortable place to sit a dog on your lap and a Donald Duck comic.
Let me introduce you to the Wiegert family, starting with everyone's favourite: Cassie. She has a personality to match those looks.
This is Monica, she knows pretty much everything about everything and has been everywhere, even Zanzibar. She also writes for the local newspaper and makes the best pickled herring I've ever had.
Theresa (whom everyone already knows... space woman, Winnipeg, parrots, etc...), and Lars the patriarch of the family. He works at the local nuclear power plant in the special projects area.
David (Theresa's boyfriend) and Cassie! David is originally from Holland, but now makes his home in Winnipeg.
Benne, being the laid back man-about-town that he is. He's also an electrical engineer like his father and work in amplifier q/a.
Jaochim, the youngest of the family. He's following in his sister's footsteps in the field of astrophysics. Sorry no pics of Daniel though, he was usually busy or with his girlfriend, with whom he'd just been on a trip to Indochina with.
Eating yummy Canadian Lobster. Did I mention that Monica is an amazing cook?
I'm a Viking!
This is at the Radio Observatory near Onsala just before the Martians landed.
A wee cottage at the observatory. Most homes in Sweden seem to be this colour and this style of siding. Although this may be only the west coast of Sweden.
Theresa and David and the ocean.
Here you can see the big radio dishes. Theresa knows all about them.
I've always loved weatherstations. This one looks especially Swedish.
The sun doesn't get too high this time of year. And yes, I did doctor this image.
Theresa and David had a hard time negotiating the rocks and such down to the shore. I hopped down first and waited.
I'm told this is a nice place to go swimming in the summer.
They have two dishes set up pointing at each other to illustrate how the parabolic shape concentrates waves. You can whisper in to this one an hear it at the other one.
Apparently this thing has been used as a signal for hunderds of years. Perhaps since Viking times?
Theresa was able to break in to the small science museum and show us around. There were lots of these fantastic facts! It looks cooler written in another language.
This is how much I weigh on the moon (I think that word means the moon).
An actual picture of the actual big bang.
High tech computers...
This is one of those things that is just immensely fun to play with. Don't ask me how the wrangled this from the US Army.
I call this the Hitler-Dish. This is vintage Second World War equipment installed her by the Fuhrer himself (well probably not, but the Nazis anyway). It was used to radar track our ships during the war. Its good to know that such an instrument of evil was used to good research after the war.
This is the big antenna. Buckminster Fuller would be proud.
Now we are at the beach near Theresa's house. Nice swans swimming near the a waterbreak.
More Swell Swedish Swams Swimming Smoothly. I'm an idiot...
Isn't the most colourful and cute sign you've seen? Barn is child in Swedish, sort of like Bairn in Scots.
Isn't this this cutest puppy? He kept staring at me so I took a photo. He reminds me of my other puppy-friend Brommel von Midnight-Acre. This was at the ferry stop in Gothenburg. Did you know... the Swedish word for puppy is “velp”, sort of like the old English word for puppy... welp.
Waiting for the ferry in Gothenburg with Lars and Joachim. The ferry didn't come because it was some sort of holiday. There are a lot of holidays in Sweden which would explain why everyone is so mellow.
A cool old ship on the Gothenburg waterfront... or is it just a new ship made to look old? I don't know, but it was neat.
I really think this building is cool, although the local people call it the lipstick building. The tall ship to the left is perminantly anchored here as a hotel and restaraunt.
Yeah, Stora. I wonder if this ship has ever been to Hawkesbury.
The waterfront has a very nice maritime museum. You can tour many of these ships when the museum is open, which is only in the summer.
More ships. The one to the right is a very old steel hulled vessle designed by a Swede for the Americans during their Civil war.
Now we are way south. In the foreground you see some fishing boats. In the background there is the Ringhals Nuclear Power Plant. We attended the vistors centre, it was super neat.
Me and the plant.
Fishing boats in a fishing village.
A Swedish lighthouse.
Lars, Joachim and the lighthouse. These guys took me around everywhere, they are excellent tour guides!
We went to Gothenburg to see the fireworks on New Year's Eve.
Some ships decorated for the holidays. The Swedes don't use coloured lights, or plastic Santas. Its too bad really.
Avid photographers.
This is a good photo.
David giving Theresa a look...
We went to Theresa's old apartment in Gothenburg for a little get together one night. David is entertaining us with his rendition of Wonderwall.
Eva! She pretty much does everything... study medicine, play the guitar, be a missionary, recite ABBA lyrics... She probably also has a secret identity where she fights crime.
Theresa and Sophia. Sophia is also a med student! Is there anyone in Sweden that isn't a smarty pants?
And.. yes, horrible candy. I think it means junglescream, although it could equally be called Monkeybreath. Okay it wasn't that bad, but still...
