A snowy snowy Sweden!

Snow angels! So this week we have been getting so much snow, now we have about 13 centimeters, and still going strong! So what else to do, but make snow angels, and go sledding! It was great, because the forest is right next to our house, with (not so big hills) but good enough to get some speed! It was a blast!

And this is some Christmas decorations, we each got one of the lamps in our rooms! And I added my own little touch with the stocking, a great way to get this Christmas season started!

It was quite snowy, and I was quite cold, it was nice to have good snow boot though, in which I borrowed from my host family, it makes all the difference, how great! I must say I love this -5 degree, snowy, icy weather! KEEP IT COMING! I am dreaming of a white Christmas!

Denmark- Kronborg Slot

Kronborg Slot, better known for being Hamlet (from Shakespeare's) Castle. This castle is in Helsingør Denmark, which is about 20 minutes by ferry from Helsingborg (the town where I live.) This castle dates back to the 1420's, was built in order of the Danish King, Eric of Pomerania. The king insisted on the payment of sound dues, because Helsingør is located right next to the harbor of course there would be much sound. So he built a very powerful fortress to control the sound. In 1629 some careless workers caused much of the castle to go up in flames. Only the Chapel was spared, and that was only because of its strong arches. Christian IV put much efforts into restoring the castle and by 1639 the exterior was once again magnificent, but it was never as great as it used to be before the fire. From 1739 until the 1900's Kronborg was used as a prison. The inmates were guarded by the soldiers in the basement of the castle. (Which was very dark, and consisted of many tunnels, very hard to find your way around in.) The prison was divided into two categories, those with minor sentences, whom were called "honest" and were allowed to work outside the castle walls; but those who were serving sentences for violence, or murder were called "dishonest" and had to serve the full sentence doing hard physical labour inside the castle. They all had to wear chains and spend nights in cold and damp dungeons. (Even hundreds of years now, those dungeons were really cold.) So many of you may think, "what about Hamlet?" well this technically was NOT Hamlet's Castle. Kronborg is known as being the setting of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, but Hamlet has been performed in this castle many of times, the first was the mark of Shakespeare's 200th anniversary of his death.

The group that accompanied me to this lovely castle. ( I am to the far left, if you didn't know, then we have 2 australians, and 2 U.S girls!) We are the exchange students that are in Helsingborg Sweden.

Capital City Stockholm

My Stockholm visit! This picture is of the Official Resident of the King and Queen. Yeah, I know HOW COOL! The castle was designed by Nichodemus Tessin, it is based from and Italian Baroque, this castle was completed in 1754, it is partly built on the remains of the former Tre Kronor (3 crowns) Castle which was destroyed by fire in 1697. The interiors of the castle can date back to the 18th and 19th century. This castle has exactly 610 rooms, and is one of the worlds largest Royal Palaces.
This was the sight of the Stockholm Bloodbath. The Bloodbath was a brutal fight between the Swedes and Danes. It took place on November 7 to November 10 in 1520, there were almost 100 people that were killed. On the night of November 7th the events of the bloodbath started. Danish soldiers with lanterns and torches, entered the great hall of the royal palace and took many noble guests. Later in that night many of the King's guests were imprisoned. For the next few days after that there were many killings. This sight is called Stortorget which is located by the Old Town (which by the way was very beautiful) Behind the monument you can see are great buildings, actually the colors of the buildings stand for the different people that were killed, and on the red building are 82 while limestone plates, that stand for each severed head. There is a legend that says between November 7th to the 10th you can see shadowy figures haunting around the area. This was defiantly one of the most interesting places I went to!
This was a museum of Royal Stables, it also had the wedding dresses of the four daughters of Prince Gustav Adolf. These stables date back to the 19th century. This is one of the oldest carriage, the Coronation Coach, it is from France, and was actually made in the 16th century! It was for King Karl XV.
This is a picture of Sweden's Riksdag, its the nations legislative assembly of Sweden. Which is like our government. It is where all the decisions in Sweden are made.
This is the Great Bedchamber, for the last King of Sweden. I was really not suppose to be taking these pictures, ( which later I got told) but it was totally worth it, to have these great pictures, and I hope you enjoy it too! This was a very interesting room, and they had great art pieces which most art was done by Jonas Forsslund. My favorite part of this room was the sculptures on the 4 corners of the ceiling, which showed greed, stupidity, jealousy, and gluttony.