"Sweden: My Adoptive Country" a Sweden Travel Page by marielexoteria

When people think of Sweden, Volvo, ABBA and IKEA are 3 things that come to mind. But Sweden is so much more than this. Sweden is green forests, the (most of the time) blue water of the Baltic Sea, mountains suitable for hiking, national parks, the Ice Hotel, the Northern Lights (if you're lucky)...the list can go on.

Sweden is the country I chose to live at and even though every winter I feel like making a hole and staying there until Spring, it's a marvelous country.

- Capital: Stockholm.
- A little more than 9 million people live here.
- The language spoken is Swedish but English and German are widely spoken.
- Sweden is a monarchy with king Carl XVI Gustav, but the royal family doesn't have any power.
- The überboss of Sweden, oops I mean the Prime Minister, is called Fredrik Reinfeldt.
- Sweden is one of the countries that people mock on TV shows a lot (read a list of shows where Sweden's mentioned or mock here).
- Oprah says she's a fan of Wasa knäckebröd.
- Sweden came third on the World Cup of Football (soccer for us raised at the other side of the Atlantic) in 1994.
- Sweden hosts the Nobel Prize dinner (except for the Peace Prize) every year on Dec 10th.
- Some Swedish inventions: the tetrapak packing (like for milk), dynamite.

Some Famous Swedes

- The Royal Family
- ABBA
- The Cardigans
- Ace of Base
- Europe (the music group)
- Roxette
- Björn Borg
- Sven-Göran "Svennis" Eriksson
- Ingrid Bergman
- Greta Garbo
- Ingmar Bergman
- Carl Linneaus
- Astrid Lindgren

Some Swedish Brands

- IKEA
- H&M
- Volvo
- Absolut Vodka
- SAAB
- Scania
- Ericsson (nowadays owned by Sony)