Oskarshamn

  Oskarshamn is a costal city in Sweden and has 17 528 inhabitants(2010)

The location of Oskarshamn was known as Döderhultsvik since the medieval age. In 1645, the city of Kalmar, to the south, made a request to the Royal Government on holding commerce in the bay there, which was granted, giving it merchancy rights as a köping. There followed 200 years of merchancies in the town, during which it was governed and dependent on Kalmar; while the surrounding towns and municipalities made frequent requests to grant it a charter, consequently turned down each of the attempts made in the years: 1786, 1798, 1800, 1815, 1818, 1823, 1825, 1830 and 1838. In 1843 it got some independence, with a local council, but the council itself was occupied by citizens of Kalmar. In 1854, the King Oscar I of Sweden promised to grant it a charter as soon as it had fulfilled certain demands, including building a prison and a council hall, among other things. When they had accomplished the feats, the charter was granted, and the city became one of the Cities of Sweden starting 1856, on May 1. This status has today no legal significance, but Oskarshamn is now the seat of the much larger Oskarshamn Municipality, without being a political entity of its own.

The Royal Warship Vasa

Vasa is one of the coolest things I have ever seen(beside a submarine :D,but this is a diffrent story  )

Vasa museum in Stockholm,Sweden is one of the coolest museums in Swede.It is a must when visiting Stockholm.

Vasa is a Swedish warship built 1626-1628. The ship foundered and sank after sailing less than a nautical mile (ca 2 km) into its maiden voyage on 10 August 1628. It fell into obscurity after most of its valuable bronze cannon were salvaged in the 17th century. After it was located again in the late 1950s in a busy shipping lane just outside the Stockholm harbor, it was salvaged with a largely intact hull in 1961. It was housed in a temporary museum called Wasavarvet ("The Wasa Shipyard") until 1987 and then moved to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. The ship is one of Sweden's most popular tourist attractions and has been seen by over 29 million visitors since 1961.
Vasa was built top-heavy and had insufficient ballast. Despite an obvious lack of stability in port, it was allowed to set sail and foundered only a few minutes after it first encountered a wind stronger than a breeze. The impulsive move to set sail was the result of a combination of factors: Swedish king Gustavou Adolphus, who was leading the army on the continent on the date of its maiden voyage, was impatient to see it join the Baltic fleet in the Thirty Years´ War; at the same time, the king's subordinates lacked the political courage to discuss the ship's structural problems frankly or to have the maiden voyage postponed. An inquiry was organized by the Swedish privy concil to find personal responsibility for the disaster, but in the end no one was punished for the fiasco.
During the 1961 recovery, thousands of artifacts and the remains of at least 15 people were found in and around the hull of the Vasa by marine archaeologists. Among the many items found were clothing, weapons, cannon, tools, coins, cutlery, food, drink and six of the ten sails. The artifacts and the ship itself have provided historians with invaluable insight into details of naval warfare, shipbuilding techniques and everyday life in early 17th-century Sweden. Vasa was intended to express the expansionist aspiratsions of Sweden and to glorify king Gustavus Adolphus. No expense was spared in decorating and equipping the Vasa, which was also one of the largest and most heavily armed warships of its time.

And everyone who likes "Pirates of Carribean " knows The Flying Dutchman ,I guess. The look of the fictional ship was inspired by the seventeenth century Dutch "fluyt" vessels and the Vasa.

12 Gifts for Santa Claus

It has been sooo long I posted somethig to this blog. :)

Far, far away in Lapland in the village of Korvatunturi where Santa Claus lives everybody are busy. It’s only 12 days to Christmas. Little Villi like for all the elves loves Christmas and making gifts above all.
But Villi is worried – what should he give as a gift to Santa Claus? It has to be something special.
Villi comes up with a great idea – “What if we surprise the Santa with a little gift every day until Christmas? Twelve surprises. That’s going to be fun.”    

This beautiful postcard is from Soinsi1 ,I met her in Hämeenlinna postcrossig meeting.It was really great ,and she sent me a card. I don´t know who did she know that thos book was one of my faves during my childhood.It is called "12 gifts for Santa Claus" by Mauri Kunnas .I recommed to read this book :)


Christmas is comig :) so a wonderful christmas song for you all too :)

Indian Symbols and their meaning

 A very cool birthday suprise card from dear Adobe :) It was in my wislist and Carol sent this to me.Thank you very much. I LOVE IT :) .

 Native Americans used symbols to communicate  their thoughts ,expressions and beliefs.Each symbol has distinctive characteristics and is a unique representation of a sentence,situation or incident.Many of these symbols are incorporated in craft and jewelry desings.

Kenya

Kenya is a country in East Africa,that lies on equator. With the Indian Ocean  to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km² and a population of nearly 41 million,representing 42 different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among  Africa´s highest mountain peaks. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi.
  Kenya has a warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian Ocean, which changes to wildlife-rich savannah grasslands moving inland towards the capital. Nairobi has a cool climate that gets colder approaching Mount Kenya, which has three permanently snow-capped peaks. The warm and humid tropical climate reappears further inland towards lake Victoria, before giving way to temperate forested and hilly areas in the western region. The North Eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake (after Lake Superior in the US and Canada) and the world's largesttropical lake, is situated to the southwest and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya is famous for its safaris and diverse world-famous wildlife reserves such as Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park .

Kristinehamn, Sweden

Kristinehamn is situated by the shores of lake Vänern. To be precise, it is situated where the small rivers Varnan and Löt drain into the lake.
It has a harbour and is a railroad and road transportation center.
Nearby towns include Karlskoga and Karlstad and is located exactly in the middle of Oslo , Stockholm and Gothenburg with 250 km to each of them.

  By the shores of lake Vänern stands this 15 meter high Pablo Picasso  statue since 1965. The statue was concipated from Picasso, but built and inaugurated without him visiting the construction site. Picasso never visited Kristinehamn. Its 15 meters make it the tallest Picasso Sculpture in the world.You can see the statue on card aslo.

Öland , Swden

It has been almost a year  without new posts :S .

It is time to show a new card.This time it is from my Sweden cards.This card shows Öland. Öland is the second largest Swedish island.and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. The island has 25,000 inhabitants, but during Swedish Midsummer it is visited by up to 500,000 people.It is separated from the mainland by the Kalmar stait and connected to it by the 6 km Öland bridge, which opened in 1972.