TA INN HOTEL

Tidö Slott

by sim1

Unfortunately enough I got up too early this day, hahaha, so I was here before the castle opened. I didn't feel like waiting for a long time, so all I did was walk around the castle itself. That was great to do though, although I would love to take a look inside! But I don't live that far away, so next year I will make a visit for certain!
The castle has been build by Count Axel Oxenstierna and it took 20 years to complete. They started building the castle around 1625. The mansion was owned by the Oxenstierna-family until 1840, when it was sold. In the next 50 years it was resold several times until it was bought in 1890 by David von Schinkel. Sadly enough the building had gotten into decay by this time. But the family von Schinkel have fully restored the building and its furniture, and that makes the castle a great place to visit nowadays! But besides the restorations, they also opened in 1974 Sweden's first toy museum, with thousands of toys from all over the world. A must see I have heard, so I am eagerly waiting to get back to Tidö again!

Sunset and Sunrise in Västerås

by sim1

The daylight hours (hours between sunrise and sunset) vary a lot between the winter and summer months. People may expect to see the midnight sun during the summer, because they are in Scandinavia. But this is not true for Västerås, because you are not far enough north in the country.

In December you will only have 6 hours to enjoy the day. The sun will get up around 8:30 in the morning but is already setting again before 3 o'clock in the afternoon and that doesn't leave you that much time to do some sightseeing.

In June it is a totally different world, and I love this time of year. Around the longest day (21 June) you will experience the long looooong days! There are 18,5 hours of daylight during those days, the day seems to last forever. The only disadvantage is when you are a light sleeper, as the night only last 5,5 hours.

Average hours of daylight:
Jan 6,9
Feb 9,3
Mar 11,8
Apr 14,5
May 17
Jun 18,6
Jul 17,9
Aug 15,5
Sep 12,9
Oct 10,2
Nov 7,7
Dec 6,1

The Stone-ships at Anundshög

by sim1

There are five stone settings at Anundshög, resembling the Viking's ships. In this picture you can see two of these stone-ships.
The stone-ships at Anundshög are two of the largest built in the form of ships in the first century A.D. There are three other smaller stone-ships in the area. The graves have not been excavated, but they were probably built in memory of great men and important boat-owners. The stone-ships symbolised the real ships on their way to the kingdom of the dead, perhaps to honour a chieftain who died in a foreign country.

Kyrkbacken, the old town

by sim1

IIt's fun to walk around in Kyrkbacken and just wander around through the winding streets of this old part of town. Kyrkbacken is not far from the city centre, it is just behind the cathedral, so it's not hard to find. Although the houses are old, it's not a museum; it still is a 'living' part of the city. But it does give a good impression of what life in town looked like a couple of centuries ago. The houses are small and low, the plank fences, the narrow streets, and the greenery gives you an idea how a medieval Swedish city must have looked like. All the old the houses have signs on them telling their history, and this makes it easier to imagine what life in those days must have been like.
Nowadays it is the working area of quite a few artistic craftsmen and it is great to have a look around in the little stores with their handicraft.

power big meet

by timoo

"power meet"

for those who like old american cars the Power big meet is place to be,abouth 12,000 old cars and around 60,000 people ,thats a BIG party
i been there every year since 1996 sometimes whit my own car (www.fotki.com/chargerrtse) or whit my frends car