Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital of Sweden, located on the east coast at the entrance of lake Mälaren. With a population of 1,700,000 it is the largest city in Sweden.
As the capital, Stockholm is the site of the Government and the parliament of Sweden. It is also the residence of the head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Origins
The earliest mention of Stockholm in writing dates from 1252, when it was an important post in the iron trade from the mines in Bergslagen. The first part of the name — stock — means log, while the last part — holm — means islet or small island. The full origin of the name is disputed. Birger Jarl was a Swedish statesman and a member of the ancient noble family of Folkung (Folkungaätten). He mentioned Stockholm by name in a letter.

Politics
Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a representative democracy based on a parliamentary system. The head of the state is the highest public office in Sweden. According to the Act of Succession of 1810 that office is inherited within the House of Bernadotte.
Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus), born 30. April 1946, is the King of Sweden. He is the only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf (1906-1947), and his wife, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1908-1972). He was acceded to the throne on 19. September 1973, upon the death of his grandfather, King Gustav VI Adolf. In 1976 he married Silvia Sommerlath. They have three children. Viktoria, the oldest daughter born 1977, is crown princess of sweden.
The City of Stockholm is a municipality which is governed by a directly elected City Council. The city has been subdivided into districts, which each carry responsibility for primary school, social, leisure and cultural services within their respective areas and is governed by a Borough Council. The political composition of the Borough Councils reflect the composition of the City Council, not the votes from the people in the borough.

20th century
In the late 20th century, Stockholm became a modern, technologically-advanced and ethnically diverse city. Throughout the century, many industries shifted away from work-intensive activities into more high-technology and service-industry knowledge-based areas.
The city continued to expand and new district were created, for example Rinkeby, Tensta, and Sollentuna, some with high proportions of immigrants.
In 1923 the Stockholm municipal government moved to a new building, the Stockholm City Hall. In 1967 the city of Stockholm was integrated into Stockholm County.

Culture
Stockholm is rife with literatur, art and music institutions, cafés, cinemas, flea market etc. One of Stockhoms biggest tourist attraction is Skansen. It includes a zoo and various other amusements, but the most interessting aspect of this place is the performance of old swedish rural culture. The idea behind Skansen, which was built up in 1881, was to create a living museum of Swedens peasant roots.

Felix Naumann & Imke Kannegießer

4th October
…Wir kaufen im Shop die Kataloge und machen uns auf zum Rathaus – schließlich soll um 12:00 Uhr der „Walk through Europe“ starten. Wir postieren uns am Rathaus und warten. Warten. Dann ist es 12:00 Uhr und es geht auf unserer 60°-Grad-Route in Richtung nordost.

We start our “Walk through Europe” at the town hall. Having drawn a line between Lüneburg and Stockholm on a map of Europe, we copied the relevant ankle into the map of Stockholm to get our route. We are lucky concerning this part of the field trip, since the weather is outstanding today. We will be able to do some fine moving and still pictures, and due to the weather they do not only document the walk itself, but also our mood: sunny.

Wir laufen fast ausschließlich, vorbei am Bahnhof, weiter über die Drottninggatan (große Fußgängerzone), durch einen Park, am alten Stadion vorbei und schließlich durch ein Industrieviertel. Letztlich steigen wir (obwohl die vereinbarten zwei Stunden längst vorüber sind) in Ropsten in die Straßenbahn und fahren rüber auf die Insel Lidingö. Dort kleben wir – erschöpft und glücklich – in einem kleinen Hafen den Aufkleber auf eine Laterne und ruhen uns in der warmen Herbstsonne aus.

6th October
…I am going back to our country house by train, so I get to Central Stationen that morning. Although I am looking forward to returning to that calm place in the middle of a forest in Småland, I realize that Central Stations felt better while we were shooting some pictures during our “Walk through Europe”. Well, I guess leaving is not the best thing to do when you are in Stockholm.

Stockholm ist immer wieder eine Reise wert. Das Wetter war uns wohlgesonnen, die Menschen sehr zuvorkommend. Es hat Spaß gemacht, Europa kennen zu lernen. Stockholm ist eine Hauptstadt Europas.

Imke Kannegießer, Felix Naumann