International Cultures Day

Join Jill, on International Cultures Day, in New Zealand. Food, food, food…

Jill's Scene

People from all around New Zealand and from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds gathered in Hastings last week to celebrate International Cultures Day.

I knew I was in for a taste sensation when I saw all the food stalls.

These women, from Russia, were selling delectable vegetable pies filled with shredded carrot and flavoured with cumin.

This mother and son from Sri Lanka sold us a spicy fish roll. It was delicious and very filling.

The Chinese Society were selling pork buns,

and a stall featuring food from Malaysia had tapioca flavoured with pandan.

This Thai sticky rice cake was filled with coconut and palm sugar. It was very sweet.

Sadly, I just couldn’t try everything but I was tempted. Especially when I discovered a food stall from Laos. But by then my stomach was complaining – you really can have too much of a good thing. Perhaps next…

View original post 119 more words

Mariefred, an old town with a royal history

This is a post that will show you something about my region, a historic region in Sweden called Sodermanland. And it is about Mariefred, an old historic town.

The town was founded around year 1370, it is a town with a lot of old wooden houses. The name Mariefred means “Maria’s peace” or Pax Mariae like the monastery that gave the town its name.

A narrow street

Wooden house

In 1400 a major castle was built here, the castle “Gripsholm”. That castle was taken over by Gustav Vasa in 1530. In his rule the monastery was grounded during the reformation when the Swedes was supported to be Protestants. The castle is still there and today it holds a lot of old portraits of royalties and other old celebrities. It is a museum for everyone to visit, a great experience.

Castel of Gripsholm

A town with many wooden houses have often been through some fire… That is the case in Mariefred as well, there have been three major fires, in 1620, 1640 and 1682. In 1682 the church burned down to. There have always been rebuilding in these towns and the houses today are rather old too. The photos below shows how the church looks today.

Church in Mariefred

Another view over the church

Mariefred is situated by “Mälaren” which is a major lake that goes all the way to Stockholm and are also connected with the Baltic sea. There have been a lot of  shipping in the past, both gods and passengers. By steam boats… There still is a steam boat going from Mariefred to Stockholm, called S/S Mariefred. It has been in traffic since 1903. Mariefred is also known for its steam trains. Some of them are still in traffic too. There are a lot of people coming to Mariefred to see the old railway station and to travel the old trains or boat.

Steam boat “S/S Mariefred”

Detail from the railway

An old train wagon

A more “royal” wagon

Hello world Welcome to our homes Tomorrow please…

Hello world, Welcome to our homes. Unfold your maps and you’ll find your way to us.

It’s Sunday morning and I’m preparing for church. Before I leave, I wanted to tell you I just moved back to Tennessee after 2 years of living in California with a son. That was a great experience, living near the Pacific Ocean. However, I never managed to pull my roots out of Tennessee, and although I miss my sons and daughter-in-law, Tennessee is home. From here I’ll post everything about this beautiful south-east section of the United States.

Tomorrow you’ll meet all of us with our locations. We are an international covey writing for your pleasure. We’ll offer our best view of our land, culture, art, history and literature.