SJgerdemann

My wife and I are planning a trip to Scandinavia this summer. One of
the things we like to do before we go is to read books about or set in
the places we are going. Anyone care to make a recommendation?
Thanks
Steve Gerdemann

Ghptravel.Com

Hi Steve,

Try books like the lonenly planet guides.

And next you can look at our webpage and see the growing section about
Sweden and Denmark. (www.ghptravel.com)

Greetings,
George

www.ghptravel.com "your travel starting point"


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > My wife and I are planning a trip to Scandinavia this summer. One of
    > the things we like to do before we go is to read books about or set in
    > the places we are going. Anyone care to make a recommendation?
    > Thanks
    > Steve Gerdemann

Sandra Griffiths

Try Henning Mankell's works- they are mysteries, usually set in Skane
(southern Sweden) & feature a detective Inspector Wallander. The books
convey the feeling of time & place- & the writing is good too

Enjoy your trip

Sandra
lurking in Adelaide
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > My wife and I are planning a trip to Scandinavia this summer. One of
    > the things we like to do before we go is to read books about or set in
    > the places we are going. Anyone care to make a recommendation?
    > Thanks
    > Steve Gerdemann

Nitram

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 19:16:18 +1030, "Sandra Griffiths"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Try Henning Mankell's works- they are mysteries, usually set in Skane
    >(southern Sweden) & feature a detective Inspector Wallander. The books
    >convey the feeling of time & place- & the writing is good too
    >Enjoy your trip
    >Sandra
    >lurking in Adelaide

You beat me to it.

I enjoyed Smilla's Feeling for Snow
AKA Smilla's Sense Of Snow Peter Hoeg's bestseller.
It's set in Kopenhagen. I didn't find his other books memorable. I
can't remember the titles. :-)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...905216-1899127

Soon to be in Adelaide...
--
Martin

Elena

Steve, you can combine your visit of Scandinavian countries with the visit
to Saint-Petersburg.
You can see some nice pictures at www.guided-tour.spb.ru . Actually I am
interpreter/tour guide there. Elena
[email protected]
<[email protected]>
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > My wife and I are planning a trip to Scandinavia this summer. One of
    > the things we like to do before we go is to read books about or set in
    > the places we are going. Anyone care to make a recommendation?
    > Thanks
    > Steve Gerdemann

The Rev Gaston

On 2005-01-13 10:16:18 +0100, "Sandra Griffiths"
<[email protected]> said:

    > Try Henning Mankell's works- they are mysteries, usually set in Skane
    > (southern Sweden) & feature a detective Inspector Wallander. The books
    > convey the feeling of time & place- & the writing is good too

Beat me to it :-)

Also try books by Sjowal and Wahloo (probably misspelled) - detective stories.

And best of all Kerstin Ekman, for a real sense of Sweden.

Oh yes, and Tove Janssen - Moomintroll and also her books for adults.
--
Encrypted e-mail address. Click to mail me:
http://cerbermail.com/?nKYh3qN4YG

Casey

    > you can combine your visit of Scandinavian countries with the visit
    > to Saint-Petersburg.

Depending on how you are flying there, you could visit St. Petersburg
for not that much more money. If you are flying via SAS, you could
use their AirPass and spend a lot less than regular return airfare. SAS
flies to St. Pete from both Stockholm and Copenhagen. St. Pete is
worth the trouble.


Casey

Andrew T . Patton

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 19:27:05 +0100, The Rev Gaston <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >On 2005-01-13 10:16:18 +0100, "Sandra Griffiths"
    ><[email protected]> said:
    >> Try Henning Mankell's works- they are mysteries, usually set in Skane
    >> (southern Sweden) & feature a detective Inspector Wallander. The books
    >> convey the feeling of time & place- & the writing is good too
    >Beat me to it :-)
    >Also try books by Sjowal and Wahloo (probably misspelled) - detective stories.

I would second this, the Inspector Martin Beck series is good series
of books, all having been translated into English (I have 5 of the ten
books). The books are written by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (with all
the Os having umlauts). I have not read the Inspector Wallander
series, but enjoyed the films based on the books.

I had always planned to see Sweden but after seeing the film of
"Roseanna" with Gösta Ekman on TV (In Swedish with English Subtitles),
I had a greater desire to see the country. This is somewhat counter
intuitive as the story involves an American tourist being killed while
traveling thru the Gota Canal. But the canal cruise looked so
interesting I started making plans to take the same cruise. After
determining that it was very expensive to take the canal cruise, I
decided that after staying in Sweden for a week, I would take a ferry
to Finland and stay there for a week.

One of the stranger things that has happen to me was when I was in my
Hotel in Stockholm where I started to read "The Locked Room". The book
starts out with a person get off a subway at Mariatorget and walking
down Yxkullsgatan. I had just gotten off at the same station and
walked down the same street noting to myself that the name of the
street could be a good computer password.

Recently the TV station which aired the Martin Beck and Inspector
Wallander series, has shown films based on the Inspector Moltalbano
series of books. They are set in Sicily - want to guess where I am
planning to go to next? :)
--
Andrew T. Patton ([email protected])
Travelogues and Photos at http://www.andrewpatton.com

Sandra Griffiths

The Montalbano books are an excellent introduction to Sicily....wonderful
place, wonderful food, wonderful people. And my interest in other parts of
Italy came from reading Donna Leon (Venice) & Michael Dibdin (various
cities) Like the original poster, I consider some pre-reading on the
destination really useful

Sandra
lurking in Adelaide
Andrew T. Patton <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 19:27:05 +0100, The Rev Gaston <[email protected]>
    > wrote:
    > >On 2005-01-13 10:16:18 +0100, "Sandra Griffiths"
    > ><[email protected]> said:
    > >
    > >> Try Henning Mankell's works- they are mysteries, usually set in Skane
    > >> (southern Sweden) & feature a detective Inspector Wallander. The books
    > >> convey the feeling of time & place- & the writing is good too
    > >
    > >Beat me to it :-)
    > >
    > >Also try books by Sjowal and Wahloo (probably misspelled) - detective
stories.
    > I would second this, the Inspector Martin Beck series is good series
    > of books, all having been translated into English (I have 5 of the ten
    > books). The books are written by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö (with all
    > the Os having umlauts). I have not read the Inspector Wallander
    > series, but enjoyed the films based on the books.
    > I had always planned to see Sweden but after seeing the film of
    > "Roseanna" with Gösta Ekman on TV (In Swedish with English Subtitles),
    > I had a greater desire to see the country. This is somewhat counter
    > intuitive as the story involves an American tourist being killed while
    > traveling thru the Gota Canal. But the canal cruise looked so
    > interesting I started making plans to take the same cruise. After
    > determining that it was very expensive to take the canal cruise, I
    > decided that after staying in Sweden for a week, I would take a ferry
    > to Finland and stay there for a week.
    > One of the stranger things that has happen to me was when I was in my
    > Hotel in Stockholm where I started to read "The Locked Room". The book
    > starts out with a person get off a subway at Mariatorget and walking
    > down Yxkullsgatan. I had just gotten off at the same station and
    > walked down the same street noting to myself that the name of the
    > street could be a good computer password.
    > Recently the TV station which aired the Martin Beck and Inspector
    > Wallander series, has shown films based on the Inspector Moltalbano
    > series of books. They are set in Sicily - want to guess where I am
    > planning to go to next? :)
    > --
    > Andrew T. Patton ([email protected])
    > Travelogues and Photos at http://www.andrewpatton.com

Sandra Griffiths

If you need any information about Adelaide feel free to email

Sandra
nitram <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 19:16:18 +1030, "Sandra Griffiths"
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >Try Henning Mankell's works- they are mysteries, usually set in Skane
    > >(southern Sweden) & feature a detective Inspector Wallander. The books
    > >convey the feeling of time & place- & the writing is good too
    > >
    > >Enjoy your trip
    > >
    > >Sandra
    > >lurking in Adelaide
    > You beat me to it.
    > I enjoyed Smilla's Feeling for Snow
    > AKA Smilla's Sense Of Snow Peter Hoeg's bestseller.
    > It's set in Kopenhagen. I didn't find his other books memorable. I
    > can't remember the titles. :-)
    > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...905216-1899127
    > Soon to be in Adelaide...
    > --
    > Martin

Nitram

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 18:27:11 +1030, "Sandra Griffiths"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >If you need any information about Adelaide feel free to email

Thanks!
--
Martin

Rita

On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 19:27:05 +0100, The Rev Gaston <[email protected]> wrote:

    >On 2005-01-13 10:16:18 +0100, "Sandra Griffiths"
    ><[email protected]> said:
    >> Try Henning Mankell's works- they are mysteries, usually set in Skane
    >> (southern Sweden) & feature a detective Inspector Wallander. The books
    >> convey the feeling of time & place- & the writing is good too
    >Beat me to it :-)
    >Also try books by Sjowal and Wahloo (probably misspelled) - detective stories.

The authors of the mysteries starring Martin Beck are
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. They seem to be out of print, but I have had good
luck ordering them as used books from Amazon and other sites on the Internet.

And just yesterday I received in the mail 3 mysteries by Henning Mankell I
ordered in the same manner.

    >And best of all Kerstin Ekman, for a real sense of Sweden.
    >Oh yes, and Tove Janssen - Moomintroll and also her books for adults.

Nitram

On Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:52:52 GMT, Rita <[email protected]>
wrote:

    >On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 19:27:05 +0100, The Rev Gaston <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>On 2005-01-13 10:16:18 +0100, "Sandra Griffiths"
    >><[email protected]> said:
    >>> Try Henning Mankell's works- they are mysteries, usually set in Skane
    >>> (southern Sweden) & feature a detective Inspector Wallander. The books
    >>> convey the feeling of time & place- & the writing is good too
    >>Beat me to it :-)
    >>Also try books by Sjowal and Wahloo (probably misspelled) - detective stories.
    >The authors of the mysteries starring Martin Beck are
    >Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. They seem to be out of print, but I have had good
    >luck ordering them as used books from Amazon and other sites on the Internet.
    >And just yesterday I received in the mail 3 mysteries by Henning Mankell I
    >ordered in the same manner.

We bought nearly all the Henning Mankell books secondhand in one go
from a paperback bookshop in Pickering in N Yorkshire. We paid
something like GBP2- GBP2.50 a book.

Otherwise http://www.abebooks.com/ is a good source of second hand
books. It's an international network of in dependant second hand
bookshops.

--
Martin

oystein

Casey wrote:

    > St. Pete from both Stockholm and Copenhagen. St. Pete is
    > worth the trouble.
I agree, but I want to inform you about what "the trouble" actually
means.

1) VISA
Make sure you get a visa say at least one month in advance.

Most contries outside the former USSR republics will need a visa to
visit Russia. To get a visa you need an invitation from a hotel with
visa support, before you apply for the visa. A travel agency can take
care of that for you, or you can find a hotel or an agency orginazing
home stays in Russia, that book a room and sends you the invitation. It
is a good idea to send them a copy of your visa by fax or even better
scan it and send it to them by mail, so you are sure they have all the
info they need in order to send you the invitation.

When you have the invitation, take it with you to the closest Russian
embassy togetyher with your passport and 2 photos. If you use a travel
agency, they will often get you an invitation and then send you to the
embassy to get a visa. As the put your visa in your passport you will
have to leave your passport at the embassy. To oick it up after 10
days+ usually cost about 1/10 of picking up your visa the same day.

When you pick up your visa, check that the entry date, exit date, the
name and passportnumber is correct. When you have done that, check it
again. If you not tell that there are errors in your visa at the spot,
they will chare you for correcting the visa at a later stage. As you
may be have understood by now you sholud always take a copy of the
invitation, so that you can check if the info on your invitation and in
your visa corresponds. If you use a travel agency it is a good idea to
bring your cellphone and call the agency imidiately if there is any
errors in your visa. If not, just stay calm, tell them there is an
error in the visa and that you will wait while they correct it.

When you arrive in Russia, will receive an immigration card, where you
say wheter or not you have anything to declare. Travel guides like
Lonely Planet have detailed information. You give the authorities one
and keep one for your departure. This card is stamped by your hotel.
You visa must be registered within 3 days after your arrivel. You need
a hotel with visa support, becuause your are not interested in doing
this job yourself. To register you have to hand over your passport at
the hotel.

2) The cyrillic alphabet.

Even in Moscow and St Petersburg most stretnames and metro station is
only in Russian / cyrrillic letters. That means that even if your map
is in your own language, you need to know cyrrillic letters to
understand what street, metrostation etc. you are in. Lot's of
restaurants also have menus only in Russian or more detailed menu in
Russian. As the names of many dishes are the same, it is useful to be
able to read russian menus. If your in doubt, try soups or blini.
Good luck,

Jan

Erilar

In article <[email protected]>, nitram
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > http://www.abebooks.com/ is a good source of second hand
    > books. It's an international network of in dependant second hand
    > bookshops.

I havea tracked down books I couldn't get via Interlibrary loan with
that site. It's good!

--
Mary Loomer Oliver (aka Erilar)

You can't reason with someone whose first line of argument
is that reason doesn't count. Isaac Asimov

Erilar's Cave Annex: http://www.airstreamcomm.net/~erilarlo