Ex-Welder Preparing to Rule Sweden Promises Nordic Welfare Dream
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-12/ex-welder-preparing-to-rule-sweden-promises-nordic-welfare-dream.html
Stefan Loefven, a former welder who was raised by foster parents after his mother abandoned him at 10 months, plans to reinstate the traditional pillars of Nordic welfare he says Sweden has lost.
The 57-year-old union boss is closing in on becoming Sweden’s first Social Democratic premier in eight years, according to polls ahead of the Sept. 14 election.
“The reality is working against the government,” said Loefven, who was raised by a lumberjack and a home-care provider after being given up by his biological mother. “There are cracks in the welfare in such a way that people no longer feel safe.”
Perceived as pragmatic and business friendly while heading the IF Metall union, Loefven is now calling for higher payroll taxes and levies on banks to raise unemployment and sickness benefits that were cut by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. He also plans to outspend Reinfeldt in building railways, housing, improving education and creating public sector jobs to bring down Scandinavia’s highest unemployment rate.
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Sognefjord
You was in Oslo and bergen last month cool - Oslo is starting to grow up now I would say - with all the new buildings down at the waterfront - but I am not to found about the big buildings down at the waterfront - I would have deiced of a smaller "footprint" so to say - but it is not me who was in charge down there....
Bergen is maybe one of our most beautifully city's clean - and nice compared to Oslo - and not to big either.. And it have a more cosmopolitan view of the world than most of Norway - as it have always looked westward - for new frontiers.... And also was the old Capital of Norway - and one of the most important city's the 12th century...
I have never been into the royal palace - even if I live just 30 minutes with train from Oslo... Compared to other palaces in Europe - the palace in Oslo is rather small, but then it was made in the 1800s when most of the large palaces was already a few centuries old 
And for what it is worth - it is a great symbol of our kings and queens.. Most people just call it Slottet - and then everyone know what you are talking about..
When you was in Oslo - was you at Aker brygge - or at the Akershus Fortress and Castle too?.. Aker brygge is a nice place to sit when it is summer and warm - to have a drink of your choice - and just looking at the people there - but it is expensive out there - on the other hand it is still free to walk around and look at things yet...
The Fortress is on the other side - from Aker brygge - and its name is Akershus festning - or Akershus fortress - the fortress you see today is from the 1500s-1600s - but the main buildings on the top - is all the way back to the late 1300s - even if it is enlarged and rebuild from what it once was... It have been one of the most important castles - and fortresses in Norway - a royal fortress back in the middle ages - a castle where kings and queen lived - then a military HQ with all what become a military HQ - a prison - for people who have doing some nasty criminal things - and today - it is still a military HQ - but for the most part it is open to the public every day - all day from morning to the evening - and the Castle part is used as an official reception area the government when foreign leaders and nobility is in town...
The County around Oslo - is named after the castle-Akershus to - but that is maybe a digress...
Diclotican
Sognefjord
So you was inside the Fortress - nice - it is free admission to go to the fortress - and you can stay their all day if you want - even have a picnic if you want to do it.. And it is a few museum to wist too - The Homefront Museum - going back to WW2 - and you have also The national defense museum who is situated in the "new" part of the fortress - a old mutation building where the fortress once had its armaments and gun powders for its weapons - who generally show the different weapon used in Norway from the middle ages to more or less the current time... The train ride from oslo to bergen is maybe one of our finest train roads - as it goes true some of the most beautifully nature in the country - in fact NRK our national broadcasting corporation made a 9 hour live TV from a trip from Bergen and Oslo - when Bergensbanen as it is known was 100 year a couple of years ago - it was not just a camera on the top of the train - who looked forward - but it was also a lot of history around the main line - songs from that age - and a lot of other things who for a century was living on and around the railroad. It was interesting to look at - it was was some have made into "slow- TV" - a year after they had "Hurtigruten minutt for minutt" from Bergen to Kirkenes - 5 days of non-stop TV on board and outside one of the ships who is known as the Hurtigruten - The main highway nr 1 as it is called- one of the most important transport means in Norway for most of the cast going all the back to who know where... And as some even discovered here on DU - the national knitting evening, hours on hours of just people sitting and knitting - I wonder what is next on the agenda - a national day of fishing?...
I guess you flew on Widerøe - a rather old company who use turbo-props - and a very nice company too who is known for having some of the best pilots out there - as they often land on challenging airports north in Norway - who in winter can be rather difficult to land at- if it is some storm approaching.. One of our national singers - who have kind of being a "treasure" in Norway made a cover song from john Denver - Liten grønn og syk about a Twin otter who was doing its job all over the country - look it up at you tube 
Bygdøy have some very nice buildings as the Folkemuseum - going back to the middle ages in fact - some of the oldest buildings there is from the late 1300s - maybe even earlier - and the Stavkirke is is one of the oldest church building we know about in Norway - it wa build at a time when brick building was rather new to scandinavia - and expensive - it was easier to build in wood - as we had, and still have a lot of it to use - and it was build many of them in the middle ages - for the new christian religion - in time most of them was teared down, released by other structures in brick or in more modern timber and panel - a part of our history was lost on the way - but the few who survived is properly some of the greatest building from that age and time...
Gardermoen is maybe 45 min from Oslo - you can use the Airport Express train who go straight to Oslo S - (Oslo central station) or use one of he more slow local trains - who can take some longer time - Torp on the other hand is maybe a hour outside of Oslo - but it goes coach busses to the airport and back to Oslo every hour or so - and Torp is one of the airports who have grown most the last couple of yeas, many use its facilities today...
Americans is americans - and it is rather not difficult to identify an american from a crowd - I'm not sure but most american I have seen is rather loud speaking and well - they tend to look out in most crowds... But most Norwegians have a friendly idea around americans - and I hope you enjoyed your trip going around un-supervised in most of Norway - a group tour is a group tour - but if you want to discover a country - or a specially place, you better do it yourself - then you can really discover how a place is....
Some of Oslo have a large minority who is generally speaking of muslim faith - Grønland/Gamle Oslo/Tøyen is maybe some of the places where muslims have kind of "getting the upper hand" in Oslo - and the minority is the majority... But they do make some decent food there - and it s rather interesting to have a "diving" into the food stores at Grønland - who have spices and all type of food you seldom get on the super market.. But I guess - Norway of today - is a verry diffferent country than your grandparents Norway - and I guess it goes both on the positive side - and the negative side so to speak...
Diclotican
Sognefjord
You should definitely travel to the north of Norway when you have the time to do it - if you are lucky with the weather - you should discover a part of the country who is a treasure - and a reason for many tourist to travel to Norway at all - but you should try if you are able to travel to Sognefjorden too - if you have not been there already - I have driven that way a few times - and it is still an amazing place to travel to - specially if you drive over the mountain pass - and then suddenly (more or less) discover signified deeep under you - first you have the bare mountain gray and cold - then longer down you have all the green woods where people is living - and deep under you - the cold almost green water at the Sognefjorden - it is more freshwater than saltwater as the freshwater from thousands of rivers and streams are going into the fjord - and make it look like water with the colour of emerald deep down there - Amazing
The Fram museum is rather interesting - as you is able to walk inside Fram - the ship who Nansen used to sail to the poles - a rather big ship - but to be kept there for mounts at the time... I'm not sure I would have been able to do that...
Next time you should try to wist Vigelands park - and the sculptures - it is rather interesting sculptures - even though I am not to well into the different statues - even if I have been there many, many times over my life.. But Sinnataggen is rather famous all over the planet
The scream or Skriket - is maybe one of Munch's more famous pictures is a picture many want to look at - and many want to be lectured about what it meant - I guess some understood what it is about instantly - and the Munch museum is a rather interesting museum too.. even if I found it rather boring when I was a kid 
But I guess now as I am grown up - I'm more able to understand it... Life tend to learn you few things...
It exist a few rare bookstores in Oslo, you just have to find them - sadly they are in the minority now this days - but they are still open - and I have getting a few books myself who is rather rare - flee markets tend also to be a place to get some treasures - if you are lucky then...
Books tend to be expensive - and some books are just to expensive to buy if you are on a budget I guess I buy mine one sale for the most part - less expensive - and I got the same book for the lower price... History is one of my favorites too - and I dig true most of what I am able to get my hands on - my local library is rather well stocked - so I am many times there too - to get some books - to read....
Aas ale is a nice beer - rather tastefully - Borg Ale is also good - not as good as Aas but still a nice beer (Aas is by the way brewed in Drammen - and is one of the few local brewery still existing in Norway) I guess they do not sell them in the US - and if they did - it would be difficult to get them even then A hawaii style shirts tend to stand out in Norway - so I guess you would have been standing out most ways - but thats maybe the charm with americans - they tend to just stand out anywhere they stay....
If you talk to some of the more anti-immigrant groups here in Norway - you would have been in danger of been attacked and killed by "foreigners" even in bright daylight - for the most part Oslo and most of Norway is safe to walk in - some places you might be more carefully than others - but as a general rule - you can walk in most of Oslo without been harmed in any way... It all depend I guess how you act yourself.... For the most part we just do not have the same culture of gun violence as in the US...
Diclotican
