Earlier today Gothenburg, Sweden entered the running for the 2018 World Equestrian Games. Goethenburg will be competing with Wellington, FL and whichever other cities enter their names for consideration over the next few months. Like I said when Wellington announced its bid, the 2010 games will be the biggest equine airlift in history and I think the powers that be will want to keep the Games close to the majority of the competitors (Europe) for the next few WEGs. Link: read more about Gothenburg's bid
If you don't know much about Sweden, here are some useless facts I either knew, found online, or completely made up. Actually only one of them is completely made up--can you guess which one?
--Sweden is the 5th largest European country, in terms of land area, after Russia, Ukraine, France and Spain
--Sweden has the highest number of McDonald restaurants, per capita, in Europe.
--On an average, Swedish women have their first child at 30 years.
--Swiss Army knives are red so they can be seen in the snow.
--The first ice hotel of the world was built near the village of Jukkasjärvi, in Kiruna district of Sweden
--The income inequality in Sweden was found to be the second lowest in Europe, in 2006, next only to Denmark.
--Charlie Chaplin died in Sweden
--As of 2004 you can pay your Swedish taxes by sending an SMS message from your cell phone. --The sun rises at 3.30am in the summer
--American textbooks are cheaper in Sweden than in the U.S.
--On Easter children dress up as witches and go trick-or-treating.
--The Nobel Prizes were founded by Alfred Nobel, a Swede who invented dynamite in 1866.
--A popular souvenir in Sweden is the road sign for moose-crossing.
--Surprisingly, a large number of these signs are stolen from Swedish roads every year.
--Europe's largest shopping mall is the Nordstan in Gothenburg, with approximately 180 shops and 150 offices
--As of 2006, Sweden was the most generous country in the world regarding aid to poor countries. It is the only nation where donations exceed 1% of the GDP.
--All non-military property that is not fenced in, or is not a farm or someone's personal garden is open to anyone for hiking through or camping for one night.
Finally, as if we don't have enough absurd videos on Eventing Nation right now, check out the latest two sports nominated to become WEG events:
1. vaulting+showjumping=ouch (apologies for the bad audio)
2. not really equestrian but close enough
Go eventing.
Gothenburg is in Sweden