Author: Ms. R.

Runestones are inherently tied to Scandinavia and are perhaps some of the most recognizable Viking age remnants in the country. For Scandinavians, they represent history, and a link back to an age long gone. They are so treasured today, it’s unthinkable to remove a rune stone from its location. However, this was not always the case. In the past, these stones were used as building materials, destroyed, or relocated to more accessible locations.  The latter occurred in Lund in……

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The 750 mile San Andreas fault is the boundary between the Pacific Tectonic Plate and the North American Tectonic Plate in California. The fault’s most quintessential features are located in the Carrizo Plain National Monument in San Luis Obispo County. Wallace Creek, an intermittent ravine flowing west out of the Temblor Range, crosses the San Andreas Fault in the northeastern corner of the monument. The creek once followed a straight path from the North American Plate onto the Pacific……

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Not far from Lake Balaton, in Balaton Uplands National Park, stone columns rise from the earth in striking formations. A hearty hike and climb leads visitors to some of the most noteworthy, which look like the organ pipes of an instrument of monumental size, thus the name Bazaltorgonák. This unique geography, as explained by nearby educational signs, is the result of the area’s volcanism, which was especially active several million years ago, when a sea that once covered the……

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This extraordinary private art foundation on the outskirts of Barcelona known as Espai Xavier Corberó is an immense and labyrinthine house museum. All devoted to the memory of celebrated Catalan sculptor Xavier Corberó. Corberó is best known for his monumental public sculptures and was also the designer of the 1992 Summer Olympic medals. In 1967, Corberó acquired an old farm called Can Cargol in Esplugues de Llobregat, a peaceful village known for its historic mansions, ceramic factories, and medieval monastery. Corberó……

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In the Glasgow suburb of Bearsden, surrounded by housing and retirement developments, lie the ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse.  Part of the Antonine Wall outpost, which represented the northernmost settlement of the Roman Empire, this bathhouse was one of the rest and relaxation options available to Roman soldiers stationed in dreich Caledonia. A majority of these soldiers are believed to have originated in the province of Gaul, known today as France.  Dated to the 140s, the bathhouse featured……

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Located in a small fishing village in West fjords, this fourth-generation family-owned bookstore was established in 1914. They have kept track of every krona that has come through the store since their opening, displayed in old accounting books showcased throughout. Many of the store’s trappings have remained relatively untouched for more than a century.  The bookstore sells new books by Icelandic authors, as well as old used books with inscriptions such as “Happy Christmas, from Mom and Dad, 1962,”……

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This piece was originally published in The Guardian and appears here as part of our Climate Desk collaboration. Genetic diversity could shrink as animals venture into new territories because of global heating, leaving them vulnerable to extinction, scientists have warned after tracking the impact of climate change on the American mastodon. Huge, hairy, and with a pair of fearsome tusks, mastodons resembled stocky, hirsute elephants. The earliest fossils of American mastodons date to about 3.5 to 4 million years……

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Scandinavia is known for its colorful mythology filled with elves, fairies, trolls, and giants. While it’s impossible to exactly pinpoint the origin of these myths, there are locations across the country that have roots in their beginnings. In Skane, there is the Troll Forrest and in Blekinge, there are the Troll Kettles.  These “kettles” are actually water holes, several meters wide and created in the solid rock, filled with murky water. Most of them are rounded and even sanded to a……

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