Villa Villekulla

Did you read the Pippi Longstocking books when you were young? They were written by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren and have been translated into nearly fifty languages, including Thai, Macedonian, and Hindi. Well, if you read the books, perhaps you recognize this house.


It's Villa Villekulla, the unconventional house where Pippi lived with her horse and her monkey, Mr. Nilsson. It's also the focal point of the Scandinavian language and culture area on Info Island International, where we are going today. Notice the national flags of Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden out in front.

The first thing I notice as I walk up the front steps is that the house looks a little bigger than normal. Maybe this is how the world looks to a child.






Just inside the door is a little photo of Astrid Lindgren, taken when she was an old woman.











The house is managed by librarians from the Scandinavian countries. If you have a reference question, you can submit it to Finnish or Swedish library services by following directions on one of these signs.

Scandinavia has been home to many notable scientists, engineers, and inventors. To the left in this photo is Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who devised the system that is now used to name all living things. On the far wall are two Danish scientists: Niels Bohr, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his research on the structure of the atom, and Tycho Brahe, whose careful observations of planetary motion opened the way for modern astronomy.

There are many other portraits here, including Linus Torvalds (creator of Linux), Inge Lehmann (discoverer of the Earth's solid core) and, of course, Alfred Nobel. Each portait offers curious visitors a notecard biography, so you can learn more about these remarkable people.

You have to use your ingenuity to go upstairs, where you will find Pippi's sparse bedroom. You can only get there by TP. The bed is comfortable (I know -- I took a nap earlier!). At the south end of the room, you can sit on a big, soft pillow, read a book by Hans Christian Anderson, and gaze out the window at Cybrary City, our neighbor sim.

If you are very clever, you can figure out how to find Pippi's secret room. When I was little, I used to wish I had one. Here it is, but I won't spoil the secret by telling you how to get there.

Finally, what kind of storybook house doesn't have a balcony? This one, over the front door, looks to the north. The huge building in this photo is the ALS headquarters, at the center of the island. Behind it you can see the flags of English Square, where we went on our last visit.

So, there's the Scandinavian area. I have special feelings for this place. My name, Rolig, means "funny" in Swedish, as in a funny story. In Danish and Norwegian, it means "calm" or "peaceful." I'm not sure that either word fits me exactly, but they do help me feel a connection to the land and people this house represents.

Because I was planning to come here today, I made a new skirt and blouse to match the decor. The marbled lavender fabric of the blouse is the same color as the trim on Villa Villekulla. I decided that a yellow skirt might be a little too much, so I chose to make a soft, knee-length white skirt instead. They look gentle and spring-like together, don't you think? Here's a closer look.

I'm selling the skirt and blouse together at my shop on Elysian Isle. The name of the outfit? ... It's "Lovely in Lavender."

Hej, då! Tack för att ha kommit idag. Så länge!