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| | Inside Sweden's Manor Houses | Departures (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-02) |
 | | As late as the 17th and 18th centuries, Sweden was a very poor country whose noble families were often hard-pressed to maintain even the barest semblance of elegance. |
 | | The best place to study, firsthand, the architecture and decor of these country houses is Sweden's fertile, southernmost province, known as Scania, which, although a seven-hour drive from the Swedish capital, is now only half an hour from Copenhagen, via the two-year-old Øresund Bridge. |
 | | The Swedish year is manic-depressive, with long hours of dispiriting darkness in winter and equally long hours of soft brilliance in summer; in both seasons, the sun often seems to dawdle motionlessly on the horizon, casting slanting shafts of tremulous, watery light. |
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