The Dwyers invade the Capital of Scandinavia

Stockholm!   So many ideas and so many things to say.

How to begin??? hummm…..with the delightful Calvin? The beautiful Lisa? The wonderful Jonathan? Or even the friendly Bessie? All good beginnings. They are tremendous hosts and were happy to share the best of their new city.   Or do I begin with all of the things that we had heard about Sweden before we left America?  That is it full of tall blond people who love to drink? That it is a clean, nearly sterile place? That Swedes are not very friendly? That all Swedes speak English? That it is very expensive?

But where I will begin is with a first impression. The Arlanda Express, the high-speed train that takes you from the Arlanda Airport straight into Stockholm. Through the haze of a very long day and a half of travel, it shone brightly that Sweden is a place where they do mass transportation very, very well. The train departed on time – with Swiss-like efficiency! It was bright and comfortable, with real upholstered seats and clean floors. The icing on the cake was the smooth seamless ride. 20 minutes to go 45 miles without the clack and rattle of a typical train. So Sweden was off to an excellent start.

Lisa and Calvin met us at the station. Lisa, looking so happy and fit, and Calvin, with his wonderful grin and welcoming hug, let us know that we were had arrived! Sadly, Jonathan was in Rhode Island for his grandfather’s funeral. While we missed him, that was certainly where he needed to be. He is a gracious and classy host who is rapidly becoming a master of Swedish cooking.

We arrived on the American 4^th of July. A typical Wednesday in July for Sweden, yet somehow most Swedes seemed to be having a picnic in the park. It felt amazingly like 4^th of July in any American city.  Incredible blue skies along the waterfront, with bright green grass, Calvin practicing his soccer kick while we had a delightful lunch and then walked along the Strand – a walkway that runs along the island that Lisa and Jon live on. I knew that Stockholm is actually a collection of islands, but I didn’t really understand what that truly meant. Kungsholmen, the island that Lisa and Jon were calling home, has a circumference of 10 miles and I am pretty sure we walked at least half of the island the first day!

  We went back to Lisa and Jon’s apartment. We were their final visitors to their city home. Everyone who comes after us will visit their country house! Stockholm has so many different faces. They will still be living in Stockholm, but now in a country suburb, rather that the bright city lights. While their apartment is small, it is bright and just right. 

  Nightfall never quite comes to Stockholm in July. My internal clock was a bit whacky due to the time change, but there are no natural cues for elapsed time, so I was not at all sure of what time it was. It could have been 5:00 or 11:00 and the amount of sunlight was the same! I found that a challenge. I have always thought I would do very well with more light. Wrong, as it turns out that I do really well with some actual dark in at least part of the day! The picture above is actually 9.30 at night!

Calvin is an absolute delight. He laughs and plays and loves to eat strawberries. He happily climbed into his stroller first thing in the morning and enjoyed wherever the day took him. He loves to play with his soccer ball or any ball that is handy! He prefers sandboxes to swings, and he will smile at everyone who walks by. I am pretty sure he will grow up to be a diplomat and solve all of the strife that humanity seems to have with his smile and wave. Since most of Europe goes on vacation in July, Calvin’s charming ways got a work out. We know that he is special, but he would happily share that special Calvin energy with who ever came closest. The woman from China, who couldn’t resist, she wanted a cuddle and a picture of her with Calvin, the men from Italy who would kick the soccer ball back while they waited for their tour bus, the entire bus load of German tourists who actually smiled and laughed.

He entertained the engineer on a steamboat with his fascination of how the engine worked. I was not surprised when the engineer invited Calvin down into the engine room to see how it worked up close and personal. Don delighted in going along to hear all about how a hundred year old steam engine was kept working, but it was Calvin who got the invitation! Inside the Ridderholm Church, where a vocalist was practicing, Calvin sat down on the floor, listened intently and then happily clapped when they stopped. The musicians smiled and waved. Calvin lifts the spirits in every room, he brightens the day and makes everyone happy. I know I am his grandmother, but it is more than that. He lives in a country where children are special, and Sweden has lots of children. They pay attention to children. There are parks and playgrounds on nearly every corner. Children, and one parent, ride on mass transportation for free. So Calvin, who looks like a small Swedish child, should not stand out, yet he does. His grin and backwards wave charm everyone.   

 

I could write the entire post about the love of Calvin, but that would not give a true picture of all of Stockholm. Yes, it would tell you about the very best part, but the Viking’s might want a little more representation.

 

 

There are many sights to see in Stockholm. Everyday was filled with history and culture. From the Royal Palace in Drottingholm, the old town of Gamla Stan, the amazing Vasa ship, to the castle of Vaxholm. We saw the medieval museum, went to the royal armory, ate lunch under a chestnut tree planted in 1723, and were impressed by wolverines in Skansen. Every playground got a work out and not just by Calvin! The adults climbed, swung, and rode merry-go-rounds with the smallest child. Playgrounds are good for all.

Food! I had heard lots about how Swedes delight in fika – coffee break with a pastry treat. So I was looking forward to the pastry part of fika and I was not disappointed! I understand that the coffee was tasty but I can’t personally verify that (Don can though!). I can let you know that the pastry part was delicious. I figured since I was walking 6 hours a day I could enjoy the pastry guilt free. So I did! And it was very good!! Don fell in love with lamb korv – a lamb hotdog. I think he was very sad to leave them behind! I actually found a hotdog that I was not too afraid to try; French hotdog, don’t know why they call it a French hotdog, but it was a grilled hotdog with sweet spicy mustard and catsup completely wrapped in a roll. And for a hotdog, really good. The hotdog stands are everywhere. Many of the hotdogs come wrapped in flatbread with mashed potatoes (yes!) and a cucumber salad, plus mustard.  They are pretty large, meant to be eaten by hand, but do come with a fork. When Jon returned he brought back his enthusiasm for Swedish cooking so we were treated to Swedish meatballs made with moose in mushroom gravy, spicy dill rice with dill chicken, dill carrots and a dill cream sauce. Yup, dill features prominently! We even had Swedish tacos – and yes, dill played a role there too!

 

We went to Stockholm to play with our family, and found a beautiful city as an additional bonus!  As to expensive, not really, it is the Capital of Scandinavia -  it says so on their flag – if you go to Washington DC, London, or Paris, you expect to pay more for that experience. Stockholm is not different in that way.  Yes, it is cheaper to buy beer at the Systembolaget rather than the pub, but that is the case everywhere. It seems that the Swedes put their money into the things that they value as a country. It is clean from sidewalks to subway cars and the water is sparkling. Graffiti is not prevalent, run down houses weren’t visible, and homeless people extremely few. The infrastructure is solid, bridges aren’t rusty, roads are smooth, and there is a plan for when things go wrong. Yes, nearly everyone spoke English. I was very happy I come from the country of the Universal Language. The subtitles were always in English, the menus always had an English translation – sometimes it was an interesting translation, but I always got the idea! The people from Russia, Italy, Poland, and Germany either had to know Swedish or English. Gives you something to think about! I am pretty sure the Swedes are the fittest people around. They all seem to be training for the Olympics. They run, bike, kayak, and walk like they have a purpose. They are dressed in true workout gear – no random shorts and concert t-shirt, but spandex and seriousness. Plus they do this at all hours of the day. 11.30 at night (23.30) was the perfect time to get a 5k run in or at least it seemed to be that way. The Swedish people that we met were perfectly pleasant, nice, kind, normal people. They did seem to be less stressed than the average American. I didn’t ever hear a rude tone or frustrated exchange. And I did deal with a couple of different people where I expected a hassle and didn’t even get the remotest push back or anything but courtesy. 

We feel like we have traveled quite a bit and usually feel like the US comes out stronger on so many fronts, but in this case, Sweden does quite a few things much better. Yes, they are a smaller country, but I am pretty sure we could learn a few things from them.

To Calvin, Lisa, and Jon thank you for introducing us to your new city. We are already looking forward to next summer when we can learn all about life in the suburbs.

***

Okay, that was all very nice, and Julie summed it up well. But I would like to add a few of my observations to her summary.

Icelandic Air – highly recommended. The Flight Attendants all wear nice caps like they did in the 60’s. Plus, they talk in that cool Austin Powers – Goldmember accent. “Yesh. Fashen your shafety beltsch and lischen to thish shafety meshage.”

The EU may have created economic opportunity, the current crisis notwithstanding, but it has robbed my passport of vital entry stamps. I have two from Iceland in my new book, but none from Sweden.  And the USA didn’t stamp my book either!

European bathrooms. The shower is the best part. Even the inexpensive hotel rooms have a shower with two controls, a volume, and a temperature knob. Set the temperature knob to the desired warmness, and turn the other knob on to the desired volume of water (usually the max). That’s it! No more waiting for the water to warm up, checking it with your foot until it’s the perfect temperature for your tender skin, only to get shampoo in your hair and have someone turn on the faucet in the kitchen and freeze or scald you! And since many showers have no doors or edges to keep the water contained, you get to play with a squeegee afterwards and rake up all the water into the floor drain. Neat!

Julie mentioned the incredible drive to be fit here in Stockholm. One can only imagine the frustration of these athletes, their veins burning with Viking blood, crying out for pillaging, only to be forced by the convention of modern society and Swedish law to direct their energies into running, biking and kayaking. The Vikings are easy to spot. Tall, blonde, with that white blonde hair and not the yellow blonde so common everywhere else, high cheekbones and long limbs that eat up miles.

Single guys have it made here (I was told). As an Italian co-worker of Jon’s told him, “I like the women here. They tell you that you look good, they buy you drinks, and then you have-a the sex!”

As a civil engineer, I took note of their excellent highway system. No expansion joint separation, no longitudinal cracks, excellent lighting, the bridges were in top condition and the roadside edges were well-maintained. 

Seeing the Vasa was so amazing! The boat was far larger than I expected (I thought it would be like an overgrown lifeboat). The boat was laden with intricate carvings and it was amazingly intact for being over 600 years old. The loss of the Vasa was an example of the result from suppression of engineering wisdom in favor of political will. The original design was to accommodate a single cannon deck. When the ship was 2/3 complete, the King insisted on a second gun deck above the first. The designer pointed out that the higher center of gravity would threaten the ship’s stability and refused. His successor was more compliant, and the completed 2 deck ship set sail. After a 1,300 meter long journey, she rolled over in a light breeze, and water flooded in through the gun ports sending her to the bottom until the 1960’s. The water was deep enough, and cold enough, with just the right amount of salinity to keep the wood safe from wood worms and other hungry organisms, resulting in a relic that is 90% original! We saw a display of a diving bell used in the 1600’s to recover most of the lost cannons. A man would enter the bell which was lowered into the water with the open side down. The small air pocket in the bell kept the water out. You can see the effect when you lower a water glass into a water filled sink. Now, imagine the water glass is metal and about 5 feet long and 3 feet in diameter. Your head is inside the top of this bell, and your feet are on a platform below and outside the bell. You are lowered into the freezing water to a depth of 100 feet for between 15 and 30 minutes while you try to blindly hook a cannon with metal hook tied to a rope. It’s a chilling thought. I wonder how many people died before they figured out how long you could survive underwater with that small pocket of air and in water that was just above freezing. 

 

Travel has its random funny moments. While we were waiting in line to check in for our return trip, we heard a woman behind us shout to her husband “Your zipper is open!” I turned around to see the man stop and grab his crotch with a look of panic on his face. His wife quickly followed up with a “I mean the zipper on the suitcase.” He got a resigned look on his face and rolled his eyes, and she walked by with her cheeks reddening and she started to laugh (so did we!). I could hear them chuckling for the next 5 minutes. We appreciated that English is the universal language, so we could understand.

When you travel, leave your expectations behind, accept the delays and complications as part of the experience. To have new experiences is why we travel, right? There is no reward without effort, and no learning with challenge. Travel to another country gives you a new perspective on yours, and on yourself as well. We soon find out that we all started out the same, we just differ because of our upbringing and experiences. Enjoy the ride!

• Don and Julie Dwyer