After 27 days on the road in Central
Asia, what a nice greeting I see that SAS has painted on the outside of their
planes’ entry doors!
My dear friend Jon Carlsson welcomed
me to Sweden after my long trip on the Silk Road. It took a day of lounging around to catch my
breath, but then he gave me the run of his wonderful home in Taby, a suburb about
10 miles away from Stockholm.
We met met Jon’s
sister Hanna Dahlin and her family for dinner, and guess what we ate?
Swedish meatballs.
I’m always interested to explore the
local area, and in particular to see what the food stores offer. That’s just part of my background as a
packaging guru (thank you Continental Can!) because so much is revealed by food
choices. And the Europeans have given the
USA great innovations in packaging – tetrapak (aka juice boxes) and many other
progressive packaging ideas.
We headed to the local LIDL, where
so many options are presented in bulk. I
enjoyed looking at the large selection of cheeses!
Jon took me on a tour of Old Town in
Stockholm. Incredible area, cobbled
streets running up from the waters of the archipelago. As the capital of Sweden, its growth for many centuries coincided with the development of
what is today known as “Gamla stan”, the Stockholm old town. Stockholm
was first mentioned as a town in 1252 and was largely built by the Swedish
ruler Birger Jarl. It grew rapidly as a result of a trade agreement made with
the German city of Lübeck.
The City of Stockholm is situated on fourteen islands and on the banks of an
archipelago which then meets the Baltic Sea. The historical name for Stockholm Old Town was
"The city between the bridges"
Of course we must go to a traditional coffee shop, and there are many in these streets.
So
difficult to decide what to take a taste of first, at the coffee house in the
old city of Stockholm. Will it be carrot cake, or princess cake? No visit to
Sweden would be complete without a taste of princess cake, or prinsesstarta,
which consists of alternating layers of sponge cake, whipped cream, and a few
pieces of fruit, topped by green marzipan. The original recipe was published in
1948 by a teacher of the three daughters of Prince Carl of Sweden and Norway,
who were said to be very fond of the cake: Princess Margaretha, Princess
Martha, and Princess Astrid. So you get a bit of Swedish history with each bite!
Later that night, another of my
favorite au pairs, Stefan Ragnell, joined us for dinner.
Yum! Hate to post more “food porn”
but our Sunday afternoon drive to Vaxholm had the objective of tasting one of
the cinnamon buns for which Swedish cuisine is justly known. Garnished with
“pearl sugar”... perfect with latte. This is a perfect example of “fika”
(coffee break featuring cinnamon buns).
Vaxholm is a municipality spanning several islands
in Sweden’s Stockholm archipelago. The 16th-century Vaxholm Fortress, built on
an islet to defend Stockholm, now houses a museum chronicling the building's history.
Pastel-colored wooden houses dot Vaxholm's town center. We looked at the turreted 17th-century
Bogesund Castle, but did not explore it.
Weather was a bit nippy, so happy for a short walk and a snack!
Back in town, I took myself into Stockholm and explored
the Nordic Museum, which is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in
central Stockholm. This museum is dedicated
to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period
to the contemporary period.
At the Nordic Museum: In old painted
wall hangings from southern Sweden, the infant Jesus lies not in a manger but
in a cradle, as did the children of the farmers who painted these wallhangings.
This motif was intermixed with details from their domestic environment. For the
greater part of the year, these hangings were rolled up in chests, and were
pinned up on walls only at Christmas.
A bit more tourism in central Stockholm
took me past Saint James's Church, dedicated to apostle Saint
James the Greater, patron saint of travellers. (somehow that seemed appropriate). It’s official name is St. Jacobs Kyrka,
and It is often mistakenly called St Jacob's. (The confusion arises because
Swedish, like many other languages, uses the same name for both James and Jacob). The present building dates from 1588, but took
a long time to complete. As a consequence it includes a wide range of
architectural styles, such as Late Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.
To celebrate Halloween, Swedish style, we went to an opera. Dracula, as I recall. But there was a fire and the building had to be evacuated! But the opera house itself is astoundingly beautiful.
Next stop is England for a brief
visit with my sister-in-law Kimbro Keck and her family. But after getting a boarding pass, there was
time for relaxation in the SAS/Star Alliance lounge. Guess who is having a cookie and Coke with me there?
Yes, Pippi Longstocking! Pippi books are on the top 10 books to give to girl
babies so they start early with strong role models. Guess whose granddaughter
has Pippi books coming her way. And Martin and Matt too read them as boys!
So, farewell to Sweden. I’ll be back! Must go visit the Sami (an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, an area which
today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland), stay
in an ice hotel, and have a reindeer sleigh ride. Someday!
(you can learn about the Sami here:
http://www.samer.se/2137 )
