Sweden by Suzanne Wright There are a lot of myths about Sweden. Such as, everyone would be blonde: the men would look like Bjorn Borg circa 1976, the women like the Swedish Bikini Team (not true.) The terms Nordic and Scandinavia were interchangeable (them’s fighting words). Viking helmets had horns (they didn’t). During a whirlwind six-day excursion in July, I did affirm a few accurate perceptions: ABBA is the country’s most recognizable export along with IKEA and Tiger Woods’ wife; design is noteworthy (especially the glass); meatballs are tasty (and served with tart lingonberries); the land of the midnight sun really exists (at least in June and July). Eight hours after leaving Newark, I landed in the capital, Stockholm, and boarded the Arlanda Express Train for the city. Nobel Prize winners, business titans and movie stars stay at The Grand Hotel; sadly, I did not. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the copious smorgasbord in the Grand Veranda which overlooks the Baltic Sea. The buffet included 10 herring dishes, cold cuts including reindeer, five types of gravlax, salads, cheese and meatballs all washed down with 1874 aquavit, a bracing schnapps flavored with fennel, aniseed, caraway and sherry. Stockholm is one third water, one third greenbelt and one third city. Fourteen islands are connected by 57 bridges and there are 75(!) museums. Impeccably clean, a blend of modern and historic, the city is compact and walk-able—a good thing, since cabs are pricey (as is everything else). Socialist Sweden enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world. The Absolut Icebar in the Nordic Sea Hotel is a kitschy and popular must-do. For about $15 (which includes your first drink), you can don an insulated silver cape and gloves and enter the frigid, tiny room (it holds 35) maintained at -5 degree Celsius (that’s 23 degrees Fahrenheit) where you will drink from a glass made of solid ice. It’s a novelty to sip elderflower juice with cinnamon—for about 10 minutes. You can stroll the cobbled streets of Old Town, Gamal Stan. You can wander past the Royal Palace with blue-clad uniformed officers. Or visit City Hall where the Nobel Prizes are awarded. You can tour Junibacken, where Pippi Longstocking’s story comes to life. But the top attraction is the Vasa Musuem, the most visited museum in Scandinavia. The Vasa was the grandest man of war ever built (for the Swedish Navy) and the museum is grandly dedicated to its spectacular failure. On August 10, 1628, less than an hour into her maiden voyage, she sank. The Vasa was salvaged in 1961 after 333 years on the sea’s floor; it is the biggest and best preserved ship in world—and utterly awe-inspiring. Picturesque Sigtuna is Sweden’s first town. Founded in 980 by King Erik the Victorious, the thousand-year old city plan remains the same today. Less than an hour north of Stockholm, you can amble down streets where Vikings once walked. You’ll find original Rune stones (no other town in the world boasts as many), St. Mary’s Church, with its Romanesque and Gothic influences, and, strangely, horsemeat sausage for sale in the grocery store. A one-hour flight from Stockholm brings you to Luleå, the gateway to Lapland. It’s an undeniable kick to cross the Artic Circle and snap a picture for posterity. But a bigger thrill is seeing a reindeer on the side of the road (who is, alas, camera-shy). Luleå is just north of the 65th parallel; in winter days are short, while in summer, the days sunny and long. Nearby Gammelstad, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is the country’s best preserved church town. More than 400 cottages, painted deep red and grouped around a late medieval stone church, have been passed down through the generations and are still used on the weekends and during major religious festivals. The only brackish water archipelago (with more than 700 islands) in the world is in Luleå. A short cruise to Sandon and you can enjoy a salmon lunch at Klubbviken and relax on sandy beaches. But my favorite stop was the fascinating Ájtte Swedish Mountain and Sáami Museum, dedicated to the culture of the indigenous people of Laponia (a region which stretches over Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia). The gorgeous exhibitions include stunning taxidermy of regional animals, handicrafts, weaponry and stunning silver and textiles. That evening, like most Swedes, the extraordinary light emboldens me—a night owl—to stay up even later. The air is sweet and clear; it’s nearly two a.m. and soundless, save for the occasional footsteps on the pavement below my hotel window. At last, the final dusky pink rays give way to a steel blue night sky. I’m glad this myth is true. If You Go Sweden has two distinct touring seasons, summer and winter. Your visit will be markedly different depending on weather. For information on Stockholm, visit www2.stockholm.se/English; Sigtuna,www.swedishlapland.com. log onto www.sal.sigtuna.se/turism; for Luleå: http://www.lulea.se/lulea/AlltomLulea/Svenska/Turism/default.htm. More than 11 million Americans have Scandinavian ancestry. Hear what a Norwegian family might have taken along in their immigrant trunk to America from spirited storyteller Ole Olesen at the Scandinavian Festival. Vikings helmuts din’t have horns. Not all women look like the Swedish bikini team, nor the men like bjorn borg. Sweden boasts the highest density of moose in the world. OK, it’s doubtful you’ll see one at the Scandinavian Festival, but you will find just about everything else from live music and entertainment to wandering trolls from the five Scandinavian countries-Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. sami clothing…clolorful, telegraphing a silent lanuage. Amazing standing at artic circle, kitschy take a picture there. Gammelstad…fined if you didn’t go to church, unesco world heritage site…10 km, 1 week,outstanding example of northern scandanaian church town, with more than 400 cottages, painted deep blood red, used on during and uring major rekligous festivals, markets and local courts. Grouped around late medieval stone church. Overnight stop for parishioners. City of luleå founded in 17th cent. Land was 10 meteres higher than today……harbour become too shallow and forced to move town nearer to coast…present day lulea. Ice shaped landscape 8000 yr ago. Uplift if causing land to rise out the seas a little less than aa centimeter every year. One of only 16 of original 71 left in country. Stil sed today for 3-4 times year for youth and older weekend, passed down thru families. Charming struggle to say archipelago for all of us, Swedes and Americans… Day cruise to sandon…lunch at klubbviken…beach, harbor, small cottages. Lulea arch. Along coastline streches from south too finish border in the northeast. 700 islands…picturesque. Only brackish water archipelago in the world. Lulea just north of 65th paraellel. Winter days short. Sunniest places in country, Elite lulea stadshotell and quality hotel middle of town, comfortable accomdoations. Ate reindeer in typical preparation with cream, skillet fried potatoes and lingoncberries, trat like cranberry… Laponia…extends over finalnd, Norway, Russia and Swedish…lappland .land of tundra, demand climate. Forest. Mountains and wetland. Hunted and fished for thousand of years. Nomadic hunters and herders. saw a reindeer on side of road…too fast for camera. Arctic circle just outside town of jokkmokk, where hike with reindeer who carries your pack. . Land of midnight sun and it is light until 2 am in july….northern lights in the winter. Mild weather in summer. And long nights. Air is sweet and clear, light is extraordinary. Beautiful and eeeire. Soundless, save people. In vuollerim is an archeaalogical open-air museum that brins life to prehistoric Lapland. Sit on moose skins and watch slideshow on journey back 6000 years in time. Relax by fire in exhibit hall. Living modern msuusem about stone age. Laponia is a world heritage site ; flight is one hour from stokholm. www.swedishlapland.com. ÁAjtte. The sweidsh mountain and sáami museum…culture, gorgeous exhibitions. Handicrafts …extensive English guide for visitors. Stunning taxidermy of many animals, beautiful displays. Silver and costumes, settler family, landscape. Highest standard of living: Sweden #2, (costly for US) we are #6, (Norway and finalnd & icelandalso round out top 10) Countires of scandanavia: denmakrk, finalnd, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Faeroe islands. The difference between being Scandinavian and Nordic Have you ever been corrected in Finland when you called a Finn "Scandinavian"? Or perhaps this has happened to you in Iceland? Is Denmark a Nordic country? Are the Danes actually Scandinavians? Although in the rest of the world the words "Scandinavian" and "Nordic" are happily used in similar manner and are interchangeable, in northern Europe they are not. Europeans love to magnify even the smallest difference between neighbouring countries and you will probably be corrected if you don't use the words in their appropriate context. The problem comes when even northern Europeans can't agree themselves on the meaning of "Scandinavian" and "Nordic"... Where is Scandinavia? Greeks and Romans were the first to write about Scandinavia. They had a vague knowledge about what they called "an island on the edge of the civilized world", populated by the barbarian tribes from Germania. Geographically speaking, the Scandinavian peninsula is a territory shared by Norway, Sweden and northern Finland. The Scandinavian countries would therefore only be Norway and Sweden. Linguistically, Swedish, Norwegian and Danish have a common word called "Skandinavien" which refers to the ancient territories of the Norsemen, and for most people in these three countries "Scandinavia" consists only of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. This one is considered to be the most commonly accepted definition of "Scandinavia". However, Iceland was also a Norse territory and Icelandic belongs to the same linguistic family than Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. And so does the Faroe islands. Therefore, you will find some people for which Scandinavia is Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. And finally, Swedish language is also spoken in Finland and reciprocally, Finnish and Sami languages are spoken in Sweden and Norway. Again, we have a new definition of Scandinavia, which would include Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. Culturaly and historically, the north of Europe has been the political playground of the kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Finland was a part of the kingdom of Sweden and Iceland belonged to Norway and Denmark. Besides a common history, politically and economically these five countries have followed a similar model known as the Nordic welfare state since the 20th century. One more time, these five countries are perceived as an unity by some and therefore called by the same name: "Scandinavia". What are the "Nordic countries"? In such a state of linguistic and geographical confusion, the French came to help us all and invented the term "Pays Nordiques" or "Nordic Countries", which has become the most standard term to bring together Scandinavia, Iceland and Finland under the same umbrella. The creation of the Nordic Council in 1956 gave us another new word to define the cultural affinity of our five countries: "Norden". Norden is commonly used in the Nordic countries, although this term is rather unknown in English. The Baltic countries and Greenland The Baltic countries are the three young Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Neither the Baltic countries nor Greenland are considered as Scandinavian or Nordic. However, there is a close relation between the Nordic countries and the Baltics and Greenland: The Baltic republics have been strongly influenced, culturally and historically, by the Scandinavian countries. Lithuania, Latvia, and particularly Estonia, are very proud of the cultural heritage received from Scandinavia and there is a wish for close co-operation on both sides of the Baltic sea. The same applies to Greenland, a territory which is closer to America than to Europe, but that belongs politically to the kingdom of Denmark. Half of Greenland's historical and cultural heritage is Scandinavian and therefore these strong ties often bring Greenland together with the Nordic countries.
				Above: Images from Lulea Sweden.