Hej Da (Goodbye), Sweden

The following is not a recounting of travel sights, but a sharing of some musings about Sweden in general. (Sorry, no photos.)

We spent just shy of 2 weeks in Sweden. We had been in Stockholm for a few days in 2016. Other than that bit of city time, our only sense of the place was formed by what we could see from the train we’d taken from Copenhagen to Stockholm and the follow-on train train ride from Stockholm to Oslo. What we had seen was pleasant, if unremarkable, countryside. So we came to Sweden expecting it to be new and different from other places we’ve traveled, but unspectacular.

By and large, that was not an unfair assessment. But it would be completely unfair to leave it at that. We did not see spectacular scenery, except perhaps that clear, sunny afternoon on a cliff side with an unimpeded view of the Baltic. We saw a lot of pretty lakes and loved the little granite islands on the western coast. These were more quietly spectacular, perhaps. We certainly saw some spectacular architecture, some fine art, and lots and lots of history.

Just a few observations from our time in Sweden. [Warning: These may be, of necessity given our short time here, gross (and even untrue) generalizations.]

1. Horses. I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but we did see an incredible number of horses, horse trailers being towed, huge stables, and horse shows.

2. Swedes love to camp. We saw lots and lots of small motor homes and small trailers on the highways. We also saw lots of campgrounds full of the aforementioned. Many were parked in what looked like semi-permanent situations. They had elaborate awnings and attached canvas rooms that looked more established than an overnight kind of camping.

3. We also encountered a lot of motorcycles. At a town on the east coast, near a ferry that goes to and from Gotland, we saw several men in full leathers with “Gotland H-D” embroidered on their vests. Don’t know why, but we hadn’t thought about a Harley-Davidson presence. In another area, we passed a sign on a building for “Hells Angels Motorcycle Club.” Huh? We shared the road with many motorcycles. At Lacko Slott, we had a group of 8 people on 6 bikes staying at the Naturum with us. It was just more of a thing than we expected.

4. Volvo’s are everywhere. Now that’s not exactly a surprise. If not in Sweden, where? But I mean like 4 out of 5 cars. Volvo’s of every size and make and age, but lots of them.

5. Offsetting that is the funny presence of old American cars. We saw a Corvette, a 1956 Chevy, a 1957 Chevy, a 1964 Oldsmobile with flames painted on it.

6. There seemed to be an inordinate number of convertibles considering this is a northern country. The late arrival of spring and a lot of warm temperatures brought them out in droves. I just wouldn’t have thought there’d be that many around.

7. American franchises are alive and well in Sweden. Circle K is everywhere. McDonald’s and Burger King have a lock on the burger business. We saw Starbucks products in stores, but not any Starbucks shops. (Curious about the perceived absence of Starbucks, we researched and found that there is one each in the three big cities of Stockholm, Malmo, and Gothenburg, but that that may be changing.)

8. Sweden is in no danger of running out of cows and sheep. I say that because we saw the most amazing number of lambs and calves. Not just a few here and there but in prodigious quantity in each field with animals.

9. The sunlight is more intense here than at home. I assume that’s a latitude thing, but the quality of light is quite startlingly bright. Then there’s the whole thing about the time of year we’re here. We’re still a month away from the solstice, but the days are very long. At our last stop in Sweden, we had sunrise at 4:51am and sunset at 9:33pm. It’s a little disorienting in the mornings in particular. Our 45-degree latitude bodies think we’ve overslept when we awaken at 5:00am and it’s broad daylight.

10. One of the greatest things we saw, in terms of everyday life, is the existence of pedestrian/bike paths just about everywhere. They are nice and wide so pedestrians and bikes can share and pass each other easily. They are separated from car traffic by either a swale or a curb or a guardrail. There were some more remote areas where we didn’t see them, but they were few. And it is definitely a bike culture.You see people of all ages cycling everywhere.

11. Houses, by and large, are smaller. Certainly, we saw some large houses, but the average house is more diminutive than the average American house. Just like I mentioned earlier about motor homes and trailers. We never saw a large motor home, and we never saw a trailer longer than about 12-15 feet.

12. Everything looks quite prosperous. We saw no evidence of poverty. Properties are almost all in very good repair. Recycling is available everywhere. They actively discourage drinking bottled water and are very clear that their water is the best and can be drunk from the tap, thank you very much.

To sum up our time here, we were more taken with Sweden than we expected to be. It is, quite simply, a very nice place to be. Life looks good, people look happy. People were a little surprised to see us US folks, but they were uniformly helpful and pleasant to us. At our age, it is unlikely we will be here again, but it may be more of a possibility than we thought it would be.