the sweet magic of sweden
This was the first stop on our itinerary where none of us had ever been. There’s something glorious about that: the newness of it all for 4-year-olds and 40-somethings alike. Instead of Airbnbs and the occasional cottage in the Tuscan countryside, Sweden also was the first place on our trip where we wouldn’t be staying on our own but rather with friends, old and new. Amid the adventures we had in forests, beaches, suburbs, urban centers, islands, ancient cities and university towns, 391-year-old shipwrecks and archipelagos and even an old Viking village, friendship is the great theme that emerged.
As we left Italy behind, I worried: What had I done? From my kitchen 4,000 miles away this had all sounded like a great idea, but we were about to impose our roving party of four on people who were very busy with their own lives. House A: We’d be staying in the woods north of Stockholm with my old friend, her husband and their two dogs and cat. I met her at a newspaper job in Boston before I could legally drink. We hadn’t seen each other since. House B: We would head to a Stockholm suburb with a couple we’d met — for a few days — in the Dominican Republic three years ago, when they were vacationing in the same town on the island’s northeast coast with their teenage son and three daughters. (For all of social media’s flaws and failures, keeping me connected to far-flung friends like these is a bright spot.)
As it turns out, their hospitality was astounding. These people shared their homes, cooked for us. Watched our kids. Picked us up at airports, took us on day trips. Taught us about Swedish traditions like saunas (House A had one; my kids were obsessed with the back-and-forth between the hot sauna and cold pool), Saturday candy (yes, the whole country has informally agreed that on Saturdays children can buy candy by the kilo and eat it the same day) and Fika, the coffee & cake/cookie/chocolate ball break that is a national ritual and sometimes occurs multiple times a day.
One of three FIKA treats — this one made by our hosts’ three daughters, ages 5, 7 and 11 — that were waiting for us in House B.
Lulu admiring the blueberry crumble tart she and her friends made after picking the blueberries themselves near the house.
You deserve a FIKA today! Don’t we all?
Max & the almighty chokladball.
Saturday candy. A tradition so sweet, she’d relocate for it.
There’s a lot to do in Sweden. And, in the daylight-drenched summer, a lot of hours in which to do it. (Our first morning, we all woke up to the sun streaming in from behind the blinds and started to get ready for our day — until I realized it was 4:15 a.m.) Over the next two weeks, we had a beach day on the island of Sandhamn in one of the country’s most famous archipelagos. We walked Stockholm’s old town, Gamla Stan. We checked out Scandinavia’s most-visited museum, the Vasa Museet, which shows off the a huge wooden warship that capsized on its maiden voyage in 1628 and was preserved by the brackish waters. We traipsed around Skansen, an open-air museum that showcases the country’s history and wild animals.
Old-fashioned fun at Skansen.
Date night in Uppsala, courtesy of my generous friend who drove and dropped us off in this university town; did dinner and a movie with the kids at home, then picked us up.
Foraging for mushrooms in the woods behind the house…
… became chanterelles with cream sauce on bread in our friends’ wondrous kitchen.
Matthew and I hung out at home while my friend took the kids to a farm to meet animals. Look at that smile!
Max checks out an old Viking grave in the woods …
… then channels his inner Viking in Gamla Stan.
We left our friends behind only once, traveling five hours each way by train and boat to Visby, on the windswept island of Gotland. Here we walked around the old city, ate smoked shrimp and toast, happened upon a senior citizens’ band playing “New York, New York” in the park, biked up the coast to a picturesque herb garden by the sea. Sweden is not a lounge-on-the-couch kind of place.
More of Sweden’s magic, in photos:
