Some of what I learned in Scandinavia.

I learned that Stockholm is an elegant, civilized city. That a lot of places are closed on Monday. That it being light late into the evening might mean that you don’t realize that the restaurants are closed and you might end up with a bag of salted cashews as your first Swedish supper.

That picking your hotel purely on the basis of the wallpaper in the photograph on the website can sometimes be a brilliant idea. That running into a friend at the Warner Brothers prop house can lead to meeting her and doing a Stockholm river cruise with pear ice lollies. That beds in Scandinavia are designed differently with a solid base and just a thin mattress that flops on top with a thin duvet that sits neatly on top. Neat being the key. That even though Cardamon buns are crying out to be eaten, there’s always next time. Men, young and middle-aged are often wearing very sharp suits. And Women, middle-aged and old pull out their white trousers and denim jackets when the sun comes out. That lovely hair seems to come with the territory. That “ Tak” is such a great word to use for “thank you.” And Sweden is a totally cashless country. Since 2014, no cash is used. Except for in some grocery stores to help the older people who had trouble with this new concept. That ferries, even crossing the Baltic Sea, are an excuse for drinking at 9 o’clock in the morning and the best place, probably only on ferries crossing the Baltic Sea, is the spa where you can sit in the sauna and watch the scenery through the window. That alcohol is obviously cheaper in Sweden than in Finland because the majority of people disembarking were pulling carts piled high with cartons of beer and liquor. And “ Turku” is the oldest city in Finland. And there was a fire in 1827. And a lot of it burned down. But with one day you can sit in the cathedral with high vaulted ceilings and hear the organist practicing for a recital.

And spend a few hours at a preserved section of the old city that escaped the fire and where these original wooden houses still house the tools and living spaces of the craftsmen of the last few centuries.

And on top of that you can visit the old market hall and have a bowl of creamy salmon soup for your lunch

and still visit a museum where they have excavated the streets of the ancient city and see dog and pig skeletons where they lay, marvel at the thickness of the walls and even light a candle where the convent used to be for your friend’s friend who needs to be remembered. You can regret not wearing your swimming costume when you wander down to the swimming platform at one of the many lakes at Kirkkonnumi and discover it is a mild 20 degrees. And listen to the birch trees muttering in the wind.

And you can arrive in Helsinki for the longest day of the year. Where it is truly daylight at midnight and daybreak at 3 in the morning. No wonder no one goes to bed early. And bicycles are surely the best way to discover a new city. Especially when they allocate a strip of every sidewalk or pavement to let bicycles travel inbetween traffic and pedestrians. It would have been to good to know that when they say “ Midsommer” is the biggest holiday of their calendar, they also mean that the ENTIRE city, will close down for three days. I am thrilled for them. Those Finns spend 11 months and 27 days waiting for these three days when they all leave the town and go to the country. And they close the museums and the theatres and the shops and even most of the churches. The streets are empty. If there was tumbleweed in Scandinavia it would be rolling down the streets. It was probably busier during Covid.

But “Hei.” ( that’s Finnish for hey), It meant I could whizz around anywhere on my bike. But I also saw the unwillingness of local people, away from the areas of ‘service” to engage or smile when passing or acknowledge your presence. And I learned from a very bright young Australian woman married to a Finn that in her apartment building where she has lived for 5 years and had two children she knows none of her neighbours. That seemingly friends come from shared education at school or college and after that you can whistle. That she works for a company that brings in trained staff from abroad and that they factor into the expenses of relocation the inevitable repatriation on their departure which is normally less than a year. She herself, in the first year of her second child with all the social services she is allowed, realizes she cannot last more than another year without any kind of social life or indeed friendship. Hmm . That was a new one for me. But Scandinavia still calls and I haven’t been to Norway or Denmark yet. I have to get in a few more “ Tak”’s before I am done. There are all those open sandwiches on Rye. And Cardamon buns. All that wood. Walls, furniture. The epitome of streamlined. Even the toilets at the airport. And I’m not joking. But you know that.