Travel Memories #2. Sweden (eng)

What do you associate with Sweden?
ABBA, IKEA, «Karlsson-on-the-Roof»… My first impression of Sweden is the Vikings! In all senses of the word! I arrived in Sweden by ferry from Finland and noticed strangeness when landing on a sea ship. All the passengers - both men and women - were incredibly huge! High, 2 meters tall, broad-shouldered, powerful, but not thick, quite tight. I never considered myself small and fragile, but for the first time I was worried that I might be trample down. Not specifically! They didn't see me, because I was "vertically challenged".

In general, ferry trips are the usual way of traveling between Scandinavian countries, Finland and the rest of Northern Europe. One night on the ferry and you will spend a fascinating weekend of shopping and entertainment with "neighbors." Why go somewhere? For a change, of course. Because Sweden seemed boring to me, forgive me! I was in Stockholm and Helsingborg, and I traveled all over the country from east to west and from south to east. The nature of the country is very rich and beautiful: forests, fields, rocks, tundra. The seas and the bay wash thousands of islands. However, provincial life is not suitable for everyone. You can feel this atmosphere in the movie Fucking Åmål by Lukas Moodysson.




All life, naturally, is concentrated in the capital. The architecture of Stockholm is strict, severe, northern and majestic. The city is very clean, ideally designed.

All roads are strictly divided into automobile, bicycle and pedestrian zones, a lot of circular interchanges make the ride a sedate and measured. National accuracy, punctuality and attention to detail only emphasize the image of an intellectual Swede. It's not for nothing that the main minds from all over the world gather here every year! Every December 10 in The Stockholm City Hall is the main ceremony of awarding the most prestigious scientific award - Nobel Prize. And the honorary guests of the festivities are the Royal couple of Sweden.

I believe that Sweden is a great place for young families and raising children. All public places necessarily provide for the needs of children and their parents. You can see this on the example of IKEA in your city. There are scenery of simple cozy apartments, laconic and functional furniture, stylish objects of everyday life and attention to detail. In the toilets there will always be a bathroom stall for children, low height washbasins, nurseries. All that we see in our shopping centers is the ideas embodied by the Swedes. These are the children's rooms and the entire areas right in the middle of the shops.
Swedish children will always accompany their parents on trips, and I have not seen a child's tantrums or quarrels. Only fervent laughter and noisy talkings. It's about upbringing. Swedes start families after 35 years and treat their children as personalities. No prohibitions (within reasonable limits), parents do not jerk off their children for every trifle and encourage freedom of communication.
The cult of the family gave birth to many parks, museums and entertainments aimed specifically at the children's audience. Adults and single people will also have something to look at! When you are bored with wandering around the beautiful and strict "Old Town" (Gamla stan), which is on the island Stadsholmen, be sure to go to the island Djurgården. This is the main recreational and entertainment area of Stockholm. There are some attraction on the island: an art museum-estate, an ethnopark Skansen, an amusement park Tivoli (Gröna Lund Tivoli), a museum-fighting ship of the XVII century Vasa and even a museum of the group ABBA.

The main pearl of the island is the Junibacken museum - the "fairy-tale museum", the "childhood museum", as I call it. It recreates the scenery from various fairy tales and novels of Swedish writers. Mostly, Astrid Lindgren, Tove Jansson, Elsa Beskow and others. In each house and room you can look, even if it is too small for you. Moreover, children can climb anywhere and see how Karlsson or Pippi Longstocking live, prepare a dinner at Mumi-mom ... There are performances for children every day.



In another territory, The Story Train with visitors rides between scenes and spectacles from fairytales, forests, farms and roofs of night Stockholm. The Swedish children hear the voice of the writer herself. The Story Train was the last text that Astrid Lindgren wrote.


After a fascinating journey through the world of fairy tales, you can relax in a cafe-bakery, choose souvenirs and toys, visit the bookshop, which sells all the tales, audiobooks, films and cartoons, shooted in these languages in different languages: Swedish, Finnish, English and Russian. There I found a DVD with a 1987 movie Mio in the Land of Faraway (Mio min Mio) , based on the fairy tale by Astrid Lindgren. This is the fantasy of the Russian film director Vladimir Grammatikov with the participation of Soviet, British and Scandinavian actors. And the music for the film was written by guys from the band ABBA. Thanks to this film, the world of cinema (and Steven Spielberg) learned about the young actor Christian Bale.

Summarize…
Sweden is ideal for ecotourists and excursion enthusiasts. But most of all fun will bring young families. Thinking about where to go on vacation with children? Come to Sweden!

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