Swedish Parker!

Last week I flew, largely on a whim, to Trondheim to see a friend I’d met on my spur-of-the-moment adventure to Oslo a couple of weeks back.

We were having a few glasses of white wine (which I’ve just recently fallen in love with – where were you all these years?)  and out came my story about coming to live in Sweden all because my idol as a boy was Stefan Edberg.

I mentioned how I’d played two years of junior tennis (ages 8-10) and that I thought I was still pretty handy with a racquet. Nancy disagreed.

So we setup a bet (for a pair of Trondheim-Stockholm airfares, no less) and I spent the two days leading up to the big match totally over-hyping my ability/chances of winning.

…it wasn’t until I was humiliated 6-1, 6-0 that I realised nine years of experience (her) vs. two years of experience (me) playing junior tennis is quite an unrealistic gap to bridge.

Not sure which is more bruised; my ego or credit card…

I absolutely had to show my parents around my favourite part of Sweden – Abisko.

(Swedish Lapland! photo album on flickr)

Lying in the middle of Swedish Lapland, it’s apparently both Sweden’s driest and sunniest place. Going by the amazing weather we had I’m not surprised (that being said, it did get down to -25 at one point, and rarely back up above -10… I think the sun forgets how to emit warmth by the time it gets to this far northern part of the world).

Pictures really don’t do this incredible place justice. But I’ll try anyway.

After leaving Kiruna we drove to Abisko with a slight detour through Norway, which is only half an hour down the road:

Then we grabbed packs (containing reindeer skins and tiny, tiny little fishing rods…) to go ice fishing!

If you bury your head under a skin you can see right down the hole as the fish lunch on your bait. Didn’t end up catching anything (the ones we did hook were too big to pull out of the holes in the ice…), but a pretty cool experience (no pun intended lol).

Spent a day snowboarding and skiing just down the road at Björkliden:

I hadn’t snowboarded in two and a half years, and Dad hadn’t skied in over 20, but we managed to pick it all back up pretty quickly. The weather was so good that it took me all day to notice we were the only ones on the mountain not wearing ski masks..

Saw more Northern Lights, snowboarded off-piste down Noulja (the deceptively tough mountain that I only managed to get halfway up the last time I was in Abisko – fortunately the chairlift is now running..), explored the frozen world of Lake Torneträsk, ate cloudberries, thought I was suffering mild frostbite as I tried to walk across Torneträsk facing into 70k/hr wind, spent 38 more hours on the Stockholm to Narvik train, took at least 50 photos of the sun shining like a star (see above & below), and drank far, far too much wine.

After a non-stop 10 days in London, it was nice just to relax with old friends, and not feel the slightest need to be a tourist.

I decided to stop off in Oslo on the way back to Sweden. Why not? Everywhere is so close over here.

And it was slightly reassuring to know that Stockholm is nowhere near the most expensive city. In fact, I was now in the World’s Most Expensive City (two years running!).

But of course the generousity of friends can quickly turn the world’s most expensive cities into one of the cheapest.

And in the end I just couldn’t resist being a tourist for a couple of hours:

Then just a short train ride East and it’s back home to Stockholm.

Swedish round bread +

Swedish Lingonberry Jam +

Norwegian brown cheese =

Heaven on a plate.

First it was the Midnight Photo Shoot.

A few days after that I went for a Midnight Jog through the woods.

Last weekend we had the Midnight Pre-Party (where you drink until 1am and THEN go clubbing).

Then on Friday night it was time for Midnight Soccer.

I was convinced to drive out to a little country town and play a *friendly* game of soccer with a bunch of locals.

In a country that pretty much has just one sport (that doesn’t involve the snow, that is), I was feeling very much like the foreigner I was.

After joking around about the ball being the wrong shape and sitting out the first half hour, I was eventually roped in and proceeded to run around the pitch for the next two hours, doing my best to figure out the rules as I went.

By the time we’d finished it was 12:10am, and still broad daylight.

So two weeks in the beautiful North of Norway have just about come to an end.

(my accommodation, courtesy of the very hospitable Børge and Ann Tove)

(looking up at the hills from their balcony)

But thankfully I learnt a lesson on my 21-hours-in-an-upright-train-seat experience and I’ve decided to *splurge* on a couchette ticket for the ride home.

And after the two weeks I’ve just had, I’m pretty sure I’ll be sleeping the whole way home.

Weekend at Børge’s family summer house in Finsæther (see the full photo album @ flickr)

If I couldn’t stop commenting on the nearly-endless days in Stockholm, then I was left absolutely speechless by the Midnight Sun, which makes this part of the world broad daylight 24 hours a day.

Highlights:

1. Midnight photo shoot
I was determined to get a shot of just how bright it is at nighttime. So I set off from the house at midnight and wandered aimlessly for the next hour along the coastline, completely lost in wonder at the sight of such a beautifully rugged coastline lit-up in the middle of the night.

2. Swimming in the *refreshing* North Atlantic
The perfect way to start a Sunday morning. It may be Summer, but this is still a long way North of the Arctic Circle…

3. Traditional Norwegian pancakes
Served with a sickeningly sweet combination of creamed blueberries, cheeses, and exotic jams.

4. Running up a small mountain in half an hour
I’d wanted to go up into the mountains behind their summer house to get a good view of the area. When I suggested it, the always-up-for-a-challenge-Børge decided we could do it in less than half an hour. I admired his positive thinking, but also thought he was being just a tiny bit overly-optimistic.

It didn’t help that the entire place was covered in a super-thick, springy moss that made it feel like trudging through rubbery sand.

“Up there in half an hour, easy.”

28mins 30secs, cheers!

If you’re ever taking a near 24-hour journey on an overnight train, then pay the extra 30% and get a sleeper car. Although my thriftiness/sore back mean I may never know for sure, I’m fairly confident it would be worth it. (see the full photo album @ flickr)

Depart: Stockholm 16:58
Arrive: Narvik 13:25 (+1 day)

I’ve come to the North – the land of the Midnight Sun – to visit some good friends I studied with in Australia.

Why I took a seat in the 2nd-class carriage over a comfortable bed in the sleeper car just to save $50 I will simply never know.

15 hours into the trip I think I’d managed just a few hours of awkward sleep, but by this time we were right up in the Nordic countryside and the stunning scenery was keeping me wide-awake.

To get an idea just how far North I went, this map shows pretty match the exact route the train took.

Sweden is a very long country…