The Best of Scandinavia

When Iain first said he wanted to go to Scandinavia I laughed wondering where the heck that country was! How embarrassing to me that the Scandinavian countrIES he wanted to visit were Norway, Denmark and Sweden. And I was supposed to be the travel agent! Yeesh.

Well, good thing I was finally educated on where Scandinavia was because my favorite city in Europe so far lies in the waters of the Vikings, Stockholm.

Oslo, Norway

When we were first pulling into this city from the tiny airport an hour away I was thinking to myself 'Oh boy, what are we getting ourselves into?' The country side wasn't very flattering and the city looked like it was from the 1940s with no tall buildings at all. The lesson learned in this city was 'Don't judge a book by it's cover.' Sometimes you have to read a couple of chapters before it gets going.

There were two attractions in Oslo that really stood out. The first was the Opera House (which I will post pictures of later because the architecture of this place was incredible) and the second was a park called Vigelandsparken. Now if you can pronounce that name properly I'll give you five dollars.

In this park was one of the most exquisite pieces (or should I say several pieces) of public art I have EVER seen (again I will have to post pictures so you understand how incredible it was.) The Sculpture Bridge in Vigelandsparken is part of a collection of works by sculptor Gustave Vigeland. The central theme of the works on the bridge is family. The left side of the bridge shows mother-child sculptures. On the right, we see sculptures of fathers and children. The bridge's centerpiece, depicts life as a circle with no beginning or no end in is incredibly made out of one solid piece of stone.

You'd have to see it all in person to appreciate the complexity, detail and time it must have taken to make.

Oh, I forgot to mention, it would be best to visit Oslo after you have won the lottery. It's ridiculously expensive and we had to pay $30 for a meal at McDonalds, which was the cheapest we could find.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen had lots of great things to see. More interesting than Oslo, the classic European side streets, squares and sculptures in parks made walking around this city interesting.

The highlight for me were actually the Erotica Museum and seeing the ORIGINAL little mermaid statue built based on the Hans Christian Anderson story, which apparently didn't have as happy an ending as the Disney Movie depicts.

The Erotica Museum was extremely interesting as it had pieces dating back to the first century AD and explained the history of sex, prostitution, play boy, brothels, and even sexuality in Hollywood. I was grateful that it was more historical and educational than anything else.

If you ever go to Copenhagen I would recommend walking around the streets of the city, enjoying an ice cream or beer (it's legal to drink in public, much to Iain's pleasure) and sit in the squares enjoying the architecture and people going by. Two days here was enough, though we enjoyed them thoroughly.

Stockholm, Sweden

Now THIS is an amazing city! About the size of two Manhattans and surrounded by a lake and the ocean (that run into each other), Stockholm won for overall beauty, intrigue, and things to do. It is rich in history and is just so incredibly pretty, I would move here at the drop of a hat if my friends and family were there too.

We spent the entire first day in a park called Djurgarden which had a great zoo, buildings depicting how the early Swedes and Vikings lived and live entertainment throughout the day due to a local festival. At nine o'clock a huge bon fire was lit in the park which could be seen for miles.

The second day we walked several kilometers throughout the city, checking out the Grand Palace of the Swedish King, some churches, the old town and several parks. The place I found to be the most interesting was the Vasa Museum, where an old warship from 1628 was found and displayed 333 years after it had sunk in the bay. It was so incredibly built with over 95 percent of it was still in tact when they discovered it that you literally felt like you walked through a time warp and stood there looking at one of the kings ships from 400 years ago.

On a personal note, I would like to thank Roger, Daniel and Mikael from Coastal Contacts and Lensway for giving us a place to stay downtown and showing us around. We enjoyed your company and were grateful for your kindness and genuine hospitality.