There’s nothing like going to a new country for the first time, and absolutely loving it. I’ve just come back from a couple of days in Sweden, which for some inexplicable reason I had never visited before.
The ostensible reason was to go to a concert by Roxette, at the beautifully designed Avicii Arena, a modern kind of golf ball-like structure which, although visibly impressive, had terrible acoustics, and a vertigo inducing seat position in which I spent the whole concert worrying about descending the steps at the end without having another Iain Dale-like accident. The fact that I am writing this suggests I completed the descent sans incident.
The flight to Sweden, ostensibly with RyanAir, but turned out to be operated by Air Malta, was a nightmare, given legroom was zero and I was on the aisle seat of a row of three beside a very fat man and his almost equally obese wife. He literally spilled out into my space pushing me out into the aisle. Sort of. Quite how he got the seatbelt round his ample midriff, I do not know. Two and a half hours of sheer awfulness.
On Saturday I visited the Vasa Museum, The Vasa was a Swedish warship that sunk on its maiden voyage in 1628, after only 1500 yards after being launched into Stockholm Harbour. It was found and reclaimed in the second half of the 20th century. And what a sight it is. They’ve done a marvellous job preserving it in all its glory and you got a real feeling of what it must have been like to be on the ship when it sank.
The Viking Museum was the next stop, which, as you might imagine, told the history of the Vikings in a really engaging manner. There was even a Dodgems ride. Well, kinda.
Just around the corner was the ABBA museum, which I have to admit wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It was loosely based on the version that was in London around 15 years ago, but thankfully was a bit of an upgrade from that. It could hardly have been worse. But all in all, it was a bit down at heel, and although there was a lot to look at, it didn’t really engage you. There was a certain soullessness about it.
In the evening, we went to a restaurant which is part of a small boutique hotel, the King Frantz, in the old town. It’s a Michelin starred restaurant, with a tasting menu. We went for three courses plus a dessert, and the whole meal was sublime. One of the best I’ve had this year.
Over the two days, we saw quite a bit of Stockholm, but really only scratched the surface. It’s incredibly clean, calm and civilised. Its central station is the only station I’ve ever seen with carpeted platforms. Arlanda Airport is without doubt the best airport I’ve ever been to. Admittedly we flew back on a Sunday morning so it wasn’t as busy as it usually is, I imagine, but it’s so different from your average European airport. Admittedly, it’s built on a huge site, so it’s very spacious, a luxury neither Heathrow or Gatwick have. It even has wooden floors. God knows how long they take to lay.
One word of warning. Some of the taxi drivers, even though they are licensed, are rip-off merchants. The journey back to the hotel from the Avicii cost less than half what the outward journey cost.
All in all, I’d love to go back to Stockholm! But not to a concert at the Avicii.