Stockholm A-Z: Exercise

E is for exercise

This weekend was the Stockholm Marathon. It was a fantastic spectacle of sporty Swedes and other foreigners stamping the 40 plus kilometers around Stockholm. Thousands of people lined the streets cheering, singing and dancing. The sunny summer weather had brought them out in droves.

Standing on the side of the road, cheering on my partner, I was impressed by the amazing effort that all the runners were investing.

I was also struck by the main difference between the Stockholm Marathon and the London Marathon - fun runners in funny costumes. The London Marathon is full of them. People dressed as chickens, as donuts and as marshmallows run the route, usually for charity. In the Stockholm Marathon, the concept of the fun runner in funny costumes is not very common. During the time I watched, I saw a few funny hats, a robber and a bumble bee. Otherwise, it looked very serious. The participants were focused runners, not fun runners.

And this, for me, reflects a crucial part of Swedish culture. People here take their exercise very seriously.

Stockholm is an exercise-friendly city. Every morning, lunchtime and evening, hundreds of joggers run along the many waterside pathways. Cyclists take over the city this time of year and perilously navigate the cycle tracks and roads. Strollers, speedwalkers, stickwalkers,skaters,skateboarders are all out on the streets. Canoists bob around the canals in colourful kajaks. People play kubb and boule in the parks. Every neighbourhood has at least one gym - and they are all packed. Swimming pools, squash courts, yoga studios abound.

In Stockholm, it feels like everybody exercises in some way. And I guess it pays off.

Visitors often remark that Stockholm is populated with so many good-looking people, of all ages. And they wonder why it can be so.

I hate to admit it, but could it be something to do with exercise?

Stockholm A-Z: Djurgården

D is for Djurgården

For me, it's easy to forget about the island of Djurgården. It feels so far away. But actually, it's not very far at all. A 10 minute bike ride or a 20 minute run and you are there.

Djurgården is the 'pleasure island' for Stockholmers. Located in Stockholm's harbour, it hosts museums, galleries, gardens, a zoo, a funfair, a market, cafés, restaurants, a theatre, hotels. The list goes on.

When I first moved to Sweden, I used to think it was stupid to have so many museums concentrated in one area. I used to find it tedious to have to go out to the same destination every time I wanted to go to one of these museums.

But I have changed my mind. I think Djurgården is amazing.

It is one of Stockholm's truly unique features. Going to Djurgården is like visiting a sanctuary, away from the stresses of urban life, where it is all about focusing on recreation.

The existence of Djurgården is deeply engrained in the Stockholmers' minds, and strongly rooted in history. As far back as the 1200's, the island was a royal hunting ground. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the focus shifted from royal hunting to recreation for the public. The 16th century historian Olas Magni describes 'sculling girls conveying lads and maidens out to play and disport themselves.'

But the true rise of Djurgården happened in the late 1800's, when a horse-drawn omnibus line was created linking the city to the island. And in 1897 the great Stockholm Exhibition took place there.

This put Djurgården firmly on the map where it still remains today as one of the Stockholmers' most favourite places to disport themselves.

Stockholm A-Z: Café life

Café Life

Like many cities with diverse seasons, I find that Stockholm can be schizophrenic. In the winter, Stockholmers walk quickly to their destinations, head-down often avoiding social interaction on the street. This is understandable. It is so cold, you just want to get indoors.

In the early stages of summer though, the city changes.

The sunnier, warmer weather comes and restaurants spread out onto the pavements and streets. It seems like even the smallest of cafés has an outside terrace. It might only consist of one table and two chairs, but it is still an outdoor terrace. Outdoor summer cafés open up for the season on quaysides, in parks and squares.

And the people flock to them in droves.

Café season is the start of beautiful people season. All winter, Stockholmers have been hidden under layers of thermal clothing. But now, they cast off their outer garments and slip into their summer outfits, their sunglasses and their shorts and sandals. A more grateful and beautiful nation I am yet to find. You wonder where all these Amazonian women and athetlic men have been hybernating for the winter half of the year. Oh, of course...in the gym.

Café life has a strong tradition in Swedish culture. It is still possible to find traditional coffee houses dotted about the city. A window to the past, they often still have the original decor and atmosphere. Swedes are amongst the top 5 countries when it comes to the consumption of coffee, and this is part of the reason why coffee is so good in most cafés. Even 7 Eleven has decent coffee. This is also why Starbucks considered Stockholm to be a saturated market long before they opened their first store at the airport earlier this year.

But it is the outdoor café that reflects life for the modern Stockholmer. Weather permitting, these are the perfect places to sit and watch the world go by. Infraheaters and blankets help keep any irritating chill at bay. So, grab your outsized sunglasses, head to a square, slip into a chair, order a macchiato and enjoy summer life in Stockholm.

Stockholm A-Z: Balloons

Balloons

You might not know this but I am an aristocrat. Yes, it's true, I am titled. I am a Count. My official title is Balloon Count of Barkaby. I was given this title in a champagne ceremony a few years ago.

The title of Count or Countess is something that everybody is given after they carry out a journey in a hot air balloon over Stockholm. Where you land dictates where you become a Count or Countess of. I landed on a not-so-glamorous air strip in Barkaby, a not-so-attractive suburb outside the city.

Hot air ballooning is synonymous with the summer skyline of Stockholm. Every evening, weather permitting, the sky fills with a mass of brightly coloured balloons with baskets of gleeful passengers hanging beneath them. The growl of the flame can be heard on street level as the balloons sail gently across the evening sky.

From up there, you get a fantastic view of the city. You see clearly how Stockholm is built on islands and how bridges form a network of communication. You see the houses shining in shades of ochra, amber and gold. You see people busy in parks, on the water and in the squares.

In these days where the sky is filled with ash clouds and planes can't take us where we want to be, perhaps it will become the era of the hot air balloon.

I wonder how long it'd take to get to England?

Stockholm A-Z: Accessibility

Accessibility

In London and many other cities, the cityscape is dominated by high walls, fences, gates, and locked doors. Signs saying 'No entry','Tresspassers will be Prosecuted' and 'Private Property' abound.

Not in Stockholm. One of things that strikes a tourist or a foreigner when they come to Stockholm is the openness and accessibility of the city. In Stockholm, you are mostly free to amble down canal paths and along the lakesides. No private owner has claimed it as their own. At bus stops, buses sink to street level to allow disabled people access to public transport. The city's parks are not fenced in, or shut after 11pm, but spill out onto the streets that surround them.

But the thing that reflects Stockholm's accessibility the most is the way the city presents its public buildings. The Royal Palace in the centre of the city is not fenced off like London's Buckingham Palace to keep the hoards at bay. If you want, you can walk right up to the palace and touch it. The Houses of Parliament have a pedestrianised walkway running right through the middle of them connecting Stockholm's Old Town to the commercial centre. Not a policeman in sight.

Stockholm's politicians and royals are often seen on the streets or at public events mixing with the hoi pal loi. Granted, they have body guards, but they are very discreet.

Unfortunately, this accessibility has resulted in murder. Prime Minister Olof Palme and the Foreign Minister Anna Lindh were both struck down, one on the street, the other in a department store. These tragedies however have not removed the Swedish need for accessibility and openness.

Accessibility is one way in which the Swedes display their fierce belief in democracy.

And if you take that away, what then is left of a progressive modern society?

Stockholm A-Z: Archipelago

Archipelago
One of the Stockholmers favourite summer retreats is the archipelago outside of the city. The archipelago consists of over 20 000 islands. The islands are mostly flat and usually covered in greenery. They are various sizes ranging from the smallest of cobs and skerries to large islands with roads and villages. From the air it looks like God has broken digestive biscuits into different sized pieces and scattered them into the Baltic Sea.

Many of the islands are inhabited by permanent residents and a boat service carries residents to and from Stockholm in anything from one to six hours. Most islands, however, are not permanently inhabited, some having space only for a few wooden holiday cottages dotted about.

Many Stockholmers boat out to the archipelago in the summer months. They take picnics with them and munch on sour dough bread, quinoa salad and sip rosé wine. They sunbathe and swim from the rocks, often exotically naked. If the water temperature is over 17 degrees celsius they are happy. They glide in kayaks through calm, glistening water. They convene with nature.

I remember the first time I went out to the archipelago as a hardened Londoner. When we arrived at our island destination, all I could see was rocks and trees. I remember wondering where the pub was and how the hell anyone could spend a whole day sitting on a rock. But Stockholmers do just that.

For Swedes, the natural environment is very important whether it's the archipelago, the woods or the mountains. It is as if many Swedes long to get away from their cosmopolitan lifestyles and retreat to their little red cottages deep in the woods. Or go fishing in fresh-water lakes. Or spend weekends picking wild berries. And mushrooms.

As little as a century ago, Sweden was an agrarian country with many of the people living under impoverished conditions. This heritage is still apparent in the Swedish mentality and could be one explanation for the sentimental relationship to nature.

Nature is an integral part of the Swedish lifestyle and Stockholm's archipelago is the ultimate manifestation of this.