In Sweden - Episode 1

We honeymooned in Sweden. I have to admit now that Sweden wasn't on the top of my 'must see' list. In fact it wasn't even in it! But, we had a great reason for going and that was to see some of our very good friends that we had made whilst playing WoW. When visiting a country for the first time, I revert to racial stereotypes and football. I find that it helps, although it's not always very accurate. I honestly didn't see many good looking blonde people, although I did see a man who looked a little bit like ex England manager Sven Goran Erikson. My wife soon got tired of me saying things like:
"Malmo 0 - Nottingham Forest 1 European Cup 1978"
or
"oh! Helsingborg!...now didn't they play Arsenal (spit) a few years back?"
I get a pretty good geographical knowledge of the world from watching football and expect every man that I meet to do the same. Sadly, the only man I met in Copenhagen (that's in Denmark) accused me of being a football hooligan when he found out I was English. Bloody cheek! I nearly punched him!
Moose! There's a stereotype for you. I was a little disappointed not to drive into a random moose as I thought that suicidal moose were as much a part of Swedish roads as suicidal rabbits are in Britain.
The Swedish Chef. Him off the Muppet Show. A generation of children grew up thinking that the Swedish were unbalanced chopper waving maniacs, with spongy heads! One of the first questions asked of me in Sweden was "Are you disappointed that we don't all talk like the Swedish chef from the Muppets? Which made me laugh...but deep down a little part of me was thinking "Yes, yes I am..."
1 - 1. Maybe not immediately clear to non-football fans, but one all, as we say in Britain, is usually the score when England play Sweden. I have grown up watching England not beating Sweden to such an extent that I am constantly surprised that Sweden don't do better in the World Cup...then I remember that England are not very good and realise that this is probably why!
Porn. That got your attention! I know as much about porn as I do about Sweden (no, honestly!) and so I don't know really where this association with porn actually comes from. It's something I've always known, maybe it's an imprinted genetic man thing. In fact, in The Rough Guide to Sweden's introduction, the author writes:
'Many tourists come to Sweden looking forward to wild sex and easy pick-ups - and most return disappointed.' (If only we had known that before booking!)
and goes on with:
'Somehow, over the years, the open Swedish attitude to nudity and sexuality has become confused with sex. Sweden isn't populated soley with people waiting for any opportunity to tear off their clothes and make passionate love under the midnight sun.' (Again, had we known we would have probably settled for Margate)
I wondered whether to put this last bit in, it's possible for people to grow to a reasonable age, sure of all sorts of crazy things. It's not as if I went around asking people their opinions on whether Sweden's association with prolific porn was justified!
Moose! I have nothing else to say about moose (or should that be meese?), I just wanted to change the subject from porn.
Expensive. Rough Guide says 'Forget anything you've heard about Sweden's reputedly high prices...', well yes, forget it if you are a millionaire maybe. I found Sweden's prices higher than what we are used to. A beer cost around 5€, which is high in my opinion. Eating out was expensive as well. However, I must say that the entrance prices for the attractions we visited were reasonable in comparison to British prices. So, maybe it evened out over the 2 weeks we toured the country.
ABBA. We saw no members of ABBA whilst on holiday.

In Sweden is dedicated to Johnny, Camilla, Jeanette and Jakob,Fred and Linda. Some of the nicest, most generous people I've ever shared a beer with! Thanks guys for making our honeymoon extra special!