The Millenium Trail - Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist pt 1 Vangers residence

The Millenium Trail - Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist pt 1

The Vangers residence
Fron the Film; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ( Swedish version)

Trail done in June 2022

In the beginning of Stieg Larssons groundbreaking Nordic Noir triology about Skilled Hacker Lisbeth Salander and Journalist Mikael Blomkvist, the ladies man and the stuborn Muckraker. The  Journalist is sentenced for slander. 

He have to take a break from his Magazine Millenium. A small but important magazine. A mixture between Stieg Larssons own anti-racist magazine Expo and the left leaning, free minded magazine of ETC. Mikael Blomkvist have in my eyes, more of traits of ETC's Johan Ehrenberg than Stieg Larsson.

In wait of doing time, Mikael is offered a bit of detective work for Henrik Vanger. A powerful billionaire from a business family since generations. The resemblence to the Wallenberg family is a bit obvious. But this is fiction so Stieg Larsson gave them a fictional touch. Wallenberg's as role models are often used in films. Not least Jönssonligan for instance. 

The Locations in the book and films are set to somewhere in Västernorrland. Somewhere in the districts Hälsingland, Medelpad or Ångermanland. In the filmed versions they use locations here and there and much is filmed in the greater Stockholm area, The Districts of Sörmland and Uppland as you also will notice in later posts.

The Cabin by the sea, that is supposed to be by a lake in Norrland, where Mikael Blomkvist stays to make his investigation. And where Lisbeth Salander is having sex with him, is on a part of the estate where I as a trailer is allowed to enter. The Cabin looks different today.  The big windows that can be seen in the Swedish version is removed and so is the whole entrance section of the building. I guess it is restored to how it was originally when built? In the film the house is in a light color. Light gray maybe or is it just the frost over the red that makes it?
Now it is Falu-red.

The big old Mansion from 1756 is in a private part of the land and I don´t get as nice shots and views of it as I wish and had to be a bit creative. This is not a right to roam area. "You can't always get as You want" as Rolling Stones sing. But I am there. I can see through the big trees. Close enough. I should mention that there have been Mansions here at least since the 14th century.

How to get there, Take the Saltsjöbanan trains from Nacka to Erstaviksbadet's station, then walk through the woods, pass Erstavikbadet and you are there. Not the fastest to reach locations in the Millenium Universe. But a beautiful and nice walk.

At the otherside of the bay stands the Vanger estate. 

One of the more beautiful walks to the goals

Nordic Traditions - Swedish Midsummer

Click here for NNL midsummers selection on D

Spotify. the NNL Midsummer music selection

 Midsummer in Sweden is about eating tiny new potatoes and fish, drinking akvavit, dancing silly dances, making love and hailing the spirits of the summer. Sometimes the darker sides of the Viking ancestors show up. It is hard to describe it. It has to be experienced.

If you are down town somewhere in Sweden on the last Friday in June you might ask yourself, where the hell did everyone go? Most of the bars will be empty or at least just with people that don't have their roots in Sweden. Like a few immigrants and tourists. Some of the bars might even be closed. The rest of us will probably be out in the bush, not Waltzing our Mathildas but waltzing on old wooden docks in the Archipelago or.on a wooden deck out in the Spinach as the Stockholm slang will put it, i spenaten!

On the night between Monday and Tuesday earlier this week the Pagans might celebrate the Solstice. The shortest night all year, the longest day. The Sun reaches its highest point from where we stand. 

But that won't really be a thing in the public eye in the Kingdom of Sweden, not like in Britain for instance. There was a public celebration at Stonehenge a few days ago, live broadcasted on the Internet. And It is possible the Swedish traditions have roots in such events, but no one really knows.

It is possible that contemporary Swedish witches go to Ales Stenar. But it is not the big thing.

Last friday in June is the Swedish Midsummer celebration.  

And there is nothing compared to it in the rest of the Nordic Countries.The Danes light a few fires, sing a few songs. Like the Swedes did until a hundred years ago. Lighting fires is a tradition that possibly the Hanseatic League Germans brought to Sweden. But no one living really knows for sure. The Danes still keep by their fires. While on the other side of Øresund  the. often so correct, Swedes go bananas.In something that might be described as a Dionysios feast.

By tradition Midsommar is the gateway to the summer. Many Swedes start their vacation that day. Traditionally the farmers had a few days off between the spring and the harvest. Others take their first dip in the lake. Some might skinny dip during the night time. If you’re hard core or want to come in contact with the spirits, you roll yourself naked in the early morning dew.

And there is a sexual and romantic subtext in the phenomena. 

The tradition to pick 3, 7 or 9 different flowers to put under the pillow is a part of a mating rite. 

Much of the forreign picture of Swedish girls and the free love that spread over the world in the 1960ies is based on a Midsummer look. Short white dress, bare legs and flowers in her hair. Still some Swedes look like that during midsummer. Looking for someone to bond with.

Some will make love in nature. 

And those rites are possible leftovers from older days. But in modern versions. 

And the lovemaking will not always be with your darling. And sometimes the sex, unfortunately, not of free will. 

The Cops and the medical personnel around the country don’t look upon Midsummer with unreserved happiness. They get their fair share of things to do.

Sex, jelosy, unfaithfullness and a big amount of alcohol easily becomes like a match in a flamable room. 

As in real life, there are sometimes a Midsummer murder in NNL crime stories. Viveca Sten’s In the Heat of The Moment is a such.  Maria Lang’s Mördaren Ljuger inte ensam is another example, that also became an episode in a film series in 2013. 

The amount of alcohol and the feeling of letting loose might be high.

Everything happends far away from the city centers. The youngsters might drink way too much. Do stupid things and sometimes get in trouble. 

Alcohol, and especially the Akvavit is selling 1000% more in front of Midsummer. Other alcohol is around 200%. Quite a bit more. And it will sometimes have consequences.

The food will most likely be the traditional Swedish Smörgåsbord. Pickled herring, Salmon, tiny New Potatoes etc. With a “Nubbe”, Akvavit shot (Spiced Vodka). Cold cut. Late night BBQ.

Fresh Strawberries in various servings. I go for the strawberries as well. Ice cream and/or cake. In Skåne the strawberries are ripe enough to pick. And sometimes, if in Skåne, I pick them myself, not just from the store shelf. Like a rite.

Even if I write this from a grown ups perspective. Midsummer was swell as as a kid too.

The midsummer night is magic, the woods, fields, mountains, lakes and shores are all filled with nature's spirits. After some Snaps consumption (Akvavit Vodka shots) you even will be able to see the spirits in the woods? The mist, the dew, the fields, the lakes, the woods, the cliffs. They are all full of the summer spirit for those who are there to see it. 

Many will dress in white, men, women and children. Maybe with a flower wreath on their head.  Some will put on their Folk Costume and dance proudly around the Maypole.

Instruments associated with Swedish Midsummer are Accordion and Violin.

The dancing can be divided into three different practices. The corny “smågrodorna” circle dance around the Maypole, some kids love it. Others, like me, just hated it. For a bystander the Little Frogs dance (Små grodorna)  looks like something from another planet. It is that corny. But in some circles it

by Anders Zorn at Nationalmuseum

is popular.

The nighttime, old style of Waltz and those dances. On a leaf clad Dansbana. 

And the last, when the sun is on the rise, romantic and sexual intended slow dances. That might lead to some more.  

The tradition sais that the girls should pick three, seven or nine different flowers to put under the pillow. That will help them dream of their future lover and husband.

The men decorate and raise the Maypole. Like a phallic symbol. Or not.

No one knows for sure the origin of it. In Fact are the Scholars rather careful to link the celebrations to the pre Christian era. Mostly because of a lack of written sources. They link it to John the Baptist's birthday. Honestly, who the hell will associate this with St John? 

I will argue for the pre Christian roots. The Solstice rites.The differences between the Danish most modest celebration on St Hans day (St Hans, old name for John the Baptist) and the Swedes Dionysos feast-like tradition is striking. Like it doesn’t happens the same day and night. And today in the days of increased gender equality. All genders pick flowers and raise the pole.

Finally, there are various songs that are connected with midsummer. Like the corny Små Grodorna, to the mystic songs of Visa vid midsommartid and Visa från Utanmyra. And all those romanticisation of lovemaking and the nature that a bunch of Swedish hit songs contains. I can’t really tell you about our tradition that often are referred to as the real Swedish national day, how it is. Because you have to be here and have to be grown up with it. So I don’t know if this text got you any closer to it? But its the text you get. Skål på det!

Your sincere Rönnerdahl

Sources, for once I post some sources. Nordiska museet, IOFS, Populär Historia and Historiepodden.

NNL Midsummer selection at Spotify

An apology to Iceland

Iceland's Independence day today. June 17.

I'm sorry fellow Nodics. But I know to little about it to dare to write about it. As I feel I know way to little about Iceland in general. Shame on me. I will do better, I have to do better. i just can be this ignorant. 

But I hope you had a good day anyway.

The Nordic Ways 003 - Food and Drinks

The Nordic Ways 003 - Food and Drinks

(Originally posted in FB NN groups 2020 and 2021, now slightly updated)

(Pictures will be updated from now and then)

I'll thank Tanja (F) and Vegar (N) for input and to get the names on things right.

I don't know enough about Icelands foodculture to write about it. More than they eat a lot of fish. 

Sorry Iceland, I didn't mean to exclude you!

The Breakfast in Sweden and Norway are pretty similar. Leverpastej (liver pâté) on a sandwich. And oatmeal porridge, as they eat in Finland as well. Cold cut lokal salami is common as well. 

In Norway they have brown cheese. 

Everything from liver pâte to cheese via cod roe can be eaten as spreads.

Denmark have a whole culture of cheese. Blur cheese are they really good at and so is the Norwegians too. Eaten with the darkest and most grainy rye bread you can imagine.

My daughter gave that bread up after two days when we visited Denmark. Swedes often have cheese as spread. Sometimes togheter with smörgåskaviar (fish roe spread). 

And Danes are mad about their chocolate. In their paistries and to drink like chocolate milk.

But also as breakfast. You might end up having a bit of paistry as breakfast as well. 

Fermented milk, Filmjölk is a Swedish thing, but Eaten all over in the Nordics. Yougurt is similar but not quite the same. 

Orange juice and coffee of course. 

Sweden have their fair share of chocolate milk as well. But not used as a religion you might think the Danes do.

My experience is that the Swedes are the steadiest lunch eaters. The school lunches are free for the students under 16 in Sweden. 

The grown up either bring a lunchbox to work or go out for lunch. Most bigger workplaces have canteens and are often surrounded by lunch restautants.

Maybe you have the famous meatballs with brown gravy and mashed or boiled potatoes?

Or do you prefer Raggmunk (Potato oannvake)? Hamburgers, Pizza, Pannbiff, Salmon or Pyttipanna are other alternatives. 

More and more turn into Vegetarians or Vegans so that eating increase as well.

 Norway both have meatballs and similar dishes.

This is the Lingonberry countries so add that to it as well. But wouldn't you go for the Cod? 

In Denmark you might have a Flatfish or a Smørebrød? 

The Danes love their Smørebrød, which often is a bit of dark rye bread covered with cold cut meat or fish. And eaten with fork and knife. Not as a bun. 

There are some Swedish sandwiches as that as well. 

In Gothenburg they love Räkmacka/Räksmörgås (Shrimp Sandwiches) and in Stockholm fried herring with Mashed Potaoes on a piece of Crispbread (Strömmingsmacka) is a must try.

The Finns like their fish on a slice of rye bread as well.

With onions, Siika is a popular fish. The English spoken call it Coregonus lavaretus. 

Norway and it's Salmon is probably no secret?

But few Nordic Noir heroes have time for a sit down lunch. It is the Hot Dogs and Burgers that are their energy refill. Often ordered and thrown away where the next must rush after a hot tip scene starts. Like it would be a crime to eat on the go.

The Danes go to the Pølsemanden or the Pølsebod as they call their hot dog stands. And Danish Rødpølser is very red. The old way to serve it is with the bread on the side. 

Swedes buy Tunnbrödrulle. Thinbread wrap filled with hotdogs and mashed potatoes. (a lot of mashed potatoes in Sweden). 

But the competition from Hamburgers, Kebab and Gyros is hard. Sweden is a very food trendy place. 

Kebab Pizza is a Swedish invetion that makes the Italians deny our excistance. Those Barbarians, mille Diablo!

Norways Hot Dog stands is a bit like the Swedish. But in some you can have Reindeer Hotdog with bread. 

Finns are more patriotic and have most likely a Meat Pirog. And if there are a Hot Dog involved it is probably either without bread or a Porialainen. In some places in Norway you can have Whaleburgers. But it's not cheap. Nothing is cheap in Norway. 

If you visit the Nordic countries and drink alcohol. Then you must have snaps for dinner. It hightens the food exsperience. Akvavit and Vodka it is called, depending on where you are and the small differences. The most famous is the Swedish Absolut. But it is a concept Vodka created in the 1980ies and not as popular at the dinnertsble you might think. Akvavit snaps are heavy spiced, my favorite is Aalborg akvavit from Denmark spiced with caraway/kummin. And is supposed to be taken with the rather fat and salty dishes. Which pretty much everything here. It is if we shall survive the long, dark winters we depend on the salt and fat, hm.  Which leads us to the dinner.... Ey wait a minute! Just another round of drinks.

Two exotic for you but typical for their people, alcohol bevarages, are the Finnish Mintu and Gammeldansk (the old Dane or Danish, for some reason Danes like to say it is old on most stuff). The later is more horribel than the first. 

Beer of course. Or Pilsner. 

Danes are the best at brewing good beer especially the green labeled pilsner beer. Norway are really bad. Rignes is a joke. 

In Denmark you might have a fat pork dish. With salty hard Porkrinds on it. For dinner. 

My grandmother and mum really knew how to make them. From Malmö they also knew their Danish cooking not just the Swedish. If you seen the Bridge (Bron/Broen) you realize how close Malmö and Copenhagen are. 

I always go to the butchershop when in Denmark and buy fried Pork rinds as snacks. Sometimes they are sold in Skåne and Gothenburg as well. But the fresh Danish ones are the best. 

The Finns are a bit more barren and might eat a Sausage soup or Kalakukko. 

If you feel like having a Swedish Smörgåsbord you probably won't eat for another 24 hours. It is basically an all you can eat feast with cold cut meat, sausages and fish. i will come back to that on a later post. 

On a saturday your whole family take a Sauna/Bastu in Finland. 

Make sure to lose all your your clothes and bring your Neer/Saunakallio. And put your Sauna sausage on the warm stones (!) . And there I got a picture in my mind I don't want to have. Cook in the sauna while being naked, Yeah! 

If you're in Sweden and in a sauna your probably having an after work beer, meals are not recomended. Like the Brits go to the pub. Danes sit in their murky old bodegas having the beer, I love those bars. While the Norwegans have their beer everywhere and all the time. 

All four nationallities will end up very drunk, where the Finns will be a bit more drunk than the rest. And therefor say more than four words in a sentence, finally. Which makes them look babling.

If not in Denmark, don't drink publically on a tuesday, because that is considered to be an alcoholic act. 

Swedes obsession with Crayfish will be penetrated another time. As will the Surströmming madness. 

Hope this might help you to understand some of us Nordic people. 

The Nordic Ways 002 - Water Crossing

The Nordic Ways 002 - Water crossing

(Posted in different FB groups during 2020-21, here in a refreshed and updated version )

The genre starts with water and a boat

If we look upon the genre's, that we call Nordic Noir, Nordic Crime, Scandi Crime or whatever, starting point as the publishing of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö's first crime novel Roseanna in 1965. We get the boat and water theme as a crime scene from the start. On a passenger boat up and down the channel Göta kanal the first victim in the genre meet her destiny. An odd way to start a genre you might think. Beside the fact they didn't think of it as a starting point for a whole literary and cinematic genre, It was on a boat trip on Göta kanal they came up with the idea in the first place. And as Swedes, Scandinavians and of Nordic origin. Going on water was nothing to reflect upon really, just came natural to us. Chatting with people in New Mexico and inland Portugal I realized that the sea, lake, river, island, archipelagos and channel themes are not too common and natural to people outside the Nordic countries.

Boats or should we call the Ships like is more proper

In the Icelandic Netflix series Ófærð (Trapped) a lot of the drama is built around a Danish cruiser ship. My first thought was, how Nordic! The Nordics still love their ships. Especially their cruise ships.

In Swedish schools we learn about the Vikings, you might do so as well?

I bet they, even more, do so in Norway and Denmark. Have the Icelanders even left
the Viking era? (Sorry for that joke, an Icelandic guy got offended by this, but I still keep it in the text).

What made the Vikings so effective was their skill with boats. Both building and sailing them. The daring ways they sailed them with Atlantic crossings for instance.

After the Viking ships went out of date the shipbuilding had to get help from Holland during the 1600-1700. But the Nordics were and still are seafaring nations. Saga Norén Länskrim Malmö points out that often as we speaks about boats we means ships. That are bigger.

Regalskeppet Wasa

The most fearful ship that was built during the 17th century was the Swedish Wasa ship. That sunk just after a kilometer on its maiden journey because of a construction error. Today the salvaged ship is Swedens most visited museum. Norwegian sailors heroism during WW ll is as well a known story. Even Danes and Swedes did it. As described by story's by Åke Edwardson and Camilla Läckberg.

And HC Andersens classic story Den lille havfrue (the Little Mermaid). The mermaid that sits statue in Copenhagen/Køpenhavn and have become a symbol of the City of Copenhagen. Køpen-havn means trading harbor in a straight translation, Holm in Stockholm means a small island. The Nordics are synonymous with crossing waters.

Gothenburg have some big shipyards and are the biggest trading harbor in Scandinavia. Uddevalla, Landskrona and Malmö had an identity as shipyard cities as well, before that business moved out of Scandinavia. This is just a few points given how important the sea is in the Nordic, subconscious, identity. The Islands of Åland, Gotland, Öland and Bornholm are nothing without it's shipping. Not to forget about the Færøerne and Svalbard. And wait a minute! Isn't half of Denmark on Islands? Fyn, Lolland and Sjælland (Funen, Lolland and Zealand) as Danish mainland as well as Greenland and Faroe Islands. Finland and Sweden with their big archipelagos. Finland have the most lakes in the world, Sweden the most islands. You get the picture. It is a lot of water to cross.

Cruisers the popular nightclubs Today we get on a cruise ship to be on the sea. Of course some of the Nordics have their sailboats and motorboats.

But go on a cruise is a way to live. To party and shop.

A Brazilian friend of mine didn't have a clue what she was into. The ferry to Turku from Stockholm. How hard could it be? After a while she realized that the level of drunk people, the dancing and the hunt for a mating partner was more like the Carnival in Rio than anything else.

From Stockholm you can get to Helsinki, Åbo/Turku or Åland. Big boats going to Åland for a few hours cruise as well. So people can buy their taxfree booze. For some taxfree drinking and dancing. And sometimes even a happy ending.

The alcohol is in general expensive in the Nordics. So the the cruises between Stockholm and the various parts of Finland is pretty much gigant party boats. Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll style. The same goes for the Norwegian cruises to Denmark. In the Johan Falk Tv series they have some of it in the story, travelling from Gothenburg.

From Wallander's Ystad you get to to Poland with the Roro Ferry Cruises. But also the fast Catamaran to the Danish Island of Bornholm. Trelleborg is a Roll On Roll Off city as same can be said about Esbjerg in Denmark. Many of the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish cruises take the trip to Kiel, Germany. The Ferries was the reason why Henning Mankell chose Ystad as location for his Detective Kurt Wallander. And use the fact that people travel in and out of the country by boat. Both in the Books and the filmed versions. The Ferries is the reason why the big city crimes happens in the small town Ystad according to Mankell's logic. The sea vessels and big boats are often used in smuggling or as a part of a murder. Like in tv series like Hawkwind, Beck, Wallander, Dicte and Johan Falk for instance. And in the third season of Forbrydelsen (The Killing) pretty much the whole series is build up around container shipment. In the Icelandic series Katla you reach the area where all the mystery going on by going on small ferries. A good trick to add some claustrophobia in the already eerie landscape. The sea vessel as a symbol of surviving. 

"Att tura"

My grandmother went to Copenhagen from Malmö for cheap shopping. Buying groceries as flour, butter and pork in the fifties. Until her death in the nineties she appreciated going to Dragør, just south of Copenhagen, by the ferry. She never experienced the Bridge and I think it was a blessing. Because she liked the boats. If in "town", Malmö I followed her on trips to buy some stuff she wanted to buy and cheap beer, we "turade" as they say in the area.

In Skåne they call it "att tura" (taking a daytrip). To Helsingør, Bornholm or Copenhagen, by ferry to buy cheaper alcohol. From Malmö they go by the bridge. Yes that "BRIDGE"! (dramatic music added).

The Finns have a another situation with the ferry cruises to Sweden. Because it is the way you get to Sweden or the continent if you want to bring your car. Not by flying. To them it is not just a way to drink yourself into seasickness. Even if they are pretty good at that too. I have one remark on the Trapped Series. The passengers should been more drunk. I think that they made a bleak sight that way.

The most classic cruising you get in Scandinavia is the Norwegian Hurtigrutten. Hurtigrutten means in translation the fast track, but it is a lie. It takes it times, at least a week.

The trip from Bergen to Kirkenes are by many considered as the most beautiful cruise in the world. Have a drink while you cruise through the mighty fjords. It is however expensive.

Hurtigrutten also takes trips to Svalbard.

The Nordic Islands are another reason why the Nordics go by boat. Svalbard, Faroe Islands, Gotland, Åland, Bornholm, Ven and not least Iceland itself. But also the archipelagos among the coasts of Sweden.

is so many ferry, sea, ships, island and archipelago themes in NN that it hard to remember them all. And the Trapped series is just one in that tradition as well as the tv series Fortitude, Graven, Morden and more. Imagine Läckberg, Thursten or a Edwardson without an investigation trip to a small Island. And Viveca Sten's Sandhamn is all about crimes on the Island Sandön, and it's little village Sandhamn. Yrsa Sigurðardóttir's character Þóra Guðmundsdóttir (Thora Gudmundsdttir) leave Iceland for a mission on Greenland. And Yrsa  manage by that move to get us to think of Iceland as a mainland compared to the even more isolated Greenland. "..., I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore", to put it like it is.

Bridges

Just as Henning Mankell used the ferries docking in Ystad to motivate his stories. The Bridge between Sweden and Denmark, Öresundsbron/Öresundbroen. Today mostly called Bron/Broen, the Bridge. Reading this on this blog you know what I'm talking about. A milestone in the genre the Swedish-Danish tv drama Bron/Broen took the world by storm. The impact it did on the world of crime fiction is a well known fact.

All of the Nordic countries take a pride in being a sea faring nations but that doesn't stop them from building bridges. In the Danish Series Rejseholdet (Unit One) bridges are here and there in the plot showing how the investigators travel all over Denmark. Often in Finnish and Swedish series the same scenes are often going on a road through a spruce forrest.

All over the Nordic countries bridges are built. Especially Denmark have their country tied together with them. The Great Belt Fixed Link (Storebældtsforbindelsen) is a massive bridge. Ranked as no2 in the World as the longest suspension bridge. Even if China have longer bridges they have not so many suspension bridges. Even Norway and Sweden gets into the top ten of the Suspension bridges. Svinesundsbron is a border bridge between Sweden and Norway. But I doubt it would be the same if the Bridge was about that Bridge. I will tell later why I doubt that. And going to Johan Theorin's Novels Locations on Öland you pass Ölandsbron. An Impressive bridge in it self.

Djuröbron as seen in an episode of Beck

In Swedish Tv series as Kommisarie Winter, Irene Huss and Beck, there is a lot of bridges. In Stockholm I pass so many bridges every day I might not ever remember them all. Stockholm is built in an archipelago. Gothenburg is divided physically by Göta älv, and therefor have its big bridges. Winter and Huss going over them every episode. Even in Beck, Innan vi dör and other Stockholm series, there are its fair share of going over bridges. If not least as a view of the city. I can add that the city of Sundsvall, that organize the annual Swedish Deckarfestivalen have the longest . In the Novels I have read by Jonas Moström, I can't find him doing a "Bridge" in his stories.

So it is no wonder why Hans Rosenfeldt let the bridge between Denmark and Sweden be the theme in the tv-series The Bridge (Bron/Broen). As a symbol of unity and diversion. Bron/Broen The Bridge in itself was an infected issue in Swedish politics before it was built. Today it is mostly forgotten about. But there was a certain political tension around the

subject The Öresundsbron at dinner tables and on Tv. The Danes didn't understand what that fuss was all about. And few might remember it today. September 21 2011 everything said about theBridge amounted to nothing. The Bridge got a new meaning. Brought to us by Saga Norén Länskrim Malmö and Martin Rohde ved Køpenhavns Politi. The differences and little tensions between Sweden and Denmark, Between Logic and emotions. Women and men, right and wrong, many aspects are in the plot around the bridge.

I tried to watch the English/French adoption the Tunnel. But no, it didn't really work for me. And I pass the trans Atlantic version from that the Tunnel experience. Because the Bridge, except a brilliant cinematography, acting, script and idea etc,is also in the fabrics of our two Nations psyche. Just seeing the title for the first time I knew we were in it for a ride. A ride most of us still tries to relate to, to understand what the Hell hit us. The Bridge was just so right and so Nordic.

As Nordics we still cross waters like our ancestors once did. Where we love, need, is depending on our sea vessels and bridges.

I could go on with submarines from here but I'll stop for now.

Hope this gave some salty taste to your NN reading.

Högakustenbron north from Sundsvall in the district of Ångermanland
holds almost the same length as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco

Wallander and the Second Skåne trails Kiviks marknad

In the trails of Kurt Wallander 2.0 post 1 (on the blog)

Repost from las summer on Facebook

Kiviks marknad

First

This, the east coast of Österlen in Skåne is my favorite part, where my grand dad had his summerhouse. Tina Fennstadt and Anders de la Motte/Måns Nilsson write today about the area. And I will have reasons to do more post and trails about it. Just because I want to. Try to stop me, to no use.

Now onto Kiviks marknad.

When I was a kid the annual Kiviks marknad was a must. The old farmers and traders market started by the Hanseatic League in the Middle Age, was turned into a burlesque carnival during the 20th century.

My parents thought it was a dread. 50 000-100 000 visitors, thousands of traders, a temporary amusement park, Dare Devil bike riders doing amazing stunts and strippers. Live strip shows crammed in with the families eating roasted candy, buying cheap stuff that will fall apart as soon as they leave the field outside Kivik. Often the rednecks called Raggare showed up in big numbers starting riots and brawls with the bikers etc. The whole field was packed with people. It was Heaven and Hell at the same time.

To a police in duty it must been a nightmare. I guess my parents felt a bit the same. But to me and my cousins it was a paradise.

The same feeling didn't came back visiting it as a grown up. It was just horrible!

In Faceless Killers (Mördare utan ansikte) Kiviks marknad play a part.

But to understand the subtext when Wallander goes to the market is hard if you haven't been there. He could as well step down into the inferno.

And I think both the book and the Lassgård film misses it a bit. Because it would be a bit of an impossible mission looking for suspects there.

The British Wallander place the carnival in Ystad in dramatic scene. And yes, it is more contemporary to do it that way. Can't help to think that the Brits misses the whole thing with the mayhem at the original carnival. In Lassgård's Wallander he chase one of the killers down to the sea where the end scene takes part.

To my big surprise they had a mini version last summer (in the covid year of 2021), Far from the big spectacle it was before the Pandemic.So my surprised pictures out the bus wndow doesn't catch what Kiviks marknad is about. At least it is pictures of the market. The tents and attractions are really on a fraction on the big field placed beautifully by the Baltic Sea.

How to get there. Bus from Simrishamn or Kristianstad. Pågatåg to those places from Malmö.

Will add a map later. I also added some photos from another visit, to show you the feeling with the field, sea and sky.

The Nordic Ways - June 6

Swedens National day.

Picture taken a few years ago. People gathered for a picnic in beautiful Hagaparken and got a free Concert. I didn't stay long enough to pay attention.

Opposite Norway that celebrate their National Day like it was their last moment on Earth, Swedes hardly celebrate it. A few Royals show up somewhere, I din't know where. Some people walk with a flag, not that many. The immigrant's that get their Swedish citizenship attend a ceremony in some official building. 

The flag waving is not a very Swedish thing unless you get into a crowded sports arena. 


Why are Swedes so mellow about their National day you might ask?
We celebrate a happening that took place 499 years ago. A long time ago, when Sweden finally broke free from the middle ages and went into the Renaissance era.  

When Swedens declared themself a sovereign country and breaking the Kalmar Union that we had with Denmark and Norway. No one I know was there to tell about it. Maybee we should be more "on" about the whole thing., but we're not. And the parading and flag waving, without someone use a ball and two nets, are not so fun.

When Swedens declared themself a sovereign country and breaking the Kalmar Union that we had with Denmark and Norway. When Swedens declared themself a sovereign country and breaking the Kalmar Union that we had with Denmark and Norway. 

No one I know was there to tell about it. Maybee we should be more "on" about the whole thing., but we're not. And the parading and flag waving, without someone use a ball and two nets, are not so fun.

June 6 1523 is said to be the date. And I hope there will be a massive party next years as Sweden celebrate 500 consecutive years as a sovereign country.
There was a Sweden before that date. But a rather weak and unstable country with civil wars and power struggles.

But the we might be in NATO, who knows?
And we might be celebrating the D day most of the Western World celebrates today.

Anyway, Most people might just have a relaxed day. Just having a day off. 

Enjoying the sun that is up. 

 

 

Wallander and the First Skåne trails The House at the Shoreline

In search of Kurt Wallander 1.0 From the trails done in June & Aug 2021.

The House at the Shorline in Svarte

Wallander moves away from the agony he painted the walls with at Mariagatan.

To Svarte, just outside Ystad.

The heat and the sun took is told so I missed to take the picture of what possibly is the Wallander residence in the Henriksson series, I had one mission and I blew it. But it was +35centigrades in the shadows so my brain wasn't too sharp. Anyway you get the idea.

Prosecutor Katarina Ahlsell (Henrkson series) lives in one of the house as well. Harder to pinpoint which.

The Beach below the house that is used. Where the dog Jussi do as he wants.

What they don't show is the 3000 year old Stone setting outside Svarte.

Going to Svarte from Ystad takes a few minuters. Both Pågatåget and the buss will ride thru the scenery that is much shown in the films, especially the Branagh series. Almost over exposé in the BBC series. Btw, Branaghs Wallander moves to a house a bit inlands not far from this place. And close to the sea. In the Novels he moves to the other side of Ystad.