My obsession with all thing Scandi started when I picked up a copy of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson on a work trip to New York.
Despite not being a regular reader of crime fiction I made short work of the book and swiftly devoured The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest, the subsequent two books in the Millennium Trilogy. Not having had enough of The Girl, I watched my way through the films (the originals not the American remake, although I have seen that too).
The Millennium Trilogy exhausted I moved on to Nordic Noir TV series. I was late to The Killing, but once I discovered it I couldn’t get enough of Sophie Gråbøl’s portrayal of Sarah Lund, a distant and obsessive detective with a nice line in Nordic knitwear. The Killing completed I discovered The Bridge and Saga Norén swiftly replaced Sarah in my affections. If you haven’t watched it but you have even the slightest affinity for Nordic Noir, watch the first season immediately. I missed out on Borgen but I have the box set (a lend from my sister) lined up for when I finally finish Pretty Little Liars.
My Scandi obsession doesn’t begin and end with film and TV. When it comes to fashion Scandi women have that effortless pared-back cool girl thing down. In an effort to emulate the look I frequently peruse the offering at & Other Stories, Cheap Monday and Weekday, and check in on a whole host of Scandi blogs and Instagram accounts, one of my favourites being @ASOS_isabella for her masterful way with double (and even triple) denim and slouchy tailoring.
My reading list isn’t safe either. I’ve just finished reading The Year of Living Danishly
My Scandi obsession is showing no signs of slowing down and I haven’t even mentioned Danish interior design or Danish pastries (yum!). All the Scandi capital cities are on my list of places to visit, or in some cases revisit, and a dream trip would be to drive from country to country, taking in not only the capitals, but the countryside too.
Is anyone else similarly obsessed? Visited any of the Scandi countries recently? Any more shows, fashion brands, blogs, Instagrams I should check out to feed my addiction? Do share below!
Love this post Miranda. I’ve also got the Scandi bug but mine started because I ended up making friends with a lot of Danes when I moved to Dubai. They got me into all the TV series and my love of all things Scandi has grown from there. We went to visit a couple of friends who have since moved back to Copenhagen last year and just fell in love with the city. The Man and I were kicking ourselves for flying back to the UK before back to Dubai from Copenhagen as the luggage allowance on Easyjet just does not compare to the Emirates and I had to scale back my shopping considerably! The interior design is just so amazing, mt favourite shop was Illums Bolighus, what an amazing store. Like a super cool John Lewis.
Our friend group has expanded to include a few Swedes now as well so next on my list is Stockholm, just love the Scandi culture and lifestyle!
I’m desperate to go back to Copenhagen Krysia, I remember stopping by Illums and wanting to buy EVERYTHING!
I’m a big Scandinavia fan too! Last year we travelled to Copenhagen, Stockholm amd Malmo and with having a 2 year old (and 4 weeks away from having a newborn) I was fascinated by the differences between our views on childcare and the Scandi way, I’ve never seen so many men pram pushing and enjoying their year of (fully paid!) paternity leave. I loved the part in the book when Lego Man is home by 3pm because employees are encouraged to pick their children up from school and prioritise family time and sending emails or being at your desk after 5pm is frowned upon!
Copenhagen, Stockholm and Malmo sounds like an excellent trip Emily! The differences in childcare attitudes and general work/life balance was really interesting to read about. Definitely things we could learn from here.
My mum is Swedish so there’s definitely been a lot of Scandi influences in my life from a very young age. I go to visit my relatives about once a year – they all live in Gothenburg and the surrounding area so whilst my knowledge of that city is pretty good, I’m useless when it comes to Stockholm as I’ve never been (although it’s on my to-visit list). One of my favourite holidays as a kid was spending almost a month with my cousins, first in a small coastal town in the south and then back in Gothenburg – the long days, beautiful weather and the yummy food!
The food – oh my god. I’m obsessed with pickled herring! We have it every christmas (on Christmas Eve when Scandis traditionally celebrate with multiple varieties of herring, lots of ham, potatoes etc AND presents – as a kid I got two Christmases!) and even though some Christmases I don’t make it back to my parents, I still cook up Swedish christmas for me and my husband (he’s not so keen on the herring!). Of course, Swedish meatballs are a staple in my house, but along with a penchant for open sandwiches too (salmon, prawns, radishes, caviar in a tube!)
I can totally recommend visiting the Swedish Kitchen in central London – it’s on Great Titchfield Street. It’s a cafe and shop where you can pick up imported Scandi food.
In terms of attitudes, I think there are mixed views. I know that a lot of people think the Scandi countries have got a good system in terms of social care and that’s true, but they pay an enormous amount of tax for it. And it’s not perfect -my mum struggles to get her head around why people hold it so highly! There are a lot of problems too surrounding politics and social attitudes. But that said, I think there’s a very good attitude towards family life and education and so on. Both my cousins benefitted hugely from splitting maternity/paternity leave and both have been able to have multiple children without having to worry about time away from work and so on.
Crikey, this turned into a super long post, apologies! Can’t help my Scandi obsession – it’s in the blood haha!
Hello Jo. We (me, my husband and our 21 month old daughter) are going to Gothenburg for one week at the start of June. I am so excited! Do you have any tips?! We won’t have a car, so will be relying on public transport. Thanks 🙂
Gothenburg is fab for public transport – it’s got a really good tram system which is pretty much all at street level (especially in the city centre). They’ve started to replace the older style trams with new ones, making it easier to get on and off with pushchairs etc. Are you flying into Landvetter airport? If so, you can get the airport shuttle bus – it has around 4 different drop off points in the city centre. It’s a flat fee (14 kronor I think) and they go every 20mins.
For the trams and buses, you can buy a card with pre-loaded money on it. It’s probably best to go to the tourist office to pick one up – that’s by the tram stop in Kungsportsplatsen. They are super helpful in there and will have maps of the city and so on too.
Avenyn is the central street – the bottom end (near the port) is mainly shops and the top end (by the statue of Poseiden) is more restaurants. There are of course lots of side streets to wander down with lovely boutique shops. There is also the old town off to one side of Avenyn which is beautiful to walk around and there are lots of little parks and places to sit and watch the world go by.
Slotsskogen is a big park, which also contains a zoo (where you can see elk) and they usually have lots of events happening over the summer months too. I think the old natural history museum is on the outskirts of the park too – I haven’t been for a while, but I remember as a kid being absolutely fascinated by the life-size blue whale they had on display…! It’s pretty old as my mum remembers going to see it when she was growing up.
Liseberg is the city’s theme park (you’ll pass it as you come in on the airport shuttle). I might be wrong, but I swear you can just get a cheap general entrance ticket to the park and then you buy tokens to use on the individual rides (my cousins take their kids there all the time and they range in age from 1 – 7 so plenty of rides to suit).
Universeum is a science museum targeted at kids of all ages. I’ve been a couple of times and it was really interactive and remember seeing toddlers having fun too. I couldn’t tell you how much the entry was though, sorry!
The city’s website is pretty good to look at for other ideas and will tell you if there are any events on whilst you’re out there: http://www.goteborg.com/en They also do a city pass which you can buy to get free/discounted entry to certain attractions and I think it also gives you free travel too.
I find the city super friendly and English is commonly spoken – whilst it’s good to know some basics (hej – hello, tak – thank you), I generally find that they spot the English accent a mile off and would rather speak English than struggle through a very basic conversation in Swedish. It’s annoying if you want to embrace the language, but handy when you’re trying to find out information!
Hope you have an absolutely amazing time – June will be absolutely gorgeous and the city will be in full swing 🙂
The giant cinnamon buns! You can’t go wrong!! Cafe Husaren does them!
Totally going to pop into the Swedish Kitchen until I can hop on a plane to visit/revisit all the countries and cities on my list Jo. Gothenburg’s totally on my list. Love meatballs and open sandwiches too, yum, but haven’t really gotten into pickled herrings yet! Caviar in a tube? That’s a new one on me! The Year Of Living Danishly was a really interesting read, learning about how well people are looked after in terms of social care and education but also how much it costs in taxes. It would be hard to get your head paying out such a huge percentage of your income coming from a country like the UK. Never apologise for a long post, we love reading your comments!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalles_kaviar – it’s not posh caviar, but fab on open sandwiches!
Pickled herring – you’ve got to try it, but I think it’s a rather acquired taste…! You can get them in so many different varieties, but I’m a fan of the dill, onion or mustard. Scandinavian kitchen stocks these flavours and I think they’re around £3 a jar.
They also do the Surströmming herring (which is a real delicacy!), but even I wouldn’t want to try that… I had a look at the can last time I was in there and it had explicit instructions to open it outside as it absolutely stinks!
I also love all things scandi! I loved the Bridge and The Killing, Borgen is next now I’ve finished House of Cards. I haven’t got into the books though- would love some recommendations.
I’m a huge fan of scandi interior and fashion- they’re just so… Cool. Visited Copenhagen last year and loved it, baby on the way this year but intend to go with baby next year to Sweden.
Looking forward to getting stuck into Borgen too Anna, got season 5 of PLL to finish and then I’m on it, although I still haven’t watched the latest season of HOC, I’ve decided not to series hop and just stick to one until completion!
Miranda, I totally get this! I watched The Killing and decided I needed to visit Copenhagen (not sure why as it’s dark and rainy for most of the series!), went a few years back and ended up getting engaged there so I will always have a soft spot for anything Scandi now. Definitely get watching Borgen, what a brilliant lead female character Birgitte is (and their home…lush!) I also recommend looking for Scandi inspired interiors pinners on Pinterest, so much inspiration!
It’s funny isn’t it, even though most of the films and TV series are dark and rainy there’s still something very appealing! Ooh, can’t wait for a Scandi interiors pinning session!
The Bridge also got me into everything Scandi – but a bit late to the party. I’ve also just finished a Year of Living Danishly and with the UK election in mind here I think we could take a few tips from the Danes on the value of quality public services and equality. As well as great lighting and scented candles too, of course!
Totally agree, Sarah, there’s lots we could learn from the Danes when it comes to public services and great lighting and candles very important too!
You knows I love all things scandi. Scandinavian Kitchen is a few streets away from work, and there’s a Nordic Bakery in Marylebone too. Do love the Danish Pastry, but for me it’s all to do with the cinnamon bun. And Troels in House of Cards means it’s related scandi viewing. Tak!
I have to get down to the Scandi Kitchen! We’ll have to agree to disagree on the pastry v buns thing.
I’m soooooo jealous that you have the whole of Borgen to watch! Enjoy 🙂
Must check out that book and Instagram person 🙂
Thanks Lynn!
I too am in love with everything Scandi!
Loved Thr Girl With The Dragon Tattoo books/ films and The Killing and my mum is shortly to pass me The Bridge and Borgen (once I’ve finished Nashville… My other geographical obsession!!)
I particularly love the interiors trends around at the mo. We are currently in the process of moving to a larger house which has given me the perfect excuse to research new furniture. Currently loving everything at made.com
On the food front I can highly recommend Nigella’s Swedish salmon, janssons temptation potatoes and cucumber and dill salad!
Also check out @copenhagenmama on Instagram! I’m off to Copenhagen in a few weeks time for the May Bank Hol with the hubby and have noted down all tips from the previous RMS post!!
Ooh the salmon, potatoes, cucumber and dill salad sounds yummy Nicky (and pretty much what I had for my lunch, although the potato salad was the ready made wasabi potato salad from M&S – another addiction!). I do love made.com too. Enjoy your trip to Copenhagen, hope you have a fab time!
We went to Gothenburg for a few days over Easter and it was wonderful. I love all things Scandanavian…. We got engaged in Iceland and have been to Finland three times (my bestie is half Finnish) I just feel so at home the minute I touch down in any of these countries. I also have a super obsession with Moomins. 21 mugs and rising!!
Moomins are fab! I loved Iceland. Never been to Finland. It’s on the list!