Stockholm and Uppsala

One of my work opportunities in Europe was to participate in the 4th European Conference on African Studies in Uppsala, Sweden from 15-18 June. I had heard great things about the conference but had never had the chance to attend. We had also had some loose talk before we left Halifax about the possibility of connecting with our friends Mikael Brodin and Christina MacKay, whose son Tim had been one of Rory's best friends during his first two years at St. Catherine's School. Micke is Swedish, and so after two years in Canada the family (which also includes three-year old twins Genevieve and Linnea) had returned to their house on the island of Stora Essingen which is quite close to the centre of Stockholm. Putting two and two together, we decided to book a cheap Easy Jet flight for four days as a family in Stockholm, from 8-12 June, with me staying on for my conference in Uppsala. Christina and Micke were good enough to put up with our whole tribe bunking in with them, and were wonderful hosts despite being in the final week of their own high school teaching jobs. To top it off, the weather in Stockholm was spectacular and, combined with the 'midnight sun' of mid-June in Sweden, left us with an extraordinarily positive impression of this beautiful city (Christina and Micke reminded us that it was not quite so appealing in mid-January...).

There were many great things about this visit. First of all, it gave Tim and Rory a chance to re-connect which was really nice for both of them since they had both been uprooted from their english-language schooling in Canada and had had some adjustment challenges. Second, it was great to get to know the lively little girls, and to have some visiting and conversation time with Micke and Chrstina.  Finally, we did manage to see a few of the many highlights of Stockholm. On day one, we took an old ferry boat through some of the channels and islands that make up greater Stockholm, to visit Drottningholm Palace (the traditional summer palace of the Swedish royal family), the 'Chinese Pavilion', and an amazing 17th century opera house, all adjacent to each other on Drottningholm island. The opera house was a highlight, not because of its grandeur but because it is almost perfectly preserved and is also a monument to Swedish frugality, having been built 'on the cheap' by a royal family that was bent on maintaining appearances among its European peers, but without the wealth of some of its more profligate cousins. Drottningholm itself was beautiful and full of historical interest; we know because we got a personal tour from Micke who, in a previous life, was a guide there.

On day two we took Tim with us to the island of Djurgarden, which is Stockholm's 'museum island' with several of the city's outstanding collection of museums. We went to Skansen, which is a remarkable place something like Upper Canada Village except that it has collected and preserved examples of Swedish dwellings, shops, churches, schools, wildlife, etc from the past several centuries accumulated from all over the country. Rory was particularly taken with the glassblowing! After a long visit we had a wonderful late lunch at 'the blue Door', which was a kind of luxury cafeteria. We then met Micke and the girls for a walk around the Old Town of Gamla Stan, dating back to the 13th century, which is full of attractive alleys, homes, dwellings, restaurants, palaces and, yes, museums. We finished the day with an amazing dinner at Herman's Vegetarian Restaurant -- a fabulous place which you should put on your list if you are ever in Stockholm!

On our last full day in Stockholm as a family we first went with the Brodin-MacKay's to Junibacken, which is a beautifully executed kind of theme park dedicated to the giants of Swedish children's literature - particularly but not only Astrid Lindgren. We all enjoyed it and wanted to read beyond her best known heroine, Pippi Longstocking -- though the amazingly faithful reproduction Pippi's Villa Villekulla was also a highlight. Finally, we took Tim with us again to visit the incredible Vasa Museum, built around the Swedish flagship salvaged in 1961 after going down just off of Stockholm 20 minutes into its maiden voyage in 1628! Because of the brackish waters of the Baltic, it was almost perfectly preserved and now stands as a monument to the ambitions and folly of the Swedish monarchy at the height of the country's power, as well as a source of insight into 17th  Swedish military and social history. We were all enthralled, though Tim found that after perhaps a half-a-dozen previous visits he was probably ready for a break from it! We finished the day with a fantastic salmon dinner chez Christina and Micke, before Heather, Elizabeth, Holly and Rory's departure for their return to work and school the next day.

I won't bore you with the details of the ECAS conference in Uppsala, but I will say that it was one of the better academic conferences i've been to in a while. Uppsala is a beautiful university city about 40 minutes by train minutes from Stockholm, so I was fortunate to be able to continue to stay with the Brodin-MacKay's and save on Sweden's legendary hotel prices. I was able to connect with many old friends and colleagues and to meet some new ones, while learning lots of great stuff! My own panel was lots of fun. All in all about as good as it gets in the academic world! Many, many thanks to Christina, Micke, Tim, Genevieve, and Linnea for being such delightful hosts in Sweden.

Dave