{"id":47,"date":"2008-08-12T19:33:07","date_gmt":"2008-08-12T23:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=47"},"modified":"2008-08-12T19:33:07","modified_gmt":"2008-08-12T23:33:07","slug":"exploring-norrland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/exploring-norrland\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploring Norrland"},"content":{"rendered":"

One good thing about being from (or living in) Ume\u00e5<\/strong> is that you\u2019re not from anywhere else in V\u00e4sterbotten<\/strong>. Because imagine the alternatives! You could be from a place like Lycksele<\/strong>, for example.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that Lycksele<\/strong> is a perfectly delightful little town, or a large village depending on who’s talking, of about 9 thousand people. Delightful for a short period of time, that is. And considering the numbers of teens and young people from Lycksele<\/strong> who come to Ume\u00e5<\/strong> every Saturday night in search of adventure, excitement and really wild things, you can kind of guess they share my opinion. And don\u2019t forget the housewives on shopping trips! Lycksele<\/strong> may brag that three chain stores have opened there in recent years, and they even have a Dollar Store (which is not really a dollar store at all, but a normal Swedish shop) in town, but that still doesn\u2019t change the fact that to most Lycksele-bor Ume\u00e5<\/strong> is a shining metropolis filled with swanky shops and fashionable people. No Dollar Store can match that.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s a charming town, but a charming podunk town, and the label of \u201cLapp Stockholm<\/strong><\/em>\u201d is very misleading. But to be honest, I\u2019ve never heard anyone except the Lycksele kommun<\/strong> (municipal district) and tourist office employees use that term. And even then, they whisper it quietly.<\/p>\n

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But yeah, Lycksele<\/strong> is indeed in Lappland<\/strong>. Now, wait a second, I know this is confusing, in English \u201cLapland\u201d is spelled with only one \u201cp\u201d, but in Swedish with two. I like the Swedish spelling better.<\/p>\n

Now I think you can guess where I went last Saturday. Ha! I got in the car and drove the 12,5 miles (and since we\u2019re talking about Swedish miles here, it means about 125 kms; 1 Swedish mile = 10 kms<\/strong>) to Lycksele<\/strong>. Just because. And besides, I\u2019ve never actually been there before. Umebor<\/strong> don\u2019t normally go there, it works the other way round \u2013 Lycksele-bor<\/strong> come here.<\/p>\n

What? You want to know what \u201cUmebo<\/strong>\u201d is? It\u2019s a person who lives in Ume\u00e5<\/strong>. Lycksele-bo<\/strong> is a person who lives in Lycksele<\/strong>, and so on\u2026<\/p>\n

But where were we? Oh yes, driving to Lappland<\/strong>. The drive is actually very pleasant, providing it doesn\u2019t rain or snow, of course. The road to Lycksele<\/strong>, E12<\/strong> (European Route 12) is known as \u201cBl\u00e5 V\u00e4gen<\/a><\/strong>\u201d – the Blue Highway in Sweden. It actually starts in Mo i Rana (now, that\u2019s a funky name for a town, isn\u2019t it?) in Norway, and goes across Sweden, through a ferry connection to Vasa in Finland, all the way to Russia.<\/p>\n

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But in Vasa, E12<\/strong> and Bl\u00e5 V\u00e4gen<\/strong> divide \u2013 E12<\/strong> goes to Helsinki, and Bl\u00e5 V\u00e4gen<\/strong> continues to Petrozavodsk in Russia.<\/p>\n

In comparison to the European Route E4<\/strong>, which goes South-North in Sweden, E12<\/strong> looks like a poor, provincial cousin. There are no security fences protecting you from crazed moose jumping into the middle of the road and the speed limit is 90km\/h (about 56 mph), though mostly it\u2019s even lower \u2013 too many villages cling to the highway and the people living there (and sometimes their chickens too) occasionally do cross the road. But at least the views are gorgeous. I\u2019ll never forget driving on Bl\u00e5 V\u00e4gen<\/strong> one sunny September morning a couple of years ago. The trees were turning gold, the rivers were sparkling, and the air was so clear you could see for miles. And not another car in sight pretty much all the way to T\u00e4rnaby<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

To be continued\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Words for today:<\/p>\n