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I just got back from eight days in Stockholm.
2014-07-29
More than the high price of beer, depth of the history, and beauty of the buildings (and people), one trait stood out like lingonberries on a stack of pancakes — the Swedes, with their famously high standard of living, really know how to live.
Wonderfully so.
Here are two dozen reasons why Sweden is the most delightful country on Earth.
1. Because everybody has 'fika' — the ritual of drinking coffee and eating a pastry — at least twice a day.
Drake Baer/BI
2. Because you can go swimming in the middle of Stockholm, since the water's not all unbearably toxic.
Drake Baer/BI
3. Because there are 20 hours of daylight in the summer.
Drake Baer/BI
4. Because the summer solstice is celebrated with Midsommar, a maypole-dancing holiday where the usually reserved Swedes go insane while wearing festive flower crowns, such as this one.
Youtube
5. Because there are raves in forests.
Drake Baer/BI
6. Because of common Swedish idioms, like "he shat in the blue cupboard." This comes from back in the days before plumbing. People kept their bedpans in one cupboard and their fine china in a blue cupboard. It was a horrendous mistake, then, to put your crap in with your china.
hownowdesign/flickr
7. Because any restaurant or bar with outside seating also has blankets. How considerate!
criminalintent/flickr
8. Because the government paid for a doge ad on the subway for the Stockholm equivalent of a Metrocard. So travel!
bisonblog/flickr
9. Because every subway station in Stockholm is like an art installation.
Drake Baer/BI
10. Because Sweden is the world's third-largest exporter of music, after the States and the UK. Artists include the Knife, Robyn, Ace of Base, and, most legendarily, ABBA.
Youtube
11. Because Princess Estelle is ridiculously awesome and also rather cute.
Reuters
12. Because Pippi Longstocking was Swedish.
ientu/flickr
13. Because reindeer exist.
flickr/anaru
14. Because almost everybody has a little garden cottage to hang out in during their five weeks of vacation.
Drake Baer/BI
15. Because they eat lingonberries with everything, not just pancakes.
flickr/arenamontanus
16. Because Swedes have kicked ass at carpentry for a very, very long time.
Drake Baer/BI
17. Because downtown Stockholm is absurdly beautiful.
Drake Baer/BI
18. Because Vikings. This is a rune stone, a particularly endearing form of viking art.
Drake Baer/BI
19. Because the king's former hunting grounds are now a totally chill public park.
Drake Baer/BI
20. Because there are enchanted woods.
Drake Baer/BI
21. Because they paint their construction equipment, like this handsome giraffe-spotted crane.
Drake Baer/BI
22. Because nightclubs turn into flea markets during the day.
Drake Baer/BI
23. Because everybody heads out to Stockholm's 30,000-island archipelago on the weekend.
Drake Baer/BI
24. Because the meatballs are for real.
Drake Baer/BI
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Drake Baer was Business Insider's editor-at-large, working across the newsroom to help produce ambitious journalism. For two and a half years before that, Baer served as deputy editor, overseeing a team of 20+ reporters and editors who cover the future of work, real estate, and small business. The fast-paced team was behind some of Insider's major packages in the last few years, including a state-by-state look into unemployment during the first year of the pandemic and in-depth profiles of "niche famous" characters such as real estate media tycoon Brandon Turner and HR icon Johnny C Taylor. They shed new light on big names, like Joe Biden, America's imperfect leader. He also cultivated thesis-oriented ideas journalism, whether it be on why "'diversity' and 'inclusion' are the emptiest words in corporate America" or why it's actually a horrible time to buy a house. (No, really, it is.) Before editing, his byline as a reporter was on the masthead for Fast Company and New York Magazine, covering the many intersections of social science, business, and economics. Baer has interviewed some our time's leading minds, including philanthropist Bill Gates, FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver, NBA champion and investor Steph Curry, "growth mindset" psychologist Carol Dweck, the rapper Q-Tip, Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman, and the man who gave a name to "disruptive innovation," the late Clay Christensen.Baer has published two books, the most recent being Perception: How Our Bodies Shape Our Minds, with Dennis Proffitt. In 2014, New York Times bestselling author and Wharton professor Adam Grant highlighted his first book, Everything Connects, as one of the 12 business books to read that year. He has been featured as a speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival, presented at TedX Princeton, and moderated many panels.
