Sweden has the most islands in the world, so which ones make for the perfect escape?

Let’s pack our bags and plan a summer holiday on some beautiful island. But forget the palm trees; we’re heading up north to the land of Vikings and the country with the most islands in the world. That’s right, Sweden has more than 220,000 islands. Okay, so that number might be up for debate as…

She’s the 19th Century Mystic Painter that Art History Needs to be Rewritten For

Buried by the elitist art establishment, hers must be the art world’s best kept secret this century. This is the story of a possessed, prodigious painter who prolifically created art that looks so modern it looks more at home in the 21st century; the story of a spiritually-minded artist trying to grasp the wonders of…

I Have This Thing with Swedish Stoves

Ask someone to describe Swedish interior design and they’ll probably give you a one word answer: IKEA. But here’s another word: kakelugn. No, it’s not the name for another ready-to-assemble IKEA product line, but rather, the exquisite and unique tiled stoves found in homes throughout Sweden since the 18th century. Looking like giant elaborate chess…

The Strange Anatomy of ABBA’s Infamous (Tax Deductible) Wardrobe

What do house cats, Euro pop, and the ingenious tax savvy have in common? Owe Sandström, that’s who. As the flamenco-dancing-zoologist-designer behind the costumes of ABBA, Sandström certainly played his part in helping the Swedish supergroup reach fame in the 1970s – where they have remained ever since. In fact, a deeper dive into the…

Vintage Snapshots of Swedish Midsummer looking suspiciously like a Spooky Cult

While the annual holiday of Midsummer typically brings to mind flower crowns and smorgasbords of perfectly-arranged picnic food, we’ve dug up some archive photographs from the Midsummers of yore, where the grainy black & white filters and old fashioned 19th century dress suddenly bring a distinctly more ‘culty’ vibe to the whole affair…. The ancient holiday is deeply rooted…

Inside Central Park’s 140 Year-old Marionette Theatre

“I spent some time as Peter Pan’s shadow” is the kind of sentence that’d only make sense here, at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park. This 143-year-old wooden chalet was plucked from Swedish soil, and rebuilt smack in the heart of Manhattan in 1877. Since then it’s had many lives, but none as…

So the Real Hobbits Vacation in Sweden

In a hole in the ground, there lived a seriously pampered Swedish Hobbit. He had a private sauna, and a nearby manor retreat; a charming staff to make him a charcoal-fired pancakes and take him on moose safaris. For the right price, you too live like a glamping Hobbit. Welcome, friends, to the Kolarbyn eco-lodges: the…

So in Sweden, McDonald’s has a Ski-Thru Restaurant

“Lovin’ it” or hatin’ it, McDonald’s is a permanent fixture of the modern high street, king of the highway drive-throughs, pioneer of the fast food take-over. But did you expect it to become a part of your ski run? At “McSki,” located in the popular Swedish ski resort of Lindvallen, about 450 kilometers northwest of Stockholm,…