Lapping Laplands

Old town, Gamla Stan, Stockholm.

My initial estimate of what Sweden would look like in the winter was that of a typical European country with a whole lot of snow. While Stockholm fit the bill of an eclectic European city quite well, my time in the Lapland was perhaps utterly unique.
I spent most of my time at Arjeplog, Sweden. It was correctly named the capital of winter testing in the entire world. Perhaps every car manufacturer had their test tracks located here to take advantage of abundant ice and snow. This quite small town was located about two hours north of the supposedly bigger town of Arvidsjaur, which I found as perfect example of harmless exaggeration. More importantly, I was only about hour south of the Arctic Circle. On a Sunday, a few of us decided to drive to Norway, intentionally stopping and crossing over at the Arctic Circle.

The Arctic Circle passing through Sweden

I must be honest here. I did not feel any different once I crossed the imaginary Arctic Circle. If anything, I felt a tad special on doing such a thing and curiously wondered if this could be ever be used as a pick up line. Not that I had much time to dwell on that as the drive to Norway took every bit of concentration I could offer. The roads were windy and terribly icy. And while I had a studded tire equipped Audi A4 to thrash about, maintaining 90 -110 Kmph on those roads was an interesting task, to say the least. The road to NorwayAs soon as you approach Norway, the rolling hills of Sweden transform into ragged dangerous peaks. The Schengen treaty worked out quite nicely as we passed the unmanned border into a different country. When we eventually stopped for dinner, it became obvious that we actually Infact had come to a brand new country. The signs were different, the accents too and not to mention a whole new currency and a different exchange rate.

The ragged mountains of Norway

It had been an excellent day. Amongst other days that I had spent in the Lapland! The endless boundaries of snow illuminated by the bright Sun or the shining moon; the frozen lakes which lovingly invited vehicles to dance on their slippery surfaces; the honest food consisting mostly of Swedish potatoes and reindeer meet. The duration of daylight increased every eight minutes when I was there. Soon, within a couple of months, there would be no night. Followed by months of darkness and that cycle would continue. I would miss all that. Ever since I have returned to Ann Arbor, the spring has changed my mind’s landscape. And while I certainly welcome the change in wardrobe, I do miss adorning arctic jackets and chasing winters on four slippery wheels on frozen lakes…