Allison and I have been lucky enough to visit many countries in Europe, lately we've found a certain affection for some of the northern countries. In particular we've had a great experience in Finland (and even a little bit of Norway). It was were we had one of the most epic road trips ever, traveling above the arctic circle. We have great friends in Finland and continue to meet more great people from that country. We do however have some friends from other Nordic countries, who would tell us that it was well worth visiting other parts as well. So Allison and I decided that we would go on another adventure in northern Europe.
Our plan was to start in Finland, jump on a boat to Sweden and head to Denmark. The time in Finland was to be short as the point of going was to surprise one of our road trip friends for their birthday. While we only had one day in Helsinki, we managed to get in many of our favourite Finland treats, including Piirakka and a stop at the Fazer Cafe. These were important flavours for us in Finland and they did not disappoint. In fact I'll be posting another blog in the near future about the Fazer Cafe and how amazing a place it is. The Piirakka is a symbol of our friends and the hospitality that the people of Finland are not at all famous for, but have in spades.
After an all too brief stop in Helsinki, we jumped on a ferry to Stockholm Sweden. Stockholm is an interesting city in that it's both European and Nordic. I feel like Helsinki is more Nordic than European, and Stockholm is the opposite. Neither is better or worse, but just different. The old town in Stockholm offers foods from all over Europe, including multiple churro and Belgian waffle stands. There are certainly some very Nordic things, but in many areas I felt more like I was in Europe than I do in when I'm visiting Finland.
The thing I wanted to eat most of all on this trip was meatballs in Sweden, and that's what we had for our first meal. We had it for many other meals as well since they were pretty yummy everywhere, and also unique to the chefs who prepared them. All of my experience with Swedish meat balls in the past was from IKEA, and amazingly there were some similarities. They seem to always come with mashed potatoes, a white gravy and a side of lingonberries. The differences I found were that the lingonberries where often not a jam, but more sour and fresher. There would also often be a side of pickles, I would describe as bread and butter pickles. Many of our meatball plates also offered a few sprigs of what I believe to be raw pea shoots too. I don't know if they were just supposed to be garnish, but Allison and I found that part to be the unexpected joyful addition to this meal.
Another thing I discovered in Stockholm was this clown. This clown would continue to haunt my dreams and every single treat, snack or convenience store for the rest of our time in Sweden. The clown is promoting ice cream, and I can only assume that kids have built in some kind of mental connection between it and receiving cool treats. As a foreigner I found it a little unease, and would often jump out at me in random places.
The other food that I never think of being Swedish, but most certainly is, is the cinnamon bun... sort of. They call them cinnamon buns, but I would probably call them cardamom buns instead. I have a bit of a confession, I can't say that I've had a cinnamon bun at IKEA in recent memory, so I'm not sure if they're the same. I did enjoy these "cinnamon buns", but I feel like the novelty was what really gave them a plus. The sugar on top is probably the highlight for me, as they're "pearls" of sugar and not icing or regular grains. I liked the sugar so much that I bought a bag of it for future baking experiments. I feel as though given the option, I would probably go for a North American, full of sugar and icing cinnamon bun over a Swedish one. I certainly enjoyed these, but I don't know if I like them more than the ones I get at home.
We ended our time in Sweden at a charming little town called Ystad. In fact I believe this town could literally be used as the dictionary definition for charming. We stayed in the middle of the older part of town only a few minutes walk from the waterfront. Food wise the selection was very similar to that of Stockholm, only fewer fast food options and more local places.
Our one find in Ystad was an amazing pizza place that was both charming and delicious. I can't say enough about the amazing people who ran it, and how important they were to awesome trip.
After a few modes of transportation we stopped in the first city of the last country we planned on visiting, Copenhagen. Copenhagen was even more European than Stockholm, with a touch of Nordic traditions. The food in Copenhagen was a mixed bag, and I mean that totally. We had some of our best and worst meals there. The interesting thing about this city is that we often found that the quality of food was often reflected in the quality of service we got at any eating establishment. We also found that all prices were sky high in this city (and even the whole country). At times we felt like we were getting our moneys worth, and other times it felt like we were being seriously ripped off.
The main theme of our stops in all of Denmark was theme parks. This country is very well known for several theme parks that have and continue to influence the entire world. Theme parks are such a big part of this leg of the trip that I've decided to write a separate blog on the theme parks of Denmark, so keep an eye open for that soon.
There were however two things about Copenhagen that are worth mentioning. The first is the danish, or the lack of the danish. When I was a kid, I always wanted to eat a danish in Denmark, but a few years back I learned that they don't actually sell danishes in Denmark. What I learned on this trip is that they do sell danishes, they just don't call them that. In fact I've never seen a country with so many danish like treats available in every cafe, bakery and grocery store. I'm not sure what the true definition of a danish is, but from what I can tell it's a pastry made with some kind of puff pastry, filled with fruit, cheese or custard.
The other things worth mentioning about Copenhagen are the 7-11s. I'm not sure how this evolved, but all of the 7-11 locations that we visited were not brightly lit convenience stores. Instead, they were quick service cafes with seating and fancy bakery counters. They had refrigerators full of drinks, but also espresso machines and fancy sandwiches. They also had a few other sundries, but they were pushed into the back of the store among the dimly lit seating.
Our final stop was in a town called Billund. Billund would probably be a small farming community if it wasn't for one particular company that started there, and continues to operate there, Lego. Billund is not only home to the Lego campus/headquarters, but it's home to the original Legoland and a place called Lego House. I will have a great deal more to write about both of these places on my blog about theme parks in Denmark, however I will mention one thing that will be the theme of that portion of that blog, there are very few options to eat Lego shaped foods in the town of Billund, far fewer than you might think.
We left Billund airport and headed back home. It was a horrible flight home that we're still trying to recover from it. My appreciation for the Nordic countries of Europe has only gone up. They are each different and each offer some amazing treats, foods, and snacks.
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