Best of Sweden:: fresh-air people

Well, the Swedish word is friluftsmänniskor, meaning "free air human beings." oh, I think Swedish is such a funny language. So "viking" and primitive sometimes. For example, the word for "grass" is gräs and the word for "weed" is ogräs meaning "not grass." :)

Anyway, these people are so INSPIRING. Especially in the winter, when all I want to do is huddle inside in a refuge of candles and coffee, they are excited about the ice, snow, and all the wondrous winter sports now made possible. Swedes really do love nature, and they love being outside. The countryside is pristine, untouched, and accessible with trails and ski-tracks galore. Last week I had the epiphany that this love of fresh air and winter activity is indeed the only way to remain sane through the long winters here. I have never had to be told to get outside....it's my favorite place to be....but I felt a renewal to be more active and sporty. So we went ice-skating last week....2 times! Erik and I felt so hardcore, and so deserving of the coffee and chocolate and lazy evening we partook of upon returning home.We had these classic, never improved upon speed skates....simple long blades that you snap onto your boot. You go faster than a bicyle when you really get going! Half of Uppsala was on the lake when we were there. And parents with small children never let that stop them from getting out. I saw more new baby-carrying contraptions, more sheep skin lined sleds than ever before. So hard-core!! Needless to say, one cannot feel more Swedish than donning some skates, heading outside, and of course, bringing along a thermos of coffee for the essential (and let's admit it, best part) stop for fika. The picture below, snapped at a local museum, captures so perfectly these outdoor people of the North. Perhaps their lack of nice weather makes them grateful for any bearable conditions in which to head outside. :)