Why would I want to visit Scandinavia in the first place?

Oh, come on.  It’s Sweden. It’s Denmark.  It’s Norway.

I’ve been drawn to these places for as long as I can remember.  There’s just something magical to me about all those beautiful storybook cities sprinkled across little archipelagos.  The snow, the mountains, the lakes, the politics:  It’s just always clicked with me.

There are a million reasons to go.  Aside from all of the obvious ones, here’s a few really specific ones for me:

Trolls

I’m a documentary junkie, and one of my all-time favorite documentaries of Trollhunter, which tells the shocking true behind-the-scenes story of how the Norwegian government secretly controls the wild population of trolls.  I hope to see some troll action while I’m in Norway.

Vikings

I don’t really have to explain this one, do I?

The Scream

The one by Edvard Munch.  Okay, there’s four of them, but one of them is in Oslo.

Edvard Grieg

Peer Gynt.  “In the Hall of the Mountain King.”  (See Trolls, above).

Pining for the fjords

The Girl with the International Book and Movie Franchise

Did you READ these books?  Did you SEE the movies?  If they’re not enough to make you want to visit Stockholm, you’ve got no blood in your veins.  And the Millennium Trilogy is merely the most famous of the exploding film and fiction genre of Nordic Noir.  If you haven’t seen it, you should check out Headhunters, and read the book as well!

I already have my ticket to the Millennium Walking Tour!  Gonna get my Lisbeth Salandar on!

Train Rides

I’m a huge fan of train travel, and I’ll be doing a LOT of that on this trip, including  a very special journey that I’ll discuss more in an upcoming episode.

There are more reasons, but these are plenty enough to get started on.

Are YOU drawn to Scandinavia at all?  What would you be interested in seeing there?  Let me hear from you in the comments!