Q: Is there IKEA stuff everywhere?
A: Yes! Lots of the cafes, bars and restaurants I went to used IKEA stuff. Commonly spotted - IKEA glasses, cutlery, chair pads and most of all - blankets (provided by each place that had outdoor seating so you could wrap up in the cold). It was strange being in the arctic circle and looking at the candle holder on the table and realising that I had the same design at home. I didn't make it into the local IKEA shop - although I did see an IKEA bus - if I hadn't been on my bike at the time I might have jumped on!
Q: Was it dark at all at night?
A: It may have been dark for a few hours in the middle of the night - but the sun didn't go below the horizon until about 10.30pm ish - and it was certainly back up and shining brightly at 4am. (Of course, when we were in the arctic circle it didn't get dark at all as we were there at the time of year of the famous 'midnight sun' - but we slept through it and didn't get up to check how it looked).
And if your next question would be "how hard was it to sleep?" - my answer would be "with difficulty and in a sleeping mask". The curtains were quite good blockouts and we shut them carefully each night, but I really struggle with light at night time - I occasionally use a sleeping mask even when the sun isn't up around the clock! I think Michael coped a lot better with the light - but then his problem with sleep is noise, which doesn't bother me so much.
I can sleep through anything and everything.
SvaraRaderaHi, I've been enjoying reading your blog which came up on a google search (for of all things locating a store that sells cookie sheets!). I'm an expat Brit living in Sweden and it's always good to read what other non-Swedes make of the country. I thought it was interesting that you don't think it's expensive here. I'm from the North East of England and the amount of times I've said "I'm not paying that much, I'd rather go without!" is ridiculous. The UK has somewhat caught up over the past 11 years but at the moment I still think many things are overpriced.
SvaraRaderaI think that the sun going down at 10.30pm is EARLY for here. I've known some nights where I finally got to sleep around 2am when it was just getting a little dusk, only to be woke up by the birds a couple of hours later and find the sun already peaking up. Of course we pay for this "perk" in the winter with longer hours of darkness.
My stereotypical Swedish girl was blonde, blue eyed and large chested ....like you on the whole I've found this to be quite inaccurate (although thankfully the stores are now stocking larger bras!) :)
Katie