A Visit to a Swedish Landmark of Sorts: Ikea

Today's ride was a short, easy one – 50 miles with a tailwind – from Stockholm to Uppsala. Until we arrived in Stockholm, we had been unable to find places to dine in Scandinavia that serve Swedish or Norwegian food, since all we encountered were pizza/kebab joints and convenience stores such as 7/11. We learnt, in Stockholm, that if you search carefully and are willing to pay the price, restaurants serving more traditional dishes are available. So we had reindeer and elk on Friday evening, and Swedish meatballs on Saturday evening.

Sweden is the birthplace of Ikea, though it is currently headquartered in the Netherlands. IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer, was founded in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad (his initials are the "I" and "K" of "IKEA"). We had hoped to visit the IKEA in Stockholm, the world's largest, but it was closed due to the midsummer holiday, so we modified our route to Uppsala to take us to that city's IKEA. It was a new experience for Peter, who had never been to an IKEA. IKEA, incidentally, is a major purveyor of Swedish meatballs, so we enjoyed a helping of this dish during our visit.

Uppsala is the fourth largest city in Sweden, with 140,000 inhabitants. Two of its claims to fame are its University, which dates back to 1477, and the place where Dag Hammarskjöld – Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1953 until his death in a plane crash in 1961 – spent much of his childhood. The latter had special resonance with Peter, who was 12 years old when Hammarskjöld died and whose death led Peter to write a school essay stating that his goal in life was to become UN Secretary General. …still waiting for the call, alas…

Views from our ride out of Stockholm

Typical street corner: 7/11 on one side, kebab joint on the other

The Karolinska Institute, a prominent Swedish medical school


Images from Uppsala

Approaching IKEA

Dag Hammarskjold Way

 Uppsala University's oldest remaining building, dating back to 1630