They say to travel is to live.
Well, maybe, if a day at the airport doesn't suck the life out of you first.
I mean, where else would you be told to arrive two hours early,
only to become dangerously close to being two hours late?
Still, I think my travels last year were good for me.
They seemed to broaden my outlook.
To a degree.
So now, I'm taking on what is apparently a must-do for any respectable traveler.
I'm doing Europe.
All right. Where are we, exactly?
I'm going all continental…
from the very top to the very bottom.
I'm heading off the beaten track to discover some real hidden gems…
Are you getting this?
…and embrace this budding spirit for adventure.
Look at me. No hands.
They're right here. What is this, the bow?
I'll be educating my taste buds…
Wow, that was so good.
Grapes are ready.
…and trying to live like a local.
Welcome to my village.
This is insane.
I just saved your life. Remember me.
I'm packing any worries in my luggage…
Here they come. Here they come.
You never know what the body's gonna do when it's in abject terror.
I don't think I've done anything quite like this since I was a kid.
…and I'm about to utter three words I've never said before.
Ready for takeoff.
Every journey has to begin somewhere.
I came up with that.
Mine starts up here, at the northernmost tip of Sweden,
with the whole continent of Europe stretching out before me.
That's a daunting thought for someone who isn't too well traveled.
For the first leg of my epic European adventure,
I've flown 6,000 miles across seven time zones,
from Toronto to a little town called Gammelstad in Sweden,
that's so far north, I'm barely 30 miles from the Arctic Circle.
I've heard when you're this far north, the sun doesn't set.
How can you live without night?
Normally, if you're having a bad day, you know it's gonna end.
I mean, I'm a creature of habit. I like night following day,
but the Swedes may have a different take on it.
Here in Sweden, they celebrate the longest day
with the biggest festival in their calendar.
Midsummer.
But before I can join in the weekend holiday fun,
local guide, Robert, is taking me to my hotel in his taxi.
- Is this how you do it? - Yes.
And I'll happily cough up a sizable tip,
if we make it there without taking on water.
Let's go.
Got a lot of river here, Robert.
It's the second-largest river in Sweden.
It's 580 kilometers long.
It's massive.
In the 1500s, when Sweden started to modernize,
we used the rivers for logging.
So, the logging industry is a big industry here?
Yeah, we have a lot of trees.
And he's not kidding.
There are something like 87 billion of them.
That's more than a third of all the trees in the US,
squeezed into a country roughly the size of California.
The trouble is, all that forest also means…
Mosquitoes.
- Mosquitoes? - Yeah.
We have more than 47 different breeds of mosquitoes.
Forty-seven different kinds of mosquitoes?
- Yes. Yeah. - Wow.
What do people do, mostly, up here?
The outdoor life is really big up here.
In the summer, we go out on the rivers, we go kayaking, boating, fishing.
In the winters, we go ice fishing,
we go in the forest, snowmobiling and so on.
The life here is very extreme.
Like a lot of city folk, my idea of extreme is having no Wi-Fi.
So, arriving in a place where the main road is a river is unnerving,
to say the least.
For now, we're getting close to your hotel.
To the Arctic Bath.
I'm guessing with a name like the Arctic Bath,
this isn't a hotel for the faint-hearted.
Designed to resemble a logjam, the hotel caters to people
who want to experience the finer side of the wilderness
for just under $1,000 a night.
Showing me around is Jessica,
whose family have lived in this unique part of the world
for generations.
So, this is it.
I have to say,
this is one of the strangest-looking structures that I've ever seen.
A floating ring containing a restaurant,
Jacuzzis and a sauna.
And at its center, a plunge pool into the river Lule itself.
You see the net that comes around here?
It's to keep the pikes from coming in, biting your toes when swimming.
- Oh, really? - Yeah.
So, this is where you will stay. Come in.
This is your room.
Big window.
So you can get all of that sun, all night.
And what do we have covering the windows?
I mean, is it…
- Well, you have the blinds here… - Yeah.
…but why would you wanna use them?
Well, I mean, for-- let's say, sleeping.
Well, if you're here, experiencing the northern Swedish way to live,
you should leave the blinds open.
- Leave the blinds open? - Yeah.
I might need it just a little darker,
- But… - Yeah.
My mom and I are doing some baking, this traditional bread that we make.
So, if you want, you should stop by to pick up some bread
to bring for the celebrations.
- You can meet my mom. Say hi. - All right.
- Okay. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you. - Thank you.
Baking bread is just one part of the Midsummer preparations.
Every year, this tiny town transforms itself
to welcome thousands of revelers.
And Jessica has told me to go and meet one,
Eva, in the town square.
Ever get the feeling you've come a little underdressed?
- Hi, Eugene. Hello. I'm Eva. - Hi. Eva.
- Yes. - This is my husband.
His name is Göran.
- Göran? Nice to meet you. - Yeah.
- Yeah. Come and join us. - Okay.
We are going to prepare for Midsummer.
Okay. So, what we were seeing here is just, what, a rehearsal?
Exactly. That is what we are doing.
Midsummer is almost like our national day.
It's the day that everybody celebrates.
We are going to dance around the maypole.
What does the maypole have to do with Midsummer?
Because life starts in summer, and some people say
that it's a phallic symbol and you raise it up.
Where I'm from, you usually have a drink or two
before getting down to this kind of talk.
- Okay. - Yeah.
So, it's a pretty thing and it's also a phallic symbol.
Exactly.
I see. And then you just raise it up.
And you h-- As you see, it's a pole and the bar.
And at the end of the bar, you will also hang two circles.
And you can guess what they could symbolize.
And when-- Well, we could-- we have an imagination.
I think you could help us decorate the maypole.
- I certainly will. - Yeah.
Well, this is awfully pretty. What, do you just step over here?
Should I just step over the thing?
I'll be with you in about five, ten minutes.
- Shall I take your hand? - Here.
- Great. - Thank you.
- At the bottom. - On the bottom?
- Put them on the bottom. - Yes.
- You can hold it. - Yeah.
- I've got a string here. - That's it.
- But will you make sure that-- - Your hands okay?
My-- So far.
- Look at this. See? - Yeah.
The flowers come out around Midsummer.
The sun brings life to flowers and to people.
So, there's a lot of action Midsummer.
Definitely is.
Around 22nd of March was the most common date of birth in Sweden.
- Really? - Really.
Midsummer and nine months after.
I think I know why they now get so excited about it.
It's all becoming crystal clear.
The flowers on the pole, I think, are just, you know, dressing on the--
on the salad, so to speak.
But the salad itself is, "Come on, baby. Let's go."
Well, this is one of the best-looking phallic symbols I think I've ever seen.
All this discussion of salads and dressing is making me hungry.
So I'm heading to the bakehouse to meet Jessica, and her mom, Jane.
I hear I can't turn up to the festival empty-handed,
so we're gonna bake bread.
Okay. Welcome to the baking of the mjukkaka.
- Okay. This is, what, "haka"? - Mjukkaka.
- Yeah.
It basically translates into soft bread.
So, Jane, you've been doing this--
- Oh, yes. I've been-- - …for quite a while.
- This isn't your first loaf of bread. - I used to bake 180…
- A day. - …a day.
That's a big dinner.
This is kind of our signature bread
and she's very particular about how it's supposed to be made.
- Yeah. - Okay.
- Yeah. - You can take some flour and put here.
- Okay. - Just a little.
- Gonna give you this one-- - Yeah.
…and take this roll pin.
- Uh-huh. - You have to be soft on your hands.
- Gentle hands. - Yes.
Gentle hands. Yeah.
Well, if anybody has gentle hands… See?
Jane, does your husband help you when you're baking bread?
He's not allowed to do this because he can't.
They look like this, and then we can't sell them.
My fiancé is-- No, he can't come here.
He uses way too much flour. No.
They are good at cooking food but not baking.
- Yeah. - Why do I have the feeling
I might be the next man banned from this kitchen?
How long have you been married for?
Is that a-- I've been married for 46 years.
- Wow. - Yeah.
- That's-- - Not bad.
- No, no, no. - Okay.
That's not bad.
- You have any tips? - Well--
- Up here, not there. Only up here. - Up--
That would be one.
Listen, I would say.
- Listening would be good. - Yeah. Listening.
- Yeah. - Yeah? That's good?
- You have to listen to me. - That's what she got out of it.
Okay. Yeah?
- How's that? - The shape is supposed to be round.
- Jessica. - Eugene.
- More here, and less there. - All right.
Uh-huh.
I don't know whether it's a Swedish thing or, you know, whatever,
but, no, these women are very strong women, you know?
They don't take a lot of guff.
They just like to do things their way and make sure it's right.
And if you're not doing it right, get out of the way.
Forty-seven varieties of mosquitoes here in Sweden.
In the oven it goes.
- In the oven it goes. - Yes.
- One, two, three. - Oh, no.
- This is not a good thing. - Hold it.
No. This will be ugly, but put it in anyway.
Jessica's nothing, if not encouraging.
Okay, it's not gonna win any prizes for how it looks,
but the secret's in the tasting.
- It's good, right? - Wow.
There is actually a folklore tale about bread,
that women back in, like, the 18th century
used to sleep with a loaf of bread under their arms
to sort of boost it with pheromones.
And then they were to give it to the person they were going to marry.
And if they ate it, they knew, like, "Okay, this is the one."
That's a horrible tale.
If you don't see it, it's very nice.
See? You can't judge a book by its cover.
And I'll tell you what else is difficult to judge this far north.
Bedtime.
This, to me, is actually the definition of sadism.
You know, how do we torture a guest who really wants a good night's sleep?
We'll put in a set of blinds like these,
that don't really close and don't really block out the light.
And you think if anyone could design a system
that blocks out the light and does it quickly,
it would be the Swedes.
Now, this is where you might expect to see some beautiful shots
of the sun setting, but it won't do that for another six weeks.
Even at midnight, it's like Mother Nature can't find the off switch.
I guess when you live somewhere that's so dark for so much of the year,
you need to make the most of the sunlight.
Well, you might be surprised to learn that despite having no night,
I've emerged rested and invigorated.
I discovered the eye mask.
They had them laid out.
I've never used one before, never needed one.
Put it on, slept like a baby.
Yeah. So it's all good. It's actually quite a vista here.
During the Midsummer holiday weekend,
Swedes flock to the great outdoors.
So, today, I'm heading out into the wilderness
to really live like a local.
Turns out the way you do that here isn't quite what I expected.
I'm going to meet a moose caller.
Jessica was kind enough to set that up for me.
I'm really up for doing everything that I can under the umbrella of discovery.
Here we go. Here we go.
Now, I've never seen a moose back home in Canada,
which is a surprise,
considering an adult male can reach 7 feet tall
and weigh a thousand pounds.
But, like me, they're shy.
So it takes someone special to lure them out.
Like a man who can talk to a moose.
I hear he has his own cabin in the woods.
I think of him as kind of a Grizzly Adams kind of guy.
I don't think this gentleman would be coming out to greet me in a sports jacket.
- Hello. - Hello, hello.
- My name is Mikael. - Mikael.
- Yeah. - Eugene.
- Nice to meet you. - And nice to meet you.
I think you should borrow this one because we have a lot of mosquitoes.
- I've heard. - And you don't want them to eat you up.
Okay, this look is not gonna get me the cover of GQ,
but if it keeps the mosquitoes away, I'll risk it.
So, I think we should take a walk in the wood.
What do you think about that?
- Then we-- - Take a nice quick walk.
- How about that? - Yeah. And I can show you my living room.
You are doing the moose-calling activities under the mating season.
So, the bull moose is coming in and think, "Oh, I have a nice girlfriend here."
And he get really disappointed when he see the little fat guy from north.
Little fat guy from the north?
I hope he doesn't mean me.
I've heard a moose can run 35 miles an hour.
So, disappointing one seems like a bad idea.
If the moose come, don't move at all.
Maybe I should stand behind you. Like-- Would that be a good thing?
Yeah, you do whatever you want.
Do you feel happy now?
So then we start to call in the moose.
It sounds like you're ill.
Don't laugh at me.
- I'm really serious here. - No, no, no, no, no.
It takes some getting used to because when you hear it,
- you think, you know… - Yeah.
…you should get to a drugstore or something. But it's…
Do you like to try it?
Don't try this in Toronto.
In Toronto?
It seems crazy trying it in Sweden.
- That one works. - Is that good?
That's good.
I don't see anything.
Normally, it would take how long before--
- Maybe three, four hours… - Okay.
…because it takes long time for them to walk.
Okay.
What if you have dinner reservations?
- Or, let's say-- - Yeah.
- Forget the dinner. - Forget the dinner?
Yeah.
Do you see anything yet?
- Anywhere? - Nothing.
Well, we've been stood up by a moose.
It's a low point, but Mikael's still keen to show me why Swedes love nature so much.
In Sweden, for some people, when you run around all the time…
- Yeah. - …sometimes you run a little too fast…
- Uh-huh. - …so you leave your spirit.
So, sometimes, you must stop a little while.
Wait for your spirit to come back.
- Right. Yeah. - Yeah. And some people said,
"It can be ångestdämpande to be out in the forest, relaxed and"--
Ång-- Ångestdämpande is being out in the forest,
- being more relaxed? - Yeah.
I have to be honest, this is a very, very heavy mosquito thing out here right now.
- Yeah. - So I'm not--
I'm not really, you know, as relaxed as, let's say, you are.
Well, Mikael, thank you for taking me out.
It was really nice to have you here.
What's your percentage of actually getting a moose to respond?
Under the mating season, it's really good.
I guess some guys have all the luck.
Oh, well. Maybe I'll see one back in Canada.
Finding my ångestdämpande proved to be as elusive as seeing a moose.
But my day immersed in nature isn't over yet,
and maybe I can discover it with the help of Robert…
Hello.
…who's promised to take me on a nice river cruise
to a Midsummer's eve barbecue.
- Well, kayaks. - Yeah.
I thought there might be a motorboat, like the one we had the other day.
But that's--
That's also-- Sometimes we will do motorboating, other times we do kayaking.
Well, my lucky day.
- Yeah. - Life jacket? There you go.
I wanna make sure when I get to the other side, I'm still breathing.
- Yeah. It's a good idea. - Yeah.
- Yeah.
Whatever happens, you never panic.
- Uh-huh. Never panic. - Never panic.
You never know what the body's gonna do when it's in abject terror.
- Don't panic. No. - No. Don't panic.
- Whatever happens. - Two of my favorite words.
Take the paddle and push out.
Perfect. Very good.
Now, I've been up a few creeks in my time, but at least today, I've got a paddle.
You know, one of the things that I love about getting out on the water like this--
- Uh-huh. - No mosquitoes.
No mosquitoes?
I love that.
- How does it feel? - It feels pretty good. Silky smooth.
Yeah? That's nice.
I think this is something I was born to do.
This is actually quite pleasant.
It's probably the most relaxing I've been since I've been here.
There's a word for that too, isn't there?
"Ångestastrapende."
Yeah, how do you spell it?
We don't have that kind of time.
Ångestdämpande.
Yes. Ångestdämpande.
Which is getting a total hit of peace and relaxation,
and generally being anxiety and stress-free?
Oh, yeah.
Just go with the flow, and that's something we do also
when we are out kayaking like this.
Go with the flow.
Going with the flow is food for thought,
but right now, my thoughts are on actual food.
And in Sweden, they say when the snow melts, the grills come out.
They say it in Swedish, though. Thought I'd point that out.
- Hey, everybody. - Hi.
The pilgrims have landed.
Mikael.
- Hello, Eugene. How are you? - Mikael's already here,
which makes me think either he can run faster than
a 35-mile-an-hour moose, or he drove.
- Hi. - This is my son, Emil, here.
Emil? Nice to meet you.
- And that's my wife, Anna. - Hello.
- Anna. Really nice to meet you. - Anna? Nice to meet you.
What's it like living with this guy?
I mean, is it just-- is-- does he just drag you out there?
If you're not coming, we're-- You know?
We're hiking into the woods today, whether you like it or not.
"Stampenande"-- "Ångestampenande"-- What?
Ångestdämpande.
- Ångestdämpande. - Yeah.
He tried to explain it to me in the woods,
but we were so busy fighting mosquitoes, I wasn't quite getting it, you know?
Ångestdämpande.
The idea that you can use something to relieve stress and anxiety.
The fact that here in Sweden, it is nature,
I kind of twigged to that when I was on the river in the kayak.
Kids are awfully cute.
- Thank you. - Let me see how big you are.
Let me see how big you are.
- Oh, my goodness. - He's smiling.
Yeah, I think he's ready to go out on the river.
I can take him out and give him some tips.
Having started to find my ångestdämpande,
I'm now in the right frame of mind for tomorrow's big event.
The Midsummer festival.
It's time for a Swedish celebration of the sun
and everyone's ready except the sun,
which looks like it might not turn up to its own party.
This downpour brings a whole new meaning to going with the flow.
I mean, the idea that you're celebrating the sun
and you can't see it is something that,
you know, books can be written about, I guess.
But they're totally excited about it and I think it'll be fun.
- Hi. - Jessica.
Welcome to Midsummer.
Well, thank you so much.
I thought you might need an umbrella.
Yes, it appears that the sun might not be coming out today.
No. This is typical Midsummer.
- Uh-huh. - It's supposed to be a little bit rainy,
otherwise it's not really Midsummer.
And I guess you want the real experience.
I want as true an experience as we can get here…
- Yes. - …for Midsummer.
The highlight of the festival is the raising of the maypole,
followed by dancing, drinking
and, well, whatever dancing and drinking leads to afterwards.
But first, Jessica wants me to embrace
a rather different Swedish tradition.
I thought we could start off with some Swedish fika, if you would like to?
- Swedish fika. - Yeah.
It normally involves, like, a pastry and coffee,
but it's really just a moment to relax, sit down, have a chat with a friend.
- This, I like. - Fika is the best.
Some of the things on offer at the festival
are a real treat for the taste buds.
- You like it? - I love it.
And then, there's this.
The Swedes love pickled herring,
a pungent, fermented fish,
usually served as part of a buffet or smorgasbord…
Hi. Could I have a taste of the herring?
…and Jessica is really keen for me to try it.
You peel the fish?
- Yes. - Yes.
Boy, this is-- Can't wait.
You can eat with the bones, but it's not--
No. You don't want the bones.
What do you think?
It's really good.
- Are you sure? - Yeah.
- You're not joking? - No, no, no.
Not joking?
And post herring,
Jessica has something to wash away the taste.
Here we are.
We're joining Eva and Göran for a traditional toast
before the raising of the maypole.
So, my mjukkaka, I think I did a pretty damn good job.
- It's delicious. Really. Very good. - Is it not good?
- I like it very much. - Good.
Well, see, it's not that difficult…
- No. You were really good at it. - …baking bread.
- Right? - Yeah.
So, there is a schnapps,
but we need to sing before we are allowed to drink it.
- I hope you practiced. - Göran?
- Lovely. - Lovely.
- Good schnapps. - Yeah, good schnapps.
Well, it's Midsummer. You have to.
The sense of fun, right?
If you have a tradition that has been going on for several hundred years,
it's a part of being who you are.
I am Swedish and my parents did this,
my grandparents did this, their parents did it
and their grandparents did it.
And it's a happy time of year and somehow takes hold of you.
There's an irony to celebrating the sun when you're soaked to the skin.
Singin' in the Rain has nothing on the Swedes.
In most parts of Sweden, there is men lifting the maypole up.
But in the north of Sweden,
we have really strong independent women who can do it themselves.
Like your mom.
Yes, my mom is a very strong independent woman.
And there it is.
Yeah!
Should we climb up on this so we can get a spot maybe?
They're dancing around.
Oh, my God.
This is the frog dance.
Okay.
This is how the noise they made-- they make.
Of course, nothing says Swedish Midsummer more
than dancing like a frog.
This was a French marching tune,
but the Swedes turned it into a much-loved folk song.
I love the fact that they're doing it with such glee…
- Yeah. - …in this weather.
I don't know whether I've seen anything quite like this before.
Only in Sweden.
The weather doesn't matter to us. It could be raining, it could be sunny.
We will still be here celebrating.
I gotta be honest. I'm actually having a ball out here.
- Yeah? Really? I knew you would. - Yeah, I don't think I've done anything
- quite like this since I was a kid. - No. No.
If my little grandson James, you know, and my daughter, you know,
and my son were here, and my wife,
I would have been dancing around the pole today.
Seeing this, in this weather,
just makes me love these people.
It's a pretty funny concept of the maypole being a phallic symbol.
It's tough, equating that with a family celebration, but it goes beyond that.
It's the fertility that goes, actually into the soil,
fertility of the soil brings out the flowers
that go on the maypole,
brings out the food that you eat.
This is what this holiday is about.
I think that's what the go with the flow thing is here in Sweden,
that you just have to appreciate when stuff is working for you.
Get through the winter 'cause you know the sun's gonna be coming out one day,
and it gives you a glimpse into the soul of the Swedish people, I think.
It is that major a thing.
Learning to just go with the flow
might be the most important thing I'll take away from my time in Sweden.
I hope it serves me well, as I continue on my European odyssey.
Next time.
Scotland is my mother's country and she lived here until she was 13.
That's a workout.
Your family would've come here to celebrate with others.
It's a feeling that I've never felt before.
Here they are.
Well, it's as close as you can to touching your own family tree.
Good health.
Mama.