Swedish Summer

Of all the places I have visited, Sweden is the top of the list for transcendental experiences.  Even in the city, there is this feeling of connection to something.  Time and space are the parts of nature that we can measure but can't really grasp.

Where the sun stretches across the sky for almost twenty-four hours and the most cosmopolitan city is built on islands surrounded by possibly the cleanest urban water in the world, it's easy to stop and take snapshots.  Summer already drew to a close in the northern hemisphere, but back in July I was standing on a bridge overlooking architecture woven with threads of Viking, Gothic, Romantic, Baltic and Middle Eastern culture. It's easy to feel the stretch of time both forward and backward from the point where you stand in Stockholm.  Without entering the water you feel the sea. 

Usually when visiting European cities I start thinking about my place in the world; my past, my ancestors, other people's ancestors, my future and the things we do not realize we inherit.  Sweden is different.  I don't worry. 

Riding a train through the forest, biking around a lake so clean you can drink the water, climbing the steps of a castle, descending into a viking mead cellar, thumbing through pop vinyl at a record shop, watching the sun never set.  I don't know about Sweden in the winter, but in the summer I know everything feels good. 

If you want to contemplate time, buy a clock.  If you want to feel time, go to Sweden in the summer and see Apollo tread lazily across the sky.