Driving through rural Sweden, I felt I better understood the importance of romantic agrarian idealism to the Teutonic heart. It is beautiful and captivating: the low dappled light on golden crops, the rolling deep green fields cut by mountain-fed streams, the stock animals and their rich earthy smells, the hulks of farm equipment, under a bright blue sky.
At the Viking Museum in Stockholm those images returned as I learned something new - Viking helmets had neither horns nor wings.
That was an invention of Richard Wagner in his operatic portrayals of Viking sagas, a mythologising idealisation of a subject that was heavily mythologised and idealised to begin with, for a 19th century European romantic-nationalist audience.
How Wagner’s helmet imagery took root in the public mind perhaps gives us an insight into how thoroughly the vanquished of World War I were captivated by the idealisation of conquest and a pure agrarian culture.
I’m sure historians already have made these links with far greater insight. I may have even read something along those lines at some point. But here I got it, in an intellectually digestible way.
Coincidentally, it was in 1945 the first archaeological specimen of a Viking helmet was found and showed us what they really looked like.
Stockholm is more maritime than I expected. It is built on 14 islands linked by bridges. As someone who is no huge fan of the rococo, its pleasingly simplified neo-classical lines are a relief. I love the metal cage outside the National Museum. An exhortation to not be imprisoned by the past perhaps?
Stockholm brings to an end a long planned and much enjoyed tour of Scandinavian fine dining fare. It’s been epic.
Apparently, some woman who sings a bit is in town.
Which explains the hordes of underdressed giggling tottie and why hotel prices have gone from expensive to exorbitant.
Where I slept: Hotel Gamla Stan: Basic but well placed for walking around the city's many islands and taking a ferry tour.
Where I ate: Franzen: Simply one of the most spectacular meals you will ever have.
