September, 1997 (continued):
Just as I was beginning to worry that I wouldn’t be visiting Sweden (my favorite country) in 1997, Daniel Åkerman of NRJ faxed to see if I would be available to talk to staff members of their four Swedish stations. Here is the schedule we worked out:
Wednesday evening: Leave Los Angeles
Thursday evening: Arrive in Stockholm
Friday afternoon: Drive two hours north to Norrköping
Saturday: Present How To Create Maximum Impact Radio Advertising to NRJ’s air staffers & sales people.
Sunday morning: Drive back to Stockholm, then present Air Personality Plus+ for NRJ’s air staffs that afternoon
Monday: Spend a rare free day in Stockholm
Tuesday morning: Leave Stockholm for Los Angeles
I arrived in Stockholm early Thursday evening, having changed planes in London. Fortunately, I slept just enough on the plane from Los Angeles to be awake enough to travel comfortably but still be able to sleep upon my arrival.
Gamla Stan (Old Town, Stockholm)
I fell asleep around 9:00PM and woke up at 4:00AM. Watched the news, did some work, showered, ate breakfast a bit before 7:00, then walked over to Gamla Stan (Old Town). I must have lived in Gamla Stan in a previous life; I always feel as though I’m “back home” while walking its streets.
A word about the hotel — The Royal Viking, operated by Radisson. Apparently Radisson’s European hotels all proudly boast 24-hour room service. This posed a bit of a problem at the Royal Viking, which did not have a 24-hour kitchen.
After 11:00PM, they fulfilled this promise via an arrangement with the McDonald’s across the street. You’d place your McDonald’s order through Room Service, and they’d promise to have it delivered within 15 minutes.
Anyway, back to Gamla Stan, where I happily strolled in the early morning sunlight. Three Korean women — tourists — approached me and asked if I would take their picture for them. They were in Sweden for the first time, attending a conference on “Nursing Infomatics.”
I ended up being their unofficial tour guide for the morning. After telling them everything I could remember about the area’s historical significance, I progressed to inventing fascinating stories about the various landmarks.
After leaving the nurses at a café , I wandered into Aspingtons Antikbariat, a bookstore. Although the odds were against it, I was hoping to find an English-language edition of one of the “Martin Beck” mystery novels.
On my first trip to Sweden, I happened to read in a travel book that these books give an excellent view of Swedish society. Although technically they are mysteries, the books really are sociological commentary.
One of them — THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN — was made into a Hollywood movie. But by the time they cast Walter Matthau in the lead role and moved the locale to the U.S., I’m not sure how much if any of the original story remained.
Anyway, I had several of them already. To my surprise, this store had a used copy (in English) of one I had not yet seen: THE TERRORISTS. (This was the final book of the series.)
In Our Next Exciting Installment: Car sickness? Food poisoning?
