Where life meets art: Bellmansgatan 1 – The real building where fictional character Mikael Bloomkvist lives in the attic apartment.
Yesterday, I played tourist in my own town for the afternoon. More specifically, I did a Stieg Larsson Millennium walking tour of the island that I live on. Larsson was a Swedish writer whose trilogy of books were released just before he died four years ago. Since then, the books have been hugely popular not only in Sweden and Scandinavia, but also around the globe, selling more than 10 million so far. And the third book in the trilogy has not even been translated into English yet. (I started it in Swedish and it looks fantastic.)
The crime/detective genre is not typically one of my favorites, but these books completely captured my attention. The story lines are captivating and since I live on the island of Södermalm where a lot of the books’ action takes place, I was doubly intrigued. And I had to laugh when the tour guide pointed out that all of the good characters live on Söder, while the bad guys live on Östermalm – the wealthy part of town. (Sorry about that, my wonderful Östermalmian friends!) Anyway, it was fun to check out my island from the perspective of the books and to swing by some of the beautiful old cobblestone streets around Bellmansgatan as well as the view from Monteliusvägen. But I have to admit that there reached a point in the tour when we were standing in front of a packed cafe that I began to feel a bit too much like a tourist!
{ 2 comments }
Hej Sandra,
I finished the translations of all 3 books in 2006, so blame the publishers for the delay! I’d like to take that tour the next time I’m in Stockholm…
Reg
Hi Sandra! I landed from nowhere on your lovely blog. Even though I´m half Swedish, I really discover things reading you! I have been living too many years abroad to remember “My Sweden,” so thanks to you, the hot spots are coming back in memory… (now I really sounded too oldish, I´m not over 30 YET).
I have also made the “Stieg Larsson Millenium tour” and I thought it was marvelous. Have you seen both the tattooed wasp on the wall, next to the Monteliusvägen?
I´ll keep your blog in my list…and I´ll come here more often to read you!
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