Sweden’s Full of Babies, Tots and Nursing Moms

Babies, babies, everywhere in Sweden you see a parade of prams and the shuffling of tiny feet. Our guide Ingrid told us that they are seeing another baby boom here, so many young people are having children in Sweden. If our three-days so far give an accurate read, we’d say she’s got to be right. We have seen many woman pushing prams, women holding cooing infants, women breastfeeding babies in cafes, and little rugrats running wild at our hotel during breakfast.

We’ve also observed many bicyclists, using sturdy bikes with lights like they do in Amsterdam. And there are special sidewalks just for bikes. Ingrid said that the sidewalks on the main boulevards here have heating elements underneath, so there is no need to shovel show. It just melts away.

Like many other places around the world, the Swedes, too, are wondering where the snow is. There has been nary a flake yet this year, and we read in the Herald Tribune that this is the same in Kitzbuhel Austria, where the green slopes are starting to make some tourism folks nervous. And in Vermont, where we just were last weekend, the slopes are pretty bare. We saw some white way up in Barre, but the southern resorts are still waiting. And during the day it is still too warm to make the stuff.

Here in Sweden, it feels like it will snow. It’s gray outside, temps are a little above freezing, I am glad we are wearing our long underwear and our scarves and gloves. I hope like hell we get snow soon, I love that feeling you get when it just comes down and you can’t go anywhere but stay cozy at home.