Twist In The Dark

Liesbeth Salander was my neighbour!

So she’s a fictional character and the time period was slightly wrong but it still felt bizarre to realise that the big apartment that she bought in the second book of the Stieg Larsson Millenium trilogy was right next to where I used to live in Stockholm. We even used to go to te same 7 Eleven.

The other day I took the Stieg Larsson guided walking tour which takes people around several locations as described in his Girl With The Dragon Tattoo novels. It is a fascinating tour and one that I would recommend if you have read the novels. The guide describes some of the key scenes in the novels and it helps the novels come alive.

Even though it’s not the tourist season, there were about 30 people in our walking group from all over the world. I was the one who had come the furthest from Australia.

We also heard about how the Hollywood version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is currently being filmed in Stockholm. Apparently they are aiming to make Stockholm look dark and foreboding and have it raining most of the time. The director has this vision of Sweden as being a socialist society with facist undertones.  I don’t what he’s thinking because that’s certainly not the Stockholm I know and love.

Back to the walk, if you’re in Stockholm and are interested, check out the City Museum’s website at the following link. Tours are conducted in English and Swedish. As an alternative you can buy a map and do the walk yourself.

http://www.stadsmuseum.stockholm.se/index.php?sprak=english

Here are some photos that I took during the walk.

Mikael Blomqvist's apartment

Mikael Blomqvist's favourite cafe

Offices for Millenium magazine (above Greenpeace)

Liesbeth Salander's luxury apartment building (I used to live just behind it)

Not part of the tour but I loved the name of this hairdressing salon