Fika

It's a quiet weekend here, for once. The last was spent in Copenhagen, but for now there is no rush to get somewhere, no rush to pack a bag. It's nice to come home, if only for a little while. Ever since the last exam ended & we returned on Tuesday, I've been spending a couple afternoons at my favourite fika place in town: Cafe Berget.

For the past two months, people have been trying to explain the concept of the Swedish tradition of fika to me (& subsequently, I've been trying to explain it to people back home) & basically it's distilled down to the act of having a coffee or tea with pastries in the middle of the afternoon, often with someone else. This is of course a Swedish lifestyle that I welcomed gladly with open arms, throwing myself willingly & over-eagerly into a regular habit of 'fika-ing', so much so that even the most severe sweet-tooth might find himself mortified. But you know what they say: When in Sweden, do as the Swedes do...

There's also something about a Swedish cafe that makes the age-old tradition of tea drinking even more alluring. Its magic is not created by a single defining thing, but a combination of many: the mismatched furniture & haphazard rooms & the melding of tea aromas at the pastry counter. The atmosphere is pleasantly still & one can sit in an armchair for hours reading a book, while the quiet but elegant murmur of Swedish voices swirl around in the surrounding air. I've been to many lovely cafes in Singapore & have had pleasant experiences, but honestly, none has come close to the ones they have here. The Swedish cafes are really something else, altogether :)