It is normally my first comment on arriving in Sweden, Norway or Finland. Compared to most European countries they are vast....and to a Londoner, they appear deserted! But don't be alarmed. This is all quite normal. As a result people have a completely different concept of 'personal space'. If you go to the beach on a hot summer's day in the UK for example, in the morning there will just be a few people. By the early afternoon you will have people virtually, or even actually, sitting in your lap. A Swede, Norweigan or Finn would find it uncomfortable long before this point and would have moved off to find another beach...this time with nobody on it! Equally amusing are the ice skating rinks that are erected in major capitals each winter. A postage stamp sized piece of ice with 1000's queuing to fall over. Contrast this with the shot of the Swedish lake above. Where is everybody?
It is only a matter of time before the rest of Europe wakes up to the fact that these countries are largely empty, contain some of the last great wilderness we have....The Germans and Dutch already travel in droves to spend summer vacations in southern Sweden for example. Who's next?
