Reading: The Millennium Trilogy

The Millennium Trilogy is a series of books, written by Swedish author Stieg Larsson, that have become a world-wide sensation... about 30 million books sold to date. The series of crime novels (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest) are set mainly in Stockholm. I really liked these books, especially the main characters: investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the asocial, eccentric hacker Lisbeth Salander. These books are perfect reading before and during your trip to Stockholm as most of the action takes place on the island of Södermalm. Blomkvist's home and work as well as Salander's home are all a stone's throw from the Rival Hotel. Larsson is really descriptive when describing the city.

If the novels are an international sensation now... then they are about to explode into a super-phenomenon as Hollywood is set to make movies based on the books. Daniel Craig is now confirmed to play Blomkvist and filming in Stockholm should start this Fall. So, if you are visiting Stockholm later this year, don't be surprised if you accidently wander into the middle of a Hollywood film set!

Tip: If you are a fan of the series, then you may be interested in taking a Millennium Walking Tour offered by the Stockholm City Museum. This summer the English tours are every Wednesday at 6pm and every Saturday at 11am. Tickets cost 120 SEK and can be bought at the Tourist Center or the museum, located at Slussen. The tour takes approximately 2 hours. If you want to explore the places on your own, then you can always buy the Millenium map at the museum. The map is in five different languages and shows the sites in the city where the action in the books take place.