Dragon Tattoo' tours lure visitors to Stockholm

Last summer, an elderly couple from the USA unsuccessfully tried to book a trip to the fictional Swedish town of Hedestad made famous in Stieg Larsson's crime thriller, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Undaunted, they flew to Stockholm anyway and badgered the tourist office for Hedestad's location. "I told them it didn't exist," says Stockholm tour guide Carin Christensen. But they headed to the train station anyway. Then there's London banker Tom Laybourn, 27, who flew to Stockholm for only a day to take one of the walking tours that retrace Larsson's storylines through the city. And Phoebe Hollins, 22, a student from Melbourne, Australia, who chose Sweden for her semester abroad just because of the book. Such is the pull of Larsson's bestselling Millennium trilogy —The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest— which has sold nearly 60 million copies in 44 languages. Ever since the publication of the first book in 2005, followed by the three Swedish movies, fans have flocked to Stockholm to see the locations where the story unfolds. And with a big Hollywood remake of Dragon Tattoo underway, starring Daniel Craig and directed by Oscar-nominee David Fincher (The Social Network), this waterside capital of 850,000 is bracing for a new onslaught. "The Fincher film will increase tourism here, no doubt about it," says Sren Staermose, producer of the Swedish films and co-producer of the Hollywood version. "We were very happy that Fincher picked Sweden as the backdrop, that he would do a new interpretation of the story with a strong cultural identity." Indeed, what Under the Tuscan Sun and A Year in Provence did for their respective locales, the dark, mysterious Millennium saga is doing for Stockholm. Stockholm in light of day To jump into the lifelike world of the novels' unconventional protagonists, investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist and tattooed, uber-pierced computer hacker Lisbeth Salander, visitors take one of the Millennium tours offered by the Stockholm City Museum. On this sunny afternoon, 31 people from nine countries — from a University of Miami student group to an 81-year-old retiree from Vancouver — gather at Bellmansgatan 1, where Blomkvist, Larsson's alter-ego, lives. "The American film was being shot here yesterday," guide Carin Christensen says. We all groan at having missed them. As we follow the windy cobblestone streets of the bohemian-chic Sodermalm district, where much of the action takes place, it's hard to square the story's Nordic noir gloom with Stockholm's continuous-daylight summer euphoria. In fact, "people who come for the books are surprised by the beauty and culture here," says Elisabeth Daude, another tour guide. "There's no caressing of Stockholm in the books." Larsson's reluctance to do so is perplexing given the striking clifftop view of the city's panorama across a glistening bay. Built on 14 islands connected by bridges, Stockholm seems to float ethereally in the waters of Lake Mlaren where they flow into the Baltic and the Stockholm Archipelago. Almost two-thirds of the city is waterways and green spaces — a landscape as open and airy as Larsson's tales are secretive and sinister. Christensen points out the skyline of Old Town, or Gamla Stan, Europe's largest and best-preserved medieval center, a tableaux of muted ochres, ambers and siennas. Stately stone buildings line the water, including the Royal Palace and the castlelike courthouse where both Blomqvist and Salander are tried. In summer, the downtown waterfront is alive with sightseeing boats coming and going as strollers soak in the benevolent June sun. Open-air bars and cafés, some pumping out live music, are packed with people in a giddy mood, feasting on herring and salmon. In the endless evenings, city squares turn into festive street parties where Stockholmers squeeze out every last moment of summer fun. As we continue on the Millennium trail, Christensen peppers us with obscure trivia questions. Answers come Jeopardy-fast. Who is Lisbeth, really? Pippi Longstocking, all grown up, someone yells. No stumping this group. Fantasy and reality Like pilgrims on a quest, we hang on Christensen's every detail as reality merges with fiction. We pass the Mellqvist Kaffebar — Blomkvist's regular café and Larsson's in real life. Over many cups of coffee, the late author wrote much of the first book here when Expo, the investigative magazine he founded (and model for the fictional Millennium magazine), had its offices on the floor above. No wonder coffee drinking is a motif throughout the trilogy just as it is in the city, where cafés dot every street corner and alley. In fact, Sweden ranks No. 6 in per-capita coffee consumption worldwide. But it's pizza, not coffee, that has shutters clicking. We chuckle at the Billy's Pan Pizza sold at the 7-Eleven on bustling Gotgatan street where Lisbeth stocks up on her favorite junk food. It's these sometimes startling details of Swedish life that have created a new kind of Stockholm syndrome for millions of devotees. That, and the fact that the empathetic social misfit "Lisbeth is such an unusual character," says tour goer Janet Arthur, a retiree from Brighton, England. Christensen notes that all the "good" characters live and work in Sodermalm, a once-gritty-working-class-area-turned-hip-SoHo-wannabe. Home to artists and writers, it's full of vintage stores, galleries, boutiques and coffeehouses. With its lively mix, you're as likely to see pierced and tattooed punks, heads half-shaved, as stylish yuppies in skinny jeans or microskirts. Or even the star of the Swedish Millennium films, Michael Nyqvist, a neighborhood resident. When this reporter spots the screen idol at the outdoor Cafe Rival, nobody even takes notice of him. So like the Swedes to be nonchalant about celebrity and fame. "Most Swedes are surprised and perplexed by this huge interest and fascination," says Kristina Hagbard of the Visit Sweden office — though most have read the books, often with Harry Potter-like anticipation. A visit to the university town of Uppsala, where Fincher shot a key flashback scene, drives this home. The shoot "wasn't that big a deal for me," shrugs Attila Toth, a waiter at Ciao Victoria restaurant, which did the catering for the film. Bookstore owner Johan Redin doesn't plan to see the American movie, even though his shop will appear in it. Still, others are proud. "I really like that tourists take the Millennium tours, so they see more than just Queen Street with its tacky tourist shops and bad overpriced restaurants," says Marie Kagrell, a waitress at Michelin-starred Lux restaurant. "It's not representative of what Stockholm really is." Indeed, a real Stockholm experience isn't complete without an excursion into the 24,000-island archipelago to the east so beloved of Swedes whose waters bristle with sailboats. Its rocky Maine-like coast boasts vacation homes of the wealthy and middle class alike. Even here, Larsson aficionados can get their fix in the tiny yachting community of Sandhamm, awash with storybook wooden cottages and sandy beaches, where Blomqvist has a getaway cabin/love nest. Just one more connection to a story that has inspired "nearly 123 million people from all over the world to see Stockholm in the Swedish films," says Ingrid Rudefors, Stockholm's film commissioner. "For a little country like Sweden, that's huge." And when the big-budget American movie opens Dec. 21, that number is sure to soar, along with new visitors who may ironically discover Stockholm's many charms through Larsson's gritty tale.