There has been much discussion in the news over the U.S. vs Madrid bid for the 2016 Olympics and it has inspired us here at the Nordic Company to reflect on what we think was a shining moment for Norway and one of the most exciting times in Scandinavian travel for us: in 1994,when the Winter Olympics came to Lillehammer.

Norway was made for the Winter Olympics. Their cold climate and constant snow coupled with their rough-and-rugged population that prids themselves on physical fitness is precisely what has allowed them to nab 280 medals at the Winter Olympics - more than any other nation. In fact, Norway is just one of three nations to have won more medals at the Winter Olympics than at the Summer Olympics.

At the heart of their Olympic pride lies the Holmenkollen Ski Jump.  Opened in 1892, the Holmenkollen remains the second oldest ski jump in the world. It became the focal point of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, rising 60 meters above ground and 417 meters above sea level. It is now also one of Norway’s best known tourist destinations. From the top, visitors are afforded a spectacular panaromic view of the city of Oslo and its glittering Oslofjord. Below, the Holmenkollen Ski Museum (opened in 1923 and still the oldest ski musuem in the world) offers a comprehensive history of the area and an interactive video game that allows you to see and feel what ski jumpers do when they put themselves over the edge. It’s crazy!

But don’t let the ski jump take you away from the town either. What makes Lillehammer so unique is that it remains the host of the last Winter Olympics to date that has been held in a small town. Norway beat out Alaska and Sweden for the bid and Lillehammer has since flourished into a charming, but quaint tourist haven with good shopping and delicious cafes.

If you ask the locals what they think were the highlights from the 1994 Olympics, aside from Norway’s many medals, they usually tell you two things: “When Tanya Harding’s ex-husband hired a man to take out Nancy Kerrigan in the knee” and “when on the day of the opening ceremony, art thieves stole the famous Edvard Munch painting from the National Museum in Oslo.” And next, they will tell you about the construction taking place at Holmenkollen right now, set for an improved ski jump to open in 2012 for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championship.

This last bit has become a particular obsession of mine. The architecture company has been kind enough to post a webcam of the construction process on their website - which you can check out here, but be careful, because witnessing the building of a legacy - well, like most things in Scandinavia, it’s addicting.

Iceland is not dead. It’s just been hibernating. Due to its financial woes this past year, travel to Iceland has taken on a few curve balls. It has suffered a devaluation of currency - which has attracted the thrifty traveler, but it’s also weathered its fair share of political unrest - which has deterred many others. Yet slowly, Iceland is getting back on its feet and the rumble of Reykjavik as a thriving cultural center can be heard once more.

In case you forgot just how rocking Reykjavik is, the Nordic Company is here to jog your memory. Think: music and nightlife meets geysers and thermal springs all within the same small radius. As the northern most capital on Earth, Reykjavik never misses the mark in what it has to offer. Even back in 874, Ingolfur Aranson, the first to settle in what would later be known as Reykjavik, could see the potential of the area. He called the place “Smoky Bay” due to the ghostly vapors that rose up from the ground - a product of the geysers - but rather than fear, these smoke signals created an interesting ambiance.

Iceland remained a Danish sovereignty until their independence in 1944 which was largely brought about by their skyrocketing prosperity of during the World War II period. American and Brit troops were stationed in Reykjavik and significantly bolstered the community.

Iceland’s economy was largely supported by wool manufacturing, shipbuilding, and fishing until they took on the financial services sector with much gusto - the unfortunate cause of their most recent failure. However, Icelanders are not shy about returning to their roots and their roots run deep.

You take a walk through their famed Old City sector in Reykjavik where wooden houses with corrugated iron roofs line the streets. You can stop in and enjoy a traditional Icelandic meal at the oldest building in Reykjavik, the Fogetinn, built in 1751. Or you can catch a bus out to the bubbling Laugardalur hot springs, just 3 kilometers outside of the city. There are camp sites, hostels, open-air baths, botanical gardens, a zoo, and a sculpture garden for your amusement. This city is not going anywhere - it has too much to offer. So I guess the real question isn’t “Remember Reykjavik?” but rather, “How could we forget?”

America should scrap the car industry and take a thing or two from Copenhagen, a city widely known as a biker’s utopia. In Copenhagen, you will see young and old on bikes, carrying babies, cargo, mail, groceries, whatever they can possibly fit, and you will see them everywhere. There are traffic lights for bikers, special wide lanes, turn lanes, and just a general level of respect that bikers in the States could only dream of. Bike racks are almost always brimming over and when those fill up, the Danes simply lean their bikes up against the side of the building, not bothering to lock them to anything. I’m telling you - utopia!

It’s been awhile since I’ve witnessed the bike bonanza of Copenhagen, (though a biker myself, I dream of it often), so I want to direct you to a recent post by publisher of Spacing magazine, Matthew Blackett. He does an excellent job of analyzing just how bike savvy Copenhagen is in comparison to his own home city of Toronto. His pictures of the Copenhagen bike scene are also some of the best I’ve seen. Enjoy!