While I was in Sweden I had the opportunity to visit the UNESCO world heritage site, Skogskyrkogården – The Woodland Cemetery. Since I have been very fortunate in my life thus far, I actually haven’t really visited any cemeteries before and in my mind they became someplace to be avoided and as a child I would even hold my breath in the car as I drove by. However in later years a friend of mine would tell me about the beauty and the reality that before public parks existed, cemeteries were one of the only public green spaces that people would go to visit.
I have to tell you that as I walked in the midst of trees in the tranquility of the morning I almost forgot where I was. The scenery couldn't be prettier, the air couldn't be fresher and there was a stillness that made you feel like you hit pause on life. Skogskyrkogården features so many tree that at times you feel like you are wandering in a forest and the gravestones just become a part of nature and look perfectly at place nestled between the trees. And soon I was breathing deeply and enjoying the fresh air but it didn't stop me from threading lightly while exploring. A while later we stumbled upon the marker for one of the most beautiful and recognizable Swedish women who ever lived, Greta Lovisa Gustafsson aka Greta Garbo.
