Sweden: Day I (Stockholm)

Friday, June 3^rd:

Stockholm City Hall - or Stadshuset - Where the annual Nobel Banquet is held:

Hej!

           I arrived today at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport after a full night of flying through Reykjavik, Iceland. As the first stop on my big journey through Europe, I gathered my luggage and took the Arlanda Express train to downtown Stockholm so I could get to my hotel quickly and have a long nap to catch up on some sleep. My first impression of the city was wonderful—it is very clean, the architecture is stunning, and it reminds me a lot of my hometown of Boston! All of the people in Stockholm seem happy, are young and generally trendy, are all very good looking, and are very friendly to foreigners. It is clear that they learn English at a young age in schools, as nearly everyone I talked to had a good command of the language. The Swedish language, while it can sound super weird, is actually very close to English in structure and in some words. After a four day stay here, I picked up on a few words pretty easily just by seeing them a lot and hearing other people talking.

           Anyways, after a four-hour or so nap, I woke up at about 9pm and decided to walk around the city. I was staying at Vanadis Hotell & Bad, a family hostel, in a park north of the downtown area on Sveavägen. As I woke at 9pm, I expected it to be fairly dark however the sun does not set in the summer here until very late at night. Even when the sun set it never got truly dark, as it rose again at about 3am. I walked the twenty minute or so walk down to the Old Town, known as Gamla Stan. It is here that the buildings are the oldest, including the centuries-old churches, as well as the Royal Palace, built on the same plot of land as the original palace that burned down in 1697. This palace is also still in use, as the Swedish Royal Family use it throughout the year. I wandered around the old town, taking in the beautiful green oxidized copper spires and rooftops, before I lost track of time of how late it was. I had yet to have dinner, but each of the restaurants were now closing their kitchens!

Gamla Stan - or Old Town - of Stockholm:

           I found a fast-food-esque grill called Klaragrillen and ordered a Kebab wrap for my walk back up to the hotel through the main square called Sergels Torg. I wanted to try and sleep before Jen arrived the following day, as I knew we would do lots of sightseeing after she came from Istanbul. Also on the walk back, I noticed that there are a gang of sorts of young Swedes who slow-ride their vintage Cadillacs up and down Sveavägen all night, blaring punk and American rock music while yelling at people out of their windows. They seemed hostile at first, but after experiencing them a lot and seeing the reactions of folks on the sidewalks, I believe they are just as tame as everyone else. I only wish they could have turned their music down at night, as the bass, combined with jet-lag, kept me up basically until the sun rose.