Stockholm is super awesome, and I haven't had a chance to tell y'all about it since I haven't had a computer to work on. So now I have to recall what I've done for the past 4 days...
I'll start with my cool host, John, who is coincidentally another American traveling through Stockholm. A tech guy who grew up in California and has been working for Facebook the last couple of years. Much like myself, he quit his job and decided to travel a bit since he never got to do it when he was "young." Unlike myself, he's taking it easy and spending a bit of time in each place, which is how he came to be a host in Stockholm. John is renting a small apartment through airbnb.com and reached out to me after I posted on the Stockholm Emergency Couch Request page. Plus the apartment he's renting is in Stockholm's version of SoHo and is very bohemian.
So the first day we decided to grab lunch at the perpetually packed deli downstairs and the cheapest thing I could find on the menu was a $15 foie gras. Foie gras does not a lunch make but it was really delicious. Stockholm is made up of over a dozen islands so one can almost always see the water and some sort of skyline. John and I walked around the narrow streets of Gamla Stan (Old Town) and also the wider boulevards and shops in the city center around Central Station. Not only is the city itself gorgeous, but its inhabitants as well. People walk around looking like models with their perfectly put together style and coiffed hair. Great place to people watch :)
Day two we took the commuter train out to Sigtuna, about 90 minutes outside of the city. It is the first town in Sweden and the official slogan is: "Sigtuna, where Sweden begins." It didn't take long to see all of where Sweden began. There was one main street and some churches, ruins, and a lakefront. There were scattered rain clouds, and the day was alternating between periods of heavy downpour and brilliant sunshine. That evening I was supposed to meet up with a Chinese girl who had been living in Stockholm for the past eight years. She wasn't able to host but suggested we meet anyway after work. And her name is Ping... So John made a little sign that said "Ping Jing" and I said "you hold it." The downside of surfing with another fellow tourist is that no one has a local phone. 6pm came and went and despite our best efforts with the sign, Ping and Jing were not able to locate each other. By 6:15, I just went up to a stranger and asked to borrow his phone. Turns out Ping was standing about 10 meters from us the whole time, and we didn't recognize each other because we were both too dark. I was looking for a "Chinese" looking girl and she is constantly mistaken for being Thai. On her part, she knew that I was from Dalian and assumed I'd be fair-skinned. But let's be honest, I'm really not and 6 months of traveling hasn't helped. We had a good laugh though :) Had coffee together and then met up with some other CSers for a nightcap.
Then day three John and I borrowed the actual apartment owner's bikes to ride around town. We had originally planned a much longer route but the bike I had was so uncomfortable and difficult to ride that I suggested a revised itinerary. Again, there was scattered rain clouds so we ended up dodging the rain by ducking into various free museums. First was the Dance Museum, then a guided tour of the Swedish Parliament, and finally the Architecture Museum. During the Parliament tour, a lady asked what percentage of the Parliament is female and the guide said 47%, to which her response was "wow good." The guide quipped with a straight face, "Why is that good? That's the minority."
And with that, I'll end my entry on Stockholm and Sweden :) Managed to make it a week in the country without eating one meatball or setting foot inside an IKEA.
I'll start with my cool host, John, who is coincidentally another American traveling through Stockholm. A tech guy who grew up in California and has been working for Facebook the last couple of years. Much like myself, he quit his job and decided to travel a bit since he never got to do it when he was "young." Unlike myself, he's taking it easy and spending a bit of time in each place, which is how he came to be a host in Stockholm. John is renting a small apartment through airbnb.com and reached out to me after I posted on the Stockholm Emergency Couch Request page. Plus the apartment he's renting is in Stockholm's version of SoHo and is very bohemian.
So the first day we decided to grab lunch at the perpetually packed deli downstairs and the cheapest thing I could find on the menu was a $15 foie gras. Foie gras does not a lunch make but it was really delicious. Stockholm is made up of over a dozen islands so one can almost always see the water and some sort of skyline. John and I walked around the narrow streets of Gamla Stan (Old Town) and also the wider boulevards and shops in the city center around Central Station. Not only is the city itself gorgeous, but its inhabitants as well. People walk around looking like models with their perfectly put together style and coiffed hair. Great place to people watch :)
Day two we took the commuter train out to Sigtuna, about 90 minutes outside of the city. It is the first town in Sweden and the official slogan is: "Sigtuna, where Sweden begins." It didn't take long to see all of where Sweden began. There was one main street and some churches, ruins, and a lakefront. There were scattered rain clouds, and the day was alternating between periods of heavy downpour and brilliant sunshine. That evening I was supposed to meet up with a Chinese girl who had been living in Stockholm for the past eight years. She wasn't able to host but suggested we meet anyway after work. And her name is Ping... So John made a little sign that said "Ping Jing" and I said "you hold it." The downside of surfing with another fellow tourist is that no one has a local phone. 6pm came and went and despite our best efforts with the sign, Ping and Jing were not able to locate each other. By 6:15, I just went up to a stranger and asked to borrow his phone. Turns out Ping was standing about 10 meters from us the whole time, and we didn't recognize each other because we were both too dark. I was looking for a "Chinese" looking girl and she is constantly mistaken for being Thai. On her part, she knew that I was from Dalian and assumed I'd be fair-skinned. But let's be honest, I'm really not and 6 months of traveling hasn't helped. We had a good laugh though :) Had coffee together and then met up with some other CSers for a nightcap.
Then day three John and I borrowed the actual apartment owner's bikes to ride around town. We had originally planned a much longer route but the bike I had was so uncomfortable and difficult to ride that I suggested a revised itinerary. Again, there was scattered rain clouds so we ended up dodging the rain by ducking into various free museums. First was the Dance Museum, then a guided tour of the Swedish Parliament, and finally the Architecture Museum. During the Parliament tour, a lady asked what percentage of the Parliament is female and the guide said 47%, to which her response was "wow good." The guide quipped with a straight face, "Why is that good? That's the minority."
And with that, I'll end my entry on Stockholm and Sweden :) Managed to make it a week in the country without eating one meatball or setting foot inside an IKEA.
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