I’m in Stockholm now and I must say that it is one of the very most beautiful cities in the world. I’ve spoken to many people who live here as well as have visited and none of them have done a proper job. A proper job that is, or warning me of Stockholm’s beauty.
Sure it has all the standard monuments and churches. It’s got the narrow alley ways and immaculately crown molded building faces. It has the charming cobble stone streets. But the thing that separates it from the rest of Europe that I’ve seen is the waterways. This place has flowing canals and bays that can not be compared to Prague or Hamburg. It’s just different.
As for the people, Stockholm feels a lot less homogeneous than Copenhagen. It seems that the people are a ton more stylishly dressed and don’t ride their bikes religiously like they tend to in Copenhagen. There have actually been a lot more dark dark black skined people here than I ever thought there would be as well.
Though still atrocious, Stockholm’s prices are much more reasonable than Copenhagen because the power of the Swedish Kroner is about 20-30% less than that of the Danish Kroner. The weather is a little colder, but we are still are not really wearing jackets. I went to eat at a $12 buffet (reasonable right?) and the guy who rang us up asked us where we were from.
“Are you German?”
“No, we are from America.”
“Ohhh, George Bush.”
“Noooo, Obama !!”
“I am from Iraq. I like America.”
“Oh thats good.” (in a delicate tone)
“Please, have a free drink on me.”
Was he happy because we gave him a chance to flee as a political refugee to Sweden? This place does feel rather like a utopia. Was he happy that we “freed the country”? That would be a first. Either way, we felt like the topic was a little too sensitive to cover.
At this second I am on a older train to Oslo. The weather is getting steadily worse and I am glad that Allison’s long lost family members will be putting us up for a few nights. No camping in the rain for us!