I arrived early in the evening in Stockholm. It was already pitch black when I landed at Arlanda Airport. I grabbed my bags and took the shuttle bus into the city. The trip was fast, but there was nothing to see. Along the road into Stockholm there was nothing but forests and the occasional strip mall. There was something "desolate" about it all even though there were trees everywhere. I didn't do much the first evening other than explore the area around Adam's apartment (which he was kindly letting me stay in). I felt exhausted so I went to sleep.
The next day Phil arrived from Norway.
We took the time to walk around the old town of Stockholm, Gamla Stan, as much as we could. It sits on an island in the middle of Stockholm and is filled with historic old buildings.
It "almost" feels like a theme park at times, but thankfully it doesn't quite reach those levels. Instead, it remains a well manicured and idealised view into the past. I don't in anyway think that these places used to look so good when they were full of the trash and garbage of people living here, but it's still a nice image to see.
We walked around town as much as we could. It was hard to describe Stockholm with words other than "nice" or "clean". Everywhere we went had that classy European vibe. The people definitely added to this as well, as it probably had one of the most attractive populations I had seen anywhere. Everyone was tall, slim and blonde. Outdoor life and fitness continue to play an important part in Swedish life, and this showed with the people.
We got closer to the water and felt the chill of winds blowing in from over the sea. It probably wasn't the most ideal of times to be in Stockholm. It felt like everyone was hibernating a bit. There wasn't much of a liveliness anywhere. We found a warm cafe to sit down for some "Fika". Inside the warmth of the cafe, with a hot cup of coffee and a slice of cake, people seemed to smile more and be happier.
At least everything looked incredibly pretty.
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