Sweden - A Country that Works
Trip Start
Aug 20, 2008
1
2
15
Trip End
Sep 15, 2008
Stockholm,
Stockholm,
Sweden
Saturday, August 23, 2008
We arrived in Stockholm after a short and pleasant flight across the North Sea flying through blue skies with occasional banks of mounded cumulous puffy whites. (With my negativity about flying, I notice little details like clear skies!) Customs was short, sweet, courteous, and in English.
Exiting the building, we found the bus stop easily and a helpful
gentleman who may or may not have been an airport employee guided us quickly
through the purchase of our bus tickets to town using the curbside vending
machine and Joe's credit card.
Once on the bus, Joe, who was seated next to a flight attendant, quickly
struck up a conversation with her and soon she was advising us on what to see
while in Stockholm. Our total lack of any Swedish was not a problem or a source
of resentment on the part of the Swedes.
On the ride into the City we were struck by the congestion of the mid-afternoon rush hour traffic given the rural nature of the area around the airport where we had landed, the plane gliding over lakes and
forests that extended up to the airport perimeter. Later we learned that Stockholm indeed had traffic problems
and had only just introduced congestion pricing for the center city about 3 weeks before our arrival. Take note New York City!
The airport bus left us at a central station and we opted for a taxi to the hotel. The bus into the city had been reasonably priced particularly for us "pensioners." The taxi bill, though, initiated us into European "sticker shock." Our hotel was close to the station, a five to ten minute ride, two or three kilometers at the most and the bill was close to $40! After that we walked everywhere, not even pricing busses or the subway. Thoughts of a smorgasboard dinner at the Grand Hotel were scrapped. It was pizza at the local takeout place instead.
Sticker shock aside, Stockholm was great. We had two days to see some of the city before we boarded the Royal Princess for the cruise. We stayed at the Crystal Plaza Hotel, a historic building in a quiet, upscale neighborhood where we met up with Marilyn and Bill Alper. The first evening there, the four of us walked downtown and enjoyed window shopping along the clean and quiet streets in "our neighborhood", people enjoying dinner or drinks at cafes along the boulevards. We agreed that remaining neutral helps preserve a nation's architecture as we passed block after block of stately architectural gems of buildings that would have been reduced to rubble had WW II involved Sweden.
The following day we walked to Djurgarden, an island that
was formerly the royals playground. It is just across a small waterway from the City Center but is parkland
and once there you feel like you are miles from urban life. It was Saturday morning and there were lots of young parents with babies and small children in carriages and strollers. We strolled by a lawn of several acres that connected 5 huge flowerbeds -each with flowers of a single color. I used up an entire roll of film taking pictures here as the flowers were so well-kept and gorgeous. (This will be a shot in the arm for my greeting card business if they come out!)
We then visited Skansen, a Sturbridge Village of sorts located on the island. We ended up
wandering around the restored buildings until mid-afternoon. The weather was
perfect and the venue both charming and interesting historically. For lunch we stopped at an
open air café where we had a contest with some yellow jackets to see who could
eat some very delicious Swedish pancakes smothered in whipped cream and lingon
berries first. The humans did end up with a lion's share of the pancakes, but
the pesky yellow jackets did not give up the fight easily!
By late afternoon, Joe and I, still suffering jet lag, were walked out and headed back to the hotel.
Bill and Marilyn, the intrepid walkers, continued on to visit the Old Town and do a little browsing in some of the stores along the main shopping street. They reported that NK, the department store that the flight attendant had recommended on our bus ride into town was a cross between Bloomingdales and Nieman Marcus. (We never did get there, but just as well given the prices.)
The next morning the four of us split up. The Alper's went to the Jewish Museum, while Joe and I went
to mass at a church we had passed the day before. From the Swedish bulletin board outside the church, we had
deciphered the days of the week using a little knowledge of German and concluded that there was a "missa" at 11 am on Sunday. More we did not know. I was hoping that the mass would be Catholic (Protestants don't usual use the word "mass") but when we got there and the church, which could have seated several hundred people with ease, had
less than 2 dozen people in attendance, I began to think Protestant. And when the priest entered, following
a short procession, wearing the usual priestly vestments but clearly a young woman, we knew that this was not a Catholic church! But, the service was identical to the Roman Catholic service although interestingly enough the celebrant faced the alter as in pre-Vatican II style.
Ever since we left, the Olympics have been going on in Beijing. It was fun to follow them
in London, and then again in Stockholm. The coverage was perhaps less focused on the nationalistic competitive aspect than in the U.S. coverage. While both the Brits and Swedes had serious competitors in the games, much of the coverage of necessity was of other countries' athletes so less partisan. In the US American athletes are numerous enough to dominate the coverage. In London, the commentators spoke English of course. Interestingly enough, a significant portion was in English in Stockholm, too, via a Eurosport feed with far, far
fewer commercial interruptions!
At the closing ceremony, Swedish commentators did simultaneous translations of the Chinese and French presenters while the English speakers were broadcast without a voiceover. Some of the commercials
were also English language. International advertisers probably just can't afford to reshoot
commercials in a dozen different languages for smaller countries. And, if you can afford their product,
you probably speak English anyway.
For a country the size of Sweden, a second language spoken by a larger
population group is a must. As a young employee at the Nobel Museum told me in a matter-of-fact tone when we were visiting there and I complimented her on her facility with several languages, "You're not going to
see much of the world with just Swedish!" And for most people, English seems to be the language of choice as it is understood by so many.
All in all we found Stockholm a lovely place to visit. The people were confident and gracious. They have a lack of ostentation that informs their clean and creative design sense. At one point we passed a McDonalds
restaurant. The interior was designed like an upscale coffee bar in muted colors with elegant banquettes and
small round tables arranged to look out over the boulevard. Customers were sitting leisurely
enjoying the passing scene. One thought Starbucks not McDonalds. How nice to live surrounded by
beautiful design!
