"After one day of splendid blue clarity (inspiring long bike rides and Swedish grass naps), Stockholm's skies have reverted back to their normal but nevertheless enjoyable gray. Let's begin with what's splendid.
1) Swedish city planning.
Though there are plenty of possible winding-through options, the streets of Stockholm are both lovely and navigable. In fact, we've opted out of public transit as a whole in favor of outdoor, plein-air meandering, and have still only opened a map twice.
2) Ed Ruscha
A favorite, it was a real treat to see a showcase of this much adored painter at the Moderna Museet.
3) Plastic
Who would have known that Swedes were some of the foremost innovators of polyethylene and thermosensitive plastics? Today we watched a film interview with a man who collects plastic objects (he has over 4000) - mostly household goods, and most of which have hardly changed in design since the 1950's, but he considers them to be very beautiful treasures.
4) Spring babies
There are innumerable young, healthy mothers out pushing strollers along the waterways of Stockholm. Some of the baby carriages are the most inventive I've seen. And the babies look like the baby-est of babies; ever so formless and wide-eyed.
5) Swedish earnestness
People here are interested in one another. They glance at eachother on the street without staring; they talk to one another; they aren't presumptuous or aloof. Nearly everyone has approached us initially speaking Swedish, mistaking us for their friends.
Other Stockholm treats: party buses, wharf-side photography museums, Swedish/Indian vegan meatballs, and mysterious bathtubs.
It's good to be Swedish.
In a few hours we will be venturing Southbound by train... while we may be sad to leave Stockholm behind, we take comfort in an imminent reunion with our dear friend Sarah Jean. Maybe Copenhagen nights will be dark enough to allow my glow in the dark t-shirt to actually glow in the dark."
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