I wandered into Stockholm’s old town (‘Gamla Stan’) today. I had been wondering where the true tourist hordes would be, and well, here they are. Like the rest of Scandinavia, German is the language heard where tourists roam. That said, there isn’t too much to see here. The Vasa museum is the crowning jewel, followed by several art and history museums, the city hall. The tourists, and the locals as well, seem to find the best activity around town to be: shopping. Lots of busy shops which I’m sure are quite lovely and expensive – I haven’t checked them out and probably won’t!
It’s not that there aren’t tourists in other parts of the city, but where I am staying, an old Ericsson plant called appropriately called ‘Telefonplan’ is rather more of a hipster neighborhood, with the old factory turned into a college of art. It’s a place filled with young locals, lots of young families, and immigrants.
One weird thing is that it looks like a city growing out of the wilderness that is northern Minnesota’s boundary waters. The ground is more rock than dirt, covered in scruffy evergreens. The river as such flows widely around tree covered islands just down the hill. I’ve spotted deer and jack rabbits bouncing around in the encircling park space – lots of thin strips of green space where the short but steep rocky hills are too impractical to build on. One major difference is I can tell the winters are milder, as there are plants growing here which could never grow in Minnesota.
Another difference is that northern Minnesota does not have as much graffiti in thousands of square miles as this city does in several square feet.
I can’t say I’ve been impressed with the ethical standards around here. I was strongly encouraged to leave my bike in the locked storage room of the building. Fine, it’s locked only for residents and staff, and I locked it up solidly to the wall for good measure as well. In Minnesota I highly doubt it would be stolen in such a situation, left there for years. But after a day, just a day, with the landlord gone, I figured I could go sneak my bike into my room… and found it had already been stolen! Makes me wonder if it was the staff that stole it, actually, given how prompt the theft was – and I imagine a resident would remark on the massive bolt cutters needed to get through the (thick cable) lock, except perhaps on a maintenance person.
Whomever stole my bike also stole most of my goodwill towards Sweden, or at least Stockholm. My parents got insurance to pay off the $3700 value of said bike, but can they pay back for all my lost Strava KOM potential? Pity anyone I see riding a red Canyon while I am out walking. I also hate graffiti, and it is everywhere – a common European problem. Some of the graffiti is quite pretty, but most of it is trashy black scrawls of lewd words. I don’t mind the lewd words, I mind the trashing of every visible surface.
Another complaint? Lots of construction that sits going nowhere. I’ve seen this commonly across Europe – they erect lots of signs, fences, and messy looking scaffolding, and then the project sits there for five years, no one working, graffiti accumulating rapidly. I like more vibrant, innovating cultures, which compared to, say, Italy, this very much is, but is average by US standards.
I also like cities where I can escape from the city and enter an oasis where signs of humanity are few and far between – yet still be in the heart of the city. There are quite a lot of places like that in Minneapolis, on the Cedar Lake Trail, on the Mississippi river right near the downtown, and so on. Minneapolis also has some very busy, but still very relaxing parks like the Chain of Lakes. One of my biggest problems with Neenah/Appleton was the lack of such places. But even Neenah was better than here, parks seem to be an American forte. Lots of small park places in Stockholm with children’s playgrounds, but not any welcoming nature spaces – and those that are rough. And have I mentioned the graffiti yet? Because, it’s in the woods too. Everywhere. I am also biased because every green space that does exist has been carpeted with a mass of locals sunbathing. Hard to relax in a space where a million people are just sitting, lurking…
You might think that these skimpily dressed – when sunbathing, and fancily dressed any other time, beautiful locals would actually be a positive for a young male such as me, but I have never liked people who spend far too much time and money on their clothes and looks. I have learned that, in general, people who look very good on the outside are at best boring, and often far worse when it comes to what’s inside. Actually, the good-looking people seem to be better in character here than the good-looking people back home, but I would still be much happier to see a crowd of nerdy people somewhere in this city.
Language is a barrier here compared to New Zealand. Everyone here speaks perfect English, but often they look at me and start speaking Swedish unless I’ve got my massive camera close at hand. I feel terrible when they do that, I like being able to interact with locals in their own tongue, and that’s one thing I can’t do (beyond a few simple phrases). Most signs and official announcements are also printed in English, people speak the language freely, and yet, I still feel bad.
I will say that many of my complaints are the result of having high expectations and having come from New Zealand – which is beautiful, filled with nice people, speaks English, and has very little crime. New Zealand has that beautiful Lord of the Rings – English countryside – yet modern cities mix, and then there is Sweden which has much less fertile soil and is much more industrial. I should also add Oslo, which I loved far more than I expected, raised my expectations, only for me to discover I think I like Oslo better. Norway is also much more patriotic, which I think is interesting.
Also, there’s a Pentecost thing happening outside my café right now, some sort of weird dance thing. They have a full long weekend of Pentecost type things that happen – feels a bit pagan actually. More than a bit pagan. Which stands out because it hasn’t struck me as they do a lot of activities here. Skiing in winter. Sunbathing in summer. Music – excellent music, food, and drinking. Fashion. Not too much ambition though. It’s like what Wisconsin would be like if Wisconsin were more awesome. A mature, more wholesome Wisconsin. But not a Minnesota. I remember people in Denmark seeming more ambitious than the lot here.
If Sweden wins at anything it is in how it respects human beings. Excellent childcare, I can see that clearly. Many more men pushing strollers, interestingly. Welcoming embrace of immigrants, as far as I can tell – if not ‘friendly’ about, as they are generally reserved people. Good public transit. Good healthcare, as far as I hear (waits are long, available choices are fewer, but care is cheap and quality). Here, there are very high standards of human welfare.
Another thing, I have seen quite a lot of ‘design’ companies. Alongside the good-looking people, there are good-looking things. Good-looking also meaning ergonomic, effective for daily life. It seems quite a lot of innovation comes out of this country, but that innovation is along different priorities than my own take-over-the-universe priorities.
If you know me, you will know that I have only mild regard for human welfare and none at all for simple appearance. I see machines driving human welfare. I see some suffering as making people stronger. Maybe the problem I have with Sweden – ignoring the whole they stole my bike and they shall suffer the consequences reaction – is not that it isn’t an amazing country, it just isn’t my kind of amazing country. I should recall my history, most of the Vikings came from Denmark…
I should note I’ll be attending data science meetups here in the coming weeks, that should give me a different perspective on the country than hanging out in tourist, shopping, and hipster areas.
Well there is one thing about this country that is very much to my taste. The cardamom and cinnamon rolls. They are amazing, generally a spiced and braided brioche dough, as far as I can tell. There are also lots of bikes everywhere! Many streets have bike lane/path things along them. I say ‘lane/path thing’ because that is what they are, a meandering path which is either a dedicated section of the sidewalk or is one the road, and switches rapidly back and forth between the two. They aren’t actually as nice as such infrastructure in American – in fact the rail trails like the Greenway blow them away – but they have tons of them, and tons of people use them.
Bikes are a commonality to most of the Scandinavian countries, but what surprises me is how different the cities feel, Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm. I assumed they would all be the same. They aren’t. Copenhagen has the strongest carry-through of culture, past to present, feeling both old and new. Oslo feels new, modern, almost American. Stockholm feels the old, both by hundreds of years, and by dozens of years, with worn out industrial vibes, almost like some of the industrial English cities like Manchester.
I really need to see more of Sweden beyond this city, hopefully I will in the weeks to come make a weekend trip or two out to see more – more than the rather boring bus ride from Norway showed, which was well, rather like northern Minnesota.