stockholm photos

Thanks, King

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And thus Jim Thorpe greeted King Gustav V, after the king had called him “the greatest athlete ever.”

Seeing this stadium had to be one of the highlights of all the travel I’ve ever done. Usually, when you see places that you’ve seen in pictures, they disappoint. Only three places I’ve been in my life made me feel that seeing them live way surpassed the photos. Those are Red Square, the Mona Lisa and this stadium.

It was raining the first time I went to see this thing. I assumed it was a tourist attraction that they had guides to and maybe charged admission. Instead, it is an actual, functioning stadium. This made it all the more weird when someone, in the pouring rain speaking in a New York accent flagged down some boys in a golf cart who worked there. No doubt they were perplexed about my wanting to see the thing. Did they not know of my long standing obsession with the Olympics?

Anyway, here are some NON ARTISTIC photos of the stadium taking in the pouring rain:

That person down there actually had the forethought to wear some kind of clothes that protected them from the rain. I wasn’t that smart.

This is going to sound like the cheesiest of cheese-ball statements, but I walked into this thing and could almost hear the cheering and the crowds from the Olympics that was held the year my grandfather was born.

Some more rain soaked photos:

Rib vaults? Rib vaults on a stadium? The thought that went into building this place really amazed me. Its a stadium, but it seems to be influenced by gothic architecture. Sublime.

Here are some from a day where the weather wasn’t totally suck ass:

And, an “artistic one” for the haters out there who think I am not longer artistic. Again, I had between 5 and 20 minutes to photograph this thing, so just kinda capturing it took center stage:

To close, a picture of the street where the stadium was located. Finally, something will replace a place in my in my past that my animosity towards is too large to explain here. That Valhalla is exorcised from brain, to be replaced by the street on which this lovely stadium is located:

Take that Mrs. Cialfi, whereever it is you are.

An edgy cafe in Central Stockholm

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Look at these hipsters at this edgy Stockholm cafe:

Wait, something is a little different about this cafe. Actually, there is a lot different.

Baby carrots? BABY CARROTS? I’m from America, Stockholm McDonalds employees with your perfect English. We’re lucky they don’t give us a deep fried block of fat with our meal. Oh, wait, the fries. My Swedish Big Mac, tasted like the Big Mac I had a couple of weeks ago in South Street Seaport, but the carrots, were, kind of, um, unbelievable. And, I got a Ramlosa to drink with it, aka a spring water.

The Golden Arches, there where you need them.

Of course, there is always the suck nearby:

But this I thought just looked really Swedish. Or, as my friend put it “yeah, Europe.” Yeah, I guess it is Europe, after all.

A Danish flag?

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As some of you know, the Danes and Swedes dislike eachother. Perhaps this has something to do with the Stockholm Bloodbath, which the internets tell me happened a long long long freakin’ time ago.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this:

And it was attached to this thing:

Is that some kind of center for the understanding of country whose language Swedish is very similar to, and which is closer to Sweden than New Jersey is to New York? I want a center for the understanding of New Jersey, because those people are a bigger mystery to me than the Swedes.

The thing about the rivalry between the Danes and Swedes is that it is carried out in the most hilarious way possible. The Danes and Swedes were to be playing one another in soccer the last time I visited Denmark’s great neighbor the North. Running on Swedish television at the time was an ad for the game. I did not have the presence of mind to photograph it, so the ones of people who visit this site are going to have to just read my description.

We come upon the Danish national soccer team at their “practice.” I use practice in the loosest way possible because there was a cloud of smoke over the field. One of the players looked like he was more cut out for sumo wrestling than being a soccer player. Suddenly, half the players are gone, because they are relieving themselves against some hedge of some kind. Then, one of the guys kicks the ball into the goal, but the goalie is gone. Why? Of course, he is off drinking a beer. And scene.

Go Denmark!

This is the worst part of this guy’s day

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It’s called “working.” Ok, here is the postcard shot:

This felt so weird taking this photo because this was an object that could potentially talk back. I can’t imagine having random strangers come up to me and taking pictures of me. He is what the guy with the Kaiser Wilhelm helmet on is guarding:

Not to mention this thing:

And this guy:

I didn’t take this photo, but I think the Swedish king is absolutely freakin’ adorable. You can’t say that about many monarchs in the world.

Anyway, back to the behemouth. I was walking around this thing and walked up a flight of stairs and suddenly felt these eyes on me. I look up and see this thing:

I felt bad for this guy too. He didn’t look too happy:

Well, as luck would have it, I didn’t get to see the inside of this thing because it was Monday and these kinds of places seemed to be closed. Boo hoo.

An extended ode to the Stockholm metro system

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As the five people who know me who actually visit this place infrequently (I’m trying my best to get my numbers up), I have a thing for Scandinavia. Ok, maybe its more than a thing. But there are a lot of things about it that I find really unique. My favorite thing is the fact that every corner of every place seems to have been intelligently thought out to make people feel at home or cozy. A lot of it makes people feel good. I realized after just visiting that the metro stations there can look like the ones here, kind of dirty and drab. The New York City subway system is a place that people have to drag me into kicking and screaming, but when I go in there, I look at the tiling on the walls, I think they could do so much with it just to make going in there a happier experience.

So, here I present some of my favorites and my little commentaries.

On my first visit to Stockholm, I got off at the Solna Centrum metro stop and I couldn’t believe my eyes:

I think this is the guy who did the art for the place. The art seems to be organic and matches the surroudnings. Here’s another example:

That is a little model house built into the walls. Amazing.

I don’t understand what this plane is for, but it seems to be going somewhere:

And, this is the whole station:

This place I found because I overestimated my knowledge of the Stockholm metro system being jet lagged. But this is the one metro system in the world that I completely do not mind getting lost in. Have a look-see:

This station had to be my favorite on so many levels. I went to see the Olympic stadium in Stockholm, which was also amazing and there will be another entry about that.

But walking through this place I thought — this would automatically put a person in a good mood:

What about this? I smiled the minute I saw this:

This is Scandinavia and the Olympics, two of my multiple obsessions together. And this was almost the icing on the cake:

After looking like I was casing the stadium for a while, I took a walk around the neighborhood next to it. I kind of got lost on purpose just to find another station to photograph. My aching feet were worth it. This was the metro station next to a technical college.

Check out this lovely geometical solid figure that I am sure the engineering students know what is called:

I was a humanities major, so I am safe from math. Still, I walked around the station knowing that there was something else to look at and I was not wrong:

Unbelievable. I turned around at this place and thought — this is amazing:

Here are just some random examples of the various types of art that saw on the metro:

So, this is my suggestion for the urban planners of America — create inviting spaces in the undergrounds containing the trains and perhaps the people around would be less stressed out and much happier in general.

Strategery

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I nearly fell down when I saw this. I wasn’t even sure if I should post it, but the world needs to see this. Freedom of speech and freedom of expression. And of course, making fun of the 43rd president of the United States, which at this point is really… not all that hard.