Sweden (1) — Old Town @ Stockholm

When I was little, I thought Stockholm is dark, and then full of pirates 😀 But Stockholm is a very very beautiful city, consisting of 14 islands surrounded by seas and lakes. The historical buildings have bright colors, red, orange, green, dark grey … reflected in the large body of waters. Unlike Germany, these buildings are well kept, dated back to 13th century. People here speak Swedish but almost everybody knows English. Sweden is a part of EU, but still uses its own currency Kronor (SEK). The price of goodies is similar to US, but the restaurants in the tourist areas are expensive. Credit cards are accessible almost every where, I never touched a single cash as a result. The crazy thing here is that in Stockholm in summer the sun never sets. It gets a bit darker around 10:30pm, then fully lid up again around 3 or 4 am. Often I felt “oh why I am so tired this afternoon”, then I looked at my phone and it was10:00pm 😀 I heard in winter, it is also very cool because of the northern lights.

Old town is called Glam Stam, one of the largest old towns in Europe. It is full of surprising shops and restaurants. We lived in the third floor of a building in the old town. Anytime, I like randomly putting on a shirt, a short and a pairs of slippers, walk downstairs to step on the curvy brick roads, and knock knock the storytelling windows and doors … There is an organized tour (only weekends though) where the tourist company will take you to hop around the roofs of the old town to further examine its coolness. However, when I try to book it, it is already full.

Café Schweizer

It is a famous place for breakfast, fresh squeezed orange juice, homemade minty tea. There are quiches, Swedish pancakes, interesting pastries and desserts. The cafe is full of signatures from their guests all over the world. I left mine somewhere as well, you’ll have to find it one day when you visit :):D

Sara’s art and cafe

The artist Sara Tolf opens this cafe in old town and displays her work. The breakfast here is cheap compared to other locations, and the food is all kept in beautiful containers. The cafe has a window seat where you can curve your legs, read a book under the sun and watch people passing by. Sara achieves the dream I used to have, open a cafe, display some my work, and make friends with people from all over the world.

(street view)

(cozy window seat to see the time goes by)

(adding one more language to Sara’s friendship book)

(Sara’s work with reflections of people in the street)

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This is a cool breakfast place that I don’t want to advertise their name. Their decorations bring you back to old days, their waffle is special not able to find anywhere outside old town. They were playing Adele “Regrets and mistakes their memories made, Who would have known how bittersweet, This would taste” Damn it, this makes me want to cry instead of eat. Everything looks dandy, until …. you are ready to check out and look at your bill, you hate them so much :D. Let me know when you find this place and tell me what music they are playing now 🙂

Science Fiction Bokhandeln

This 4 story bookstore is just for science fiction, fantasy, Japanese cartoons, board games — the nerd center. If anybody here knows “his dark materials”, they have the original UK edition here, which includes everything the authors have written while the American version is actually abridged. The trending in Enurope right now is this Tintin cartoon. You can find shirts, post cards, posts everywhere. It is made by the Belgium cartoonist Georges Remi since 1920s. I selected a few cards for my Chinese friends based on their experiences, they all very much like them.

(cool dinosaur to decorate the bookstore)

(board games, the same kinds, are universal languages)

The playground

Following some kids, we walked into a door. Oh, it is a residential building in the old town. The parents were having picnic in the yard, and the kids were fiercely playing in the playground. We were invited by a Swedish lady to join in them, she is an architect. She said “when I moved in, this place was unused, then I had an idea of designing a playground for kids” Here you go.