"Här är den vackra stan - igen!" Stockholm by polardabar

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Well, what to say about this city? As I said, wrote & thought to myself for a thousand times before, I think this is the most beautiful city in the world! I came to Stockholm last summer for the first time in my life, after my second year of studying Swedish language & Scandinavian literatures, after dreaming about it for years, after a lot of hard times... What I found here freed me in a way, gave me hope & brought warmth to my heart. I know this might sound a bit cheesy, but if you know me, you'll know what I mean as well...

I'm afraid that I'll never stop if I start writing now, so I'm just gonna fill you in with a bit of my trip details. After Berlin, København, Malmö & Göteborg it was time for Stockholm. My Stockholm. In Aug 2004 I got to discover why it was that it was my city. Well, at least I think I did. I know I do now. The weather back then was perfect for going around the city, drinking beer, dipping my feet in the Mälaren lake & sitting on the grass. I met great people, went to amazing places, seen wonders, smelled the water, breathed the air...

Those few days were understandably not enough & short after I got back home I craved its streets, its slang, its newspapers... Even after I came back from India, there was still this urge to go back, to feel this city again, to live again. So, persistent in getting some snus, speaking Stockholmska & seeing my buds, I took off again! After leaving Göteborg with no ticket & flying SAS to Stockholm's Arlanda airport, there I was! At first it felt strange, but then it hit me - I was back! As you can imagine, I started running around the place, not being sure of where to go first: Gamla Stan, Södermalm, Norrmalm or someplace else... So I hit off southwards in hope of finding a place to grab a beer [or two, hehe]. Well, I did find one, but it was a super posh place at Slussen, so I just turned around & found a place a bit more down Södermalm. A place full of people enjoying their Friday evening, drinking with friends & simply enjoying themselves. Anyway, after a couple of beers, I was off because it's been a pretty long day...

The next day it was time to actually do something! I've had enough sleep & I was determined to go to all the favorite places & find some new ones. So I started off with the Stadshuset, where I spend most of my time last summer. The sight was a bit different since it was 13 degrees, but there was still this thrilling feeling, memories from last summer sliding into my mind & mixing with the reality. Unsure of what to say, what to think & what to feel, I sat down & rolled myself a cigarette. Looking at Gamla Stan is great. Watching Gamla Stan from Stadshuset's courtyard is amazing. But smoking a cigarette while staring at Gamla Stan from Stadshuset is unbelievable! The sense of excitement & happiness for being back to Stockholm only made me move on, towards all the spots, all the squares, all the streets...

I was off towards Riddarholmen next, where some tourists followed me. Why? Well, my wild guess is that they thought I was a local simply going around taking photos and, although it felt great, I still kept asking myself if I looked that Swedish... ;) But it was so much fun just turning directions on purpose & noticing that the five has gone after me, although I was going down a small street heading nowhere... Well, maybe theye were just trying to rob me or something, but it never crossed my mind - till now, hehe!

After enjoying the sight of Kungsholmen in fog, I headed to Gamla Stan, according to everyone, the nicest part of Stockholm. I've never had a thing for Gamla Stan beacuse there's too much tourists & everything seems a bit too artificial, but sitting on Stora Torget watching all those people come & go [thinking you're a local] felt nice... It kind of made me a part of the city, its life & its customs. Trying to take some photos of Stora Torget over a couple of dozens of Japanese tourists, I gave up, made friends with a nearby bench & rolled another one...

Crossing the Sergels Torg & trying to find a specific bar I've been to last summer took a bit longer... That part of Norrmalm is a bit up-and-down [a good presentation of San Francisco], but after some time I found myself in Malmskillnadsgatan! I was finally there, although I barely recognized the place, since it was dark, crowded & there were no tables outside. I managed to order a Stor Stark & find a seat by the window. After a couple of beers I started thinking about what had happened more that fourteen months ago, when Mark & me, determined to find a place with cheap beer, ended up at the same bar. After some time he told me about this street & how every Stockholmer knows it. Well, it's the hooker street of the city [I can't believe Mark took me there, haha!], so waking up from daydreaming I noticed one of them & thought about how I have to thank Mark for taking me there! I'm sure not so many people have had the same treatment... ;)

OK, forgetting the hookers & concentrating on the cheap beer part, I kept coming back there every day to rest from my crazy routes. The next day was a museum day, so I headed to Skeppsholmen & checked out the Modern Museum, the Architectural Museum & the East Asian Museum. I was so eager to go to the Post Museum, but at first it was closed & then I found out it was expensive - bummer! Considering the fact that I ran out of money [which seems to have become an essential & an unevitable part of my travels] & that the ATMs didn't function due to some robberies, I was forced to take extreme precaution on how to spend the money that I had left.

Anyway, after rewarding myself with a cooked sausage with mustard only, I went back to Gamla Stan to take some more photos, this time among caravans of Chinese tourists. I just wanted to check what was so special about that place & I kind of hoped that it was more that just poshy restaurants, expensive shops & crowded streets. Luckily, after walking around the less crowded streets for a while I sensed this beauty of all the tiny streets, colored houses & paved streets. I just wished it was a bit warmer, so that I could enjoy sitting outside sipping a beer, but half-frozen I had a short walk around Strandvägen & went to Centralen to meet my friend. After a beer we went home because both of us were traveling the next day - only I was going to leave Sweden...

I used the free time I had the last day to go around Norrmalm a bit more, took some more photos, bought a shirt, stared into Gamla Stan & Stadshuset a bit more & then it was time to go. I was supposed to take the bus to Nyköping's Skavsta airport to fly to Germany, but I just couldn't make myself go to the Central Station. I kept making rounds around it & simply didn't manage to actually go inside... I just wanted to enjoy those last atoms of Stockholm air, the sweet-and-salty air, the clouds in the sky & the sun rays fighting their way between them...

And from then on it's a blur. I just remember waking up in the bus next to this guy who was speaking Swedish English to a guy, yelling in the phone about how he was in charge of all Ryanair flights from Sweden & all around Europe & all I thought was how I disliked him at that moment. How I disliked Ryanair. How I disliked all of it. Because it was taking Stockholm away from me.

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[Stanna hos mig
du är allt jag har
kvar.]