Hej! Jag kan inte sova inatt så jag scriver.
In Sweden and all over Europe, there is a magical bike system that can easily transport you and your tourist mind plus a handy camera around the city for a cheap price on a bike. Stockholm is one great place to ride this blue bike because the city is beautiful through every walkway and around every corner and with a magical bike in a magical place, it’s well worth it. There are approximately 85 stands all around Stockholm on all the main islands. This is how it works, there is a bike stand that holds the bikes locked in place and next to the bike stand stands a machine that reads a card. The card is the pass, you can get a 3-day bike pass(125 SEK) or a season pass(225 SEK), and all you have to do is flash the card to the machine and it tells you the bike number you should take. Take the bike and ride it anywhere you like in the city and when you want to stop for a Fika, sightseeing or shopping, just find the closest bike stand and park it there. When you want to get on the bike again, go to the closest stand and scan your card to get another bike. The bike includes a bell and ajustable seats and gears.
Since I came here to Sweden for school, I had so much studying and exams to do! No, not really. School is the completely opposite. I feel like I came here for a year holiday and school is a hobby. I go to school and write some essays once or twice a week. It’s great, I never did so little work for university before. The classes doesn’t require much compared to what I do at home. At home I go to school 4 days a week for 4-5 hours a day and we have 5-6 classes a semester with midterms and exams. Here…here, I have one class a month, more or less, and write essays and do a presentation. Anyway, since I’m so busy with school, I thought I would know the city a bit more and explore.
After I went to the museum, just for the Vikings section, with my class I went by myself into the city and it was the first real sight of Fall. The leaves are becoming my favorite colors, the people are being more cozy in their warm jackets, the cafes are more welcoming, the city was glowing with leaves that was catching the sunshine. I went to a cafe and ordered Chai Latte and a chocolate cookie in Swedish! When I stepped outside, I noticed I was dressed with California in my mind, jeans, t-shirt, and a cardigan. I managed to bring a light scarf with me, but it was freezing! I borrowed my corridor mates’ camera, bought my pass and got on a bike and ust went wherever the wind took me. I ended up seeing the islands west of the old center island called Gamla Stan; Södermalm, Långholmen, Kungsholmen, Östermalm, and Gamla Stan.
I invited a friend with me today and we wanted to go to Djurgarden. Djurgarden is an island with a big park, museums, a theme park, beautiful view of the city, and so much more. Marlene, my friend, went from Gamla Stan to Djurgarden. Again, the sun was shining on the water to the city buildings and it was so nice to ride our bikes along the coast of the island to see across to the city. Gamla stan is across from us with the sea inbetween while the boats and cruise ships are on the water. The city is calm. The weather is cold and my hands are warm because I dressed like a cold Californian today. I had my gloves.
I asked some people to come along on my last adventurous bike ride, but it was cold and they decided to go to a cafe called Cafe String. It’s a wonderful cafe, it has bits and pieces of what I want for my cafe in the future. I’ll blog about cafes in Stockholm one day. I went to Cafe String and sat to have a fika and across from me was this guy who had his traveling backpack and looking at some maps. He was sitting alone and I can see that he was new to the city. He was always looking around like he wanted to talk to someone or waiting for something to happen. He was indeed very handsome. I had my fun staring at him with my friends and then went out to bike once again. My american friend and I failed to find a place to buy a bike card. After a few attempts to fit both of us on one bike, we managed to find a second hand shop with jibbity jabbity stuff, he went back to meet the people in Cafe String. I wanted to see the top of Södermalm, so I went on my own. It was beautiful. The city was heading towards twilight and the weather was even colder. I went on the top of Södermalm where I experienced my first bike ride with the boys I met in the hostel. The top of Sodermalm was the first time I saw the city of Gamla Stan and ohhhhhhhh let me tell you, I was blown away when I first saw it. I had no idea how the city looked like until that moment on Sodermalm during my first days here. Then I was hungry and wanted to eat dinner and I ran into the Kulturhuset (Culture House) and decided to go to the Panorama Cafe. This cafe is the highest of the building in the center of the city. It was night time and I went slowly up each escalater to the 5th level. One by one, there was something new that I discovered about this huset. I finally made it and it was full of people, all the seats were taken near the glass windows along the wall and I wanted to sit there to see the ‘panorama’ scene. As I ordered my expensive food merely for the ‘panorama’ experience, I scanned if there were any open tables. All but one. There was this guy who looked like a old man from afar who was sitting alone on a 4 person table. Back and forth I looked from my table to his, “Should I ask him if I can sit there?” hmmm okay I will.
“Can I join you?”
“Yea, sure.”
This old man was not an old man, this old man was a mathmetician who is studying for his PHD in Math. We talked while having dinner together, but not together together. He lives in the city and is Swedish. Now, think of Eistein, his genius looks and intelletual mind. He was Einstein. His hair was curly and teased out really puffyly, like Einstein almost (besides the color). He was smart and nice and easy to talk to.
Five minutes to Seven
“Oh I have a movie to catch!” He said as he was looking down to his watch.
“Oh, downstairs?” I said hoping he would as for my number or something.
“Well, I think you can still get some tickets last mintute.” He was standing and putting on his leather jacket. It seemed like it was a half invite but not really.
“Is it in Swedish?” I asked.
“Yea.” Leaning is head to the side. Then he took his hand in front of me. “It was very nice meeting you.”
Fitta! Almost!
All in all, it was a nice night. I had someone to talk to and someone to dine with. I went home pretty late in the evening, it was cold, and I was smart today. I bought a winter jacket and a fuzzy hat.
Come to Sweden,
Dandelion Traveler
dandeliontraveler 