Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Stockholm and back and back again

My day trip to Stockholm was nice. I quietly walked the streets most of the day, watching everything go by. I thought i was in old town for most of the day, but learned later that i had walked right by it, never entering it. I bought a cheap hat for i had lost mine, as i tend to. I had lunch at a Chinese buffet, just what you would picture.

After filling my self mostly with buttery deep fried fish of some-sort, i made my way to the modern art museum (getting lost a few times, but ehh i had the time). As with most modern art museums i have been to, i was disappointed. A few pieces were really good, but over all i guess its fun enough to walk around a scoff. The temporary gallery (the one they change to a new artist every now and then) was filled with large canvases painted with triangles. The paint was mostly tacky flouresent colors with few bold black lines forming the triangles. The paint was thin and flat, not much time invested in each painting, but there was alot of them. There was a video playing with the artist probably explaining his work, it was luckily in swedish so no one had to be interrupted by my laughs.

Night fell and it started to drizzle. I had appropriately only worn my cotton hoodie as my outerwear so i headed to the covered areas of the shopping district. I walked through a park and over heard some American tourists (three middle aged ladies). Thought about saying hi, but instead smiled to myself and walked on. The mall areas were insane as they tend to be. I strolled into one to dry off a bit, read my book, and watch the people (not that in sweden the people watching is that great, kind of a lack of eccentric people around).

I left the mall and wandered around a bit, finding a nice looking pub. Sat a big window facing the street with my book and a full bodied blonde (cough, err ahh beer). The pub eventually became packed by a croud consisting of older proffessionals. A sea of grey hair (or lack of it) , black from the neck down. Eventually my beer emptied and i got the call to meet up with Claire, the canadian that i have been staying with.

We took the subway to a great vegan buffet, in an interesting building. After filling up Claire showed me the old town that i had missed. The streets were narrow and filled with crafty (touristy, i guess) shops, but many containing art that i would more proudly hang in my house than the modern art museum chooses.

The train ride back to uppsala was one of sleep, a long day in the big city. I will probably go back this weekend and spend a few days. There is an acquaintance of mine from fairbanks living there, she was busy that day.

I took a long bike ride in the slush and snow today, thinking to myself, i bet its so much colder in the banks.
HA
L

1 comment:

Cindy* said...

So good to read your update Lyle. Thanks for sharing your day. Always love hearing from you!