12 June 2018, Tuesday
Yesterday was very action-packed and I had a really good time, especially at the ABBA Museum and Gröna Lund. For my second full day in Stockholm today, I wanted to take it easy and explore at a more relaxed pace. As usual, the weather forecast was great – a sunny day ahead, with the temperature expected to hit 19 degrees Celsius at 1pm.
I wanted to take some nice photos today. From my research, the best view of Stockholm could be found at Monteliusvägen, so that was where I wanted to go first. Instead of taking a shorter route via Stadsholmen (Gamla Stan), I decided to try a different route and went via the islands of Kungsholmen and Långholmen instead.
Kungsholmen is primarily a residential district so I saw a more local side of Stockholm. It was like a normal neighbourhood, nothing fancy or exceptional about it. Walking along the streets there, I felt far removed from being a tourist. I observed Swedes going about their daily lives – walking their dogs, jogging in the local park and popping into the supermarket to buy a quick snack on their way to work.
I eventually settled into a bakery and café called PeSso for a late breakfast at about 10:40am. I ordered an almond croissant, a cinnamon bun and a cup of latte for 90 Kr (S$14.27) altogether. These were all my favourite things. I took my time savouring them, watching the locals come in and out of the café as I did so.
After my satisfying meal, I continued walking south and crossed the large Västerbron (West Bridge) over to Långholmen, a small island that used to house a prison. Today, Långholmen is popular with locals for recreational activities such as picnics and swimming. There were plenty of trees and greenery here, but otherwise, there wasn’t much for me to do so I continued walking and crossed over to the island of Söldermalm.
The harbour along the northern part of the island was filled with boats of all shapes and sizes. I kept walking along the harbour and at 1pm, I finally arrived at a flight of stairs with a sign that pointed the way to Monteliusvägen. After climbing up the stairs, I followed the path and reached the scenic viewpoint five minutes later.
From Monteliusvägen, I had a nice panoramic view of Kungsholmen, Riddarholmen and Gamla Stan. A couple of old men were enjoying a picnic under the shade of a tree. The view was no doubt great, but it would have been even better during sunrise or sunset.
After taking a moment’s breather, I left Monteliusvägen and crossed the bridge over to Gamla Stan once again. The Old Town was packed with tourists as usual, but somehow, it didn’t feel overcrowded like how I felt in Prague. Compared to Prague’s Old Town, the one here in Stockholm felt more authentic as many of the shops were run by locals rather than by foreigners.
Based on what I have seen the past two days, Stockholm is possibly the nicest of all the big cities I have visited so far on this trip. It feels vibrant, orderly and beautiful, and is large enough to accommodate the number of people without being overwhelmed.
The next activity I had planned was to go on a free subway art tour (click here), organised by SL (Storstockholms Lokaltrafik), Stockholm’s public transport organisation. The Stockholm Metro features artworks at 94 stations and it is billed as the world’s longest art gallery, stretching for 110km. During the summer season (2 June to 30 August), there are guided art walks in English every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The tour is free but you’ll need a valid SL ticket. The meeting place is the SL Customer Centre at T-Centralen Metro station. The tour starts at 3pm and lasts for about an hour.
From Gamla Stan, I slowly made my way over to T-Centralen station. I found the meeting point easily as several other guests had already arrived. The guide was a friendly lady named Margerieta and she was wearing a white vest with the words “Konstguide Art Guide” emblazoned across the back. I told her that I did not have an SL ticket so she directed me to buy a single-use Travelcard. It costs 44 Kr (S$) and it is valid for 75 minutes after scanning it at the start of the journey.
We started the tour at about 3:10pm and the first station we visited was T-Centralen, right where we were. T-Centralen is the only station where the three Metro lines meet and it is arguably Stockholm’s busiest. Margerieta did not bring us to the blue line, where the famous artwork was. Instead, she brought us to the red line, where the concrete pillars on the train platform featured child-like sketches seemingly etched out on wet cement. She was using a portable speaker to explain about the artwork but the platform was very busy and I couldn’t really hear her very well.
We then caught the train and alighted at Östermalmstorg, one stop away. The artwork on the station walls here were quite similar to those we had just seen at T-Centralen, in that it featured stick-like drawings of a primitive nature. It looked like it could have been drawn by a young child with an abstract mind.
We then hopped on the train and alighted at Karlaplan, again one stop away. The artwork featured here was a long mural made up of photorealistic images of real people and objects, all in black-and-white.
After that, we got on the train again and alighted at our final station Ropsten, two stops away. The most prominent artwork here was a surrealistic, double-headed “snake” with human eyes on its body.
The tour ended at about 4pm. Ropsten is at the end of the red line so we all hopped on the train to head back to T-Centralen. Margerieta then alighted hastily at one of the stops so the rest of us went back to T-Centralen on our own.
Margerieta was clearly very knowledgeable and passionate about all the artworks on the Metro system. However, I felt a bit let down because she did not take us to any of the stations featured on the brochure, which happened to be the ones that I really wanted to see. I think the other guests felt the same way too. Margerieta did explain at the start that there are different routes on different days. It also depends on who the guide is for the day, so you may not always get the same tour.
However, I felt that even if it was not possible to visit all the stations featured on the brochure, she could have shown us at least one of them, the most impressive or popular one. But then again, art is subjective so different people may appreciate different types of art. I think what she was trying to do was to give us insights that we could not get on our own, to go beyond the surface and delve deeper into the meanings of the artworks. At the end of the day, it was a matter of my personal expectations going into the tour.
Undeterred, I decided to suss out those stations on my own. I started with T-Centralen and went to the second lowest level, where the blue line was. This was one of the “cave” stations, where the roof and walls retained their earthy texture and shape, resembling a natural cave. The “cave” walls were painted in blue and white, with silhouettes of men going about their business.
I then went down to the lowest level where the train platforms were. Here, the colour scheme of blue and white was retained but with giant, fern-like leaves painted on the ceiling. Very striking and beautiful.
Next, I went to Kungsträdgården, just one stop away, at the end of the blue line. Kungsträdgården is one of Stockholm’s oldest public parks, and the name means “The King’s Garden”. From 1643 to 1825, it was the site of the majestic Makalös Palace, and a beautiful French garden was built. Therefore, the artwork in the station reflected the history of the area. In fact, the statues around the station are actual replicas of those found in Makalös Palace.
After that, I visited Rådhuset, two stops away on the blue line. It was another of the cave stations and the brown-coloured walls and ceiling made me feel like I was on Mars, or inside a giant ant mount. It instantly brought to mind the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. There were no additional artworks in the station but the colour scheme worked very well and it was very cool.
For my last station, I decided to visit Thorildsplan, just two stops away but with a transfer to the green line at Fridhemsplan. It was different from the other stations because the train platform was at the street level so there was plenty of natural light here. The artwork also reflected the cheery mood. The wall tiles formed cute images inspired by Pac-Man and Super Mario, like an old-school computer game come alive. Super cute!
Following that little excursion, I made my way back to T-Centralen at about 5:30pm. I had actually exceeded the 75 minutes’ validity of the single-use ticket by about an hour. I don’t feel great about it but I tried to justify myself by reasoning that I didn’t exit any of the earlier stations. In a sense, it was for a single use because I didn’t exit and re-enter multiple times. It was still one journey…just that it was a very long one. The reason why I was not barred from exiting the station despite exceeding the time limit is because you only have to tap in when you enter the station. You don’t have to tap out when you exit, so I was able to walk out of the station unobstructed.
From T-Centralen, I walked back to Gamla Stan, hoping to spend my last night in Stockholm eating some Swedish meatballs and enjoying some live music. After surveying all the restaurants, I settled on Café Cronan at Stora Nygatan 37 because they served the cheapest meatballs I could find. It cost 129 Kr (S$20.45).
I also learned a shocking fact: Swedish meatballs did not originate from Sweden, but from Turkey! This was revealed on a 28 April 2018 Tweet on Sweden’s official Twitter account that said: “Swedish meatballs are actually based on a recipe Kings Charles XII brought home from Turkey in the early 18th century. Let’s stick to the facts!” So all those Swedish meatballs you’ve been eating at IKEA should be called Turkish meatballs instead!
After having my craving fulfilled (though I was still reeling from learning about the origin of the meatballs), I searched for a good pub with live music. I found Stampen (click here), a famed jazz pub established in 1968 with live jazz music every night. I paid 50 Kr (S$7.90) for the cover charge, which did not include any drinks.
It was a small and cosy bar and I loved the décor inside. There were lots of old musical instruments and quirky objects hanging from the ceiling. The atmosphere was perfect – just the right size, the right crowd, the right lighting.
I asked the bartender for a good local beer and she recommended the NYA Carnegie IPA (95 Kr/S$15.06). She said it was perfect for the summer and that it was her personal favourite. I gave it a go and it was really good! A little spicy and a little fruity. Very refreshing!
The band came on at about 8:20pm. It was a five-piece band comprising of a guitarist, saxophonist, bassist, pianist and drummer. They had great chemistry and I could see that they were enjoying making music together. I thoroughly enjoyed their performance too. It was the perfect end to the day, with good beer and great music. What more can I ask for?