THE DREAM IN ACTION

Arrival

I arrived on the red-eye from Newark, NJ at 7:40am local time. My driver (it’s not as fancy as it sounds) was waiting and when I jumped in the cab the first thing he did was blow into a breathalyzer. I was thrown off by this but I appreciated the confidence I felt from his sobriety. The driver either spoke minimal English or he just didn’t like the looks of me, either is quite possible after getting about 3 hours of sleep on the flight. I won’t hold it against him.

During my 30-40 minute drive from Arlanda Airport out to Uppsala my initial reactions to Sweden are clean & green. It’s a beautiful country and everything seems brand new. From their automobiles, to their infrastructure, it’s seems “refreshed”. I expected the opposite. There is a lot of history here but it seems their has been a large investment in the country in recent years.

The People

Stockholm, in my observations, is a very affectionate city. There are couples everywhere and they sure don’t mind showing off their love for each other. My fiance calls it PDA (public display of affection) and the Swede’s love it! It makes traveling alone that much tougher and I really wish I could share these experiences with Mollstar.

Climate

I don’t think the weather could get any better than it was today. It was about 21c and the sun was shining. I was sitting in King’s Garden, in Norrmalm, people watching and I saw a baby waddle away from his parents by at least 100 meters. Then a group of random women grabbed the baby and walked him back to his parents, there was a real strong sense of community in what I saw. Very comforting.

Stockholm is absolutely packed with children and young families. What stood out to me is how involved the young fathers are. Coffee is part of the culture in Sweden, just as much as tea is part of the Chinese culture, and every coffee shop is packed with young fathers and their babies in stroller. Apparently, Sweden is one of the best places to be a women because of extremely balanced women’s rights and opportunities and the fact that the government instates what’s called, ‘The Daddy Quota”. This says that couples who have a baby must take a combined 450 days of paternity/maternity leave. Wow! Try that in The States :)

Style

In Stockholm, the fashion is loud, the jeans are tight, tattoos are extremely common, but the attitudes of the people are as calm and relaxed as any conservative city. This may change when the night clubs get going, I haven’t yet had that opportunity.

Grub

For dinner I ate at Bistro Berns in the Berzelii Park and had a phenomenal Fish & Shrimp Ragout w/ a table Rose. The seafood is what Stockholm is known for due to it’s proximity to the Baltic Sea and it didn’t disappoint.

First Day Summary

Overall, the first impressions of this city were great. It seems that it never gets crowded in Stockholm. It can be busy which usually adds to the atmosphere but I never saw bad crowds that would take away from an experience. The young family thing makes it a very appealing city. It’s hip because of the fact that it’s a very young city and the relaxed culture and focus on the quality of life is very obvious. Something Americans could definitely learn from.