DICE central in Stockholm

The big glass building is the home of gaming industry milestones such as Minecraft and the Battlefield series. The DICE central in Stockholm is quite a magnificent spot in the downtown area.

PS: Little birdie in the foreground is a tiny duck "sailing" on a piece of ice in mid-February

Valkyrie to be

Stockholm harbour. 

Most adorable small human being I've seen in my life. 

She can kick your ass with viking force, I'm telling you!

More of Stockholm, and more, and more.

Violeta

Stockholm travel note II

At Gamla Stan, close to the Royal Palace.

We're back! 

Now, after we finally got enough sleep, here's the second Stockholm experience.

[once again, it's not the best trip I've had, so I'll try to describe things, that you most probably won't see in the brochures, but also good sides]

Passing through the Turku archipelago

The sailing this time was much better. We managed to get more sleep, there weren't as many people on a drinking cruise this time, so the ship was calm. Also, since the White nights are approaching, we were able to see more of the Turku archipelago and from Stockholm's islands. 

Breakfast on Silja line, passing through Stockholm archipelago

 What left us really bad impression from that part was a huge group of Korean tourists. They acted rude the entire time by overtaking the lines during breakfast, boarding and unboarding. Their behaviour was as if someone is racing with them to the food, like it's going to end, or like the ship is going to sail away before they get to the terminal.

And somehow the bad impressions always leave a deeper mark on the memories.

Moving on.

Arriving in Stockholm

 As I said before, Stockholm looks much prettier early in the morning, when everyone's still asleep and the streets are empty.

You really get to enjoy the architecture, get cool shots, and maybe interract with some of the "locals".

This morning was particulary cloudy, but later on the day became very sunny and warm.

Now, as you see on the bottom shot, that's why Stockholm is much better without the people.

One of the main streets of Stockholm

Even though this trip was better than the previous, I still stay beside my past comment about Stockholm, the high immigration levels there, and how it looks like the Orient and the far East are slowly taking over its Scandinavian cultural image.

For most people it's the natural outcome of globalization, but for me, as a person who highly appreciates the diversity of cultures, this type of  "colonization" is extremely repulsive. 

I'm not saying this in a nazi way, so don't get me wrong, I'm an immigrant here too. I just want to see Swedes and Swedish culture when I go to Sweden. If I feel like exploring the Orient, I'll go to Turkey and appreciate it there at its best. 

Stitching "patches" of your own different culture onto another country's image will only make it lose it. And honestly, I don't want another America in Europe.

If you want to get my opinion better, feel free to check out part one. 

For extra photos, check here.

If any questions or other opinions, write a comment.

More photos to come, so stay tuned.

Violeta

Stockholm part II

Here's the thing. Me and Kalle are going to Stockholm again. 

Ship leaves tomorrow, and we'll be back on Saturday.

Expectations are for a better trip, since we got quite disappointed from the previous. [read the travel note here]

See you next week!

Violeta

Streets of Stockholm

Violeta

Stockholm travel note

Before I begin the story, note that me and Kalle were extremely sleepy during the whole day, because of noisy drunk people on the ship. Also, the weather we caught was very unpleasant - with wind, and rain. However, we've discussed several times our trip, and what each of us was impressed and  repulsed of. We also agreed to definitely repeat that trip when the weather is better and more welcomming.

Now, Stockholm was among the places I dreamed to live in someday, but only until I actually went there. 

Don't get me wrong - it's an amazingly beautiful city with its authentic architecture. What I really enjoyed was walking around the city center and in Gamla Stan, with all the small stores and cafes, where the hot chocolate and sweet strawberry gelly pie are to die for.

Also, we visited the Stockholm Museum of Photography ,where apparently "art" was equal to black and white photos. The people in there were mostly hipsters, staring at blurry squares on the walls, trying to feel what was said in the description of the piece would make someone feel. If that's art - it's not my type of spoon.

What I really missed about it is the actual Swedish culture in the atmosphere. I know it's a very international capital, but it was a bit too much for me. Without being racist or discriminative, I could see more Japanesse tourists on the streets, Indian and Middle Eastern staff in the service sector, Finns and Russians in the stores, than actual Swedes. Also, in the restaurants and on the streets the music I could hear was some very unpleasant to me mixture between Greek and Turkish melodies. 

So now, I can't really tell anything about the people in that part of Sweden, because I couldn't get to see them [except that apparently they don't mind wearing very dirty Pikachu jumpsuits and bunny-hats in the middle of a fancy shopping center]. 

sleepy and cold

In conclusion - maybe I had too high expectations, so I got disappointed in the end, maybe I got used to Finland and its standards too much, but what I saw from Stockholm, in overall, didn't impress me.

Also, there are many more photos, but editing takes a while, so make sure to keep an eye to the blog.

Violeta