More time on the Tunnelbana (Underground) - Friday in Stockholm

Our second day in Stockholm is another day when we explore the art on the Tunnelbana.

This is how the day began

Getting up

I wake up at 5.30am, that train ride may have taken more out of me than I had thought as this is the second latest time I've woken all holiday. 

Then it is time for ablutions for me, with Drew going in at 6.00am. 

Breakfast

We walk the crazy route to breakfast, this hotel is designed in an office block with each level being a different part of the block. The underground floor (from street level) is where the rooms are over a large space, the street level reception is in a much smaller part of the building, then you walk from the reception through the back of three offices and into the breakfast area. which is in the left hand corner of the building!! It really is like a maze!

I start with the chia pudding and yogurt with raisins, seeds and nuts that have been a staple for me this holiday. Each slightly different, but each with good content for the microbiome.

Drew had cheese, tomatoes and peppers with his roll. He also had a ginger shot (the small drink). I'll let him describe that to you! [Co-pilot's note: I, dear readers, have been seeing these energy shots throughout Norway and Sweden. I have also seen Deadwood, where they just knock back their little shots. I decided to do this here - it was not a wise move, dear readers, not a wise move. Firewater! That's what it was, my eyes were streaming, I had snot and tears coming out in volumes. I was, in short, in a right state. Their energy shots should come with a health warning!!]

I followed my first coarse with oatmeal, it was as delicious as ever.

I then had pickled bits of everything and a Swedish Rye Crispbread (Knäckebröd, not to be confused with the Norwegian Knekkebrød - how do I know the difference, the Swedish alphabet doesn't have a ø a letter I've got very used to typing this holiday!) 

Drew opts for fried things - scrambled eggs, very dark bacon, mushrooms and roast potatoes.

I mop my plate with Rågbröd (the Norwegians say Rugbrød). It is delicious and my favourite flavout of bread - luckily Drew makes a very good one, so the imminant end to the holiday won't be an end to the Rågbröd. 

I finish with some wholemeal pancakes, something we've not seen elsewhere.

The lovely breakfast reminds me of our delight in this place two years ago. That and the location are why in the absence of IHGs in Scandinavia we opted for the Thon Hotels as our first expereince of this one had been so good. I'm glad to say it really worked out perfectly for us both in Norway and Sweden. 

We go back to the room at 8.15am and I complete the blog about Saturday in Tromsø that I began in the cabin at Camp Ripan 48 hours ago. It seems 16 hours on a train isn't conducive to blog writing. 

Back to the Tunnelbana

We leave the hotel at 9.15am for Drew's plan of our second day following the art in the Tunnelbana. We start on the red line having done the blue yesterday. 

Our starting point is T-Centralen and that has a top level (were the metro meets the railway station) as well seperate coloured platforms for each of the three lines, so this takes quite a while  (40 minutes) in its own right - start here on Flickr.

Here is four or five images from each area, for more details click on the link above.

We then travel on to the last station on the red line Morby Centrum and take the ones there.

From Morby Centrum we travel back to Universitetet which has a very impressive display of university related items donated by the Portugese government. 

Here I am at the University Station checking the number of stations to the next few stops.

Next comes Tekniska Högskolan, the Royal Institute of Technology, a 'technical university', what we used to know as a Polytechnic with the focus on engineering.

We follow this with Stadion, the station for the Olympic Stadium . 

which also gives access to the Swedish Royal College of Music as the images show.

At one point I went one way and Drew another and by the time I came back, a matter of minutes, he had become part of a gang. 

I true post-modern ways that Jean Baudrillard would have loved, here is me (outside the picture, using my phone to take a picture of Drew, with his camara, a lady with a camara and a couple one taking a photo of the other while he videos her and the scene. This isn't just hyperreality, but hyper-hyperreality!!

Incidentally, for the more prosaic reality, this is the shot Drew was taking at the time!

Then finally we go to Östermalmstorg, where we break our journey leaving the red line.

Vattenfall

As we left Östermalmstorg we came across a large billboard/building advertising Vattenfall (Waterfall) a Swedish multinational that generates carbon free electricity in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. We had seen a ad yesterday on the Tunnelbana. Drew was intrigued by Samuel L Jackson's role in the ad, so had sourced it. (Apologies for the strong language, but it is an issue we, like Samuel L, feel strongly about.)

Whether it is coincidence or deliberate planning, the above ad was launched the weekend Donald Trump was at Turnburry. Drew is particularly pleased about the fact that he is a member of the cooperative which owns the wind farm whose windmills the Donald was complaining about at Kirk Hill, Ayrshire.   

Fika

Being in Stockholm it seemed incumbent upon us to have Fika. For those unfamiliar with the word, fika is pronounced “fee-kuh” and in English can mean both "to have coffee" and “a coffee break” but in Sweden it means much more than that, it means to relax with friends, to focus on the important little things, like cake and coffee. 

So, being in a part of town we know, we head to an Espresso House 

for a Kannelbuller and a Latte for Drew and an Americano for me. Drew, who has been learning Swedish, managed the whole transaction in the language.

I return to my refrain [Co-pilot's note: Please, not again!!!] about European measures of Americanos.

In the UK large Americanos have four espressos and are topped up with water, whereas the European ones have two espresso and the same proportion of water to espresso. Whereas milk drinkers have the two espressos, water and milk on top! I'm probably offending Italians who invented the Americano for US soldiers in World War 2 in the European form as the yanks couldn't take the real coffee, espresso, served in Italy. Earlier in the holiday I'd decided the solution was to have two Americano's for one of Drew's Lattes and while I'd done this twice, I didn't do it today.

Though I did say to Drew "I'm not grumpy about him getting twice the fluid - honest!!" as he snapped this slightly staged shot - who knew I could do such a good grumpy look!!

Back to the Tunnelbana

Our break over we moved on to the first of our Green Line stations which is right next door to the Espresso House. 

We visited Hötorget, with its 1950s decor, including the signs, waste baskets etc, then on to Odenplan which is the station for Stockholm Public Library, so had books as its them, then Fridhemslplan, with its robots and robot like images and finally Thorildsplan with its Pacman style decor. All very good fun.

 

At Thordlidsplan, we saw a quick change in the weather, the summer's day became a scene of thunder, lightning and hail stones.

You'd have thought the namesake Norse god had been here, though in fact the station was named for Thomas Thorild, the Poet and Philosopher, it seems Thor had intervened anyway. 

Back to the Hotel 

It had been our plan, on leaving Thorildsplan to travel across the city to Rågsved, which is the home of Stockholm graffiti Wall of Fame. However, as it involved a twenty minute walk  from the Rågsved station before the lengthy range of street art, we decided we weren't ready to drown, as the forcast was for the rain to continuye for four hours. So we got off at T-Centralan and returned to the hotel by 1.30pm.

It is our fourth (and final) poncy dinner tonight, so that gets a blog post of its own.