Rainy Day in Stockholm

Sweden has some of the dreariest weather in the world, and I know bad weather, I've lived in Canada and Upstate New York. Sometimes after a gray, rainy day, a magical Swedish rainbow arcs across the sky, and not everything is so bad. However, this is an Uppsala rainbow, there was no rainbow to my rainy day in Stockholm.

Stockholm is beautiful and filled with churches, mansions, and palaces. It's the kind of place that would be incredible in sunlight or blanketed in snow. Under a rainy sky though, the city is quite imposing. 

Swedes realize this though, and to fight the gloom, they paint their buildings the color of condiments. 

This was the first European large city I had ever been to, and what struck me most was how quiet the city was. I've lived in New York before, a city where the sound of traffic is integral to the identity of the city. Toronto too has certain sounds that are unavoidable. Stockholm is very still, and my friend took me to a place called "The Street of Silence". It's very different from the kinetic energy of North American cities. Even Washington DC, with all its institutional dullness had the sounds of street preachers and police sirens as a soundtrack. 

It's funny that certain parts of the city look unchanged from the Medieval era. This patch of the Bronze age is directly across the river from the most expensive apartments in the city. My friend asked me why us North Americans are impressed with old things, why don't we have Medieval things ourselves? 

My friend also took me to Sodermalm, an area that would be the Swedish version of Williamsburg or Queen West. Seeing Swedish hipsters, it became apparent that their fashion reference of the season is North American white trash. For instance, it's very popular to wear a denim jacket or shirt with jeans, usually in the same color. I grew up knowing this look as "The Canadian Tuxedo", so it hurts a little everytime I see it. Who knew the style icon of one of the European capitals of cool would be "Beer Store parking lot, Scarborough, circa 1986." I don't think I could ever wear matching top and bottom denim, not as a Canadian at least.