đ„đ„ "ALLTING SUGER" â STORIES FROM STOCKHOLM'S UNDERGROUND đ„đ„
Welcome to the underground. Everything is cooler here. You and me... We know that. I spent four nights in Stockholm. One of them was spent in the underground and this is what happened...
(And we'll eventually get to the part why this story is called "allting suger" which means "everything sucks" in Swedish)
A picture of Stockholm. At night.
Let's give you some background information. I was on a Scandinavia-trip (I still am as I'm writing this, it's 4:30 in the morning).
Prague-Helsinki-Stockholm-Prague. That kinda thing.
I've been to Helsinki a gazillion times. Been there, done that, I've seen everything. EVERYTHING. The only thing that threw me from the ordinary was the fact that I was staying at a screwed up budget hotel with a shared bathroom, but hey... The price was great and I ain't no high-maintenance bitch, right? Actually, I am and you don't need to know the details.
Anyway, my short Helsinki-visit was all about finding new places and new perspectives. I'm not sure if I succeeded at that â I could live without knowing how ridiculously big the US-Embassy is and I don't even know how I ended up there â but here's some pictures as a proof that I tried. Also, Finns don't sell alcohol after 9 or 10 pm. Note to self.
Sunset at Kaivopuisto. So not into this.
I don't even know the name of this street but it looked cool so I took a picture of it
Ok, I get why this got so many likes on my Instagram.
And since I'm a die-hard minimalist when it comes to what I do for living... The next photo describes my usual style quite well...
(Did I mention that I hate shooting things like buildings, streets and cities in general? I mean... It's been there for forever and it's gonna be there for another definition of forever... I don't need to take pictures of that, right? I can visit that place over and over again.)
The true PALACE of Helsinki.
Ok. That was the capital of Finland for you. I then took a delayed plane to Arlanda and arrived to Stockholm on the hottest day of the year or something... 30 degrees, my pale face packed with make-up was melting away, I was mildly jetlagged (Finland lies just one time-zone ahead, no big deal, but it threw everything apart nevertheless) and... Whatever, I walked 20 km that day anyway to finish what I started in February.
Yes, I've been to Stockholm in February. With a friend. For three days. It was like hell on earth.
The first time in this city made me feel strangely melancholic and slightly paranoid. Everything there felt to be beautiful on the first glance, using the beauty to cover up all the problems that prevail inside. I think you get the idea. Stockholm was exactly as my all-time favorite band described it to be in their songs. It fascinated me for all the wrong reasons.
Having returned in summer, I still feel the same about the city. Not a bad thing at all. There's some weird vibe going on, something that makes me call Stockholm a cruel town. Something that makes you hate and love this town at the same time. But you know I could go on talking about the Stockholm-vibes for hours... Let's move on!
I decided I need to take the ultimate Stockholm photo and that's when things started to go down for me. Or... Suck, if you like.
There is no way you can do that. The most iconic part of the city is under construction and everything else is either too water-y, plain uninteresting or causing eye-cancer aka it's a generic-tourist-photo. Did I mention I don't see why I should try taking pictures of cities? I did.
I told you it's under construction. Projekt Slussen. Seven more years to go.
This could be anywhere... But surprise! It's Stockholm.
Södermalm shot from Kungsholmen, which is my favorite district. Have you ever walked down the Hantverkargatan by night? It's magic!
You see... It's nothing special. But since Stockholm has one of the longest art galleries in the world which happens to be the famous Tunnelbana... I came up with an idea. A challenge. Let's photograph 12 metro stations during one night. It's Friday, everything runs 24/7, let's give it a shot!
I researched 12 stations throughout the entire Stockholm-area and picked out the ones I found the most visually appealing. Starting from RÄdhuset in Kungsholmen all the way to Akalla, Solna Centrum, Duvbo, Solna Strand, T-Centralen and the PendeltÄg station in Odenplan, KungstrÀdgÄrden, Universitetet, Tekniska högskolan, Stadion, Thorildsplan and finally ending the tour in Fridhemsplan.
Badass names, right? Now look these places up here:
So I left the comfort of my hotel room (which also happens to be underground) and headed out to RĂ„dhuset's T-bana station. It was 23:30 when I arrived. The official start of the Tunnelbana-photo-tour. The ride to Akalla (16 km north of the city center) creeped me out for no reason at all and I started to question why I thought that this was a good idea to begin with. I instantly regretted it and 10 minutes of waiting for the next train to take you back to the next station felt horrible.
Haha. Yeah. 10 minutes. I was naive in the beginning of the tour. Hahaha.
RĂ„dhuset. Just as magical as whole Kungsholmen.
Akalla. "Vad gör jag hÀr nu?" to quote a song of that one all-time-fave-band of mine...
I eventually got stuck in Solna Centrum for quite some time due to system disruptions or whatever. I probably missed 2 connecting trains at VĂ€stra skogen (which was one very, very boring station) because of that... But... Nevermind! I was one hour into the tour/experiment/bad decision/whatever this was supposed to be â I was motivated! My own bad ideas have a success-rate of 99.9%. It's scientifically proved! No, it's not. My bad ideas are just THAT good.
Solna Centrum and the "Gates To Hell".
The other face of Solna.
Duvbo. Bright red pillars that resemble people if you're sick like me.
Duvbo again.
And here's the most freaky place of them all... Ladies and Gentlemen... Solna Strand, previously known as Vreten.
A little piece of Heaven.
But Heaven is a plastic cube.
Looking at the photographs while editing them, I came to realize that everything looks like coming from a dystopian fantasy down there in this metro network. Is this the real face of Stockholm? The real face of whole Sweden? Well, Àlskling, it might be. We'll never know.
Anyway, I arrived at T-Centralen and changed all my plans at the same speed as setting them up after noticing a sign saying the commuter train stations shut down in one hour. I didn't jump on the red line towards Universitetet and the other two places. Nope. I took a commuter train to Odenplan and made things a bit more complicated. At that point, I could've used a cup of coffee or anything... I considered going home, but I regarded that as a white flag. Going home and continuing the next night wouldn't be rewarding at all. After all, there were three last stations waiting for me.
I messed up though and entered the train heading to the legendary Gamla Stan aka the Old Town. Ok. Let's wait for a train to the right direction this time... My bad. And so, another 10 minutes were dead.
T-Centralen. Lots of weird things happening there at night.
Joy Division called. They want their unknown pleasures back. Odenplan.
The despair came when I arrived at the station by Stockholm's university. This WTF-am-I-doing-here-feeling creeped up again at 2:40 (?), the station wasn't as spectacular as expected and if waiting 10 minutes for the next train felt long... Bitch, there you got it! Next Train #14 to FruÀngen arrives in 25 minutes! I was stuck there, the phone signal sucked just as everything else and I really wanted to go home, you know... But I didn't and pulled it through with Tekniska högskolan and Stadion.
Universitetet. And something about Human Rights on the right hand side.
Again... Where the hell are we?
Seeing this giant rainbow in its full glory will make you instantly happy. No matter your previous mood. Kinda strange.
And there you have it, folks. 4 am in the morning, I did it (Ok, I'll be honest, I left one place out cause deep inside I knew it would suck big times. ALLTING SUGER, ĂLSKLING!!!), I feel a little bit more accomplished now, sleep is for the weak, my accent became even more Scandinavian and Stockholm will always stay a weird place unless someone manages to change my mind.
Never make a subway-tour at night (although I don't get how ANYBODY else could come up with that idea anyway), it's harder and more tiring than expected â Especially when you're someone who thinks about art and its hidden meaning all the time. Like... ALL. THE. TIME. This will wear you out. Guaranteed.
Everything sucks in Stockholm. In many ways. Everything sucks here in a bad and a good way, everything sucks in an ironic way as well. Yet I still think that one should visit this city to truly have a standalone opinion on it. Wow. What a conclusion.
Let's end this story with a song taken from an album that I instantly associate with Stockholm. The lyrics (https://lyricstranslate.com/en/godhet-goodness.html) get me every time:
And with all of this being said... Thanks for sticking with me. I'm sure I'll post something new in the six months coming. Promised. Until that time... Stay safe and don't do anything that I wouldn't do. đđ»
â Stacy The Cool Cat