Day 16: Metro Lines & a Hard Goodbye
Taking on the Stockholm metro & ending the program
July 1, 2022
For our last official day of the program, the only scheduled activity we had was a debrief in the morning, where we could all meet to talk about our observations over the past 2 weeks and our overall impressions of the program. But first, breakfast! Getting my usual (Swedish pancakes and croissants), I also ended up making a small salad since I felt like I needed to get more greens. After we were finished eating, we all congregated on the second floor of the hotel, which had various conference rooms and sitting areas, where we all were able to share our experiences and thoughts.
With our meeting done around 11 am, I took some time to organize my suitcases since check-out was the following morning before my roommate and I headed out to explore the metro and see some of the notable stops with popular artwork (with the One Percent Rule - 1% of project funding going to public art - the Stockholm metro is internationally hailed “the world’s longest art gallery”, with each station being unique). Since there was so much to see, we found maps that would show us where the metro lines ran in regard to the topography above ground (it was so helpful to see where the stops were in regard to the city above us).
Metro Hopping
The first metro stop for us: T-Centralen, the main hub at the heart of Stockholm’s metro system. Due to the sheer amount of trains running through the area, the station itself is multi-level, tunneling deep underground, with each level having its own pattern in a white-and-blue theme. On the two levels we explored, one featured silhouettes of workers, to pay tribute to those who built T-Centralen, while the other level had blue and white leafy patterns.
Next up: Kungsträgården on the blue line. Meaning “King’s Garden” the stop had more of a feeling of antiquity with red, white, and green striped floors, and Greek-like busts attached to the exposed bedrock wall. Walking along the station while we waited for our next train, we also observed full sculptures as well as a statue of Hercules near a cavern-like area that had Greek-like columns, ruins, and ivy.
Third stop: Rådhuset, which is known for its red-orange cave-like appearance with exposed bedrock, where it was easy to forget you were at a subway station. It was so interesting to see how, in some of these public art instances, organic and original materials were used to create a unique experience, as well as, in a sense, pay tribute to the original land that was shaped for modern-day transit.
Stop No. 4: Odenplan (and probably my favorite), which featured a fluorescent light display at the entrance, modeled after the artist’s son’s heartbeat. Walking through the station, on our way to find the art display, we could see a warm pink glow at the end of the hallway, signifying our destination. After taking some photos we continued to explore other platforms, taking the escalator deeper underground where various mosaics adorned the walls creating abstract motifs before we were off to the next station.
Final stop: Stadion, which featured light blue walls with rainbows. Along the platform as well, there were other various arrows with rainbow themes against the light blue background. Interested to learn more about the station, I later read that it was one of Stockholm’s first “cave-like” stations, and since artists weren’t sure how people would react to stations that looked darker and resembled underground areas, they opted for recreating the sky above (albeit over 115 feet above).
Fika, Fika
Concluding our mini metro tour, my roommate decided to go to the Vasa Museum since she hadn’t been yet and I decided it was well past time for a fika break! Meeting with one of my professors, we stopped at Saigon Baguette, a Vietnamese restaurant, where I got chicken bánh bao and iced coffee. Afterward, we walked around some of the surrounding areas, checking out Hötorget - a public city square and Sergels Torg - the large plaza outside T-Centralen, where we saw a protest going on (though it was very different from protests I had seen in the States). Then, we headed to Kungsträdgården - a large public park in Norrmalm, where people were enjoying the nice summer day and some were even having a silent disco! Reading the plaques on some of the statues and fountains, learning more about King Karl XIII and Johan Peter Molin, a popular Swedish sculptor.
Meandering a bit more around Norrmalm and Skeppsholmen, we eventually took the ferry back to the hotel where we were all planning on meeting up to go to our last sit-down meal together.
Our Final Group Dinner
For dinner, since some of the group had dietary restrictions, we agreed on stopping at a vegetarian restaurant called Chutney, only a short 10-minute walk from our hotel in SoFo. Once again, the menu was all in Swedish, (a great opportunity for me to practice!) and I ended up getting a mushroom pizza. When dinner was done, we walked around Södermalm for a bit along Skånegatan which acted as a pedestrian path with outdoor dining and games along the street before stopping to get some gelato from StikkiNikki. Taking our dessert to a local park, we sat around enjoying the evening before heading back to the hotel.
A Late-Night Food Run
Later that night, one of my classmates and I ended up playing a few games of chess before I ended up going on a late-night McDonald’s run with one of my other peers (the whole trip we had been wanting to take one of the e-scooters that were so readily available around the city, so why not end up going to McDonald’s at 12:45 am on a Saturday). Making our way to McDonald’s on the Lime scooters (I will have to say I prefer e-bikes over e-scooters), I was once again surprised by the variety they offered - you could even get truffle dipping sauce! Finally, with food in hand, we scootered back to the hotel to eat our late-night meal before going to sleep. While it was hard to officially say goodbye to the group, I’m so glad I was able to explore and make new friends through this experience!
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