Random Impressions from Stockholm

Some impressions from the capital.

• Everything in Stockholm is expensive, in everything from food to living.
• Many in Stockholm work far too much.
• There is so much concrete, so much steel, so much asphalt. It is a jungle of gray stone, rising out of the ground, and forming an artificial, constructed wasteland where nothing green thrives. Identical rows of square, concrete towers, house thousands of little people in little square boxes, with little windows that peer out into an artificial world. It must easily crush the human soul.
• If you like shopping, Stockholm is probably the place to go; stores are everywhere and selling everything. And yet, there seems to be little warmth in the hearts of men.
• Yesterday we went to a mass at Adolf Fredrik’s Church. It was full of the ceremonies of the protestant church, completely anachronistic, and insanely beautiful. Among lit candles and a warm, diffused sunlight that fell through the windows on the ornaments of the church, a small choir sang psalms with a harmonic precision that made my heart tremble.
• I’ve been eating way too much restaurant food over the last days.
• Today I saw a young, loving couple in the subway; the guy was holding his hand around her back as they went up the escalators, and they were looking at each other. It was a very warm, unexpected sight, in the middle of this ocean of concrete, people and noise.
• The Stockholm subway is efficient, super-smooth, and with a rather affordable 24-hour pass, extremely convenient. But it’s not much fun on late Friday or Saturday evenings.
• Quietness is a luxury. As is time to be alone and think.