3. Stockholm: June 10, 2024

Hanging Out Underground; Avoiding the Drizzles; and Eating Very Well

Forgot to mention in yesterday’s post… Stockholm’s subway system is not only fast and efficient…. it’s also like moving through a series of art galleries, with large-scale works that are integrated into the design of each station. In each of my posts I’ll show a few of them. Some are clearly more sophisticated than others. And the stations are no where near as amazing as Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Greetings from Stockholm where it has been raining on and off (nothing serious, sort of showers but very overcast) and where it is cold; temperatures in the 50s and 60s. Perfect to spend most of the day underground, checking out the subway “art,” but more about that in a bit. [Total steps today 15,000; 8 flights]. By the way it is still light out… sort of like dusk… and it is 11:45 pm. We just got back to the hotel after a great dinner at Rolf’s Cok (escargot, veal tartar, and lamb ribs cooked in an Indian style sitting on a bed of roasted tomatoes, spices, and feta). Rolf’s is a small cozy place about two metro stops from our hotel (although it was one stop on each of two different lines). We’re pretty expert at the Metro now. One comment—they have the fastest escalators I’ve ever seen. And some of the stations/tracks are pretty deep… about 100 meters deep (like a 30-story building at some stations). To get to some of the platforms you can take little funiculars; at others it’s elevators, stairs, and those very fast escalators.

But the big news here and throughout Europe is all about the European elections and the strength of right-wing parties, especially in France and Germany; there is concern about Macron’s call for parliamentary elections. The leader of the Right-wing National Rally Party said this was “day-one of the post-Macron era.”  Far-right parties made big gains in the European Parliament election. In addition to the situation in France, Germany’s extreme right Alternative for Germany party wound up in second place, with the Social Democrats placing third. While I believe the European Parliament’s powers are mostly to approve or amend EU rules and trade deals, the vote is probably a sign of Europe’s political mood. These results point to trouble for things like environmental goals, immigration, and support for Ukraine. Analysts seem to be pointing to immigration as a key reason for the shift to the Right.

It will be interesting to talk with our Finnish friends about what all of this means for Scandinavia, which seems still to hold onto a more left position, although even their voters in recent years have shifted to less progressive candidates (but not to far right candidates.) 

On a more personal note, following an unexpectedly good breakfast at the hotel, we headed out for our Metro crawl to see the “art” in the subway stations. Note, Mike is in many of the subway photos to help provide “scale.” I think we visited about 18 stations…. Just hopping on and off the train and switching from the Red Line to the Blue Line to the Green Line.. and back again. Actually, we first went to see the Stockholm Public Library which is nearly 100 years old, designed by Gunnar Asplund who was inspired by the Barrière Saint-Martin (Rotonde de la Villette). But the library doesn’t have a dome. It is really a rotunda with a tall cylinder (where the curved book stacks are located) surrounded by a square— pretty straightforward geometric shapes. Naturally, we went by subway.

From there we headed to the Ostermalms Saluhall, a market built in the late 1800s. Because King Oscar was going to come to the inauguration of the brick building, they had to work quickly so it is said that about 400 men were employed to get the work done in record time. Apparently, they showed off the building just six months after construction began. It was to be “a temple for the culture and preservation of good food.” And that remains today, although the hall also houses several restaurants. We ate at Lisa Elmqvist, which is a well-known eatery with people lining up for tables. Fortunately, we had made reservations weeks ago, so we were set. 

The story is that the restaurant had its origins in the 1920s when a fisherman’s daughter sold wares at a street market near the waterfront. Her fish, shellfish, and cooking skills were exceptional, and she moved up to Östermalms Saluhall. 100 years later, the fourth generation of the family continues in the same stall, albeit adding a a lot more space. We had a great lunch—pickled herring (prepared with chopped egg, chives, red onion, and brown butter); trout roe with toast, incredible sour cream, and red onion; Lisa’s salmon tartare with cured and smoked salmon, Dijon mustard, shallots and cucumbers, and shipped chive cream cheese. It was great and we were fished out.

Then we began the subway trek… on and off the trains to see the station art. My short take… it was fun and the stations were certainly colorful, but the quality of the concepts and design were very uneven. The idea was fantastic, but many artists missed the real problem (as I see it)— to design through paint and other materials a totality taking into consideration the entire space. Some did that; others just used the space as a wall on which to paint or tile separate elements and “things;” a few stations tried to provide some “education” through information and graphics. Given that about two years ago we were traveling in Uzbekistan, and we saw their subway stations—which were done under the auspices of the then-Soviet Union, it was at times hard not to compare the two. Uzbekistan’s stations (throughout Tashkent) were amazing works of art. They truly were all encompassing and marvels of skill and craftsmanship as well as visual format. But Uzbekistan’s stations lacked whimsy! Whimsy was plentiful in Stockholm.

We finally emerged into cloudy daylight to walk back to the hotel…. To get ready for dinner and to take the Metro once again.. this time with purpose, to head to the restaurant.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we head to Finland…

Terve!

Fern