Viewers Welcome - Hammarby Sjöstad

Current Location: Stockholm, Sweden

02.19.2009
View Trip to Stockholm (2009) on nigetv's travel map.

Surprisingly (even to myself) I was able to wake up early enough today to take a walk around the neighborhood and it was pretty great. Even though it gave me a burst of "I'm not affected by jetlag" inspiration, it wasn't the case at all since right after I completely crashed into my bed and slept ... for 5 hours. I was able to see a good portion of the area.

Everything here as changed. There's been a huge explosion of new condo buildings and shops since I was last here about 5 years ago. Before I would look out the window and see cranes and the concrete skeletons of the today's buildings. The thing that hits me now though is that construction still hasn't stopped. Although they're further away, there are still cranes here today busily constructing.

I walked through the snowy paths between the buildings and felt as though no single building here has the same design as another even if it is made by the same developer (imagine seeing a subdivision and every single house is different). I can honestly see myself living in an area like this (if only they had such areas back home) since the constructions seem modern and exciting.

I really like the feeling of open-ness and friendliness that's here in Stockholm. I feel like none of the flats I saw had legitimate blinds or curtains and people were just free to look into others' homes. Even from out of the kitchen window right now (on the 5th floor) if I look outside I can see all the living rooms and all the kitchens of the flats across the street (and they can probably see me at the same time). The one thing that strikes me about this is that it just seems like a natural thing, like you're supposed to just look at see what your neighbors are doing (even if said neighbors don't even live in your building).

The last thing I saw before returning home was something that I wish we have back in the States. A four story glass structure right next to a street. My cousin described it as a "learning center" where children go to learn about trash and recycling (I don't remember learning anything about either in grade school other than the 3 R's for recycling). Unfortunately it was closed but inside I saw all these different contraptions and teaching boards. Outside the "house" were a ton of pictures which I assume helped to stress the teaching inside.