luxemblog: Stockholm-City of My Dreams!

WARNING: I am going to use the word "cool" a lot in this post. Sorry.
I can't help myself.

Dave and I were honored to be invited to the christening of Emile, the adorable, fully-haired 5 month-old son of our friends Marisela and Peter, in Peter's hometown of Stockholm. After visiting there I might have to append the name "Stockholm" to "Stockholm: City of My Dreams" every time I mention that glorious place.

Even with a big snow storm (8" or more) and some ccc-cold temperatures, we were thoroughly enjoying our time there. Everyone was so friendly. SO friendly. Even in crowded, hip and busy restaurants the hosts and bar tenders and other customers were relaxed and NICE. The service was like in the States - only more consistently NICE. Everyone seemed happy. And it was winter. Dave kept mentioning the light. I had read on many design blogs that the light in Stockholm is very different. Not sure if it's the very Northern latitude or the water or what but it is different. Everything seems to sparkle and glow. Colors are more vivid. It was truly dreamy.

And the aesthetics were 100% beautiful everywhere we went. Even the old street lights hanging from wires over large boulevards were beautiful and COOL. Everyone wore warm yet fashionable coats and practical-yet-interesting-looking boots. A knit hat with an oversized fur pom on top was the big trend for women and they were like the Hogan shoes in Sicily: they were everywhere.

Cafes and restaurants were elegant yet interesting and comfortable and COOL. We had fantastic food - the best smoked salmon ever, the best toasted almond meringue cookie, cheesecakes, swedish meatballs, wild game burgers, head-sized cinnamon rolls, excellent coffee, best bacon ever, and lots of shrimp salad on delightfully moist and flavorful dark breads. I had been "warned" that Swedish food is not for everyone. But we loved it all.

I took well over 2,000 photos from that trip so it will be painful but necessary for me to REALLY edit the collection for this entry. I hope you enjoy the photos and I hope you can make a trip to Stockholm someday! I hope we can go back this summer!!!

Peter Emile (in carriage), Marisela, Dave in front of a super cool sculpture during a thick snowfall.

Now some scenery and some detail images of the city:

At the Nobel museum, where you go to feel ~~inadequate~~ inspired.

coupla inches of ice on all the walks: no big deal

"best hot dogs in Stokcholm": we didn't try them but they were right next to our hotel

COOLest design store: "Svensk Tenn. It's a very old design house or what-have-you from the 1920's. Started by a woman named Etta or Eda or something like that and to me was the precurser to brands like Marimekko. Josef Frank was a faboulous textile designer here and his work was all over the place. Didn't take any photos inside and wasn't able to afford any of the fabric or various accessories for sale (all of them gorgeous) but I was thrilled to be able to see the store and the design up close and personal!

I found more info on Svensk Tenn on their website:

"Svenskt Tenn is an interior design shop located on Strandvägen in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1924 by Estrid Ericson, who recruited Josef Frank to the company 10 years later. Together they created the elegant and boldly patterned personal interior design style that continues to pervade the collection to this day.

And a bit about Josef Frank:

"Josef Frank has had an enormous impact on the history of Swedish design. Despite the fact that he was already 50 years old when he fled Nazism for Sweden and Svenskt Tenn, the Austrian architect and designer is considered to be one of Sweden’s most important designers of all time."

Some of his glorious textiles:

"Hawaii"

"Primavera"

"Aralia"

"Aramal"

What i found particularly interesting about this shop was that the men were as into shopping there as the women. There were many couples - in their 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's and the husbands or boyfriends were buying fabric as much as the wives/girlfriends were. I also found these patterns and the furniture styles there so modern and sometimes wild and there were couples in their 70's buying lots of stuff. I think it has something to do with the Swedish long-standing tradition of appreciating design–especially modern design, regardless of sex, age, etc. and also the fact that the patterns were a bit masculine even though they were florals. Something about them reminded me of a boy's marijuana-induced doodles... kinda trippy looking.

Apparently, it's a myth that vikings had horns on their helmets. But it makes for some pretty cute t-shirts.

Some of the books in our very COOL hotel room:

The day before the storm. I guess people will sit outside even in the middle of winter.

Our hotel lobby - loved all the books! So COOL!

Part of the exhibit in the Nordic Culture museum about men's bathingsuits. This showed the variety of tan lines from the different styles of suits. i like the guy on the far right and his reverse tan line. Hee Hee Hee.

I noticed in a few different places people held on to flowers long after they started to wither. And it was really beautiful. These grape hyacinth are almost done but they still are elegant and dramatic and provide some much-needed life and greenery in the space, especially en masse as they were. There were about 6 pots of them on the fireplace mantle.

Some images of the PEOPLE, whom appeared to take the snow and cold literally in STRIDE. Everyone was out and about, pulling kids in sleds to the store, riding bikes to work (even in the snow!), sitting on lounge chairs in the snow to catch some sun. There was great energy about it all.

this was from an exhibit in the "nordic culture" museum. not sure who they are. maybe they are representing a 'typical' Nordic family on holiday during this time? Looks like the 1970's? i liked it because it felt like a stereotypical photo of a Nordic family on holiday (check out the gorgeous sweaters!). Our Swedish friends might be annoyed by this photos. Sorry in advance!

This photo is from an exhibit on the Sami people–the native population from the very northern part of Scandinavia. Their traditional livelihoods include fishing, fur-trapping, shephearding and semi-nomadic reindeer-hearding. To me, many of them in the old photos looked like the Eskimo in Alsaka but there were also many that were fair-haired and blue-eyed. Very interesting. Some of them felt like they looked like my relatives. Maybe there is some Sami in my blood!

Another idyllic image of Swedish life. This was the cover of one of the beautiful, hard-back Swedish books that was in our very cool hotel room.

and the FOOD:

Anyone who has been to IKEA has seen their big round packages of crackers. In this little corner store they had dozens of these kinds of crackers.