In a Sea of Tall Blondes
Posted: August 19th, 2009 | Author: LumDimSum | Filed under: A Day In My Life, Food For Thought, Personal | 1 Comment »Wow. What a breath of fresh air; a sight for sore eyes!
In Stockholm, Sweden, I find myself in a city with bright blue skies, rustic and colorful architecture, ocean all around, lush green hills, narrow alleyways, medieval streets, castles and fortresses, and cozy, quaint homes with pointy roofs.
Stockholm, Sweden
As I wander through the cobbled streets, I am surrounded by gorgeous girls who are all impeccably dressed, all about skin tight jeans. And not to mention the sophisticated, beautiful blonde men…who also wear skin tight jeans.
Drottingholm Palace, Residence of the Swedish Royal Family
People are present all around , but it’s not crowded. Children and teenagers spend their afternoons on the benches in parks and swinging from swings made from wood and rope. People are polite. No one jay walks until the light turns green. The Swedish language is so melodic, it sounds like they sing when they speak. And as Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, they have a royal family. Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses, castles and palaces, it all seems so medieval in this modern day and age.
As I sit outside a charming coffee shop and people-watch, I am dumbfounded.
Maybe I’m just suffering from a temporary case of culture shock coming straight from Beijing, but I am in awe of Swedish people – not just in the way they look and dress, but the way they carry themselves, their interactions, their customs, and most of all, their lifestyle.
I can’t help but wonder. I am determined to satisfy my curiosity and learn more about what you can’t learn from reading a textbook or a guidebook.
In this quest for answers, what will I discover along the way? Is Sweden more than what meets the eye? I want to understand more about this country with beautiful people, delicious meatballs and IKEA.
What do Swedish people like to do? What do they think about China, the US, the rest of the world? Does their world revolve around Scandanavia or do they ache to move away and live abroad?
Lovely Cafe in Gamla Stan
In a place so beautiful with eye candy all around, I would be so perfectly content to sit right here, at this coffee shop. Indefinitely.
[...] for me and my travel buddy Janice, we were not drowning in this sea of tall blondes. We were fortunate enough to have swim floaties – our generous friends living in Stockholm, who [...]