Lovely visit with lovely people

Early yesterday morning I said goodbye to the friends who came to visit me, and tomorrow morning I fly to Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost island, with my new host family. These are certainly busy times, and I’m glad to be seeing more of the country than just Tokyo.

The 3 of us at Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari shrine.

Of course, we took loads of trains this trip, but this was the first time I had ended up in the first car!

I like these streets in Tokyo that show small, old-fashioned houses nestled in among the more modern buildings.

I’m incredibly lucky that two of my best friends in the world were able to come visit me in Japan, all the way from NYC, while I’m on the Watson (as I was when my parents came to India for Christmas – though this is the end of visits for me!). I showed them around Tokyo for a few days, which was a blast since I’ve been here for a month now, and then we went to Kyoto with a half day trip to Osaka. We saw a ton and took literally thousands of photos and videos, so what I’m sharing now is only a quick summary of the highlights, but it’s something.

On their first day in Tokyo, we walked into a retail store that had this robot helping people find the bathroom and access the store wifi. Though the robot was fun and eye-catching, we all found its help to be completely superfluous. What a great intro to the complexities of Japanese culture! (This is the ‘Pepper’ bot, by the way, and many different companies were using it for health applications at the expos I attended).

Incense at the Senso-ji shrine of Asakusa, Tokyo.

On this rainy day we visited Odaiba, a bizarrely artificial island of Tokyo devoted to companies, museums, a ferris wheel, and the like (I don’t think anyone can live there). For some reason they also have a replica of the Statue of Liberty!

Pepper wasn’t the only robot we saw – this is a statue of the iconic robot from the Miyazaki film Castle in the Sky at Tokyo’s Studio Ghibli museum.

Kyoto and Osaka were not as different from Tokyo as any of us were expecting. We were all picturing these non-Tokyo cities as far smaller and less urban than they were, and we expected Kyoto to be mostly old architecture, shrines, and populated by far more kimono-clad women. Well, Osaka is Japan’s 3rd-largest city and Kyoto its 7th-largest, so we had the wrong idea!

Dragon moulding on a building in Kyoto.

Kyoto’s Nijo castle at night.

The Fushimi Inari shrine has to be Kyoto’s largest attraction. It’s packed with tourists and Japanese women in tradition dress, and it’s a huge complex of shrine buildings and the vermilion gates (torii) for which it is famous.

Though it was hard to escape the throngs of people, the torii were truly beautiful. My favorite part was how the light filtered down through them. Made of wood, they seemed so fragile and so embedded in nature – though they appear to form a tunnel, walking through the torii still leaves you completely susceptible to the outdoor elements.

We saw thousands of paper cranes next to a wall of these wooden wish tablets.

As for Osaka, we only spent an afternoon there, but we had dinner on the Dotonbori “food street” – and it was hilarious. This area of Osaka has packed pedestrian streets, huge funky illuminated signs, loads of casinos, and cigarette butts lining the sidewalk gutters (a very unusual sight in Tokyo and Kyoto, where smoking on the street is generally prohibited and the sidewalks are impeccably clean).

Underneath Osaka’s Umeda Sky Building. The architect described this circular opening between as a ‘crater’ left by a UFO-style spaceship that once departed from the building. I liked that idea.

My favorite sign in Dotonbori was this giant hanging blowfish.

One of the casinos in Osaka.

It wasn’t until that evening in Dotonbori that I finally saw what I had imagined of Tokyo. My image of Japan was always two-faced: I would think of tradition, politeness, and organization, but also of bright lights, dark urban underbellies, and various futuristic sci-fi movies. More than Shinjuku or Akihabara in Tokyo – the typical ‘bright lights’ areas – Dotonbori in Osaka fit that latter idea.

What I wanted to see most in Kyoto: the Arashiyama bamboo grove. Another packed-with-tourists attraction, but we managed to find more secluded spots in the neighborhood to get away from the crowds.

Part of Arashiyama’s immense forest. I loved seeing this traditional boat on the water. Two men used long sticks of bamboo to steer it. Where did it come from?

Is it just me, or does the dragon presiding over Kyoto’s Nishiki food market look…drunk?

Maybe he’s modeled after this dragon, who presides over the purification fountain at a nearby shrine.

My favorite person at Nishiki market: this elderly woman handing out samples at the sake shop. (My gleeful friend in the back is on his way to purchase the sake we tried!).

You may be wondering: what about that core part of the Watson, the project? I’ve been in Japan for over a month now and written only one project post, though there are a few meetings and events I haven’t written about. It’s tough to do my project with so much group travel, constantly moving around (that is, more than I already do solo on the Watson), and getting wrapped up in the family scheduling and “cultural immersion” that naturally accompanies homestay life. Luckily, I was able to have a project interview last week while my friends were here in Tokyo. Though I was bummed that the timing meant that I had to leave them for an afternoon, I was ultimately very glad to have a chance to interview someone (especially after 2 weeks of staying busy with my Japanese class rather than project) while giving my friends a chance to explore Tokyo themselves.

While I’m thinking about my project and health attitudes, check out these stairs in the metro station. They clearly aim to motivate people to exercise by displaying how many calories you burn walking up each step. I’m not sure how motivating ‘0.1 calories’ is (apparently the whole flight adds up to 6 calories burned), or how many people would notice these faint engravings, but I thought it was fascinating! I’ve never seen anything like it.

And in a similar vein of fascinating culture, this is “eyetape for men” at a cosmetics store (next to “eyebrow pencils for men”). As you may be able to tell from the photo, eyetape is a thin layer of tape that you’re supposed to put just above your eyelid to achieve the double-eyelid look of Western eyes. I’ve seen eyetape for women in a few stores and even women around Japan that have definitely altered their eyes with tape or perhaps even surgery. I have no idea why double eyelids are considered so attractive or why standards of beauty here are so based on Western looks, but it bothers me immensely.

In other news, I feel like I’ve been talking with a twinge of sadness lately – in Skype calls to my parents, letters to my friends, and certainly my last blog post – and I wanted to address that briefly. Of course, it was sad to say goodbye to my host family last week, and I think the reason that blog post came out in such a sad tone was because the difficulty of leaving them surprised me. Even now, I’m at my new homestay, typing in a house in the same neighborhood I left a week ago.

We took the shinkansen (bullet train) between Kyoto and Tokyo. It travels at 160mph, probably due to its aerodynamic shape!

But overall, I think it’s just that I’m a bit tired. There’s been a lot going on, and in the past week and a half, I’ve finished Japanese class, traveled around with friends I hadn’t seen in a long time, moved to a new homestay, and started packing for another weeklong trip. I had an amazing time last week, and I’ve been excited about Okinawa since I picked Japan as a project country, but it still gets tiring sometimes. It’s also a lot of traveling with people, and while I enjoy that immensely, I’ve gotten used to solo travel on the Watson, and I think there’s something very refreshing about it. Also, like I’ve mentioned, the solo nature of the Watson makes it sound like you won’t be saying goodbye to people, and as I’ve said, goodbyes are hard and exhausting – but I would always rather have the goodbyes along with everything else, the hellos and the being together, than no goodbyes at all.

A hilariously Japanese menu.

I suppose what I’m saying is yes, the Watson is tiring, perhaps especially once it’s been going on for 8 months. But that’s okay, and that’s expected, and I love it. I’m so happy to be able to do these things, to have my best friends visit and to travel with a Japanese family (and it’ll be interesting to experience those juxtapositions). I really wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kyoto sunset.

First Day in Singapore

I am so thrilled to be in a pedestrian-friendly place again that I’ve walked about 8 miles every day since arriving here a few days ago. On my first full day here, I put on my sneakers and headed out the door with my camera to see what I would find. Though central Singapore is fairly small, it’s vibrant and modern and clearly a cultural melting pot.

Back to the maps! This is roughly the loop I took on Monday, starting from my budget inn at the top of the map and going clockwise.

Images of Singapore always show crazy inventive architecture – tall buildings that blend the hyper modern with naturalistic and almost floral curves, often lit up like neon rainbows in the night. Well, those buildings are there, but I haven’t seen them at night yet, and while Singapore is certainly modern throughout, it’s not all a towering steel jungle. In a way that’s nice because it makes the city feel more real and accessible, and I feel like there’s more to explore beyond what you see in the magazines.

This is the first view I get when I walk outside. I’m staying in an area that’s all sweet two-story buildings, with the big office towers off in the distance.

The sweet and artsy Haji Lane in the Malay-Arab district of Kampong Glam, where I’m staying. There’s always live music in the evenings here at one of restaurants.

A Chinese New Year’s celebration at one of the many malls in Singapore (there is one every few blocks! I suppose to escape the heat. It’s quite convenient actually).

Singapore is still celebrating the Chinese New Year, and there are plenty of decorations to commemorate the Year of the Rooster. In some places here (mostly mall lobbies), there are panels with 2017 horoscopes for the different signs. Since I was born in the Year of the Dog, apparently my horoscope tells me that I should “have fun now, but prepare for the future” – hah!

The National Library of Singapore – it’s enormous and impossible to contain in one photo! I haven’t even been inside yet.

Yet another mall – Singapore was clearly planned with malls in mind! I’m used to New York City, where the city gets in the way of any malls. Since I didn’t grow up with big malls or Costcos or Targets, I assumed that they were a natural part of the suburban experience, not to be found in big cities.

Driving is on the left here, but it’s hard to tell which way people will walk on the street. I got used to walking on the left in India, but some of the Singaporeans and expats walk on the right. It’s a bit of a cultural gamble every time you spot someone heading towards you!

The “Singapore Flyer,” known as the observation wheel.

Now we’re getting to the famous buildings. This is the Marina Bay Sands resort, which looks like a giant cruise ship sitting atop a tall wave. Surrounded by shops, a convention center, a museum, and more, the actual “wave” towers are filled with luxury hotel rooms. (Apparently the tower design was inspired by decks of cards).

The beautiful Helix bridge on the way to the Marina Bay Sands.

The building that took my breath away: the ArtScience museum, part of the Marina Bay Sands resort complex, designed as a lotus flower.

One of the fancier malls in Singapore, this is the shopping center associated with the Marina Bay Sands resort.

It’s difficult to convey the sheer enormity of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, but this is the best I could do.

Little architectural details that can’t be captured in photos make the whole area truly remarkable. Some sections of the resort walls are blanketed with small interlocked discs, reminiscent of chain mail, that flutter and clink in the wind like a soft wind chime. They give the impression that the building itself is rippling as these metal sheets move with the breeze, causing the light to reflect off in different directions.

Across from the hotel is the Gardens by the Bay, a large manmade nature garden.

Leaving behind the futuristic Marina Bay Sands area, which is all on reclaimed land, I came to the central business district of Singapore. Here I was reminded of New York’s financial district at the southern tip of Manhattan, close to my favorite area of Battery Park City, where there’s a similarly beautiful walkway along the water.

The Marina Boulevard on the edge of the Central Business District.

After passing through the Central Business District, where I saw crowds of businesspeople going on lunch breaks, I stumbled upon Chinatown.

The main street of Chinatown, all pedestrian and filled with shop stalls.

The entry to a huge Buddhist temple in Chinatown.

In the courtyard of the Buddhist temple.

Off the main shopping street of Chinatown, there are lots of Chinese restaurants (well, all over Singapore there are lots of Chinese restaurants!).

This is definitely the biggest decoration I’ve seen for Year of the Rooster.

I was stunned by this building, the Parkroyal Hotel with massive amounts of green.

I also liked this chrome and copper set of buildings nearby.

All of a sudden, I left behind the steely buildings for this colorful scene – I felt like I was back in Sweden! This rainbow building used to be a police station.

The old police station building now has various art galleries inside.

Another shot from inside the old police station.

Finally, I returned to my area in the Malay-Arab district. I’m staying just two blocks away from the Sultan Mosque pictured here.

It was a great first day, and I saw a lot. I’m very impressed by Singapore, and the amount of times it reminded me of Manhattan surprised me (certainly it’s more similar to NYC than anywhere else I’ve been so far on the Watson).  It’s easy to see why it ranks so highly on every list, including health. Okay, that was a lot of photos – that’s all for now!

 

Weekends in Doha

The weekends here in Qatar are on Friday and Saturday, meaning that the work week is Sunday through Thursday. I’ve gotten used to it by now, but this small change really threw me off at first. I’ve learned that Friday-Saturday weekends are common in Muslim countries due to a special prayer on Fridays. It makes sense, but it’s one of those things I never expected to be different.

This is MIA Park, to the right of the Museum of Islamic Art. Every Saturday throughout “winter,” there is a Bazaar there, an outdoor marketplace reminiscent of the tradition of shopping at souqs. You can see the shops at a distance here.

MIA Park also has its own little crescent, like a curlicue off the larger Corniche (the waterfront crescent area of Doha). There is a small café there with a view of the glittering West Bay.

I’ve made some friends here in Doha, some through the social travel site Couchsurfing and others from the tech talk I went to. Many have asked me, “So how do you like Doha?” adding, “There’s nothing to do here, huh?”

I can see how after years and even months, going to the same air-conditioned malls and few sights would get boring in this small city. Even Villaggio would lose its novelty eventually. In Sweden, I went to approximately 25 different museums in 3 different cities; here, I’ve been to one, which means I’ve seen half of the museums in the whole country (there are several more planned for the future).

Another view from the MIA Park crescent, where old-fashioned boats take tourists on the water.

A street in Souq Waqif, the renovated ancient marketplace with traditional shops and many restaurants (one of Doha’s main attractions).

A small outdoor tourist shop in the Souq. I wish I could get rid of that flare when photographing at night, but I just love these Arabian lights.

Me in front of the pretty lights. (Photo credit: Downna).

But my new friends, and the family I’m staying with, have showed me the attractions that Doha does have, and I’m happy to say that I’ve seen a more fun city than I was expecting. While I know that I wouldn’t want to live here long-term, I’ve learned that I could live here, and that in itself is amazing to me.

With Downna and Sarah at a restaurant in Souq Waqif.

Pure Lounge, the bar we went to one night at the Hilton. There are very few bars in Doha, and no restaurants serve alcohol. The only bars legally allowed to sell are those attached to international hotels like this one. I was surprised to find nightlife in Qatar, but honestly, it’s not as exciting as it looks!

Finally, I played Ultimate Frisbee with some new friends last week, and I’m going back tomorrow. There is a small group of expats here that get together every week to play ultimate, and I was lucky to befriend the social coordinator of the group. Since there is only one group, they can’t play against other teams, but they still work hard and scrimmage well. I was so impressed to see the same skills here that I saw in college ultimate.

We went to the beach in Qatar! Luckily there’s a quiet beach here where you don’t have to cover your shoulders and knees. (Photo credit: Downna).

Post-beach seafood at a casual Filipino/Arabic restaurant. (Photo credit: Downna).

I think playing ultimate here will be my Qatar version of swing dancing in Sweden. It’s now a goal of mine to find something fun like this in each country that I go to – a local, social event that I find all on my own and then participate in.

I’m glad that I’ve been able to find social activities here in between project meetings. My progress has felt slow; I’ve had about five meetings here so far, most of them with doctors. I wish there were medtech companies here the way there were in Sweden, though I knew that wouldn’t be the case. While doctors provide an important perspective for my project, my engineering background makes me more interested in medical gadgets and user-focused devices than big hospital machines. Still, it’s good to know, and it certainly teaches me something about the attitude towards medical technology here if there aren’t any medical technology start-ups.

The Pearl, a fancy artificial island in north Doha (well, I suppose most of this city is artificial). There are shops, apartments, hotels, and restaurants here – and lots of yachts!

The Pearl is essentially a curved strip encircling this small body of water.

Welcome to Doha!

I am so lucky to be staying with a family while I am here in Doha. They are from Lebanon and have been living here in Qatar for 12 years, and they have helped me in many ways over the past few days. I now know how to dress here (with my shoulders and knees covered, but not my hair, ankles, or elbows) and how to get around (Uber is everywhere). They’ve also helped me with project contacts, which is incredible because it always helps to have an intro – especially because the universities and research institutes here seem to have more security controls than in Sweden.

The view from my room. I’m staying in a villa in a compound.

I won’t be walking much here. Doha is definitely not a pedestrian city. A lot of people live in compounds in completely residential areas and drive everywhere – to work, to restaurants, and to malls. Also, even in October, Doha is still quite hot! I’ll be seeing highs in the 90s for the whole time that I’m here. It’s suffocating to walk outside for more than 10 minutes, so methods of transportation are mostly reduced to air-conditioned cars. It’s a dusty, dry heat, and luckily not too humid. The dust turns the sky a cool color: a hazy orange-blue during the days and a light purple during the nights.

Inside the “quiet” mall.

On my first full day with the family, we went to one of Doha’s many malls. We went to a mall that is considered quiet and old compared to the new, enormous, glitzy malls (which I haven’t been to  yet). I’m always intrigued by malls, though – even small ones – as I grew up in Manhattan where there are stores everywhere but no malls. This mall in Doha had a Zara, a Starbucks, a grocery store, a cinema, a mini arcade and amusement park for kids, and a bunch of other clothing, makeup, and jewelry stores. All in one mall!

The grocery store had an impressive array of cereals, most of them American.

Globalization truly reaches everywhere. I saw short shorts in H&M even though no women bare their knees outside – but clearly there’s a market for them.

The day after visiting the mall, I took an Uber towards the Corniche, the waterfront road that runs alongside Doha’s bay. I went there to see the Museum of Islamic Art, a museum designed by famous architect I. M. Pei and probably Doha’s number-one attraction.

Walking up to the Museum of Islamic Art.

Continuing up to the museum; on the left, you can see traditional Islamic architecture in the pathway to the museum’s library.

The upper floors inside the museum.

The museum is absolutely stunning inside and out. The architecture is beautiful, feeling classic and modern at the same time. The museum is well laid-out, with a non-overwhelming number of pieces each given their own space and categorized by theme or by area.

An Indian dagger and scabbard.

I really loved this 13th century map of the world, which was part of an exhibit on science in art.

Also part of the science in art exhibit: I couldn’t get enough of these beautiful astrolabes, many of which were engraved in Arabic.

Another view of the museum interior.

The museum had a fun temporary exhibit on boxer Muhammed Ali, who came to visit Qatar once in the 1970s and once in the 1990s. There was also a lovely patio area outside with views of the Doha skyscrapers across the bay.

On the Museum of Islamic Art patio. There was also an amazing fountain right in front of the museum’s entrance.

Old-fashioned boats line the Corniche (I declined an offer to take a boat ride), and they are illuminated by strings of neon lights at night.

The edge of MIA park, the Museum’s surrounding park area.

Doha’s West Bay (the area where the skyscrapers are).

One last view of the museum exterior, shot from the Corniche. I love how green the water is.

Oh museum, my museum

There are so many wonderful museums in Stockholm, most of which I thought I wouldn’t see. My Lonely Planet guide listed most of them as having entrance fees of about $10-15 each, which is definitely too much money for me to spend on a simple afternoon visit (especially after visiting so many free museums in Malmö and Gothenburg). I was never much of a museum person, but now that I’m traveling alone, I’ve begun to seek them out. Museums, both the good and bad ones, provide an easy way to spend time between project meetings, visit different areas of a city, and learn more about a country’s culture and history. And the more museums I see, the more I’m impressed by the good ones.

First up: the Medieval Museum.

So I was quite disappointed to read that Stockholm, already so expensive compared to the rest of Sweden, charged for its museums as well. Luckily, my Lonely Planet guide is just a little out-of-date. It doesn’t incorporate the results of a February 2016 law that removed the entrance fee for many of these state-owned museums (https://www.thelocal.se/20160202/now-its-free-to-go-to-swedish-museums). Good news for me! This post covers five of the free museums I’ve visited in the past week (with more to come).

Stockholm in medieval times covered little more than the area of today’s Gamla Stan (“Old Town”).

The Medieval Museum was fun because it focused on day-to-day life in a medieval Swedish village, using life-size wax people and prop houses. The museum is housed in a fairly small space and doesn’t require much reading, teaching visitors more about feeling and attitude than strict facts (which is appropriate, since we’re discussing a time period that ended 600 years ago).

The “craftsman” in his home, which is large enough to walk through (I even went up to the second floor!).

According to this wax figure, medieval gardeners were quite sad.

This corner of the museum, with its shifting background colors, was clearly meant to emit an eerie vibe about death punishments in the Middle Ages (see the gallows in the back?).

Moving on, I visited the much larger Natural History museum next. This is where I got a sense of Stockholm’s importance and size as the capital of Sweden; the natural history museum here is admittedly much better than the one in Göteborg (which consisted mostly of overly lit 1940s-esque taxidermy cabinets – instructive but creepy). The Stockholm Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet makes an effort to place its stuffed subjects in more “natural” poses and environments. I also appreciated the more focused and relevant exhibits such as one about Sweden’s waters and another about climate change.

This is as much of the museum’s exterior as I could fit in one photo without jumping onto the highway!

The ceiling of the dome in the center of the museum.

Emission sources in the climate change exhibit. I probably would have spent a lot more time there if there had been descriptions in English, but I got a general sense of the topic.

Remember when I told you that Sweden is home to the world’s largest scale model of the solar system? I visited the “Sun” my first day here in Stockholm. It’s represented by the Ericsson Globe (“Globen”), and it’s huge. I was happy to find both the moon and the Earth in the Natural History Museum, placing the “Earth” 7.6km from the “Sun” (exactly 1/20000000th of the actual distance).

Earth is close to the gift shop, while the moon is close to the IMAX theater.

As I said, the museum placed its animals in a “natural” environment: here you have a stuffed fox ready to play!

Let’s be honest: the Göteborg Natural History museum didn’t even have a dinosaur hall.

Next, I decided to visit the Royal Coin Cabinet (“Kungliga Myntkabinettet”), the city’s currency museum right next to the Royal Palace. I’m not so interested in currency, but it’s one of the few museums in Stockholm – really, in all of Sweden – that’s open on Mondays, so last Monday I thought, why not?

Well, honestly, I don’t have many positive things to say about this museum. It’s difficult to retain any information after staring at a thousand years’ worth of coins.

Of course, American currency was part of the permanent world currency exhibit! I was glad to see something familiar here.

A bit of entertainment in an otherwise less-than-thrilling array of objects: a dragon guards its treasure.

Next up is the Sjöhistoriska Museet, the Maritime History Museum of Stockholm. It’s situated in a beautiful building just by the water. While I can’t say it’s particularly instructive, it’s still fun to walk through (a bit like the medieval museum). One gets to see many model ships and develop a bit of a sense for life as a sailor, especially with the mock bunks built in shipping containers in one section of the museum.

The Maritime Museum.

The stern of the Amphion, the specially-commissioned “personal pleasure craft” of an old Swedish king. This is the real thing, with the king’s cabin still preserved and visible through the windows.

My favorite room in the maritime museum: “Old Globes for Young Explorers.”

View from the back of the museum. The fall colors are lovely in Stockholm!

Finally – at least for this post – I visited The Nobel Museum in Gamla Stan. You might already know that most of the Nobel Prizes (all except for the Peace Prize) are awarded in Stockholm each year. The museum has information about all the winners, in all the categories, since the Prizes began in 1895. It showcases various award winners and their projects, and it also covers the life of Alfred Nobel himself. I was really impressed with the Nobel Museum. I didn’t have any expectations about it and I never really planned to go, but I’m so glad I did. It’s well-organized, and I think that the best museums are those with a specific topic – I find it easier to learn from such focused museums.

Schrödinger’s Nobel Prize diploma! I learned that every Nobel Prize, in addition to the award money and medal, includes a uniquely customized diploma like the one shown here. That means there are over 500 different Nobel Prize diploma designs from the past 100+ years.

This is going to sound really cheesy, but I found the Nobel Museum incredibly inspiring. The museum’s main message is that anyone has the ability to be a Nobel Prize winner, and it really feels true when you see the huge diversity of past winners. Also, the museum stresses that experimentation, failure, and persistence are key to developing something prize-worthy – not sheer genius or resources or luck.

Of course, I looked at some of the medical prize-winners. This is the first example of packaged insulin for diabetes patients (1923).

Sweden deserves to be proud of Alfred Nobel and his Prizes. Based on the snippets of his life that I saw at the museum, he seemed to be an interesting man (with a dry wit) who clearly saw the value in celebrating great achievements and inspiring future generations.

Showcased projects, color-coded by the type of prize they won (chemistry, physics, literature, peace, or medicine). I was glad to see an assistive device – the wheelchair – as a prize-winner on display.

Stockholm: Don’t do this walking tour

I arrived in Stockholm just over a week ago, and wow, the time has flown by! Stockholm is definitely bigger and busier than Göteborg or Malmö. There are lots of different neighborhoods, spread out yet connected by a proper underground subway system. As per usual, I spent my first full day in Stockholm walking around the city, although I underestimated its size and walked over 14 miles (!). This is mainly because I spent my first week here in an Airbnb in Farsta, a borough 8km south of central Stockholm.

If I could only show you one of my photos to represent Stockholm, I think this would be it. The colorful, old-fashioned, fanciful buildings, and the greenery, and the boats in the harbor – Sweden’s capital is a lot of this.

I started my day with a 45-minute train-and-bus ride to the U.S. Embassy, northeast of central Stockholm. I was there to give the embassy workers my filled-out “overseas voter” form, which they said they would send to the New York City Board of Elections for me. Annoyingly, although I am already registered to vote in NY, I have to do an additional registration to vote from abroad before I can request a ballot. I should get a confirmation email soon, after which I can request an electronic ballot to vote in this year’s presidential election!

From the embassy, I walked along the water to northern Stockholm (“Norrmalm”), then down through central Stockholm, Gamla Stan (the “Old Town”), and southern Stockholm (“Södermalm”). This is where I should have stopped and gotten a train home. Instead, I kept walking along the long bridge Skanstullsbron towards the Ericsson Globe, and then onto the cemetery Skogskyrkogården (that was an accident; I got lost there), and finally, 14 miles after starting at the embassy, I returned to Farsta. I wouldn’t recommend the latter portion of walk to anyone, as it involved walking along highways and getting stuck in dead-ends. Whoops! The maps below have mouse-over captions:

The full walk, start to finish.

Zoomed in to show central Stockholm.

Nordiska Museet: the Nordic museum. Many of Stockholm’s museums are on this green island, called Djurgården.

Imagine eating in that gazebo! It houses additional seating for a café on Djurgården.

Walking along the harbor towards central Stockholm.

I randomly stumbled upon the Royal Dramatic Theater (Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern).

A little passageway off the street of Birger Jarlsgatan, which reminded me of Paris. Do you see the spots of color at the end of the tunnel? They’re hanging umbrellas!

Berzelii Park, named after this Swedish chemist.

I found the pedestrian street Biblioteksgatan (“library street”), which is known for its high-end shops. I loved the design of Urban Outfitters as a cinema.

On Kungsgatan (“King’s Street”).

A statue in Hötorget, a main square in the city.

Known as “Haymarket,” Hötorget literally means Hay Square and is home to a food and flea market. 

This is the sunken pedestrian square of Sergels torg, near Centralstation. It’s the most central square in the city and has lots of shops. To the right is the Kulturhuset, Stockholm’s cultural center.

After central Stockholm, I walked along the super-crowded pedestrian street of Drottninggatan (“Queen Street”) towards Gamla Stan, which is mostly located on the island Stadsholmen. Stockholm, apparently called the “Venice of the North,” is comprised of 14 islands and has over 50 bridges connecting these islands.

About to cross Riksbron, the “National Bridge,” which connects central Stockholm to the tiny island of Helgeandsholmen (just before Stadsholmen).

Another view from Riksbron. I really love the pastel colored house here. Apparently it’s an old palace! The impressive-looking building to its right is the royal opera house.

Continuing south, this is the canal between the islands of Helgeandsholmen and Stadsholmen. I’m just about to arrive at the heart of the old town.

I found Gamla Stan! This is the main street of the old city, which is very pedestrian, colorful, tightly packed, and incredibly touristy. Every block of every street in Gamla Stan looks like this.

It was a super sunny day and I couldn’t get the exposure right on this shot, but it was still fun to find a little alleyway like this.

The science fiction bookstore is located in Gamla Stan. I love their sign with a rocket ship and a dragon.

I crossed another bridge over another canal to get to Södermalm, southern Stockholm. This is supposed to be the “edgy” part of Stockholm, and I definitely got a sense of hipster Brooklyn while I was there.

Nytorget, or “New Square,” a small park in Södermalm.

I powered on through Södermalm (missing most of it) with a mission in mind of getting to the Ericsson Globe. It’s a huge indoor sports arena and concert venue, and it’s the largest hemispherical structure in the world. I didn’t know that at the time, though. The reason I read about it months before arriving in Sweden is because it is supposed to represent the Sun in our solar system. Sweden is home to the world’s largest scale model of the solar system, spanning the entire country at a scale of 1:20 million. The Ericsson Globe represents the sun in Stockholm, and models of Mercury, Venus, and Earth are also in the city. The other planets, as well as moons and comets and so on, are scattered around the country. Anyway, I think this is super cool, so I had to see the globe up close.

It’s so strange to leave the old, classic architecture of Stockholm and then see this futuristic globe in the distance.

Bridge selfie! At this point I had walked 7 miles and had removed 2 layers. You can see my nose getting sunburnt from all the sun (a reminder that one should wear sunscreen even in Sweden in September).

I finally found my way to the Globe (Globen). Trust me – it is much bigger up close!

After reaching the Ericsson Globe, I was definitely far from central Stockholm. I kept going south and ended up in a large park, which was actually Skogskyrkogården, Stockholm’s “Woodland Cemetery.” I later found out that it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and where Greta Garbo is buried, though I didn’t find her grave while I was there.

The Woodland Crematorium and its three chapels.

It’s very easy to get lost in a cemetery when all the roads look like this. It’s beautiful, though. I loved the tall trees.

I wandered too far and ended up stuck in the back of the graveyard, where I found this unfortunate “grave” of old gravestones.

And that’s all! A couple miles later I found my way back to Farsta. Overall it was a good walk, but I missed some interesting parts of central Stockholm and saw too many highways. The next day, I followed my Lonely Planet Guide’s 3-mile walking tour of Central Stockholm for some more controlled sight-seeing. I have to say, it’s been nice so far to have Lonely Planet books as a resource.

 

 

 

 

“But what is your affair in Elsinore?”

Yesterday I traveled to the Danish city of Helsingør, or Elsinore, the real-life setting of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. The play takes place in a castle called Elsinore, though the real thing is called Kronborg Castle. It was an absolute blast, and I was thrilled to know that Denmark has a castle old enough that it was the setting of a play written over 400 years ago.

To get there, I first took a train to Helsingborg (Sweden) before boarding the 20-minute ferry to Helsingør (Denmark). The distance between Helsingborg and Helsingør is the shortest point between the two countries.

This is a photo from the ferry to Helsingør of the ferry back to Helsingborg. It was surprisingly fancy, with multiple bars and cafés inside, and people were drinking sparkling wine even at 11am on a Monday!

The Kronborg Castle seen from the ferry.

I really liked this Hamlet & Ophelia art on the way to the castle.

At this point I was getting ridiculously excited! Kronborg Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Since none of my photos were able to capture what it feels like to walk around the whole castle and be in the courtyard, here you go.

This year, 2016, is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. For the past two hundred years – since the 200th anniversary of his death – Kronberg Castle has held a Shakespeare Festival each August. So my timing was very lucky, especially since part of the festival includes live Hamlet reenactments in relevant areas of the castle throughout the day!

In the King’s Apartments of the castle, a distressed Ophelia surprises Queen Gertrude.

Yorick the Jester announces the marriage of Queen Gertrude to the new King Claudius.

The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears to him beneath the castle, asking for revenge.

Walking through the castle, following ongoing scenes from one of my favorite plays, was the best way to explore the site (a little bit like Sleep No More in New York City, but more light-hearted and with a better set!). I spent two hours in the castle and had lots of fun, making the $20 admission fee totally worth it.

Hamlet almost kills King Claudius, but can’t bring himself to do it as the king is praying (beautiful chapel, by the way – I never pictured this scene in such an ornate setting).

My favorite photo of the day: King Claudius contemplates his guilt in the chapel. (The actor playing King Claudius was by far the best of the bunch).

‘En garde’: Hamlet and his friend Laertes duel in front of the day’s crowd.

Well, that’s enough photos of the actors. The castle also had a small exhibit on the other renditions of Hamlet that have taken place on-site, including plays staged at the castle and movies filmed there. Staged renditions still occur as part of the Hamlet Festival every year.

Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh from a 1937 theater production at Kronberg. Olivier later starred in the 1948 film as well.

Of course, Shakespeare had his own portrait at the castle.

I climbed up the Cannon Tower (they tell you that it’s 145 steps) for a view of the castle and some of Helsingør.

Saying goodbye to Elsinore.

I barely spent any time in the city Helsingør – after all, it really is known for the castle – or in Helsingborg, which is really only known for the ferry to Helsingør! Helsingborg seemed like a sweet harbor town, though, as I walked around there while waiting for the train back to Malmö. The town has a couple incredible churches and a beautiful city hall building.

This seemed like a fun place! It doesn’t open until 10pm and looks like part of a Pirates of the Caribbean set.

The waterfront at Helsingborg.