"To stare at some inexplicable old stonework, inexplicable and impenetrable, at any view, instantly seen and always, always delightful?"
-Elizabeth Bishop, https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/questions-of-travel/
One of the strangest things about Stockholm (and Copenhagen, Oslo, and Luxembourg City) is that pedestrians wait to cross the street until the light turns green. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before. Everyone is so relaxed and patient. The road will be completely clear of cars in every direction, and people will just stand there waiting for the light. And, when I cross the street before it changes, they look at me with concern. I knew there was a low crime rate in these countries, but I had no idea that it extended to Jaywalking.
During my first full day in Sweden, I saw two incredible museums: the ABBA museum and the Nordic museum. I was pleasantly surprised by the ABBA museum--it was fun and interactive and had many dimensions. If you enjoy that kind of thing, you should definitely check it out. I gained a whole new appreciation for Mamma Mia.
The Nordic Museum was HUGE. If you really want to see the whole thing, give yourself a couple hours. If you were to really appreciate each floor, it would take you a couple hours per floor. It was interesting but overwhelmingly large.
I found out today that last night was the midsummer sun/night festival. It is the longest day of the year, when the sun never sets, and it looks like it's 6 PM at 2 in the morning. Unfortunately, I did not get to celebrate, but I learned about it from a Swedish local named Carl whom I met on a train, and I've included a picture from him.
He described how people get "stinking drunk." He said that it all starts will a pickled herring lunch, and then around two or three in the afternoon, people sing shnopps rhimes (drinking songs) and dance in a circle around a decorated "midsummer pole" (pictured above). Other people had been telling me about this dance around the pole, but they had been calling it a "pole dance," so I was very wrong in my imagination of what it looked like. One of the songs they sing while dancing is called "Small Frogs," which is a traditional Swedish song. The lyrics (and dance moves) in english are, "They are fun to look at, they have small ears, small ears *touch ears,* and no tails, no tails *put hands on butt and jump,* oo wa ah ah, oo wa ah ah, oo wa ah ah, oo wa ah ah, oo wa ah ah, oo wa ah ah..." and so on. Thanks for this info, Carl!