Study Tour #1: Day Two: Stockholm Wanderlust

@ the Arkitekurmuseet portion of the Moderna Museet

01 July 2012, Sunday

After we all re-grouped after spending some time in Gamla Stan, we walked over to the Modern Museum/Arkitekurmuseet (Moderna Museet) to admire the artwork, but most importantly, to study the architectural conditions of the building's architecture: which meant that we had to sketch. Again. There were some interesting exhibitions, and there were some WTF exhibitions, like Yoko Ono's (orgasms and butt cheeks, etc...). I saw everything that the museum offered because last time I visited, I didn't pay admission, which meant I only went to the free exhibition (the Arkitekurmuseet) and the gift shop. I like to treat gift shops like museums because their posters and postcards are like miniature versions of the actual artwork the museum has on exhibition. Close enough, right?

Scandinavians LOVE to tan. 

Next stop: the new sustainable development of Stockholm: Hammarby Sjöstad. I couldn't believe that there was a lot more left to our 2nd day of the study tour. I felt extremely rushed in this portion of the tour because we had a little over one hour to discuss the area as a group, to sketch, and to have lunch in the area. It was a beautiful area- a good break from the medieval/baroque/classical architecture that surrounded us in the historical areas of the city. After a few of us picked up lunch from a Middle Eastern establishment, we took our food and found a lovely little place between apartment buildings that had foliage and little fountains where children were weaving themselves in and out of the water spouts and streams. We all intentionally left out sketching because food was more important than drawing, especially on such a tight schedule. Although our conversations were all about architecture, it was still better than sketching.

left: Resurrection Chapel by Sigurd Lewerentz
right: Woodland Cemetery grounds. 

Last stop of the study tour: the Woodland Cemetery. This cemetery is surprisingly part of UNESCO, and I could see why. Made up of a lot of chapels scattered across the park, we had three case study presentations (Resurrection Chapel, Woodland Chapel, and the Holy Cross Chapel). We also passed by Greta Garbo's burial site. I'll admit I didn't know who she was, and when I asked a fellow classmate who was awed by the shear presence of a gravestone with her name on it, she simply stated, "Its Greta Garbo!". Which didn't help in explaining who she was. It was a pain trying to sketch ferociously site to site with the little time we had outside the chapels and inside. The whole point of sketching is to capture the "essence", but I don't work that way, I have to capture the "essence" plus every other detail down to the last tree needle that has fallen onto the building's rooftop. That doesn't quite work for that type of sketcher.

The "academic" day was finally over and we had time to unwind a bit at the hostel. It also happened to be the day of the final game of the EuroCup, so everyone was making plans to watch it somewhere while having dinner and/or a drink. We ended up going somewhere nearby on the metro- all 30-some of us, and obviously not everyone agreed on a place to eat. Four of us decided to go to a pizza place because it was cheap. Remember, we are still in Scandinavia, which means high prices for anything and everything. The pizza was remarkably good, and I ate a whole small pizza, plus a slice more from 2 other classmates who decided to get another pizza but couldn't finish. Afterwards, we wanted to find a place to actually watch the game, so we met up with some other students who were getting food and drinks at an outdoor cafe/bar (there must be a name for this type of establishment). We got some drinks, and I got myself a non-alcoholic Bavaria 0,0% beer. I used the last of my Swedish Kroner that I had on me (I had saved a 20 Kroner bill back at the hostel). Trust me when I say that this was the best non-alcoholic beer I have ever had. A bit watered down, but so much better tasting than any other that I have tasted. I would have gotten a second if it wasn't for the lack of monies. (update: I looked up reviews on this Bavaria 0,0% lager, and it seems like for the beer enthusiast, it is a bad beer or choice. But for someone that doesn't drink and only chooses non-alcoholic choices when and if available, its one of the better ones... so far.)

I did not know who to root for since the Italians and the Spaniards have been a long time favorite for me. And they were playing each other now. But while observing the game, it was clear the Spain was the strongest player. Italy, too, but they weren't making a good game out of it. So Spain won and I was quite content with that. People flooded the streets coming out of the restaurants and bars, and it seemed that everything closed quite promptly after the game ended. I was also in Europe during the Eurocup in 2008, and Spain had won as well. Europe is definitely the place to be for football (soccer).

So it was back to the hostel for all of us, for another long, but flexible, day awaiting us the next day.