The last full day in Stockholm was a free day for everyone
to see and do anything they still wanted to do.
I, in spite of not having to, woke up at 6am and got some work done
before heading out to do my souvenir buying.
I walked toward the Old Town part of the city and tried to find
non-touristy, Swedish stuff for the people I want to get gifts for and was
amazed at how hard it was to do. Swedes
make some very high end stuff; things I would love to be able to bring back for
my friends and family, but most of it is either difficult or impossible to
bring back, WAY too expensive, or difficult or impossible to identify with
Sweden (H&M clothes for example).
Eventually, after many miles of walking, I found gifts for
everyone I was looking to buy for, including a whole lot of food! As I walked around two things struck me. First, the traffic on the main shopping
thoroughfare increases significantly from Friday to Saturday (and accordingly
so to do the people selling, preaching and generally entertaining on these
street). This traffic increase really made
the city feel alive. Second, I saw
hundreds, if not thousands, of hockey jerseys.
Swedes don’t tend to wear jerseys around casually, but given that
Saturday and Sunday represented the semi-finals and finals of the world hockey
championships, the jerseys were out in force (and not only Sweden jerseys but
also Finland and Switzerland).
After getting my standard lunch (2 apples and some cheese
here is Sweden), I started off to find my beloved her requested
chocolates. Without my native guide
(haha), I went to the wrong station, on the wrong subway line and ended up
getting a lovely 2 mile long walking tour of the island where the Palace is
before re-orienting myself. If I hated
walking this would have driven me crazy, but honestly it is my favorite part of
going to other cities so I had a nice time.
I finally found the shop I was looking for, bought way too much
chocolate (though I don’t expect any complaints), and headed back, had dinner,
and went to bed early.
The next morning, I met the students early (6:20am local) to
head off to the airport. Everyone was on
time, even if some of them were quite tired and we made our flights without any
problems. Flying back is hard because
Stockholm was so much fun (and because we all dreaded a FULL day of travel),
but I was glad to get home a mere 21 hours after leaving my hotel in Stockholm.
In reflecting on my experience in Stockholm I
learned/observed the following things:
- Swedes are amazingly fluent in English. In other countries I have visited, people speak English, but do so hesitantly and less well on average than Swedes. No one we encountered in Sweden was incapable of communicating at a high level in EnglisWifi is NOT ubiquitious. While both Nic and I expected there to be generally available Wifi, the reality is that it was relatively rare to find accessible Wifi (except at 7-11 which had free Wifi at every one of their hundreds of locations)
- Sweden is a small market. We all knew going in that the population is Sweden is about 9 million, but its relative size and density greatly affects the business models that make sense. IF insurance is broadly diversified across the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland) in order to reduce risk in increase its insurable base while Hitta has largely consolidated “local” solutions to e-solutions that have yet to be consolidated in the US.
- Systembolaget must be among the most unique businesses I have ever learned anything about. Their mission goes beyond being responsible in selling the product, they actively engage in tactics to encourage its consumption. They certainly strive to do well in sales if you decide to buy, but they engage in a variety of activities to encourage you not to decide to buy. It was truly fascinating!
- Stockholm is a very accessible city. Between the subway, busses, trams and a few blocks of walking, you can easily get around without a car. That said, because they have worked to retain the history of the city, many of the sidewalks are made from pavers, bricks or cobblestones and so if you aren’t used to it (or if you wear shoes with thin soles) it can be quite punishing on the feet.
- Services are very expensive. If good are expensive (and most are), it is because the price tag includes a 27% VAT, but what is amazing is how expensive services are. For example, I looked into getting a pedicure on Saturday afternoon (because of the point above) and the price was 660kr (about $110). I am sure there are reasons for this beyond what I observed, but I would speculate that one of the major reasons for this is that every job in Sweden strives to pay a “living wage”. While it was nice to offer a tip as a token for good service, it also means that everything that is labor intensive is expensive.
This was a great trip and I hope to return to Stockholm
sooner rather than later.
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