Observations

The people are all beautiful. All of them. Young, old, thick, thin. Their features are all what is idolized as beautiful in western culture. Its not like walking around in a city of supermodels, as they are of all shapes and sizes, they just all have some great genes. The blonde to brunette mix of the white people (the vast majority, although I have seen people of all colors here, unlike Germany, which the entire time I never saw anyone but a white person. Oh, which reminds me, on the bus tour of Berlin the tour guide told how during WWII all of the Jewish people were killed in Berlin, but now there are around 4,000 Jewish people back in the city. 4,000 in a city of 3 million?!? After 65 years?! So sad.) is about the reverse of in the states. If you say, like 80% of US white people are brunette and 20% blond, its the reverse here. And same goes with eye color, most are blue eyed, a minority have brown eyes. I'll tell you the chink in their beauty armor, though, is, just like in the states, the blonde guys go bald way more often than the brown haired guys, so lots of balding dudes.

Its fucking cold, but at least the Swedes recognize it. Its not like they are walking around in t-shirts, or wind breakers, or even light jackets. They are in heavy winter coats with hats and gloves like any sane person would in this weather.

Contrary to the supermodel waitress, Stockholm is not nearly as expensive as Copenhagen. Things are about Euro priced here, maybe even a little more reasonable. Apparently Swedes pay 50 percent income tax, so maybe that has something to do with it (the VAT in Denmark was 20% on every purchase, maybe its less here).

Stockholm classic architecture does not feature dragons as Copenhagen's did. This is a disappointment.

All the Stockholm people jaywalk, all the time. Its worth mentioning as I never saw a single person jaywalk in Berlin or Copenhagen, but these people don't give a shit about the traffic/walk signals. They just roll on. Could be its too fucking cold to stand and wait for a light to tell you to cross, could be that the crosswalks take forever here to change, as I found while I was still trying to obey the traffic laws. That soon ended. When in Rome, right?

Also found out that only in the last 15 years has there really been a nightlife culture here in Stockholm. Alcohol was very strictly regulated by the government, rationed, and heavily taxed. When Sweden joined the EU in 95 they accepted the standard alcohol enforcement regulations of the EU. Now, bars are packed every night, all over the city. Unlike Germany, its a cocktail culture up here, much less about beer.

More occurrences of awkward Scandinavian dudes. Not as marked as in Copenhagen, but still worth mentioning. At the bar last night, I watched lots of... you know how nerdy guys just don't know how to act around women? They are either really stiff and awkward, or they treat the women like a guy friend instead of a lady. Lots of that. Could be an age thing too, there was definitely a younger crowd at the bar. The Swedish guys are definitely not as nerdy looking as the Danish guys.

The Swedes, like every country I've been to in Europe, all sing along to all the songs played in a bar/pub/club. Difference here is all the music is US. The swedes really, really, embrace the English language. They chat with each other in Swedish, and, yes, it sounds an awful lot like the muppet chef, but when they switch to English its pitch perfect, with barely any accent whatsoever. Everyone speaks english everywhere I've been (except, ironically, the information desk woman at the Berlin train station), but the Swedes are the most english centric. The sounds of the Swedish language are very hard to make, though. Lots of voiceless phonation and fricatives, things we dont do here. Which makes the fact that they speak accentless english even more impressive. For example, I'm staying at the Hotel Birger Jarl. Its pronounced with almost entirely voiceless phonation, something like beeyay yawl.