Stockholm Diary: Weekend #2 - Kaknastornet

The next weekend was with Vipin.

But before I get on with the pictures, I would like to mention something that I actually felt. When we are in the country, we create differences on so many grounds. Religion, language, region, political views (read petty support), ancestry and things like these. One such strong ground is Food. Here, we call food as Bengali, Punjabi, South Indian, Rajasthani etc. But, when, on the second Saturday of my stay, I went to Vipin's place, I saw people busy in the kitchen. The dishes which were getting ready were Rasam, Sambhar, Vadaa, Papad, Rice and also some ready made pickle. When I saw these things on the table, I just saw it as food, Indian food. Although I had left my hotel after my own sweet lunch but there I was more than happy to have a fantastic second innings. (Thanks Karthik!).

We were actually planning to visit the Kaknas Tower (yes, Kaknastornet). It was formerly the tallest building in Stockholm till 2005 and a place which offers a complete 360 degree view of the entire city. But we somehow dropped the idea for that day. Had some window shopping and.... well... nothing much.

But, on Sunday, we made it. Thanks to Google and www.sl.se, I was half way successful in finding our way to the tower. But for the rest of the half, we needed help. Bamm!! in came Stefanie. Lost, we were outside the Karlaplan tunnel and were looking for some helpful direction. Stefanie, must be a real patriot from heart, did all she could. [although, this has already been my facebook update, I would still repeat]. She used her own memory first, then her iphone to get some info, then called up a friend (in the meantime, she let her bus go without boarding it as "it was okay, coz she was not in a hurry"), then finally called up a city helpline number, took the directions and wrote it down in my little writing pad herself. As I said in FB already, we sure have a lot to learn from such strangers.I am sure many of us would be glad to make sure a tourist gets the correct directions but I am also sure that many more wont care that much.

Anyway, following the directions, we were finally below the Kaknas Tower. They charged us 45 SEK to use the elevator once. At the 32nd floor, it felt good.

 

I don't have any idea if it is the north or south or what. I was just up there and was clicking. This one up here is the packed of all the photographs and if I leave out the 'ports and cruise ships' degrees of the 360, this was closest to civilization. The next one...

had this fantastic open area. It probably isn't a place that is used for any particular sport, but who cares as long as there is an open place and kids playful enough to make some use of it. By the way, I know you have already noticed, the colours of the season on a few trees in the first picture. Beautiful, aren't they?

The last one here is (probably) towards the Baltic sea. [I had some data to produce regarding the direction only after the third weekend though].

This scene was more than just for a shot. It was to be seen. The trees, the water and finally the horizon. Does get you. Unfortunately, the Nordic autumn wind in the 32nd floor isn't something very good for a gloveless pair of hands. Upon encircling the complete balcony twice, we finally decided to get down and return back to our bases. Had another Monday coming  but the me in me had started to plan something already for the third weekend...