A Little Trip to Europe

Yesterday it was sunny and bracing, and as it was a Sunday, everyone was out walking. For anyone who has never been to Stockholm, it's built on an archipelago, a series of islands clustered tightly next to one another. THS and I live on the Southern Island (Söder) where there are many hills and rocky ledges. Our Western edge faces the north, and along this Northern edge of the island there is a great cliff. You can walk along the edge of the cliff and look down at the water far below that separates this island from the old town (Gamla Stan), and see the boats and spires and bridges off in the distance. I wanted to catch the sunlight, THS had to study, so I went off walking on my own. I walked along the edge of the cliff along Montelius Vägen, which is sort of a boardwalk. (Please note that I do not have a camera, so none of these images are mine.)















The view from Monteliusvägen is of Gamla Stan, the old town, which from this vantage point looks something like this:

And this:














Then I went down a very steep, old cobblestone road, and made my way over the bridge that you can see in both pictures.
I walked around the old town for a long time, and it was lovely.


































I went into some churches, and some free museums. At some point along the walk, I caught myself thinking reflexively, "How lucky I am that I can make trips to Europe so easily now." Hahaha! I was surprised at myself -- that even after living on this continent for all these years, knowing the reality of life here, I still have my childish conception of Europe as a place where you visit churches, look at old towns, take in 'culture'.
I didn't think I still had these simple-minded associations.

But recently I was reading some advice to a writer who asked how she might reinvigorate herself after having worked herself down to a state of torpor where she had no ideas left. The advice she received was that she should forget literature. For a long while she should simply go to museums and spend hours looking at art. Any art that pleased her. And then she should go to concerts and hear music that moved and inspired her. When she returned to her manuscript she would be replenished. As a young person, there was always something about travel to Europe which had this effect on me -- it filled me with new strength and ideas. Probably these happy memories are part of why I've ended up here. The interesting thing, however, is that the reinvigorating aspect doesn't seem to come from the variation in scenery. There's something about walking in Stockholm that is inspiring and rewarding, even if you live here all the time. In that sense, I am terribly glad that I can "go to Europe" so easily.