Journal no. 3

i think it's safe to say that IKEA is the most famous cultural export Swedish has given us.
so C brought us to the largest one in the world, the one named Kungens Kurva.
we walked from Skarholmen station, but had to make a huge detour around a hill thanks to the unexpected road works in the area.
it was a relief to finally see the huge yellow building after all that walking. 
the entrance area of Kungens Kurva and the IKEAs i know in Singapore and Perth have a very similar layout and design, with attractive displays and escalators leading you up to the store area.

we made a beeline for the restaurant, where their ridiculously affordable meals make dining at IKEA very popular with the locals. C had the Family card which gives her further discounts.
i got meatballs. they are called köttbullar in Swedish. such an awesome word.

 this cold smoked(?) salmon was lip-smackingly springy and savoury.

we only skimmed through the furniture displays. these lights can collapsed into a sphere!

i liked how they re-created the actual dimensions of apartments that average people lived in and furnished them, even the kitchens and bathrooms, to give us some inspiration. it was fun to be able to visit so many "homes".

we spent some time in the food market, buying chocolates and candy, since the sweets they stocked were of high quality.
then we browsed the large malls nearby and went back to Skarholmen for coffee. we saw many different ethnicities and cultural dress styles as we sat facing the unromantic concrete town center.

 we went back to the city where C suggested that we go to Vasa park, a nice field of green with a surprisingly awesome kid's playground at the other end.

 we sat watching intense street soccer played by fit young men.

past the cute mini-hill and rocks was the kids' area.
i was super impressed by its design because on the child-friendly slopes were cool stuff like rubber trampolines.
we too tried to be like the tiny tots bouncing on the resilient matrix, but it was exhausting and a bit scary if you get too excited with all that jumping.
how i wish we had urban parks like this in Singapore. 

Vasa park is in Sankt Eriksplan, one of C's favourite neighbourhoods.
from the window of a cafe: "Ha en fin dag" is Swedish for "have a nice day".

 it is quite an upscale area with pleasant boulevards and interesting townhouses, especially along the river.
the scenery and view of the buildings while crossing the Sankt Eriksgatan bridge is lovely.

here's another example of nifty design - a car-shaped bicycle parker.