Being from California, I don’t own any winter clothes. Not even for skiing (I don’t ski). So after asking friends that do know more than I do, I ended up at the local Sports Basement store which was offering a storewide discount on everything. These guys are seriously knowledgeable. So $500 later, I ended up with gear from head to toe, including this cool Orage Alaskan Jacket. I was ready for -25 degrees Celcius (-13 Fahrenheit).

As the departure date drew near, the weather in Scandinavia became warmer by the day. That was a relief. Even in the Arctic Circle the forecast was for about -15C, which compared with -35C it was definitely good news.

Hello Again, Stockholm

So after 15 hours of flights later, I’m in Stockholm. This was only my second time in the Swedish capital, but the last trip being more than 10 years ago during the summer. This being my first time during winter, so I didn’t know what to expect. But I was looking forward to seeing the city in snow, and visiting many of the design shops for content for my design blog – so here I am.

So the first day was probably the worst combination possible: snow and rain. So the streets of Stockholm is filled with slush and therefore not very pleasant. The only “plan” I had on the agenda for the day was dinner at Mathias Dahlgren’s casual dining restaurant Matbaren in the evening, so I decided to do a little walking tour to get myself reacquainted with the city, which is now popular with the Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, most recently with the movie “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”. Since I have never read the book nor have seen the movie, I decided to start with the Drottinggatan, which is a main shopping street in the Norrmalm district. In the photo below you’ll see PUB, which is the department store Greta Garbo worked at when she was discovered. Pretty cool, eh? The inside of the store was not all that exciting until you get to the home section on the top floor – it was filled with design products for the home. I was in heaven.

After walking the Drottinggatan, I turned over to the Birger Jarlsgatan towards Stureplan, which is a square filled with nice shops. This street also splits Norrmalm with Östermalm, which is an upscale part of Stockholm.

Not too far from Stureplan is the Östermalms Saluhall, which is an upscale food hall with restaurants and just food stalls selling everything from fish to Swedish wagyu (yes, apparently they have that too in Sweden). I just wasn’t hungry enough to try anything. I did read though that you must have herring in Sweden, so I figured I’ll run into it again somewhere.

Walking across the Östermalmstorg square is the beginning of a few design shops in the area, including the well-known Asplund store. This is a shop that sells all kinds of home furnishings, including Asplund’s own line as well as well-known international brands.

After some rest back in the hotel room, it’s time for the main event: dinner at the 1-Michelin star Matbaren inside the Grand Hotel. So as I’ve mentioned before, this is a casual restaurant. There is a formal dining room called the Matsalen (2 Michelin stars) which is just next door. So here is what you get when you sit down: a tray with your utensils, glass and then a bag with today’s date on it. What’s inside? It’s actually bread.

So dinner begins with natural foie gras and artichoke with a vinaigrette of hazelnuts (bakad ekologisk gåslever kronärtskocka, vinägrett på hasselnötter). The foie gras seems to have melted into everything, so you have to mix everything up and eat it. This was yum.

Then it’s fried reindeer and gnocchi with ginger, cabbage and spring onions (stekt renkalv & äggklimp, ingefära, vitkål, sticklök). This was definitely my favorite dish. I’ve had reindeer on my last trip to Sweden, but I just can’t remember how that tasted. This was just a very tender rendition.

And finally, the dessert. Baked wild chocolate from Bolivia. sour cream, toffee ice cream, nuts (ugnsbakad vild choklad från Bolivia. Gräddfil, tofféeglass, nötter).

Evening ends with a short subway (and expensive) ride back from the Kungsträdgården station to the hotel. Note that the station is so “raw” with art.

First let’s talk about the location. The area around the tower is part of Sumida-ku, a ward in eastern Tokyo (there are 23 wards/districts). This seems to be an area without the crowds of Shinjuku or Shibuya; it was just much more quaint, more local, more like any normal neighborhood where people knew each other. That’s just the feeling I got.

I went to a small cafe in Higashi-Mukojima called KOGUMA (which means cub), which was remodeled from an old drugstore from 1927. Inside you can eat, read from the cafe’s library of Japanese and some English books and just enjoy an afternoon in a quaint little street – if you can find it! Since it was wintertime, the meal I had was a Baked Curry (1,000 Yen or US$13). I then finished the meal with a Green Tea Chiffon Cake and house-made Ginger Lemon Tea.

The street that the cafe is on had a series of old stores like the one you see below with old signage. It’s like finding a piece of old Tokyo (well, not very old… you get what I mean).

Walking along the Kiku-kawa (river) you can still see glimpses of the Tokyo Sky Tree with foliage.

More of the Sky Tree along the Sumida River with reflections of the Sky Tree on the Asahi beer headquarters building.

This is one place in Tokyo I’m definitely coming back to again.

After the museum, I walked over to Covent Garden. I found a little corner with colorful (literally) stores and cafes, with a cool store called Rice: The Little Shop of Funkiness that sold home and kitchen stuff. This store is actually from Denmark!

The gal from the store recommended a local fish and chips place called Rock and Sole Place, which apparently opened in 1871. Food was good, except it was still expensive. One of the things I learned this time is that eating inside the restaurant can be much more expensive than taking something to-go. For example, the cod fish and chips is £10 if it’s to-go, but £13.50 if you eat in. That’s a 35% difference! Service was not bad though. But next time I’d still opt for the to-go menu.

After a meal, you gotta walk it off. Well, before that it was an attempt at trying to get tickets to Wicked, but that failed miserably as the show was sold out. So then it was a walk from Victoria Station over to the Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, and across the river to Southwark all the way to the Tate Modern – and who knew the Tate Modern was still open for another hour (on Fridays and Saturdays the Tate Modern closes at 10pm)! So that was the evening’s special treat.

After taking in most of the fun at the Tate Modern, it was back on the road to Bloomsbury.

This time around, I decided to take more time to explore the City, especially when the British currency has come down a bit this year. In addition, I found some great accommodations in the Bloomsbury area at reasonable prices (compared to the £150+ per night for hotel accommodations) – so the incentive was there. I’ve also combined fun with a little bit of work for my DesignsWelove site, as the London Design Festival just began (today).

So what have I done so far? The first evening (since I arrived in the afternoon), I saw the London production of Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre, which was an awesome show.

The second day, I actually started the day with a press tour (for the design site) at the Victoria & Albert Museum, in which we met curator Murray Moss for a short presentation of the pieces he curated for the London Design Festival at the V&A. One of the pieces is what you see below – it’s the Escapism Dress made of 3D “printed” linen. More on that one later on DesignsWeLove (that’s my plug).

Then it was a walk through Knightsbridge to have some light lunch at the Fifth Floor Cafe of Harvey Nichols. Not too bad, but it still cost £14.95. By my American standards, this is very expensive. Add another £5 for a large mineral water and you get the point.

One random thing: I do love the fact that in London, there are road markings that remind pedestrians to look in the correct direction when they cross the street. Otherwise, there would be many close calls with tourists…

Getting back on track, I ended up at London Fashion Week at the Somerset House, checking out the exhibition as well as attending London-based Irish designer Orla Kiely’s presentation of her 2012 Spring/Summer collection. Lots of good looking, well-dressed people everywhere.

It’s then some more walking along Buckingham Palace to Oxford Street and then to Regent Street before heading back to the flat for some hot lemon verbena herb tea I bought from Harvey Nichols to end the evening.

So after five months of hiatus, this “new” metrosnapshot will be more of a personal travel blog – local to international. I hope you enjoy it as much as I will.

Thanks for reading.