Touring With People

So, I'm sure that if you read this with any frequency, you'll note that I am pretty random. To stick with said trend, I wanted to recap on walking around Stockholm with people today. I've been twice. Once this morning with my parents. Later C and I went. I enjoyed both experiences for different reasons.

My dad's been out of town for a week or so. We got to talk a little bit this morning, about presentations and stuff. Then we had cake, today is cheat day afterall, and went to walk it off. While some people tour a city to experience the different areas through site, pictures, learning, we really seem to do it more as a family framing and appreciation for the city we live in. I can't really remember doing it anywhere else.

The interesting this is, that each of us has a different perception of the pluses and minuses within the city itself. Usually a tour, not unlike this morning, is a slow stroll with frequent stops for pictures of flowers and buildings. Sometimes, it's to make an outrageous attempt to catch the light as it passes through an old sign, or the reflection of a boat in the water. We talk some. Mostly about different places to go and eat, to hang out and be social, the usual stuff. What we don't realize though is how much we are really sharing about our different perspectives of the city. We rationalize the 'frame' and justify and crappy shot by the need for the object of thirds. But what it really shows me is the contrast in percieving the concrete world around us in the City of Stockholm.

When C and I went, we talked about non-familial things. Relationships, things coming up with school, things we had in school, parties etc. It's your general conversation, a concert of the beginnings of a new relation with the malaise of sharing with someone you are comfortable with. It's just a completely different experience. Plus, when we go to see things C has yet to see, it's new and I get to share my framing. It's interesting, because sharing different angles and different reasons for taking a picture with C is completely different from the way it is with my parents. With C, I'm hoping, it's more of an addition to her initial experience. In so far as it could be, I'm hoping that it is grounds to build on, and a means for comparison allowing her to appreciate the city for different reasons than I do. Inherently, C is a different person and should appreciate things from a different value base. This is not to say that appreciation does not come from a similar place and cannot be the same. Instead, C gets to build on my preconcieved notions of the city. C also develops her own perceptions. Together she gets an enriched view of the city.

Not to digress to food. BUT OMG we so kebab'ed today. It was a really good time. C got chicken. I got Kebabtallrik - kebab with sas over pomme frits. Then we, naturally, talked about the new trend of blogging. I wonder if we could get our other friend D in on it ... Anyways, we talked about several things over kebab, which seems to inspire us to new levels of sharing. We've only been twice, but each time we've talked about pretty significant things. Kebab was NOT as good as last week. I think it's because D bailed on us :( We were all supposed to go juntos but her significant other needs supposed for recovering from embibing alcohol. Anyways, we kebab'ed and IT was good. So spaketh the lord ...

After our city tour, C and I hit Coffeehouse by George. They just opened a new one down on Hamngatan. It was pretty awesome. I had carrot cake and mocha. Then there was the brownie incident. I really wanted the brownie, but C had mentioned she wanted one earlier when we were discussing CH by George. A long discussion ensued about the purchase of subsequent brownieage, but I just annexed a goodly portion of the corner with frosting :) C consented of course. It was 'good times, good times.'