This is the first and perhaps last time I would take the metro more than 6 times in 2-3 hours. All thanks to the longest museum in the world, that’s fortunately or unfortunately underground. I feel almost nauseous by the 3rd hour, a little claustrophobic as well. Metro overload. Sometimes I wonder why do I even need to put in effort while traveling? Shouldn’t I be enjoying myself instead? But good things come with a price. This museum experience was well, worth the effort.
Every metro station was an elaborated piece of art, each with a different theme. The art pieces stretch from one end to the other, and every section looks a bit different. There are two platforms every station since there’s bound to be a train that travels the opposite direction of the other. And true enough, the two platforms look different as well. But at the centre of at every station, the art piece is the most elaborated. So even if you want a short visit to the stations, just focus on the centre portion.
While it’s easy traveling around with the metro, the waiting time sucks sometimes. During non peak hours, you it takes around 10-15 minutes to wait for the next train at certain stations. And it’s not funny after while, especially during winter, where you literally feel the shivers down your spine, waiting for a train that never seem to arrive. Multiply that by around 10 main stations, you know you’ve waited foe trains at least for an hour in total. Hence the nauseous and claustrophobic feeling.
Here are the highlights, with the most elaborate and best art pieces.
While most of the stations are underground this is perhaps the only one that’s not.I love the big heart that’s like so in your face. It’s as though you’ve entered the world of pac-man with those pixelated animations.
I kinda think they tell a story, somewhat, with those arrows and all. Don’t forget to walk up and down the stairs, where you will get to see even more of these “old school” game boy quality animation. Feeling a bit cold, literally, I decided to move on. So many more stations to go man, ain’t nobody got time for too much pac-man!
Next up. A sea of red. And it’s Really RED. Hidden underground is the station called Solna Centrum. With a lot of imagination, it looks like dawn / dusk, when the sunrises/ sets, illuminating the sky, painting it in one single shade of scarlet. But more realistically, it actually looks like a a furnace, or oven. It’s like you’re a pizza that just entered a preheated oven waiting to be baked. Pardon me for my food analogies. Meh~
Walking along the platform, you’ll see multiple art pieces, some don’t make sense, while others can best be described in one sentence? Like the one above, all I can think of is “old man wants to cross the road with his dog”.
Moving on, I reached one of the most beautiful stations, Stadion.
Look at that rainbow! Happy painting. It’s as though I entered a kindergarten art class where kids love painting rainbows just cos it fills ups the drawing paper easily and has standard colors to follow. There were also huge big bold letters that say “STADION” at one of the ends/ entrances to the platform. Instead of a sea of red, now we see a sea of blue.
Kids’ art classes aside, how about reminiscing about some of the most famous fairy tales in the world, Snow White and the 7 dwarfs? A huge apple dangles right in the middle of this station called Tekniska Hogskolan.
Or perhaps something more graphic appeals to you better? There are multiple stations that are covered with monograms of simple drawings just like the two below, one full of wheat and the other stacking pentagons of various colors. Unfortunately, I don’t exactly remember the names of these stations. There are just too many of them!!!
Or perhaps, you’ll like something related to sister and brotherhood… then head to Tensta! Translated in different languages, Tensta station looks like a cave, with carved drawings from the stoneage period. It almost feels like walking into a Flintstone film where Wilma and Fred had documented their daily lives in huge stones and painted them in simple colors. Yet it seems like the cave belong to some temperate climate as penguins line the walls of the cave and there are drawings of reindeers as well. Well I guess its really up to our interpretation as to what kind of stories appear in our minds as we look at these drawings. 
Here’s a final summary of the main stations that appealed to me. Let’s get on board the T-bana for more discoveries!
Oh one thing good about T-Bana is that you get to keep the card for life. If you even intend on going back to Stockholm, you can always use it again. So dont bother doing a refund.
A tad too tired for another station.
Love the art pieces anyhow.
wandererlust 