Wet in Vaxholm

When niece Sofia and her parents stopped in Stockholm on their way to Vimmerby and Pippiland we went to Vaxholm - just to get out on the water. The weather was ok most of the day, but heavy clouds passed overhead from time to other. The first set of dark clouds gave surprisingly little rain, but the second time we were quite happy to have found a covered porch to stand on.

Posten

Hey?!

Isn't there something from our new country we've forgotten to present?

mmmm...

aahhh-yeeesss...

the Swedish mailboxes, often seen pairwise in appropriate colours - as in other large European countries separated into local and ..less local.. mail.

Our new rides

Since we will both have longer commutes for uni/work than we had in Geneva as well as in Santa Barbara we decided to buy new bikes instead of relying on the second hand market. Where Tue found his bike the first day he went shopping for one, it took Lisbeth a little longer - Stockholm's selection of shops and bikes is not impressive for an ex-Copenhagener - but in this past week wonder bike no. 2 was brought home.

And now that we both have bikes, Stockholm is opening up with plenty of new excursion options: last night we had a picnic in Hagaparken and today we'll explore Djurgården.

Midsummer

Midsummer is an important thing in Sweden!
So important in fact that it doesn't always coincide exactly with the solstice, but always on the Saturday closest to the solstice, which causes the Swedes to be off on the Friday (for midsummer's eve) and thereby getting a small vacation. The day of midsummer's eve is in fact also the day when the event is really taking place, and as such midsummer in Sweden was on the 19^th this year.


Readers of Astrid Lindgren should know that midsummer is celebrated by decorating a midsummer's pole with leaves and flowers and then dance around it - girls preferably with a crown of leaves in their hair - but our experience in Vasa Park suggests that the modern version consists primarily of watching a show by folk dancers in traditional garments and a few dances for all - although mostly for the kids (including a quite lively dance to a song about a frog that doesn't have ears nor tail) - around the midsummer's pole. The adult midsummer activities seem then to consist of enjoying the contents of the picnic basket which should of course contain herrings and snaps. Tue did notice that snaps in handy picnic sized bottles were given a prominent placement this past week in Systembolaget (the national Swedish alcohol monopoly)..

Spring in Solna II

Another consequence of the arrival of spring is the hatching of eggs - accordingly we have lately had rich opportunities to see ducklings, goslings, and ..eehh.. 'cootlings'.

Particularly the geese are abundant in numbers - and they are not exactly shy. When we stopped to take a picture they did not walk away. Rather, they came straight at us and crossed the path right in front of us.

A funny thing about geese is that goslings have a tendency for following the more dominant couple of geese they encounter, which is why we've seen a cluster of some 20-30 goslings.

A completely different story is the fact that geese are displacing other species and are considered a plague. Accordingly they suffer the trauma of occasionally having their eggs punctured.

Click the image for a larger version.

Spring in Solna I

It has to be realised that we moved further north - and thereby got an opportunity to experience spring 2-3 times this year (first in Geneva, a little in Copenhagen and then in Stockholm). Nybodagatan is close to a green area, Skytteholm park, and here it is particularly easy to observe the difference it made when spring came to Sweden shortly after we did.

Still 3 weeks till midsummer..

As mentioned our new apartment offers lots of morning sun this time of year. After living some years under more southern skies it's quite interesting to experience nights full of light again. These pictures were taken here May 30th at 3:25 in the morning (almost an hour before the sun became visible over the horizon).

Nybodagatan

Now that both of us are living here - på riktikt, as it goes around here - it is about time we present the apartment we already mentioned.


This is our house - well, yes, we share it with a lot of other people. In fact we don't even live on this side of the house, but now you know what you are looking for when you come to visit us.


The entrance links all the other rooms of the apartment - and has more closet space than we currently know how to fully utilise (not least because we have been busy minimising our belongings every time we move).


The kitchen has - like the rest of the apartment - windows to the east, so our herbs on the windowsill usually start the day with a proper dose of energy (and are often quite thirsty by the time we eventually drag ourselves into the kitchen for breakfast).


The living room is the largest room of the apartment and in the picture you can see how one can easily sit comfortably in the couch and try to pick up some more Swedish...


From our balcony we have the view of trees, and a little further away one can see the tower at Råsunda stadium.

Full bloom in Nørrebro

Before Lisbeth moves to Stockholm to start her new job, we had to exploit the fact that we had an apartment at our disposal in Nørrebro. So Tue came to Copenhagen for a weekend to visit Lisbeth. The aforementioned apartment is located very close to the assisting cemetery, so we walked through it a number of times. Apart from these trips amongst trees with an impressive coat of flowers the weekend also had time for a trip to the movies and a little shopping - Tue had promised to bring back some of the Danish red hot dog sausages for his new Polish/Scanian colleague who has been missing these in Stockholm.

Walpurgis Night in Solna

Already Wednesday before noon when Tue went shopping in Lidl he noticed a sign on the door advertising the opening hours for "Walpurgis and Labour Day" - but didn't really give it any thought. That same afternoon when Tue went to the university for a moment to take care of a few things, the colleagues-to-be were so kind to remind him that he shouldn't forget to go out for Walpurgis. Then he asked what that was all about - and understood that it would involve a bonfire and grilling in order to celebrate the coming of summer. All in all it sounded a lot like the Danish midsummer celebrations, only a litte early, and it turned out that was going to be a bonfire less than 5 minutes by foot from the new residence.


As could be expected the park was full of people and there were stands busy selling coffee, sausages, and large lollipops. The bonfire was lit right around sunset while there was still a little daylight remaining and while the sky darkened and the fire grew there might have been some kind of speech - the Swedish was a little hard to follow but a lot of words were said before the microphone was passed on to a choir and a little band playing horns (not simultaneously, thank goodness). At intervals throughout the rest of the evening the music would be interrupted by the same voice that spoke before, only now to announce missing parents and/or children.


Unlike the Danish midsummer celebrations there was no witch on the bonfire, and quite contrary to our expectations regarding the Swedes' demands for public safety, the embers of the fire were left behind to smoulder unattended (and unlike in the evening before unfenced) for most of Labour Day.