Mösspåtagning

Thousands of grad students filled up many of the outdoor restaurants in Stockholm a while back. You can recognize them because of the white "studentmössor". A very Swedish thing, this. The teenagers party hard for nearly two months leading up to this moment. All paid for by their poor parents no doubt. It can cost 20 000 SEK to graduate from secondary school these days.

Finally!

I ride my bike over the Skanstull bridge every time I enter Stockholm. And I will often stop for a photo of the concrete pier below, at Hammarby sjöstad, because it will tell me all I need to know about the current weather. And as you can see this was a fine early Summer-like day.

The King's Birthday

King Carl XVI Gustaf turned 80 years old a while back. The Royals from Denmark and Norway showed up for the party and moored their official boats at Skeppsbron, just across the street from the Royal Palace. The Danish ship is called Dannebrogen. The Norwegian, KS Norge. A lot of security present of course. We heard the Cannon salute from Skeppsholmen and saw the Swedish Air Force do a fly-over with the Gripen and some of the older aircraft as well. But the area was still open for anyone to visit so the place was packed with onlookers and people eating lunch at the restaurants down by the water. I tried walking up to the palace but it was too crowded, so I headed over to Strömgatan near the Opera House from where I could hear the choir singing for the birthday boy at Lejonbacken. I then walked out onto the Norrbro bridge which was also packed with people. Including the cyclist on his way home from Lidl. I am not really a royalist, but it was still fun to see everything. A little later I was stopped by police because they were closing a street near City Hall as the king and queen drove by in his 80-year-old Volvo. I took a quick photo, but it was out of focus, so I deleted it.

Cherry Blossom Mania part III

Another visit to the King's park, Kungsträdgården, for a final, (?), look at the Cherry Blossom mania. A couple kissing while taking a smartphone selfie. Two people setting up for a video with that cinematic look. Walking by. Looking at it all. Shooting in macro mode, and having your dog pose for you. A short visit this time, but I am happy with the photos.

Karolinska University Hospital

I parked the bike and went for a photo walk around the Solna Campus, focusing on Aula Medica. A fun building to photograph and to clean, no doubt. Aula Medica. Campus Solna. Nya Karolinska. The two old buildings are known as Gammelgården and Stenbrottet and are today used by the University.

Motherhood

Two recent photos from a walk in Stockholm. Waiting halfway over the street at a zebra crossing at Stureplan. Second photo taken outside Östermalmshallen along Humlegårdsgatan.

Kungsholms strandstig

We have had a few amazing days this long weekend. Here are a few photos I took just before that, while walking and cycling along Kungsholms strandstig on the Kungsholmen island. Always fun to look at the boats at the marina here. In the background the Karlberg Palace, a military academy. A relatively new word in Swedish is "kajbalkong". That is what we call the areas with the chairs seen here. Anyone using this one will see many boats and canoes pass by. The walk along the water here is hugely popular, especially with runners and I did see quite a few of them running past me when I sat down at another "kajbalkong", close to the stairs known as Grubbens trappor which you can see in the fourth photo.

Two recent snaps

Two photos from two different days. Taken at two different places. The first photo shows an old boat called Klaralust, moored at Norr Mälarstrand on Kungsholmen, close to City Hall. You can also see a few buildings at Riddarholmen. I took the second photo at Vattentorget at Nya Slussen. In both photos you can see the Riddarholmen church where the tower is being removed for a big renovation. I showed you another photo of it recently, but I do enjoy keeping track of changes, so here it is again. And in the second photo you can also see the ongoing work with the new bicycle bridge over Söderström. It will connect Södermalm with Gamla stan.

BBQ at Morarna

May Day. 25C today. Full Summer. Everyone having a day off. Hasse, one of my BBQ buddies and I decided to drive out to the Gålö peninsula for a BBQ. But there were too many people at the cliffs we tried first. Next stop was Gålö Havsbad, even more people there. So we tried Morarna, and it was nearly deserted. A few people out walking, a couple of campers and quite a few people out on the water. Hasse had made 15 kilo lamb sausages at his sister's place a while back so we tried some of them together with potatoes, tomatoes and cabbage. So good. Finished off with coffee and a cinnamon bun in the sunshine on a nearby pier.