The totem pole

It is 1929 and in mysterious ways a totem pole from the Haisla Nation in British Colombia end up at a museum in Sweden. The legend has it that the Haisla Nation was riddled with an epidemic that killed nearly all its people in the year 1872. Chief G'psgolox sought help from two spirits, and as a thank-you, he had the nine-meter totem pole made. After learning about the Totem pole in Sweden, the Haisla nation asked to have it back in 1992 as it had been stolen from them. The Haisla Nation then offered to make two replicas, and this is one of them. Today you can see it outside the Etnografiska museum at Djurgården in Stockholm. More info at Wikipedia.

A Candid Moment

Stockholm Romance. After a 100-minute-long bike ride, I took the first photo of the day at Strömkajen in Stockholm. I spotted the kissing couple sitting at a park bench near Bolinderska palatset and Grand Hotel. Had they not been kissing, they would have had a great view over Stockholms slott, the royal palace where the King has his office.

Street Jazz

Cycling home after another Stockholm visit with the eBike I stumbled upon some live music at Götgatsbacken in Södermalm. This street is pedestrian only and always filled with locals, cyclists, escooter-nutters and tourists. And the many outdoor eateries are usually packed with people so you have to pedal with your eyes open so to speak. This is Leo Lindberg Orgeltrio, with the pianist Leo Lindberg, drummer Chris Montgomery and guitarist Max Schultz. I had to stop and listen. They drew quite a crowd and they are really good. All three are well-known musicians. They were playing outside the store Hellstone Music.

Hot Chocolate Anyone?

It is 1880 and King Oscar II decides to have a pavilion built at the little island Kastellholmen in Stockholm. The reason being that the royals and the socialites need a place to drink hot chocolate after the ice skating on the frozen bay during the cold Winter days. So the architect Adolf Emil Melander came up with the idea for this building known as Skridskopaviljongen.

Tre Kronor af Stockholm

Tre Kronor af Stockholm, that is the name of this brig. A newly built ship based on the naval ship Gladan. It was constructed at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. Owned by 3000 boat enthusiasts. The ship serves as an ambassador to the Baltic region. Spotted near Djurgården a while back.

Balconies

The new apartment building Fyren, (The Lighthouse), in Nynäshamn is still under construction, but many people have already moved in. I have shown it to you a couple of times already, and here is a zoomed in photo of the lower part of the high-rise that I shot last week.

A Moment of Zen

And then she opened her eyes, noticed me, and that was that. From my most recent visit to Nynäshamn and the always busy harbour area. I'm guessing she was waiting for one of the archipelago ferries to arrive.

A day at the beach

The warm summer days just continue. It is not as hot as the Summer of 2018, but I'm happy enough. Although I drink a lot of water while out on my long eBike rides around Södertörn. This was the scene at Nickstabadet a few days ago. A very popular beach at a bay in Nynäshamn, just minutes away from two commuter stations. The camping here is open year round. I'm sure I showed you a Winter photo from here back in February. On this July day people were sitting outside their caravans and at their rented cottages verandas eating a late breakfast, or maybe an early lunch. The beach was slowly filling up with people as I lifted my camera to shoot this panorama.

Karlberg Palace

The Karlberg Palace at the lake with the same name dates back to around 1635, built for Carl Gyllenhielm. You will find it in Solna, the neighbouring municipality to Stockholm. Today there is a military academy here. The park behind the palace is open to the public. I snapped this from across the water at Kungsholms strand in Stockholm.

Mismatched Socks

It is so hot this Summer that people apparently dress anyway they want! Mismatched socks, and socks with sandals. Anything goes! As seen on a warm day along Riddarfjärden in Stockholm a couple of days ago.

Hornsbergs strandpark

I cycled down one of the more boring streets in Stockholm, Lindhagensgatan, to get to this place. This is Hornsbergs beach park, or strandpark as we like to call it. The water is Ulvsundasjön. Always a big hit with sunbathers, lunch eaters, and people out for a long walk around Kungsholmen, (highly recmomended). This was an industrial area for many years. Today you will find a new high-rise and countless cafes, restaurants and more in this happening part of Stockholmn.

Norr Mälarstrand

A beautiful stepped gable at a building at Norr Mälarstrand in Stockholm. The sculptures were made by two brothers, Aron, and Gustaf Sandberg some 90 years ago. This is in the same area as our famous Stockholm City Hall building.

Lie of the day

A couple of Summers ago the municipality decided to stop mowing the lawns in Haninge. A great idea that received a lot of praise from everywhere. And I'm guessing, especially from all the busy bees and insects. This year sadly something went very wrong. I still see many of the signs, like here at the big park in Handen, but they have mowed everything.

Free books!

I like things like this. A bus stop with a little library at Norrskogen on Torö. The normal rule is that if you take a book you should leave one, but I didn't know about it until I saw it earlier in the week. I picked a crime novel by Carolina Neurath, and told the author about it via Twitter and she seemed to like it. I shot this after a longish ride on the eBike on what was probably the warmest day of the Summer so far. And after snapping this I had an equally long ride home. The novel was okay. Two female journalists working together trying to dig up information about a story end up in a very serious situation involving human trafficking, murder and more.

Smedsuddsbadet

I made a quick stop at Smedsuddsbadet earlier in the week. It is a popular beach near Rålambshovsparken at Kungsholmen, with a great view over Riddarfjärden in Stockholm. There is a popular water promenade here so it is always a lot of people in this area year round, but probably a little more during the Summer.

A summer to remember

Out on my eBike in Stockholm I stopped on a bridge connecting two small islands Lilla Essingen and Stora essingen for a photo of this group of young dudes going for a spin in a motorboat.

Lake Flaten

Another lake, another walk around said Lake with one of the usual suspects. This is Lake Flaten at Söderort in the Stockholm municipality. We started close to the kids beach and then continued past a popular climbing spot. Met quite a few runners and cyclists on the walk. There are a couple of big allotment gardens here as well as an old farm with a few houses in the middle of the forest. It is very hilly here and the walk took a lot longer than we planned so I ran out of water. You have a good view over the lake and the beaches from a few of the cliffs. As I took a few photos from one cliff a mountain bike cyclist started a little BBQ just for himself. Half an hour later I could see the smoke from across the lake as we closed in on the big beach where people were sunbathing and playing beachvolley. It was a very nice walk, although it took forever.

Klara Kristalova Monograph

I sold a photo of a sculpture, made by the artist Klara Kristalova to the French publisher Perrotin last year. To be used in their book about her work. I met Klara quite a few years ago now when she visited the park in Tungelsta to repair her sculpture Touched by Flowers. Earlier this week I got a copy of the book.

Konditori

This is a painting made by the artist Mats Sandeberg. He runs a gallery at Grödinge, next to the biker cafe Rosenhill. This artwork can be admired outside the gallery on a wall. The original is a triptych and a bit wider. The gallery was closed during my visit, but the artist and gallery owner lives nearby, and if you want to you can call him in.

Fluffy Summer Clouds

After shooting the photo of the runestone at Bröta in Grödinge the other day, I cycled on for a bit before stopping by the side of the road to take a photo of a few charming barns and when I was done with that I took this photo of the field where I was standing. The scene reminded me a bit about that old Bliss photo by Charles O'Rear.

Brötastenen

In the forest but not far from the road, this is Brötastenen, a Viking-era runestone at Bröta in Grödinge. It is 2.5 meters high. The runic inscription translated a few times reads: Vigmar had the stone raised after Jörunda, his friend, compatriot, and brother. The word Bröta itself means to build a new road and the runestone has been moved at least once over the years when a new road was built. Photographed while out on an eBike ride that took me to a famous biker cafe and then back home again.

Sunbathers at Eriksdalsbadet

Heading home after a longish eBike ride to Stockholm, and a ride around Södermalm I stopped at Eriksdalsbadet for a look at the sunbathers.

Mälardrottningen

A classic Stockholm view. Mälardrottningen. And in the background the Riddarholmen church. Mälardrottningen is a ship with an interesting history. And it also an old nickname of Stockholm that dates back 160 years.

Hemester

Swedish word of the day. Hemester. Staycation. Four photos from a recent eBike ride around Södermalm in Stockholm. It was another beautiful Summer day and many locals were out on the water everywhere. Snapped these views near the two islands Reimersholme and Långholmen. I did hear and see a lot of international tourists as well, quite a few young Americans were strolling around, and most of the restaurants, cafes and beaches were filled to capacity, which was great to see.

Neder Söderby

Out cycling in the rural Summer landscape at Neder Söderby in Nynäshamn. This is close to Lake Muskan that I showed you a while back. Riding my bike on the gravel roads here is always a nice feeling, despite the heat, and all the flies!

Waldemarsudddes Oljekvarn

The old mill at Waldemarsudde,at Royal Djurgården in Stockholm. From 1784. Renovated so it should be in working order, just missing the blades. It was used to make linseed oil. Prince Eugen often used it in his paintings.

The Wings

A sculpture by Carl Milles at Museikajen, near the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

Kram

This is a bit unusual. A very Swedish type of street art. A roundabout dog. Usually you will find them, at, you guessed it, a roundabout. This one stands on a hill overlooking Lake Ådran, and there's no roundabout in this area at all. Oh, and kram is the Swedish word for hug. I found it while out riding my new eBike, taking a shortcut between two roads with very heavy traffic.

Piggelin

This is Piggelin. A local hedgehog. Been a regular all week. Twice, when there was no cat food out on the veranda Piggelin walked into the living room and ate the food in there. The cat, Tindra doesn't seem too bothered, but she looked a bit concerned when Piggelin turned over her water bowl. Yesterday evening after a longish dinner Piggelin fell asleep at the plate. I tried to get a few photos of the sleeping hedgehog but managed to wake it up as I walked out but that just got it's appetite up again!

The Before Photo

Out on a bike ride at Hammersta I stopped for a photo of the sky. Little did I know what was about to happen. From nowhere (not really), it started to rain, and it came down very hard. I stopped and tried to get my rain poncho on, and that took a while because of the strong winds so I was soaking wet within a few seconds. I pedaled on but then it started to hail. So hard that it hurt my head, and visibility was down to a few meters. I decided to hide out at a bus shelter at Gryt. When I got there it was already packed with people. One cyclist gave me a nod, two bikers were there as well as a few women with a stroller, one of them lent me her umbrella. So we stood there for a while looking at the weather, another biker turned up just as the thunderstorm got underway. Lightning hit nearby a couple of times and when that finally stopped I decided to bike home in the hard rain. Sure was an interesting ride home.

Cutting Tools

Very good kitchen knives from Fiskars. In use every day. Theme day, Tools.