Teletornet

The communication tower at Farsta is ninety meters high. It was constructed back in the 1960s for Televerket at the company's headquarters. Telia moved out from the area in 2016. Now Rikshem and Ikano are rebuilding the area to apartments, and they decided to tear down the old tower. A change from a previous statement when they promised to save the landmark tower, but I guess money talks. The work starts tomorrow, and will be finished by Christmas. The last explanation I saw said something like "the shadow from the tower makes it hard to build new apartments here". As I took the photo a man out walking stopped and said that it was a "helgerån"(sacrilege), tearing down the tower, and I agreed with him.

View from a bridge

I stopped by the nature park Slätmossen in Handen yesterday. As I was shooting this photo from the bridge at one of the two ponds in the park, another photographer walked by. He was out walking his dog. He asked me if I had been here earlier when the Autumn colors really peaked, and I told him, yes.

Vita Bergen

Four photos from an Autumn walk at Vita bergen on Södermalm. Back when these old houses were new, this was a very poor area of Stockholm, which is hard to believe today. This is part of Vita bergen. The White Mountains. The Sofia church sits on top of the hill and can be seen from many places around, and outside the city. I have shown you a few photos from this area before, and as it is a favorite part of Stockholm, chances are there will be more of the same in the future. The buildings up here are today renovated and owned by the city. The queuing time to get an apartment here is too long, so don't even think about it, okay?

The Loch Rudan Monster?

Out walking along the sandy beach at Övre Rudasjön on a glorious Autumn day.

Hornsgatan

I shot these two photos from "Hornsgatspuckeln". Just a few blocks away from the glass facade in yesterday's post.This is typically how they built apartment buildings in Stockholm back in the day.

Glashuset

Only looking at the top photo you would say, that this must be a modern building with that cool glass facade, right? Then, seeing the second photo, you would ask yourself, hey, what is going on here? This building is interesting, as they say. A 44-room hotel at Wollmar Yxkullsgatan, near Mariatorget on Södermalm. The building permit alone took thirteen years. It is an old building, but with a new facade. The bar at the hotel claim that the flooring is 1 900 000 000-year-old, give or take. The owner, Per Hellsten now have five hotels in Stockholm. All in old buildings, and all said to have unique rooms. Designed by the architects Fredric Benesch and Katarina Lundeberg.If you would like to see more, check out their web site.

RIP RAP 2022

Spotted on a door at Wollmar Yxkullsgatan on Södermalm. At a first look I only recognized one of the sadly departed. Michael K Williams an actor I really enjoyed, both in The Wire and in Hap and Leonard.

Fishing Event

There was a fishing event at Nedre Rudasjön in Handen, over the weekend. I don't fish myself, but I have met and photographed the guy that usually organizes these events, so whenever he posts anything on Facebook I will see it. So I decided to check it out. I did a quick count and I spotted maybe sixty people around the lake.

Besvärsbacken

Brännkyrkagatan at Mariaberget on Södermalm. This part of the street was known as Besvärsbacken, (nuisance hill). It is the steepest street in Stockholm, with an incline of 22 %. I have never even tried to ride my bike up or down here.

Hungry?

Yeah, sure, I could eat. Köttbullar it is. At the corner of Nytorgsgatan and Kocksgatan on Södermalm you will find this trendy eatery. The builing dates back to 1890. It was renovated and rebuilt in the mid 1980s. There are both stores, offices and apartments here.

Vildvin

If you walk over to the memorial grove at the Katarina cemetery and look across the street towards Östgötagatan, you can spot this facade. Covered with a climbing plant that we would like to call vildvin.

Anna Lindh

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh's headstone at the Katarina cemetery on Södermalm. She was stabbed to death by Mijailo Mijailović at the NK department store back in 2003. She died at the hospital the following day.

Modern Day Handyman

I had just visited a park, shooting the Autumn colors. And had also taken a photo of a facade of an old apartment building, where today you will find a trendy restaurant. So seconds later, sitting on the bike, waiting at the stop light I had the camera ready when the handyman crossed the street on his skateboard.

Nedre Rudasjön

A few more photos from one of my visits to the Rudan nature reserve last week. You can get some pretty good reflection photos on a calm day. There are two lakes here, this is the lower lake, Nedre Rudasjön. This is where I often photograph the ice fishers.

Street Art

It was one of those days when I had to jump off the bike and take a photo of the temporary street art at the legal graffiti wall at Farsta.

The ridiculous couple

There I was, out enjoying the beautiful Autumn day at Årstaviken in Stockholm. Always a great spot for a walk, and for street photography of course, as proven here.

Autumn Moments

Nedre Rudasjön. Stopped by the Rudan nature reserve twice this week. Met a few people. One man was enjoying his lunch on a pier as I walked out to take a photo. He complained to me about the lack of mushrooms in the forest. At the next pier, I beat a woman to it with a few seconds, and she sat down on a rock nearby while I took another photo. All yours now, I told here as I left. She then spent quite a long time sitting on the pier, enjoying the solitude. When I snapped the top photo at the third pier, it was just me. But on the second shot you can see the two people that I just mentioned.

Street scenes from Strömkajen

Top photo. A woman posing for a photo at Strömkajen with the Grand Hotel in the background. Next two photos from the waiting area for the archipelago ferries, always a good spot for street photographers. I normally don't like time-stamped photos, but on the fourth photo with the two ferries and two tourists it really wasn't up to me.

That Old Tree

An Autumn visit to the old tree. It was a fine October day. Around 12C, but a little too windy for my liking. I haven't seen or heard anything about the accident I saw here on my last visit and I take that as good news.

A candid portrait

The Nobel Prize announcements for 2022 took place in Stockholm last week, (and in Oslo). As per usual I had never heard about the winners, except for Svante Pääbo of course. And over at Stadshuset, or City Hall they were busy all week with all sorts of Nobel Prize related activities. I dropped by for a quick visit and managed to get this candid portrait of a young woman in the garden where she was posing for a few photos.

Wandering on foot

I have been wanting to photograph this spot for a while. This is at Djurgårdsbrunn on Royal Djurgården. Up among the Autumn colored trees and the inviting benches, you can also see a sculpture. It depicts troubled poet Gustaf Fröding. I was never really familiar with his work as poetry is not my cup of tea. But ten years ago the pop group Mando Diao made a record called Infruset. It was based on Fröding's work, and the song that really spoke to me, and many other's were Strövtåg i hembygden which was a poem that Fröding wrote in 1896. The song by Mando Diao is well worth a listen. Please try this Youtube video with both Swedish and English subtitles.

Djurgårdsbrunnskanalen

Two photos from the canal at Djurgården. It is known as Djurgårdsbrunnskanalen. Always picturesque, but possibly peaking this time of the year. The part that is most popular to photograph goes between the last two bridges and I took the second photo standing on the last bridge at Lilla Sjötullen.

Story of the day

The peace monument at Nacka Stand. Thought out by Carl Milles. The plan was for the 23-meter high sculpture to be placed outside the UN headquarters in New York. But for whatever reason the idea for the sculpture stayed in a sketch-book. Many years later, a former student of Milles, Marshall Fredericks, by then in his eighties, decided to make the sculpture a reality. He did so with the help of Herman Bergmans konstgjuteri in Stockholm. And since 1995 you can see the sculpture down by the water at Nacka Strand. Photographed from Blockhusudden on Djurgården.

Early October

I am sure some of you remember the photos from last Winter with the ice skaters out on the frozen Drevviken lake. This is another look at that beach. It is called Hökarängsbadet. Always very crowded during the Summer months, now, not so much.

Autumn Views

A few more Autumn views from the top of the Fåfängan hill. First photo shows Kastellholmen, one of the smaller islets in Stockholm. Famous for the kastell with the Swedish flag that always fly when Sweden is at peace. Turning 180 degrees, (after a short walk to the other side of the hill), we see Kvastmakargatan and the wooden houses at Kvarteret Tjärboden. Some of the oldest on Södermalm, and in Stockholm. They date back around 320 years. In the background the Sofia church tower that I have shown you before. Next after going back to the other side again, we see Beckholmen, and in the background Skansen at Djurgården. I shot that photo at f/32, because why not. Then on the fourth photo the amusement park Gröna Lund with some of the attractions. And lastly Campus Manilla. A very popular school on Royal Djurgården. Crown Princess Victoria's kids are students here. And boy do they have problems at the school. With bullying. And violence. But it looks nice, from a distance.

Fåfängan

Fåfängan is a hill at the most eastern side of Stockholm, on the border with Nacka, the neighbouring municipality. Nacka is a very hip place to live these days. And it is crowded with media people and politicians. Our current PM, Magda who you saw here on the blog last year, will be moving back there any day now after losing the election last month. There has been non-stop construction in Nacka since quite a few years. The municipality also has a long coastline and very big nature reserves. I have shown you some of it before. The areas that you can see from Fåfängan are Danviken, (old hospital), and Saltsjöqvarn, (very big mill industry a century ago), at Sickla. Panning the camera to the right you can see parts of Södermalm, Johanneshov, (with the big Globe arena), and Hammarby Sjöstad, that remodelled industrial park I showed you a couple of days ago. But, back to the hill from where I took these photos, Fåfängan. Named so by the owner Fredrik Lundin, who back in the day in 1770 built this gazebo, or lusthus, in Swedish and decided to call it Fåfängan, Vanity. There is a cafe and restaurant on the hill, open during the Summer. But people come here even when everything is closed to have a picknick and to look at the great views over the water.

MV Britannia

To disembark, or not to disembark, that is the question. I climbed up another hill. This time at Fåfängan, on Södermalm. For a couple of reasons. The view. The autumn colors, and also the big construction site at kvarteret Persikan. So where are all those views I hear you ask? They will come. But sometimes you also get a chance to photograph the big cruise ships from up here, so this is one such photo, of MV Britannia.