DP-Sthlm takes a break
The daily photo from Stockholm is going to take a break, but dont worry, it will be at most a nine day absence = )
I´ve been travelling very much lately with work and due to that I have´nt really had time to take photos. Tomorrow I will going to the west coast and Gothenburg with work, coming back on friday I will directly head south to meet my dad and the rest of my family with my girlfriend. Coming back on the tuesday I will directly head for Värmland with work from where you could see the Picassopicture.
So basically I will be all over the place with little time for leisure. Hopefully though I might find something interesting on the way and I might just upload something when I get to a computer this weekend. In any case I hope to find some time to atleast check other photoblogs!
In the meantime I give you a little shot from yesterday showing my mate Chris in action. And for those who wonder, my eye still hurts from the action picture previous =D
And of course the archives with earlier pictures are available. I think I have improved a little atleast since I started ;-)
Football availability
I love this shot. But god damn it. It really did hurt = )
The second after the ball left one of my best mates feet it hit me right in the face. I thought Tobias would have composure to hit the ball well over me, lying there on the ground just a few metres from him. But... no! Well, we all had a laugh about it, although mine was in complete agony at the same time.
This is one thing that I love with Stockholm and Sweden in general. Wherever you live it is´nt far to a small football pitch like the one we played on or a bigger pitch. Something I have noticed that we are pretty spoilt with here.
And when you get going it´s difficult to stop. Me, Chris and Tobias were at it for two hours.
The bottom picture is a nice little capture from Chris! It looks like a pitch in a forest but just behind it lies a big housing complex and just a hundred metres away there are several busy roads. Quite a nice contrast = )
The Culture house
Todays visit to the Culture house and the city theater gave me this shot. A nice reflection from the glassfacade showing you the Sergelarea with the Sergelfountain which you have seen photos from earlier.
The Culturhouse was finished in 1974 and really has the sort of not ugly but not beautiful look about it from that era. But since it has a glassfacade it gives an inviting and opening feeling from both the outside and inside.
Located at the Sergel square this is the dominating building. I tried to get a shot of the whole building but it´s not really possible since it´s so long. But atleast you can get a reasonable view of a little less than half the building below =)
Go out? Not today...
Okey, so todays shots were´nt that fantastic. But there are a few reasons to why I chose to show you the view from my balcony today:
1) I was to tired to go out since it started to rain heavily =)
2) I wanted to show you my homeview!
3) Two photos. Two different views. Same time. When I went out and looked to the left the sun was shining and had shined throughout the day. Looking to the right I saw a wall of rain coming our way. Typical swedish mayweather if you ask me =)
4) I also wanted to show you how green it can be, even if you live quite centrally, in Stockholm. It is a real treat.
Time to hit the sack! Tired as usual. Fortunatly I have found some time this weekend to surf all the good blogs out there which I have missed lately!
The engelbrekt church
Once again, another one of Stockholms churches. This one lays on Birger Jarls gatan on my way home from work. One thing that strikes me with Stockholms nearly one hundred churches is the architectual differences that exist.
The Engelbrektchurch that you see in the picture was finished in 1914, and even though it´s not as decorative as some other churches that you´ve seen, it certainly is quite striking. Having Scandinavias highest vaults and being built on quite a high hill centrally makes it a pretty impressive sight.
Stockholms churches dominate the landscape in a skyscraperfree city. And at the same time they´re mostly empty, a strange feeling considering that this church was probably filled to the last seat when it was built (and it has 1400 seats). With modern society it has lost it´s place, atleast in Sweden, but atleast they´re nice to look at = )
Picasso meets the country
I just came back from one of my trips with work. And I thought I would cheat a bit and show you a picture not from Stockholm, but from a place 300 kilometres west of Stockholm. Work brought me to a sleepy little town called Kristinehamn.
But for once there was a really eyecatcher that I felt I needed to share. And not just any eyecatcher. But a 15 metre tall artobject designed by the big man himself, Pablo Picasso!
The sculpture is supposed to be of Picassos wife Jaqueline and the background to it is quite coincidental I have learned. Picasso wanted to make a big sculpture and through a norweigan artist called Carl Nejsar he made connections with Bengt Olsson, a local artist from Kristinehamn.
After being shown pictures of a possible place (the sculpture lies beautifully at Swedens biggest lake, Vänern) and after the local county decided they would pay for it Picasso answered with a single note: "Qui. Date 7.7 1964."
At 15 metres and over 8 tons in weight this is one of the biggest Picasso sculptures in the world. It made my travel with work certainly worthwhile!
Substation Rådhuset
Cudos to Chris for publishing todays pictures when I am once again off travelling with work. Some more subwayart on offer after yesterdays quite boring pic = )
The subwaystation Rådhuset (the court house) is located in central Stockholm and as you might have figured out, by the court house!
It was finished in 1975 and the interior art is supposed to resemble a archeological dig out. It consists of some nice objects including a great pillar which you can see to the right of the staircase in the bottom picture and a bit more closely by clicking on the Wikipedia-link
HERE.
With some very soothing colors this is also a gem among Stockholms subwaystations. I can also add that this station, together with the two earlier ones that I´ve published on the 8th and 10th of may, is located on the blue line in the subwaysystem. So if you ever visit Stockholm and want to see these stations closely you´ll know where to go = )
Once again, I do apologize for not being able to be more active to you other guys nice blogs currently. But I´ll have plenty of time for that this weekend!
Yes, we do educate future designers!
First I just want to apologize if I have´nt had time to answer comments. Feel bad about it but I´ve had so much with travel and work lately so I´ve barely been able to update the blog. Sorry!
Riding on my bike home from work (I have about six kilometres to work so I´ve started taking suicidal bikerides through the morning traffic, get more pics done then =) I noticed this.
First I was going past it, then I reacted. This is one of the royal technical university (kungliga tekniska högskolan) many facilities. What makes this picture funny is that it is here that the ARCHITECTURE education takes place =D
I just thought it was brilliant paradox. For me, such a building should be something inspiring. This building looks more at home in the old Soviet republic!
Lets just hope that the students get inspiration from looking at some of the pics the dailybloggers take = )
Apparantly the facilities within this ugly structure are of top quality. But if you ask me, they should take some of the top students and redesign the place!
A casual shot
No special story behind this picture. I was walking through the area of where the goverment and parliament have their offices (yes, it is true, in Sweden you can walk straight through the area, will show pics of it soon!) and then turn my head to the left. After starting taking a lot of photos I have noticed how open I´ve become to views. I got struck with this one.
I have forgotten the name of the church, there are so many in Stockholm that you lose track of most of them =)
This shot is taken in central Stockholm and is really one of those moments when I feel extra proud of living here.
The Sergel square nut
I thought we would take a small break from the old town for a few days. Going into town today I ran across this character at the Sergel Square. The square is just behind the sergel fountain which you can see in the background and see earlier pics of by clicking
HEREAnyway, this is a square where there are some very... well, special people = )
There is one guy who competes in long jump infront of people sitting in the stairs leading to the square, thinking he´s in the world championships. Another guy plays a harmonica and usually urinates at the same time.
This guy was new for me. And I have to say it, probably the most unique one I have ever encountered. With a floorballstick in his hand (floorball is a mixture of Ice hockey and landhockey) a stereo in his other hand, a beercan that he balanced on his head and a football he really seperated himself from the crowd.
What was even more bizarre was that he managed to juggle the football in quite fantastic way while holding on to everything and at the same time babble about topics that sounded really angry =)
The old town, part V
Depending on from which direction you come this is either the beginning or the end of the old town. The royal castle. In my view it´s pretty far from being a castle. Square and quite boring it still is a great building that takes up a dominating part of the old town scenery but it sure is´nt a castle.
The original castle was completly burnt down in 1697. Having it´s origins from 1250 a.d it was of course a great part of history that vanished. The replacement building, finalized in 1754, did´nt have any of the old castles shape but a more modern one for the time, strongly influenced from France.
For a better view of the castle and a detailed history to it, click
hereMany thanks for all comments. Have´nt been able to answer since I´ve been away with work travelling.
The Old town part 4
I should add before you read this that gatan in Swedish means street = )
No special story about these alleys. They just caught my eye when I was walking down Österlånggatan. Apart from the fantastic lights they both meet up, making it a bit of a unusual alley in the old town.
If you ever visit Stockholm it´s easy to end up in the cramped Västerlånggatan where thousands of tourists walk down each day, passing by all shops. But if you really want to see the old town you should take one of the sidealleys and walk through the other parts on your own.
Many miss the real hidden places in a really beautiful place.
The Old town part 3
The Mårten Trotzig alley is Stockholms most narrow one with a width of just 90 centimetres. Ending on the old towns most busy street, Västerlånggatan, many thousands people pass without noticing this gem which is breathtaking in its simplicity. The 36 steps and the alley can sometimes get a real magnificent light over it. The name Mårten Trotzig was given in 1949 after a german merchant who bought houses in the alley at end of the 16th century.
It looks so idyllic today but my guess is that this was probably a pretty disgusting place to walk down a few hundred years ago given the fact that the old town was full of small pubs, this alley including!
The Old town part 2
The Schantzska house from 1650 is a beautiful house with german-dutch influences. Full of decorative small details it´s one of several eyecatching buildings around Stortorget (the big square). It´s also a myth about this particular house. As you can see there are symetrically placed stones around each window. The total amount of stones is 82 which is suppose to be the same number that got killed in Stockholms bloodbath in 1520.
The bloodbath came after the danish king Kristian II had invaded Stockholm. More can be read
here about this story that is a big part of our history. The official amount is 94 people killed which makes a lot people doubt if the Schantzska house is a silent tribute to the bloodbath or not. But as all myths, we will never know, unless mythbusters from the discovery channel are interested = )
The Old town
Today and a few days forward you´re going to see some pics from Stockholms Old town. I´m going away until friday with work so my good friend
Chris is going to help out publishing!
This photo made me think about
Portos old buildings, especially the red house. This photo is taken just a bit away from one of the entrances to the royal castle.
The 66 metre high tower that you see is as you might assume a church. Storkyrkan (the great church) is one of Stockholms oldest churches and has a long history with loads of renovations from the 13th century and forward.
The old town is Stockholm. Founded circa 1200 ad this part of the city was for very long the core of Swedens capital. With tight alleys, old houses and a few curiositys I hope to show some good pics in the future =)
Are we playing?
Was going to publish another pic today but this Sepia one from todays footballgame with AIK was a bit cool. If you click on it and look a bit closer it looks like no one is particulary interested in the came except the player on the ball. Odd capture since it was a fairly hectic game.
Over 20 000 were at the game which AIK won 2-0 against Gais from Gothenburg. Second in the table AIK are one of the biggest clubs with an average gate currently at around 23 000, the swedish league has around a 10 000 average. Some geeky sportsfacts out there, take it in or ignore it = )
Tomorrow and a few days ahead I will show you Stockholms old town, loads of nice alley pictures ahead, and even a stairway for you Nuno! =)
The Katarinaelevator
The Katarinaelevator, located at Slussen, is a curious piece in the landscape of central Stockholm. Built in 1881 to relieve people to get through more easy as the south side has several steap hills, it quickly became a well used landmark.
It was torn down in 1933 when the trafficsystem around Slussen was modernized but it was rebuilt in 1935. It costs 10 swedish crowns (roughly 1,30 US-dollars) to go up and just as much to go down = )
From the top you get quite a glorious view of the central parts of Stockholm. In the first picture you can see Slussens complex but in someway beautiful roads with the old town of Stockholm just behind.
And the old town you´ll see many more pics of this week. The photos I do publish here I take the same day but since I am going away with work to the west coast this week I needed to stockpile a bit = )
The Karolinska hospital
Todays photos are... well... lets just say not to uplifting = ) But I guess this time the text tells more than the pictures. These colourless and unimaginative houses are from the forties. Luckily the interior is far more modern than that. Site of the Karolinska hospital this is a place that affects, has affected or will affect a lot of people in Stockholm.
A part from being a big hospital it also has a institute, formed in 1810, that educates a lot of doctors and has their own research facilities.
18 000 people work within the Karolinska hospital and with their own busstation it´s always buzzing with people who are on their way to those sometimes unfair, unlogical or happy moments that occurs when fate meets mankind. Which it does probably more often in a place like this.
A bit of a paradox though is that across the road from this enormous hospital where people work to make our lifes longer is one of northern Europes biggest cemeterys.
When you stand in the middle of the road and see ambulances coming in you cant help but feel the irony of it. A kind of constant reminder of whatever we do, that´s where we´ll end up.
The concert house
It´s a pity I thought when I published this picture, that I did´nt have a bluer sky.
Stockholms Concerthouse is clearly light blue much more blue than the variating lights tell here. Located at Hötorget (or the haysquare directly translated) it´s a unusual but calm building. Built in 1926 for more classical concerts and even theater it´s the homeplace for more classical music. On the right you can see a paradoxical partner by the square. The cinemacentre with 14 cinemas. Makes "Hötorget" an always active area with loads of people.
It´s late and I need to sleep, but I will post some more pics of this tomorrow with a closeup on the statue you see in the middle. It´s of Orpheus, the greek tragic hero who through his music managed to salvage his wife from death but who lost her again in usual greek tragedy. More pics will be shown
here
More subwayart
Today I decided to give you a closer look on Stockholms subwayart. The above station is Kungsträdgården, the underground about 34 metres below those beautiful Cherry trees I took a few days ago.
Containing several old pieces of artobjects, including the nearly nine foot tall wargod that you see in the first picture, from old buildings around Stockholm this is one station to visit. More pictures will be shown
here.
Sunbathing in the city
Let me start by saying, no, I am not a pervert = )
But I had to take the first photo to show how people in Stockholm turn into sunchasers when cold spring transforms into early summer. The Humlegårdspark is located just barely a hundred metres from one of the busiest centres in Stockholm, and around it busy roads are filled with cars. But that does´nt stop anyone from taking out last years bikinis or swimtrunks!
The park is filled with everything from sunbathing people to office workers stopping by for a extra long lunch. Working just around the corner me and some workmates decided to eat and have a nice lay down in the sun ourselves.
The first picture was taken today, the second one yesterday before I decided on the subwayshots. Most of the trees in the park have flourished into green in just a couple of days, but these beechtrees are a bit slow. I will show the difference in a couple of weeks!
Hooray for the sun I say! Tomorrow we´ve said that we have to take some sunlotion with us to lunch to protect our precious skins =D
Subway art
Today was hot, real hot. So I took some nice and cosy pictures from one of the miniparks that we have in Stockholm. But then I changed my mind on my way home. Stockholms subwaystations are unique. In one example, they are all different, designed in their own special way. And when the hot weather hits they are a great refuge with it´s cool air.
The station you see above is my favourite one in Stockholm. Perhaps a bit biased as it´s my "home" station, but Solnas underground is fantastic. Five stations from Stockholm central it has a green landscape with different motives and a red sky painted around the whole station.
It is true art, and you will see much more from Stockholms different subways = )
For more pictures from this particular subwaystation, click
here
Cherry blossom tree
No, it´s not another "look I can zoom this flower" picture. Well, yeah, it is. But it´s more than that aswell.
When spring and early summer hit Stockholm you can tell for sure from what you see in the pictures. Kungsträdgården, or the kingsgarden in english, is filled with over 60 japanese cherry trees.
And when they bloom you´ll have to find something more beautiful. After the hardest winter for over 20 years Stockholm and Sweden has been hit with great weather since friday. We had six months of snow so I do think we deserve it = )
For more pictures of the cherry trees and kungsträdgården, go
here
In a rush
Todays picture was taken in kind of a rush. Thinking I had loads of time to take the shots I wanted to take I quickly realized that I had extremly little time.
But hey! It´s the big centralstation in Stockholm!
Either you have a constant lack of time in a place like this or you wait. And wait. And wait. I was in a bit of a rush so it meant me belonging to category one and just having time to a few shots.
The centralstations original building which you see in the top picture is located at the busy street Vasagatan. On the outside it looks like kind of small but on the inside it´s vast, with the same kind of majestic spaces which you find in similar buildings in Europe.
The local subway traffic, domestic and scandinavian trains and connecting trains to Stockholms Arlanda airport has it´s heart here. Meaning that whatever the hour, you are bound to always see a lot of people here.
See you tomorrow!
The Sergel fountain
The fountain located at Sergels torg, a square which is probably Swedens most famous and which you will see more pictures from in the future, is a big part of Stockholm.
37,5 metres high, 130 ton heavy and filled with 80 000 glasprisms this work of art creates quite a nice scene during evenings.
As part of the great changes in central Stockholm it was put forward in 1964 but due to delays the fountains centrepiece stood finished first in 1974.
Even though it was criticized in the beginning for being ugly the fountain is popular today. Every time Sweden succeeds in major sporting events it´s filled with supporters who, by tradition, always takes a dip into the water.
Needless to say we don´t do it during the winter when it´s minus ten degrees celsius outside = )
More pictures, and some really nice ones, can be seen
hereSee you tomorrow =)
Churches
In Stockholm we don´t have tall skyscrapers dominating the city skyline. What we do have on the other hand is several churches. In this photoblog you will see some of the churches, not because I visit them that often, but because they are in many ways really beautiful.
The Hedvig Eleonora church is located at Östermalms torg (torg = square). The church, named after King Karl tenths wife, was started 1669 but it was´nt finished until 1737 due to financial problems caused by Swedens constant wars during these years. As you can see in the first picture it is being partially renovated today.
It´s tall and majestic structure is massive and dominates the surroundings when you stand at the square. As several officeworkers go for lunch around noon the sun usually gives the church an even more majestic appearence.
For more pictures from the church go
here.See you tomorrow! =)
Passion
Passion. Once again a derbygame in Stockholm. And once again loads of passion as Hammarby play AIK. Not only in the stands in the form of loud singing, flags and smokebombs.
But also from... the board from one of the clubs.
Hammarbys board decided to play the game at their smaller arena which today was filled with a capacity 15000 crowd, rather than play at the national stadium, where AIK also have their homeground.
So instead of 35 000 spectators and several more million in income the club decided to play on their own ground Söderstadion.
A decision which would be unheard of in other parts in Sweden but in Stockholm there is so much passion in these games. Unfortunatly AIK lacked just that on the pitch as Hammarby strolled away to a 2-0 win.
First picture is from the awaysection, filled with red firelights and smokebombs, and the second from the pitch with the sunset behind one of the stands where Hammarbys hardcorefans are. More pictures can be seen
here.
See you tomorrow =)
Svampen you say?
Regardless of the location in the world and regardless (well nearly) of how big the place is where you live we all have our connectionpoints.
Often it´s a big square or tall building which is easy to find. But sometimes it can be small peculiar objects that in their own unique manor transforms into a meeting place. Stockholm has several, this is one of them.
"Svampen" as it´s called in swedish, or the mushroom translated, is Located at Stureplan, Stockholms most fashionable area. More than often during the days and evenings when people visit the popular but oh, so shallow nightclubs this is where you meet up.
And needless to say, it´s cramped with people every time it rains! = )
See you tomorrow!
Not as planned
First of may in Stockholm. 130 demonstrators arrested in the city. Loads of clashes between police and far left wing groups. Loads of demolition caused at a few business streets.
It proved to be a busy day. And I had planned to follow it with my camera in hand.
But things are´nt always what we plan. Today I just felt an urge to camp myself at a friends place and just socialize. Life is so full of politics that I decided that this day, even if it´s all about politics, I would have none of it.
Cycling home I remembered that I had to take a photograph. I took one of one of the intersections directing traffic through Stockholm.
Normally these roads are jampacked with cars. But I guess I was´nt the only one who wanted to get away from the real life today. See you tomorrow!
