Rain visits Stockholm
We´ve had quite a great summer this year in Stockholm. Very hot, sunny and humid weather.
But in the weekend, and on the friday in particular, we had a downpour that was massive in swedish terms =)
I tried to get a picture of some thunder and lightning, but the odds of capturing that is just as high as Arnold Schwarznegger speaking english without a trace of any foreign accent.
Instead I got a guy running just as fast as Justin Gatlin (but without illegal substances) to get cover.
Why do people always hide when it´s rain? I think it´s great!
The library park
At the same time as the city library was built (from 1920 until 1928) a park was arranged next to the area. The surroundings are quite nice as the busy Sveastreet is seen to the right and a nice hillside filled with threes is on the left.
The waterfilled concretepool is just a couple of feet deep and is usually empty in the early spring and late autumn making it a popular place for skateboarders and rollerbladers.
In any case it´s a quite nice place to rest with a new book =)
The public library
Stockholm has several public libraries and also a royal library which could be seen
here. The public libraries together holds well over two million books. The main city library on this picture being the keeper of nearly 800 000.
The architecture style tells a lot of the modernistic thoughts of the late twenties and early thirties. Built in 1928 by the internationally famous architect
Gunnar Asplund it´s a little favourite of mine, despite not beeming with beauty.
The Wennergren center
The main reason to why I choose to take a picture of the Wenner-Gren centre is basically the architecture. Very futuristic for it´s time this building, finalized in 1961 with an adjoining apartmentcomplex around it, was built thanks to Axel Wenner-Gren. As president of Electrolux he wanted a centre where researchers and scientists could live.
The main building today consists of offices and different foundations run by the Wenner-Gren foundation.
The building is constructed as a sunwatch, ergo the triangular form of the house!
The german church
The german church in the old town has logical reasons for it´s name. Built during the 16th century by German merchants as a sort of societyhouse. Sweden, as the rest of the baltic countries, was strongly influenced by the Hansa merchants under the
Hanseatic league . This building was transformed into a church in the 17th century and has had the same design ever since. One of several churchtowers that can be seen in Stockholm, and as with all the other towers, it has it´s own unique design.
A deserved break
One of the places we rested on during or little canoetour through the lakes. Needless to say, it was very cosy =) We were also harrassed by two charming ducks that after being well fed with some gorgeous bread decided to relax next to my canoe.
Will be back with pics of central Stockholm tomorrow again!
Going down the river...
Just a couple more shots from the weekend. Thought it would be nice to show the nature that surrounds Stockholm. This is from a stretch we paddled through during our first day. With narrow parts, some much more narrow than this one, we were always close to nature.
And even if me and my girlfriend had fierce arguments about who paddled to much and who paddled to little we enjoyed the views =)
The weekend
Went canoeing this weekend in some lakes. Starting a bit from Mariefred which basically is a 45 minute drive from Stockholm we paddled through some really nice nature and on the saturday evening we found a great spot to camp.
For what else can you say about the above view, a bootle of beer and good friends?
BrB
Of paddling in a canoe! Back on sunday!
The Stomatolsign
When you walk in the area called Slussen an old electricalsign can be seen from the top of one of the buildings. The Stomatol (a swedish toothpaste) advert is Swedens oldest electricalsign. It was placed on top of the
Katarinaelevator in 1909 but when the elevator got demolished in 1933 (to be rebuilt) the sign got moved to it´s current position.
Stockholm city later labeled it a culture mark meaning that the Stomatolsign may never be removed. Not a wild guess is that Stomatol, a company that still exists, dont object to =)
The south link
When the South link was opened in october 2004 it was a great relief for many Stockholmers. For quite some time travelling from the east side of Stockholms suburbs to the south side of the city was often problematic with loads of trafficjams.
The south link was the solution to the problem. Six kilometres long, where 4,6 kilometres is underground, has diverted a lot of cars making trafficjams non existing here.
And if the relief of travelling much more comfortable was´nt enough the South links turnoffs are real artpieces. This one is a bit blurry, but I just managed to throw up my camera =)
Arriving at the dock
One of many sightseeingboats coming to Nybrokajen to drop some passengers of at the dock. In the background, just to the right of the boat, you can see Gröna Lund, Stockholms amusementpark with roller coasters and other fun stuff =)
Boats are an essential part of the Stockholm scenery as water is such a major part of our city. There are loads of private boats and sometimes you get yachts the size of I dont know what arrive.
If you ever visit, get on one! It´s worth the view!
Need some refuelling?
Gasstations are´nt that common in central Stockholm and they´ll be extinct in a few years time due to prohibation.
But people on their bicycles will not be affected by the lack of airpumps. I saw this recently installed little airpump at Nybrokajen today. Thought it was quite a nice touch since we who pedal to work have to endure some stressful cycling sometimes! =)
Flat building?
One of Swedens biggest bookpublishingcompanys is called Norstedts. Located at Riddarholmen next to the old town the headoffice of this near 200 year old firm lies. Depending from what angle you arrive the building kind of looks... flat. Like it only has a facade and nothing else.
You can see it in this picture... kind of! See you tomorrow fellow vacationers (but not me... I´m still struggling at work...)
The cityhouse
Great weather today and a fantastic view of the sky. Stockholms cityhouse with the characteristic three crowns at the top (the three crowns are in many circumstances a symbol for Sweden). The cityhouse is were the nobelprizedinner is held every year and also a fantastic building. More pictures from this building in the future! We were going to go to the top of the tower today but the queue was faaaar to long. Cant waste time on a great day like this!
Riddarholmskyrkan
The Riddarholmchurch is one of several churches lying in the old town. This picture, taken from the beginning of Västerlånggatan, shows the over 700 year old churchs impact against the sky quite well. Simply beautiful would´nt you say?
Like many other churches from that era it has been target for several restaurations, especially during the 19th century. And it´s certainly worth a short visit if you are on your way through the old town!
A building =)
I had written a small text about this building but I now fail to find it and I have just a vague clue of what it is. So until I find it you´ll just have to look at it = )
Location is at the beginning of the Old town coming from drottninggatan.
A recap
Unfortunatly I dont have any good paintshop programs at work, but I do have loads of time. Exceptional amounts of time with nothing to do.
Yesterday I read a whole book at work. Luckily I´m able to access my photoblog at the office (they´ve blocked virtually every page that is fun, oddly enough I have huge problems accessing other blogs =( )
This little collage of pictures are from a couple of the pics that I´ve taken recently. Thought it would be nice with a small recap. Yes, our subwaysystem is beautiful, but there is one that is completly supreme in beauty.
Have a look at Moscows subway at:
http://www.beeflowers.com/Metro/
Saint George
Saint George and his dragonslaying is an image that we Europeans are quite accustomed to, atleast in the christian countries, as he is a christian hero.
Of course Stockholm has a statue of him, even quite a few of them. This one is located at Österlånggatan in the old town and is a replica of a wooden statue located in the big church also in the old town.
And as most other statues, it depicts old saint George killing a dragon.
The tramway
Tramways used to be quite an essential part of communiting in Stockholm. Nowadays there is a modern tramway that cuts through Stockholm, although not the central parts.
There is though a old tramway still in existence and it comes alive every summer. Between Norrmalmstorg (torg = square) and the area called Djurgården (where the amusement parks Gröna Lund and Skansen lies) they traffic a couple of kilometres.
They use old tramcars aswell which you can see from this picture just 150 metres from Norrmalmstorg at Nybrokajen. The tramway was a permanent picture in Stockholms citylife until 1967 when it got disbanded, leaving way to the much more efficient undergroundsystem that was being built out.
A different view
No special story behind todays photo. Only that it sometimes is really worth to raise your head and take a look at what surrounds you. Walking down an alley I looked up and was met by this. Reminded me of how much I´ve seen since I started taking photos on a regular basis. You look at everything in a different way. I think you know what I mean = )
The blue line
Another subwaystation today. This one is the Centralstations blue line. Located deepest down of the three different subwaylines (which is 26-32 metres below the surface) that traffic Stockholm it is fittingly called the blue line.
Different artistic motives cover walls and the interior which main color is blue.
And on days when it´s 30 degrees celsius in the shadow it´s kind of a cool place to be =)
Reach out, touch FAITH!
Todays post was taken at Stockholms stadion. A landmark in Stockholm and world history as it is the place where the Olympic games in 1912 took place.
But I´ll reserve a few posts in the future for this fantastic stadium and instead show you what went on there today. Soon legendary Depeche Modes tour reached Stockholm and before a near 30 000 strong crowd the delivered as usual.
And as the sun went down there were one or two who wanted to get a extra glimpse of the action as the balloon going in for landing is evidence of = )
Could´nt resist...
What can I say? I so enjoyed last days entry that I actually decided to show you another view of Europes first skyscraper. The north tower!
Back in Stockholm now after a more than two week long absence. So some new photos will be up soon!
Europes first skyscrapers!
It may be hard to belive. But Europes first skyscraperbuildings were not built in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid or London. They were built in Stockholm.
Located at Kungsgatan the north and south "kingstowers" were built in 1924 and 1925. Part of the work in making a business street between Norrmalms and Östermalms cityparts these skyscrapers came into being.
60 metres high the architect Sven Wallander took inspiration from similar buildings from Lower Manhattan in New York. Needless to say, the two buildings caused quite a big rave in those days and the north tower (the one not being refurbished) had a very popular restaurant called "Blue Heaven" at the top floor.
The buildings consisted of stores and officespaces in the beginning but nowadays the consist only of offices.
They are beautiful buildings, I have to post another one when the renovationwork of the south tower has ended!
A narrow staircase
The Malmskillnadsstaircase at Kungsgatan. No special story behind this one. It just looks really great when you stand at the foot of it and look up where every step gets more and more narrow.
Tomorrow, some nice pictures from Kungsgatan. Back to the sun and my vacation...
A pretty valuable billboard
This buildingfacade by fashionable Stureplan has been covered by pretty pointless commercials. But this one is one definetly in my taste. Unicef use a simple single childs hand to show that every single minute all around the year a child gets infected with hiv.
A quite terrible fact. And one that needs to be shown more like this if we ever are going to open our eyes to it.
Trophys
Apologies for lack of posts the past two days. As said before I am on vacation and I currently don´t have a smooth access to the internet. Anyway, here is todays post!
Outside the armymuseum in Stockholm lies several canons that were taken from Swedens enemies during battles in the 17th century. Sweden has´nt been involved in any wars since the napoleonic wars in the early 19th century. But 200 years prior that and during a whole century Sweden were constantly at war. Russia, Denmark-Norway and Poland with some territories today belonging to Germany being our main enemies.
Our borders were far greater than today and a herritage from those days can be seen at the armymuseum. The different canons on this picture have been captured from danish and polish ships. Canons were so valuable that salvaging far beneath the surface was common using divingclocks.
The armymuseum is located at Östermalm near Nybroplan and has free admission like many other museums.
