This city has done a lot with its scenic old industrial center. Also, the museums there are fascinating in their recounting of the fabric manufacturing past. Here’s a few images from my visit this year.
I love Norrköping
Winter, Damn It
If you know me, which you most likely don’t, you would know I’m not a fan of Winter. Actually, the few people who visit my blog might know me so I take that back. It’s damn pretty, I’ll give it that. However, I’d rather be in the shade at a beach with a tropical cocktail in my hand. Anyway, took a walk along lake Ekoln the other week to see the very pretty Winter scenery. I just googled the lake and saw that Ikea named a toilet brush after it. Well, I think that’s kind of a comment on life in general.
Time Flies
I like the meme that is going around which says the last year proves that time flies when you aren’t having fun. Certainly I’m lucky to be in a country that has had less Covid impact on our everyday lives. Well, those who have not gotten Covid, at least. But it’s been a long haul with an underlying fear of infection and no ability to get away with travel (for us safety conscious people). Certainly, this is nothing that everyone doesn’t know.
Here’s some Fall pictures I took. Walking outdoors is always an option and helps with the mental blues.
The September of Augusts
The landscape of our Covid world stretches out to the horizon with no end in sight. It’s certainly been a roller-coaster with hope being beaten back by new waves of infection. Right now the world is dealing with Delta and so is Sweden. However, maybe due to the high level of inoculations, it’s not hit us as hard as many places. But, it is truly a wait and see thing, isn’t it?
The new normal here is less abnormal then many places. But August was unusually cold, like we lost a month and September took its place. In fact the weather has been nicer in September than the previous month, but that won’t last. Even with the rain and cold I did take a few trips to Bergianska trädgården, that’s Stockholm’s botanical gardens. It means more pictures of flowers. Sorry, I just love the intricacies and colors of them so I can’t quite stop myself. Enjoy the plant pictures, they can’t run away from my camera like most people do.
Crawling to Normal
Well, I’m fully vaccinated and an increasing amount of people in Sweden have joined me. There’s the specter of the Delta variant in the world now and it’s tweaked infections up a bit here, but we’re lucky that it’s not so much. So far this Spring and Summer I’ve been able to venture out and here’s a range of pictures. I guess the theme is transport, but there’s also some sunny scenes of other things as well. Pictures here include those taken at the Vasa and Ship history museums in Stockholm as well as our local historic railway called Lennakatten.
Precious Light
Winter here in Sweden has short days as you find in Northerly countries. This year there has been little snow and the sky has been usually an overcast slate grey. However, if the clouds dissipate and the ice blue shows through you find the low sun can supply an astonishing warmth to the landscape. One such day I caught some examples of the long, lingering fire tinged illumination.
In-Between
Often these photo posts just replicate what I have put on Facebook already. Not cool, I know. However, I doubt anyone notices so no guilt on my part. This time I’m putting up some photos exclusively here. Rejoice! Or not. Anyway, I’m behind in syncing this site to my Facebook photos so this lessens my guilt a bit. Hope these aren’t too disappointing.
Tallinn In The Cold
Estonia has a long and turbulent history. There’s a hackneyed phrase for you but pretty accurate here. Bouncing between empires and occupations it hasn’t been until the fall of the Iron Curtain that they could rise up as a nation. It also means that a city like Tallinn has not been scarred by modernism too badly…until recently. New building is evident all over but the old city is still untouched. I had a ferry ride there and spend a brief day exploring this impressive place.
The Flame of Soul
“There is a kind of flame in Crete – let us call it “soul” – something more powerful than either life or death. There is pride, obstinacy, valor, and together with these something else inexpressible and imponderable, something which makes you rejoice that you are human being, and at the same time tremble.”
― N. Kazantzakis, Report to Greco
I didn’t know what to except from our visit to Crete. The idea to travel there wasn’t mine and I knew very little about this large Island in the Mediterranean. However, it turned out to exceed my hopes. It was hot, but the nights were cool on the water, so lack of AC wasn’t a big problem. We just needed to keep the sunscreen flowing under that big, hot orb. Here in Sweden I miss a café culture and the ability to eat excellent food at a reasonable cost so finding the Crete had a few tavernas in every town that didn’t charge a fortune was nice. The food, even at the modest restaurants, was great. Ancient history always attracts me, so I was glad to be constantly exposed to it. Crete is not a impoverish part of Greece, but you do see an odd mix of clean modern buildings next to much older ones in poor states of repair. But that’s the kind of juxtaposition I love to see, especially in such stunning landscapes. Through it all the Cretans were uniformly friendly far beyond normal hospitality. The downside was terrifying mountain road drives with the reward of magnificent vistas. We survived it all as these pictures prove.
Machine Head
I know I’ve cluttered this blog up with a lot of train and car images but why stop now? Having a small son means I often get to ride steam trains and visit transportation museums. I do love old machinery and the many elegant elements that make up the whole.
