Stockholm Sweden, Friday July 20th....

It was a great Friday...during the day I met a frient to see a couple of bands that I like. They played downtown for a free show... It was on a bridge over one of the main walking streets close to Hotorget...





check out the bands...

The Paper Faces http://www.myspace.com/thepaperfacespop
Kamera http://www.myspace.com/kamerastyle



While we were there this crazy panhandler that normally plays awful harmonica while listening to music on his radio showed up.. He danced all around under the bridge and played as if he were part of the band.. but he has pretty much no musical talent whatsoever..... He's one of the panhandlers that I see every time I come to Sweden... There a few that are always there..and usually sitting in the same places..



After the concerts, I walked from downtown throught the old town to Sodermalm... Here is a view on the bridge from downtown walking towards the parliament. Here you can see Riddarholmen in the background. Its another island next to the old town..



This is taken from the same spot on the bridge but facing south over the bridge.. The main walking street Drottninggatan goes from downtown.. across a bridge, through parliament and right into the old town... This is the parliament building.. I took a tour of it when I studied here in Stockholm....its pretty amazing inside.. of course I am a political science nerd..so I like that kind of thing....



After you walk through the parliament building, then you cross another bridge into the old town.. you get a great view of the palace...This is one of the many palaces here in sweden.. The royal family actually lives in a different one that is about an half an hour from downtown.. next to Lake Malaren...



On my way up to the palace I passed a group protesting for peace.. This is about the third one I have seen this week in different parts of the city..






Just a few shots of the royal guards at the palace... They do a changing of the guard ceremony as well..but I didn't really have the time to hang around to grab a picture.. plus I have already seen it a few times... pretty cool though...



From the palace I walked south into the narrow maze of streets of the old town.. here you can see the Tyska Kyrkan (german church) in the background.. I am walking in towards the old square...



Just a narrow street in the old city.. there are some that you can touch both sides with your hands....



In a small courtyard under a tree there is a small statue...its probably the smallest in all of Stockholm (about 6 inches tall or so).. its a statue of a little boy sitting on a table... The tradition is to leave some money there which will mean that one day you will return....I guess it works since I left some money there about two years ago.... Today it was covered with coins from Russia.... In the winter someone comes and puts a little knit hat and and a scarf on the little boy...



In the main square in the old town... the old fountain to get water... the building on the left in the background is the Nobel Museum...



Still in the same square you can see all the outdoor eateries. Everyone really takes advantage of a sunny day here.... You can see the main cathedral behind the Nobel Museum here...



Not far from the square there is an old viking Runsten (rune stone) built into the corner of a foundation of one of the buildings... These were left all over Sweden.. you will see them sitting randomly in a field or in a square somewhere....They usually tell tales of sagas or deeds done by warriors etc... check out the old cannon they have there on the corner of the building to protect it....


Here I have left the old town..and crossed the bridge over the locks into Sodermalm.. I am looking back north towards the old town. you can see the Tyska Kyrkan and the main Cathedral towers...



I met some good freinds Marta and Linus in the square at Medborgarplatsen for a late lunch...Marta is from Poland and Linus is from Sweden.. They were both students at Sodertorns University with me when I studied here. Marta was an exchange student as well but then met Linus and now lives here in Sweden....It was great to see them again....



After I left them I had to hurry to the subway to get back to an area north of downtown... Here is what the subway looks like.....


I got out at the Radmansgatan stop on the subway and came up on Sveavagen..Here are just a couple of cool buildings along that street.... I headed south to the institute for an activity... We ended up doing a scavenger hunt all over town.. and our team ended up winning... of course!



Cherina and Viktoria hanging out at the Institute....



Emma and Cherina....



Cherina, Jens and Ann Marie at McDonald's after the activity... its one of the few places open late or 24 hours over here..... So I hate to say that I have eaten there a few times so far...



After eating we all headed over to Max's place to watch a movie and hang out for a bit... The the girls left and a bunch of us guys went to a place called Rocks to go dancing... It was pretty good.. not a lot of people there that night though...

All in all a pretty busy Friday....

well.. today was a bit of a rest day.. I stayed out here in Haninge and just took it easy. I guess its good to do every once in a while...

It is going to be a very busy weekend..especially in preparation for the trip to Norway on Monday....

But we did go out to eat at VegaBaren which is a Drive-in which they claim to be the first in Sweden... Then a bunch of us all just chilled at Johnnies place....Then Niklas and I walked home afterward... a good half hour walk.. It is always amazing to see the light sky in the north...it never really gets totally dark here in the summer....plus it is great to see some stars... It's not everyday you can see them in Denver...

Stockholm Sweden/Wednesday July 18th 2007.

Drove into town today with the guys to do a bit of shopping before the trip to Norway next week. We took Johnnies car from Haninge in to Stockholm... Its great that they have such a great public transportation system, but sometimes its nice to just be able to drive in, which was much faster than the train. Gas is so expensive here that even those that have cars tent to use public transportation a lot....



Here are Niklas, Johnnie and Micke at the cheap tie store on Drottnings Gatan (Queens Street). Its a really long walking street lined with stores and i usually just packed with people, street musicians, hot dog vendors and the like....



Here is another view of NK. We started shopping at Gallerian right across the street...Gallerian is their version of a mall I guess...After that ate lunch in Kunghallerna and then we wandered around down the various parts of town.. I found another suit for a great price. Max joined us at Stureplan and just after he a huge downpour came up.. but it didn't last too long luckily...



Just after the rain with the Kunglig Dramatisk Teater in the background...oh and a rainbow...



Im actually staning in a McDonalds doorway where we waited out the rain for a minute... looking here towards Kungstradgarden...



Once we were done downtown we walked back to the car to go to some shops that were closer to Max's place...You sure do get a different view from the car. You get to see nearly as much in a subway sometimes.. Here are just a few shots from the car on the way over to Max's place in Nacka. The sign saying Aftonbladet in the photo above is for one of the daily newspapers that you see everywhere....



Here we are driving past the Rikdagen (Parliament). It is on its own island right between downtown and Gamla Stan. You can see the royal palace in Gamla Stan in the back right of the picture....



Here are just some great facades..These buildings are facing the Malaren lake side of Gamla Stan... and the church in the back is the Tyska (German) Kyrka.



This is right as you are about to leave Gamla Stan and drive over the bridge over the locks... looking straight ahead is looking east towards the baltic..and it is salt water on this side of the island... you can see the big cruise ship in the background. It probably goes to Finland, or Estonia..



Here is Max at the shopping center near his house in Sickla close to Nacka. These are some old factories that they have converted to shops.



We picked up some food at Max Restaurang in Hammarby Sjostad. I had an aloha burger... pineapple on a burger.. who knew....



Here is Max's place..the building in the middle.. it is right next to a lake. Perfect for swimming....Which of course is what we did after some frisbee.



It would be perfect to live here..like having your own private lake right outside.....It actually warmed up a bit after the rain, but the water was definitely warmer than the air....That's Johnnie in the water...



Here is the view looking west from the dock... the hill in the background is the ski hill that you can get a great view of the city... we walked up there after the swim...





Just a few shots of the lake...



Behind Max and across the lake is a nature preserve.. a huge forest that is pretty much right in the city... from this lake its only about 10 minutes on the bus or a 3o minute walk to be right in the city....Nature is very integrated into Stockholm...



After the swim we walked up to the top of the ski hill... I posted some more pictures of the on my first entry. This is the view looking southwest towards Globen (the globe), which is a large indoor arena that looks like a big golf ball... they have lots of concerts there etc....



Max, Johnnie and Micke on top of the ski hill. Looking east behind them you can see the forests of the nature reserve. After walking back to Max's via the waters edge, we all hung out at his place for a while and watched a movie..

It sure was nice not to have to wait for the night bus to get home....

Stockholm, Sweden. Monday July 16th, 2007.

Today I went swimming in Haninge at Rudans Gard. Its an outdoor recreation area with an old farm and some lakes and lots of running and hiking paths through the woods...



Some of the playing fields and the old farm buildings...



Here is one of the two lakes.. Lilla Rudan (little Rudan). It is surrounded with forest all around with lots rocks and cliffs to use to get some sun...







This is the Rock I found and managed to get some good swimming in as well as some good reading done...



That evening, Niklas and I took the train to town to meet some friends for some ice cream. We saw this old car pass as we were waiting for them at Medborgarplatsen on Sodermalm. We met up with Jens, Ann Marie, Angelica and Viktoria. There is an an awesome ice cream place with tons of great flavors there....The other day I tried the licorice flavor, its totally black and a bit salty.. kind of interesting.



Viktoria and Ann Marie.....



Niklas and his vaffla (waffle) cone....



After that we walked to the lookout on Sodermalm for the view of Gamla stan and the rest of downtown.. It was really beautiful up there with a great sunset....



Here is a view of downtown.. with the Statshuset (city hall) on the left...



Angelica taking Ann Marie's picture.....



Viktoria and Ann Marie... rockstars...



Here they are again after we walked down from the cliffs to the waters edge...



Angelica.. a bit shy at the moment....



From there we all took a walk past Slussen (the locks between the lake and the baltic sea) to Gamla Stan...We met Anna Maria there as well... We just all sat by the waters edge and watched the boats bringing people into town from the amusment park GronaLund on the Djurgarden island.



We also took a walk past the royal palace and saw the guards marching past....



On our way to the night bus home we stopped for a while in Kungstradgarden. The big round light in the background says NK which is the big department store in town... It stands for Nordiska Kompaniet (which means Northern Company). Its kind of like Stockholm's version of Herrod's in London....

We then caught the night bus home.....