European Flowers

I've decided to make a conscious effort to update this blog more frequently. I still have so much to share and I am really trying to get back into the habit of creating more. So I will start with something I miss most about living in Europe: the wild flowering that initiates the start of spring. These are various flowers from Sweden, the Netherlands and France, collected solely because they made me happy.

Vondelpark in Amsterdam, truly beautiful.

Paris, France

an early tulip over the Seine

Swedish wildflowers found on a hillside

outside my apartment in Stockholm

More to come, I promise.

Katie

Springtime sunsets over Stockholm

 

When I first arrived here in Stockholm back in January, on those rare days when sun actually made an appearance, it would set around 3:30-4:00 in the afternoon. It was bleak, to say the least--either the skies were grey or it was just dark. And it was cold. Very cold. But now it is springtime! We are nearing the end of March and already in a running procession towards long, beautiful days of sunlight and warmth as the sun both rises earlier in the morning and sets later in the evening. I'm ecstatic. With each passing day, we are graciously granted 5 whole minutes of extended daylight. Today, the sun set around 6:15. Tomorrow is our DST, so in just one day it will start to set at 7:15. But the 5 minute march will continue on--by the end of April it will rise around 4:45 AM and set around 8:40 PM. By the end of May it will rise around 3:45 AM and set around 9:40 PM. Naturally, this will result in partying until the sun comes up.

I had heard and read about this occurring before coming here, but I did not once imagine the absolute splendor of it all--how everything would radiate in gold, or how the sky would fill with streaks of  pink and purple ribbons and clouds. I never stopped to think about the truly marvelous Golden Hour implications this would hold, and if I'm lucky, how it will go on all night. I think I'm starting to see it now.

These are some photographs I took yesterday, March 23, after spending the day wandering the city (= shoe shopping), down by my favorite little terrace near Gamla Stan (you may recognize it from earlier). They are all of strangers that gathered by the water to watch the sunset. I had to creepily and non-clandestinely sneak up behind them to take them, but hey! You're asking for it if you're going to be that cute. Potentially super redundant, but I didn't spend long--I left soon after to pick up a baguette and head to Olivia's for sweet potato and black bean chili, mmm. And then proceeded to drink and talk and listen to jazz all night with friends. An excellent night, made even better by 3 AM tunnelbana observations written and recorded in haiku. More on that later.

is this real?

note to self: recreate this with friends

There was something about these guys that made me so happy, how they all gathered by the sculpture with their Systembolaget bags to drink and toast the setting sun and the night ahead of them. They gave off that convivial feeling of youth and friendship. Skål to you, gentlemen.

From a different day--I think I went cross-eyed with delight when I looked out of my window and found this. 

This will certainly not be the end of my obsessive sunlight-related posts, especially as the sun sets later in the evening. I don't care! I really only like to shoot in natural light, so this is pretty much what I would consider living in a dream, so I will spend all of my time outdoors shooting what makes me happy. And this makes me very, very happy. : )

Ulriksdals Slott

 Forest adventures with my friend Olivia brought us down the road, through the trees, out past an adorable Inn and along the water to a dock on the ice that overlooked this castle. We are returning for dockside picnics when it is warm again, because this place was beautiful.

almost like Florida, only with ice instead of sand.

 

Aren't we cute!

snooping through the windows of Ulriksdals Wärdshus.

literally impossible for me not to ask "have you ever seen Pet Sematary?" when in the presence of interesting graveyards.

This picture was right after we both slipped and fell on the ice, ouch! We then quickly retreated for hot chocolate and tortilla española and then stayed up all night talking and watching The Wire with another friend Sam. It was a good day. It's always a good day.

Late nights on an empty platform.

The next morning I traveled to Uppsala to visit my friend Anton, and we walked all over the city, forever along the Fyris River and through many parks to look at rune stones, up to Carolina Rediviva and further up to Uppsala Slott to overlook the city as the night set in, watching a flock of swooping birds while we sat on the canons and talked about life. We also awkwardly sat in on an organ concert for a few minutes in the beautiful Uppsala domkyrka and saw old and weird science and art and history in the Museum Gustavianum (including an excellent anatomical theater used for the dissection of executed criminals and also some mummies). It was a day replete with adventures, and all I managed to take a picture of was my burrito/quesadilla from when we had lunch in the sun by the river. Funny how that works out.

dagens veggie burrito, from a food cart called El Sombrero.

The Start of Spring

Here are a few pictures taken on adventures in the orange setting sun in early March, with spring just beginning to show through the melted ice and snow. It's funny, I have only been here for 7 weeks and now anything above 4-5 C is "sneaker weather." I am very content with spending my days in the sun by the water--and there is water everywhere--with a book and a sandwich, a friend, some coffee, and my camera. Really, that is all I need.

kaffe och semla at a cafe with my beautiful cousin Hanna (my first semla!)

This is my friend Sarah, isn't she cute! And she is from Florida! When you read this, hello Sarah! These are from our bagel-feasting, shoe-shopping, sun-chasing adventures across the city over this past weekend. She's a lot of fun! Yay friends!

   

 

I don't know if pictures are enough to even begin to describe how beautiful the sunlight is in this city... but it's worth a shot.