MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013
Sweden Imports Garbage
Let me write that
again, in case you missed it: Sweden is so efficient about recycling and
re-using its garbage that the country must import garbage to fill the gaps.
Huh?
First, I’m going to
describe what our household garbage flow looks like. Then I’ll write about the national garbage
flow in more detail.
One of the first
things I noticed about our apartment building is that there are only three
garbage cans for 64 households. These
garbage cans are about the same size as a single-household garbage can in San
Antonio. Our apartment garbage cans only
get emptied once a week, just like in San Antonio. Clearly, Swedes do not generate as much trash
as Americans. Or they are better about
recycling.
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| Our apartment building's trash cans live in a little shed to make them a little more presentable. Three trash cans, 64 households. |
The Swedish
recycling rate surprises me a little bit.
In the US, we had curb-side recycling, so it was just as easy to recycle
as it was to take out the trash. But in
Sweden, there is generally no curb-side recycling. Instead, there are neighborhood recycling stations
and each household must take their recycling to this special location. While the recycling stations are generally
only about a 5 minute walk from every apartment, it still requires a special
effort and a specific errand to recycle.
Energy-wise, I’m sure that the neighborhood recycling stations are much more efficient since trucks only
have to pick up in one location instead of at every building.
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| The neighborhood recycling station isn't so pretty. |
Another factor that
makes recycling in Sweden a little more complicated is that you have to
separate your trash. In the US, we put
all recyclables into one container, but here, you have to put paper in the
paper container, metal in the metal contain, colored glass in one container and
clear glass in another, etc. It’s not
especially time consuming to do this, but still, it does require a little bit
of extra effort.
However, properly
disposing of hazardous waste is easier in Sweden. There’s a special recycling station near the
subway station for small household hazardous waste such as light bulbs, small
electronics, and batteries. In San
Antonio, properly getting rid of these items was a real hassle and I’m afraid
that these items ended up in the regular trash as often as they got
recycled. But here, it’s so easy to
safely get rid of these items that there’s no reason to be careless about it.
Getting rid of
larger hazardous waste is also easier.
In San Antonio, you have to drive out to the dump to put your large
electronics or buckets of paint into the special hazardous waste container. Here in Stockholm, a hazardous waste truck
visits every neighborhood once or twice a week, making it easy to get rid of
these larger items.
I am particularly
impressed with Stockholm’s collection of organic waste. In addition to 3 general trash cans, our
apartment building also has 2 organic waste trash cans. This organic waste fuels our busses after it
has been converted into biogas by waste-processing algae! Not only that, but the left-over compost is
sold to farms to complete the nutrient cycle.
A little bag holding about 3 liters of food waste provides enough energy
for a bus to drive about a mile. I’m
sure that there’s a loss of energy due to transportation of the waste and in processing
it to biogas, but it’s still impressive that so little waste can be converted
into so much energy! Because the organic
waste gets processed and broken down by algae before it is turned into compost,
you can put things like meat and cheese into your organic waste baggie that
would otherwise be forbidden.
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| Our apartment building's food waste containers |
Waste statistics
tend to be given by weight, but I certainly do not weigh our trash before it
leaves our apartment. However, I can
give a rough visual estimate by volume of how our household waste gets divided
up: 75% general recycling (paper, plastic, etc), 1% hazardous waste (batteries
and lightbulbs), 12% organic waste, and 12% trash.
If you’re paying
attention, you’ll notice a discrepancy in what I’ve written so far. We send roughly 12% of our garbage to the
dump, but only 4% of Swedish trash ultimately ends up in the dump… So what happens to the other 8-ish percent of
waste in Sweden?
It becomes
electricity and heating. Sweden burns
huge amounts of garbage. In 2011, 810,000
of Sweden’s 5.2 million households or about 15% were heated by trash (through
district hot water systems).
Additionally, 250,000 households (about 5%) were powered by trash.
Sweden’s
waste-to-energy industry got its start in the 1940’s and has been growing ever
since. Environmental regulations over
the process were implemented in the 1980’s and the results have been
impressive: “emissions of heavy metals from waste incineration into the air
have fallen by almost 99 per cent since 1985.”
Having a waste-burning facility in your neighborhood isn’t so much of an
environmental concern because all water leaving the plant must be 100% pure and
all steam leaving the plant is nearly as clean.
The
problem with
waste-to-energy in Sweden is not environmental factors, but supply
factors. Simply, Swedes are too good
about recycling, and there’s not enough left-over trash to burn. That’s
why Sweden imports trash. Not only does Sweden import trash, but other
countries such as Norway actually PAY Sweden to take their trash off
their
hands. So instead of expanding the
country’s nuclear capacity or damming more rivers, Sweden is investing
in
trash. The country is building new
incinerators all the time and hopes to meet more and more of energy
needs through
trash.
It’s not just Norway
that ships trash to Sweden. Sweden even
burns Italian trash! I’m not so sure
that it’s sooooo energy efficient to put garbage on a boat and ship it all the
way to Sweden, but I suppose that it’s better than the garbage ending up in a
stinking dump…or in the ocean.
What
will happen
when the rest of Europe is as efficient with their recycling as Sweden
is? How will Sweden fill the energy gap? These are all good questions,
but for now,
I’m content to be impressed with the way that Sweden has turned the
problem of
waste management into an energy and revenue source. What will creative
Sweden think of next?
My information and statistics sources:
SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2013
Do April Snow-Showers Bring May Flowers?
It looks like Carl may have been a little optimistic in
declaring it spring a few days ago! It has been snowing off and on all day today.
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2013
Lots of Cream Cheese but No Bagels
Every grocery store in Stockholm has an abundant supply of
cream cheese and cream cheese variants—light cream cheese, strawberry cream
cheese, radish flavored cream cheese…
Cream cheese is referred to as “Philadelphia” despite the existence of
other brands, and it always comes in plastic tubs (and not in a paper package
with foil wrapping as in the US).
I am confused about this amazing abundance of cream
cheese. All the variants of cream cheese
take up about 25% of the space in the cheese section of the grocery store. And yet, the grocery store does not sell
bagels. No fresh bagels. No packaged bagels. No frozen bagels. So what do people do with all that cream
cheese?
MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2013
Spring Equinox but Still Not Spring The Spring Equinox was a couple of days ago, and Stockholm is now getting more than 12 hours of daylight every day. Being so far east in the time zone, the daylight is more concentrated to the pre-wakeup hours than I would prefer, but despite this, there is still a bit of daylight remaining when Carl gets home from work these days. It’s hard to imagine that in a month, the sun will hardly set and that we’ll have nearly 24 hours of daylight every day.
This is especially hard to imagine because it is still deeply
winter in Stockholm. Even though we’ve
had nearly constantly clear skies and warm sunshine for the last month, the
temperatures rarely rise above freezing.
During the day the temperatures rise to around 30°F, but at night, they
still plummet to 15° or 20°F. The ground
is still covered in snow, sidewalks are still covered in ice, and branches
haven’t even begun to bud. The crocuses
have not even sent green shoots out of the ground yet.
Despite the wintery weather, Stockholmhers are ready for
spring. It was about 25°F out when I
took this photo a few days ago when passing through Kungsträdgården, downtown
Stockholm’s park. However, unlike most
other Stockholmers, I’m actually still enjoying the late cold weather this year. I revel in the fact that it’s nearly April
and that there’s still snow covering the ground. I love that the extended cold temperatures
mean that I’ll be ice-skating on frozen lakes for another few weeks. Best yet, I am overjoyed to be living in
Stockholm instead of Texas where it is likely to be in the 90’s within a week
or two. It’s amazingly wonderful to live
in a climate where I appreciate the sun when it makes an appearance and where I
actually enjoy the feel of its warmth on my skin.
TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2013
Getting Organized
I am generally an organized person, but I’m not so type A
that everything in my environment is super duper organized and perfect. There are definitely areas for improvement
here and there in our apartment, so I spent a bit of time at Ikea this week
finding some organizational tools to help our weak spots. It felt good to come home with a bag of
organizational goodies and to set to work in the apartment. In no time at all, my bathroom cubby, our
living room bookcase, my wardrobe, and our electronic gadget drawer were
efficiently organized. I have to say
that our new-and-improved electronic gadget drawer is definitely the highlight
of my recent organizational efforts.
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| I used silverware drawer inserts to provide individual spots for each electronic gadget category: rechargeable batteries and charger, camera and accessories, skype stuff, ipod stuff, etc. |
THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013
Flashcards Part II
A long, long time ago, four weeks into my Swedish studies, I
posted the above image of my flashcard piles.
Now that I have finished my 13 month course, I thought I’d post a photo
of all the flashcards that I memorized during that time. I spent some time this week organizing and
cleaning out our bookshelf/hoarder -of-miscellaneous-stuff and decided that it
was time to photograph and then say adieu to all these wispy slips of paper.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2013
What's in an Ikea Name?
My
friend Mia used to love going to Ikea with Carl and I
back when we all still lived in San Antonio.
She would ask Carl “What does this name mean? What about this one?”
while we wandered
through the store. Now that I can read Swedish,
I, too know what the names mean. A good
number of them are related to place names, but many of them are ordinary
Swedish words that may or may not relate to the product. Every now and
then you see a first name. Some are silly plays on Swedish words.
Others are quite amusing if you start
thinking about it, and you have to wonder if the humor was intentional
on
Ikea’s part or not.
Place Names:
 |
| Left to right from top: Sink = Odensvik (vik = bay so the water association makes some sense). Slippers = Fegen (Fegen is a town in Sweden, but feg is also an adjective that means cowardly). Sofa = Karlstad. Lamp = Kryssbo (Kryssbo is a town but kryss also means cross and bo = to dwell or to reside. Bo also means nest). Rocking chair = Varmdö (an island outside of Stockholm). Chair = Högsten (a suburb of Stockholm). |
Random Swedish Words:
 |
| These curtain rods are called Quarter (of a year), Real, and Thankful. |
 |
| While most IKEA furniture seams to be named after places, these are not. Charming, Ore (like iron ore), and Point are random names for these pieces. |
 |
| These glassware items are named Candy, Friendly, and Smiling. |
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| Past, Future, and Appropriate are the names for these kitchen items. |
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| These lamps are named Interest (like interest from a bank, not I'm interested in...), South, Minute, The Mud, Leader. |
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| Watering Can = Sugar. Handle = Worth. Vases = Aware. Step Stool = Comfortable. |
Swedish Words that Relate to the Product:
 |
| Curtain = Lappland Heather (the motif is very Sami-esqe (Sami are the native people who live in Lappland)). Candle Lantern = Dark. Tray = Crumb. |
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| Decorative Reeds = To Decorate. Stool = Careful. CFL Bulbs = Thrifty. |
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| Tea Pot = Warmth. Stove = Tasty. Travel Cosmetic Bag = Discover.. |
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| Alarm Clock = Alarmy (alarm clock actually translates as väckarklocka, but väckis is the cutsy word for it). Bathroom Cabinets = Good Morning. Vase = Gurkört which is a small, purple flower. |
First Name:
 |
| These cushions are called Elsebet, the Swedish version of Elizabeth. |
Plays on Swedish Words:
 |
| Left to right from top: Chair = Hästvede = Horse Wheat which makes you think of straw which is appropriate for this rattan chair. Lamp = Basisk ~ Basic (but the actual word for basic is elementär. This lamp is a good example of Swinglish). Bedside Table = Hemnes ~ Homey (hem = home but hemnes isn't really a word). Sofa = Säten ~ Seat (the actual word for seat is säte). Herb Pots ~ Herby (ört = herb but there is no adjective form). Lamp = Krämare ~ Creamer (like someone who makes cream, but this word isn't a real word). |
Unintentional Humor:
 |
| Baby Changing Table = Faithful (really? As in: "I hope you were faithful and this baby with a dirty diaper really is mine"???). Toilet Seat = The Peace. Shower Curtain = Greenery (I sure hope the shower curtain doesn't encourage the growth of greenery!). |
TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013
Not Quite Spring
Our indoor potted crocus may be blooming, but it’s not
spring here yet. It was -15°C (5°F) here
over the weekend and the average daily temperature is still below
freezing. During the day, there’s a good
bit of water on the sidewalk due to temperatures just about freezing that melt
ice and snow, but it all freezes again at night. The conditions have resulted in quite treacherous
sidewalks but the conditions with no new snow are ideal for ice skating.
I wrote a little while ago about the ice skating rinks that
dot Stockholm, but that’s just the beginning of Stockholm’s ice skating
possibilities. When the ice coating
lakes and bays freezes solidly enough, the city begins to plow ice skating
loops on the ice. Before moving here, I
had never ice skated on a natural body of water, so it still feels pretty scary
to skate on ice that’s floating on dangerously cold water. Even though I know that the ice supported a
snow plow and a Zamboni and I see tons of people out on the ice with me, I can’t
help but think “what if.”
Despite my trepidations and fears of falling in, Carl and I
have had a few absolutely lovely outings on the ice. Smaller lakes have short loops that are only one
kilometer long, but the longest loop in the city is 14 kilometers or 8.7 miles! We skated the 14 kilometer loop on Sunday and
it took us about 70 minutes. It almost
feels like flying to move across the ice so quickly, especially when the wind
is at your back. We were not the slowest
people on the ice (like we are on cross country skis) but we certainly weren’t
the fastest. A good number of people
flew by us and probably do the long loop in about half the amount of time it
took us.
Carl has a pair of long distance ice skates, but I’ve been
doing fine on my figure skates. Maybe
eventually I’ll invest in long distance skates, but for now, I managed quite
well and quite quickly on my new figure skates.
The ice skating loops are enormously popular. There were probably about 100 people milling
around the start point of the loop last weekend, and another 100 or so out on
the ice. The ice skating trails are free as is being rescued by the four-wheeler equipped emergency team, but
donations are accepted. The city also
makes a little money on selling hot coffee and hot chocolate and snacks. They also provide sizzling grills out on
the ice so that you can warm your hands up and grill your own hot dogs.
It looks like we’ll have another few weekends of good ice
before it starts to get too thin for skating since the temperatures show no
sign of rising above freezing. Right
now, the ice is 45-50 centimeters (18-20 inches) thick! The ice is considered safe with a big safety
margin at 10 cm, so quite a lot of melting has to occur before it is too
thin. This is extra great for us because
the snow is now too patchy and thin for cross-country skiing and the sidewalks
are too treacherous for running. At
least we can get out on the ice for a little exercise!
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2013
Apartment Lighting
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| one of Stockholm's many amazing neighborhood lighting stores |
When you buy an apartment in Sweden, no light fixtures are
included. Not even ceiling
fixtures. In one sense, this is a good
thing, because you don’t get stuck with ugly, cheap Home Depot light fixtures
that you never liked but are too cheap/busy to change. On the other hand, when you’ve just moved to
a foreign country and you’ve just bought an expensive apartment and are about
to spend even more money renovating it, the last thing you need is to spend
thousands of dollars on light fixtures.
When we first moved into the apartment, we weren’t prepared that
it would be almost completely dark. Only
the bathroom and kitchen ceiling fixtures were still in place, but the bedroom,
hallway, and living room were completely without electric light. We had to go to the hardware store and
procure some cheap and simple “light bulb dangling from the ceiling” fixtures. Slowly, over the past year, we have procured
and crafted “real” light fixtures to replace the dangling bare bulbs.
Since ceiling fixtures are like furniture in Sweden, it
makes sense that they are generally not hard-wired. Instead, there are special ceiling outlets
dotted over apartment ceilings. These
ceiling outlets make it easy to switch out light fixtures, but they’re ugly.
Unusually, the fixture that was left behind in the kitchen
is actually hard-wired. We could tell
that the previous owner tried to take the $20 Home Deopt-ish fluorescent fixture
with him, because the light fixture was left dangling from the ceiling by the
electrical wires. Apparently he started
to dismount it but got discouraged when he discovered that removing the fixture
was complicated.
We originally thought we’d replace the kitchen fixture to
something a little nicer than a yellowed plastic box housing a fluorescent light
tube, but that proved impossible due to Sweden’s “cozy” aesthetic. You would think that Swedes would combat dark
winter afternoons with bright lights, but that is not the case. Instead, Swedes typically combat the dark
with dim, cozy lighting and preferably with candles instead of electric
lights. This means that in making the
rounds of Ikea, about 8 lighting shops, and several Home Depot-like warehouses,
we could not find a single bright fixture.
In the US, the standard cheap Home Depot fixture contains three or four
bulbs behind a white glass shade. The
only multi-bulb fixture we could find were chandeliers, and that wasn’t exactly
the look we were going for in the kitchen.
Discouraged on the simple, multi-bulb front, we decided to go the fluorescent
route instead and purchased the absolute brightest fluorescent fixture we could
find that was at least somewhat descent looking. We installed the light and wow, it was not
even close to bright. The light level
was cozy, maybe, but cozy is hard to cook by.
So
then it was back to the drawing board with the overhead kitchen
light fixture. In the mean time, four
months after buying the apartment, we still had a yellowed fluorescent
fixture
hanging by its electrical cords from the ceiling. In the end, we
decided to keep it. We screwed it back to the ceiling, removed
the cover, and hung an Ikea frosted-glass cabinet door just below the
fixture. The kitchen now has the light
levels desired by an American and the fixture looks clean, simple, and
modern.
Over our breakfast/study counter in the kitchen, we hung
twin fixtures that we found on super-sale at a fun lighting store. They are quite simple with an inner white
glass shade and an outer clear glass shade hanging to the bulb casing by thin
stainless pins, but they manage to be quite elegant in their simplicity. These lights are actually the only ceiling
fixtures in the apartment that we bought instead of DIY’d, and I’m glad we
splurged on them because I love them!
We had similar light-level struggles in our hallway which is
fairly long. If we used only one fixture
in the middle, the hallway would be dim and shadowy—not quite the welcoming,
inviting look we were going for. There
was an additional problem with our built-in storage cabinet doors which reach
to the ceiling and when open, swing out more than halfway across the
hallway. This meant that any sort of
ceiling-mounted lighting would have to be off center. We considered all kinds of alternative options—building
a cove, using LED rope lights, installing wall-mounted fixtures—but everything
was either way too dim and shadowy or crazy expensive.
Eventually, we decided to expand on the dangling bare bulb
already giving the hallway some light.
One dangling bare bulb was too dim and created too many spooky shadows,
but what if there were five bulbs marching (off-center) down the hallway? Maybe with a mason glass jar over the bulbs
so that they didn’t look quite as “bare?” It was by far the cheapest idea we
came up with, so we went with it. Carl,
who is now an electrical wiring master, rigged up all the wires needed to connect
all five bulbs to one ceiling plug and therefore one wall switch. After setting it all up, we decided that we
liked the look and the amount of light, but unfortunately the light color was
awful. Despite being labeled as “extra
warm white” bulbs, they are very blue and cold.
To warm up the tone, we decided to fill the bottom of the glass jars
with red glass flower arranging shards.
I’m not in love with the red shards but the quality of light is much,
much better.
In the bedroom, we have Ikea bedside lamps but Carl designed
and built a ceiling light fixture for us.
He first mocked it up in cardboard then built the real thing with
left-over window panel fabric stretched over a thin wood frame. Carl’s creation does a good job of reflecting
light back up to the ceiling as well as casting a general glow over the
room. So original and so well done!
Just about every neighborhood in Stockholm has at least one
wonderful lighting store crammed full of gorgeous fixtures. The lighting stores are an architect’s candy
store. But sadly, the candy is crazy
expensive. Even simple white glass
sphere fixtures cost over $1000! In one
of these stores, we fell in love with a simple but fun fixture with five lamp
shades gathered together to create one light fixture. It was perfect to hang over our dining room
table. But the price tag of $1500 was
not so perfect, so we created our own!
Since our table is fairly small, we decided that 3 shades was
enough. Again, Carl did his electrician handiness
connecting all three bulbs together to plug into one outlet. The shades were by far the most expensive
part of the project but amounted to only a fraction of the cost of the original
fixture we had seen in the store.
Over the couch, we, adapting to Swedish custom, decided that
we didn’t really need a light fixture.
Instead, we hung a very simple black iron candle chandelier. It is uber-cozy watching movies by
candlelight! And actually, the overhead
candles cast a surprising amount of light.
We bought and hung the fixture right before Christmas which is why we
used the red ribbon. Eventually I’d like
to replace the ribbon with a simple black chain.
Carl has proved his electrical skills again at the living
room desk and bookshelf. In both cases,
he took two individual Ikea fixtures and wired them together to connect to one
electrical outlet and one switch. I like
the slightly old-timey, industrial fixtures and love the handy, custom switch locations!
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| our handy custom switch at the desk is barely noticeable but very convenient |
It has taken a year, but we finally have all of our lighting
in place. I’m proud of all our DIYing
and am so glad that Carl felt competent enough to take on all that wiring!
 |
| the master at work |
In an interesting side note, Sweden has outlawed regular
incandescent light bulbs, and halogens are next on the list. Energy-efficient CFL and LED bulbs are now
the rule. However, you can still buy an
incandescent bulb if it is some sort of special bulb that can’t yet be
duplicated in a more energy efficient form (this applies to some types of
directional bulbs as an example).
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23, 2013
It's Cold Out There
It is currently -16°C which is about 3°F. In the next 24 hours, the low will be -22°C or -8°F!!! Somehow, Stockholm is the coldest part of Sweden right now. Even colder than Lapland where the sun hasn't risen in months!
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2012
Winter Toys
Between sleds, figure skates, long-distance ice skates,
cross country skis, and ski poles, Carl and I have accumulated a lot of winter
toys in the last year. During the
summer, we store this kind of thing in our basement storage unit, but it’s a
hassle to go down there very often, so during the winter, our toys hang out in
our entranceway. We decided that it was
high time to organize the chaos and hung all of our winter gear in the little
nook behind our front door. The hallway
feels so much better!
THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2013
Ice Skating!
For Christmas, Carl gave me a pair of figure skates so that
we could take advantage of the free rinks around town. I haven’t owned a pair of ice skates since I
was about 10 and took ice skating lessons, and it’s so great to twirl around in
a new, sharp pair.
We have a little free neighborhood rink about ¼ mile from
our apartment. It’s the local basketball
court that the city floods in the winter.
The city is also nice enough to plow it every time it snows. The rink is lighted so you can enjoy a nice,
evening twirl after work. There are free
neighborhood rinks throughout Stockholm, but we’re lucky to live so close to
one.
Stockholm’s main ice skating rink is downtown in Kungsträdgården. This rink even features skate rental and
music to twirl to. While Carl and I
usually have the neighborhood rink to ourselves in the evenings (I see a lot of
kids on our local rink in the afternoons), the downtown rink is a hotspot with
tourists, local teenagers, and families out for a winter night on the town. Of course, at least 50% of the tunes they
play are ABBA. So fun!
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| Kungsträdgården's rink |
Last weekend, Carl and I were out for a walk around a lake
in our area of town. It’s not a lake
that the city plows for ice skating purposes, so the neighborhood residents
take matters into their own hands and shovel off the ice. Carl and I were disappointed not to have our
skates with us, but we did enjoy watching the neighborhood kids push around a
hockey puck and just generally skate around.
Parents were milling on the sidelines on an unshoveled portion of the
lake grilling hot dogs on tiny portable grills.
Now that’s winter fun!
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2012
Winter Solstice
So far, the darkness isn’t really affecting me toooo
badly. I think this is partly because we
burn so many candles at home in the evenings—we have 8 going in the kitchen
when we’re cooking, 5 at the dining table, and 32(!) burning in the living room
when we’re watching movies or reading on the couch. We have so many candles burning in the living
room that it’s comfortable to read by!
All of that warm, glowing light is a cozy and welcome contrast to the
cool, blue gray light of daylight.
Another reason that I think I’m doing so well with the light
levels is that I’m done with my classes!!!
Since I’m not working yet, I’m out and about during the middle of the
day running errands and going on long walks or runs. I’m able to enjoy what little daylight there
is. Next winter, when I’m working, I may
feel differently.
And finally, we have about 2 feet of snow on the ground! All of that snow reflects light back into the
sky, making it feel much brighter than when the ground is bare of snow. The snow also makes it fun to play outside,
and Carl and I have been out as much as possible cross country skiing and
sledding.
There’s quite a lot of cross country skiing trails scattered
throughout Stockholm. The closest to us
is a huge network of groomed trails in a nature reserve, and they even have a
5km lighted loop so that you can get your exercise after work when it’s dark
out. That lighted loop is a real killer,
though. There’s not a flat stretch
during the whole 5 kilometers—either you’re slowly trudging going up or quickly
gliding down. The nature reserve is 2
subway stops from our apartment, so we get on the train with our skis and poles
and in our ski boots and gear. We
probably look pretty crazy but there are frequently people with skis or long
distance ice skates on the train, so we’re not too weird!
We’ve also explored a golf course trail that’s a 20 minute
bus ride from our apartment. Obviously,
there’s no golf being played when there’s two feet of snow on the ground, so
the owners allow skiers to take advantage of the open, rolling terrain. The course is far enough out of town that you’re
surrounded by farms, so it feels like a great countryside outing. This trail isn’t groomed, but so many people
use the trail that there is a well worn path to follow. However, because it’s not groomed, your skis
spend a lot of time slipping sideways, so while the course is easier than the
nature reserve because it doesn’t have so many hills, it is challenging to keep
your skis on course.
In January, we’ll add ice skating to our list of fun,
cold-weather activities. Carl gave me a
pair of ice skates for Christmas, so we’ll be able to take advantage of the
free outdoor neighborhood rink that’s a five minute walk away. There are several other free outdoor rinks
scattered throughout town, so we’ll have to do an ice skating tour of the
city! Also, since the lakes freeze over,
the city plows several long-distance ice skating trails on the lakes. There’s not nearly enough ice at this point,
but hopefully by mid-January it’ll be safe to go on some long ice-skating
outings.
We did have one really cold weekend a while back, but so far
this winter, the temperatures have been fairly mild, staying in the 19-28°F
range. Even though it’s cold and dark
outside, we’re having lots of fun and enjoying having a “real” winter. What a contrast to life in Texas!
MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2012
Our Favorite Running Loop in Winter
While we do have some other running/walking loops from our
apartment that we enjoy, Carl and I often find ourselves on one loop in
particular. It is lit at night, so that’s
a bonus in the winter, and a good portion of it is by the water. It’s not too long—about 3 miles—but it’s long
enough to be a good workout. There is also
a bail-out point where the loop passes a subway station if necessary, but we
rarely need to resort to that. Below is
a photo essay of our running loop in winter.
And as an example of general light levels in Stockholm
during the winter, keep in mind that I took these photos at noon!
I do have to say that after living in Texas so long, it is extraordinary to run in anything other than shorts, but here in the winter, I even put long johns under my running pants!
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| Across our street, through a linear park, under a commuter train bridge. |
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| Along an allee, past a subway station, past a new apartment building. |
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| The allee continues past 1550's and 60's apartment buildings, then joins up with a historic allee. |
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| Past a riding school at a historic stable building which served the nearby palace at one time. |
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| The village near the palace, a palace outbuilding, and a palace wing. |
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| The palace, a palace wing, and the palace's historic allee leading from downtown. |
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| Water views! First to all the new construction on Kungsholmen, across to Traneberg, then to Bromma. Notice that the lake is frozen until the middle. |
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| The palace from the water's edge, more palace village, and a very textured old shed. |
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| Another historic building, past a waterside cafe and swimming docks, and the semi-plowed path. |
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| The original palace, boat sheds, an old schooner all covered up for the winter. |
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| Trees and water, the path, past a couple of older houses with orchards and private boat docks. |
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| New apartments under construction, up a steep hill to an outlook over the river with a view to a converted industrial area that is now big-box shopping, and views across the river to Bromma. |
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| Up a very steep hill through the woods, through a boring apartment area, and back onto the allee. |
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| Back to the linear park, and finally a sight of our brick building. |
MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2012
Winter has Most Definitely Arrived
Today's high temperature is 7 degrees Fahrenheit and
the low tonight will be -3 degrees F! Brrrr! It'll be a good test of
my new winter coat which I bought this fall. So far when I've been
wearing the coat I've been too warm and have had to unzip it for a little cooling ventilation. The jacket should be in its element out there today!
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2012
An Ode to Winter, and Snow
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| View from our living room window this morning |
November has been rather dark and dreary with lots of heavy
grey skies and drizzle. I have only seen
direct sunlight twice, both times fleeting, since October. The cloudy skies coupled with the low sun
angle means that most days, the “daylight” has been dusky at best even at noon. It’s been too chilly and rainy to do much
outside other than take some sanity walks in the drizzle, but it hasn’t been cold
enough for the precipitation to turn to snow.
But yesterday afternoon, it started snowing. And snowing, and snowing and it still hasn’t
stopped! What a difference the snow
makes! Even though it’s still cloudy,
the snow makes the whole world brighter.
Instead of bleak and grey, everything looks fresh and clean outside despite the monochromatic landscape.
Yesterday I had another big test in order to move up to the
next level. I think it went pretty well
and will find out the results next week.
When I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland, I decided that it
was ok to play hooky from my studying for a day since my brain needed a break,
and I spent several hours wandering through Skogskyrkogården (translates
directly to “Forest Cemetery” but is better known in English as Woodlawn
Cemetery). It was absolutely gorgeous in
the snow, and I took about 150 photos! I’ll
be posting more about this uber-famous architectural creation soon on my
Architectural Asides page, and I wrote about the same cemetery below in my All Saints Day post, but for now, I hope you enjoy an assortment of
winter wonderland photos.
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