Thanks to a few large high tech companies, Sweden is a very important market
both for my present employer and a previous one. I have visited Stockholm
several times now. It's an interesting city, consisting of many islands
connected by bridges. Many of the bridges are so solid that I barely
noticed that they were bridges; the water flowing by could
have been some architect's creation to show off the dramatic lines of
his buildings.
Gamla Stan is the old part of Stockholm. A lot of it is taken up with cutesy
restaurants and souvenir and T-shirt shops. Fortunately it isn't
all tourist junk. There are still enough narrow streets and
and interesting houses and shops to make a wander through the area
feel a little like a walk back a few centuries.
I took this picture from the edge of Gamla Stan, the
old city. Interestingly, when I returned home I showed this picture and
far too many others to a friend. Afterward we watched Gorky Park on
television. Late in the film the action moves from Moscow (actually
filmed in Helsinki) to Stockholm, where there is a shot of this same
location taken from the same vantage point. Small world, huh?
There are a few more pictures from Stockholm on my
digital camera page.
I've now been to Gothenburg three times now, twice on business and
once toward the end of my tour of Scandinavia. And I still can't
tell you much about the city. It's home to Volvo, which will
explain my earlier visits. And it's a nice enough looking city,
with handsome architecture and canals and plenty of bars and
restaurants and other cultural pursuits. It's also home to a large
university, which may explain all the bars and restaurants, if not
the other signs of culture. (Back when I was in college, culture
wasn't big on my list of requirements.)
These two pictures were taken on the long drive from the ferry at
Helsingborg to Stockholm. On the left is Brahus, or at least what's
left of it. Built in the seventeenth century by Per Brahe in
imitation of the grand castles of Germany, all that remains now are
some stone walls and a magnificent view of Lake Vättern. On
the right is a more modern relic: a Citroen Deux Cheveaux. Arguably
the cheesiest car ever built, it had hinged windows (cheaper than
making them roll down) and a suspension so loose that you had to
adjust the angle of the headlights to match the distribution of your
passengers. This particular 2CV was a beauty, as were the black and
white Citroens traveling with it. Somebody went to a lot of trouble
just so I could get this picture. And don't think I don't
appreciate it!
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