Stockholm, I love you

I've been home for almost a month now and it's been wonderful. Stockholm is best in August, with the sun and the warmth. And I'm not the only one here who enjoys those things... The people of Stockholm (and all of Sweden?) likes to get tanned and always has a habit of getting pretty much naked as soon as the weather allows for it.

This guy is not embarrassed to show some skin.

Another thing that's the same is the subway. How can it be so crappy? Last week I had to walk half the way to work (Slussen-Teknis, for those who know where that is). Not a completely bad thing, because it was a beautiful morning. But still. And the price for a monthly pass just keeps on getting more expensive for every time I return home...

Can't get on this train.

Something that's new though is tattoos. Big ones. Visible on arms and necks and faces. Every third person I see on the street has one. Or two or five. After spending two years in Japan this looks scary.

Girl my age with stuff on her arms.

Obviously I asked before taking the picture. Totally screwed up the aperture and ISO settings and it got blurry. But you see my point, right? Big tattoos for everyone to see.

The best thing about Stockholm is sailing in the archipelago. I had one weekend this year and got so lucky with the weather. Perfect wind and not a lot a waves.

Pure happiness.

I've been taking pictures like crazy but I'm running out of (free) space on flickr so I might wait with posting there for a while. Gotta get things sorted out first.

Ok, that's it.

Take care!

Pakistan mangos in Stockholm

I'm back home! It's been a year since last time... Too long, I missed Stockholm.

I had a good flight. Spent most of the time talking to my neighbour, Thomas, from Germany. He was in the middle of a divorce from his Japanese wife and was now taking his two sons, 7 and 12 years old, to Hamburg for vacation. The boys had spent 5 years in Japan (separated from their dad) and the youngest one only spoke Japanese. So there we were, 4 Europeans, chatting away in our common language: Japanese.

Today I met for a lunch with my friend, Annika, and as we were digging in to our pasta salads a truck stopped next to us full of Pakistan mangos! I love Pakistan mangos!

So many boxes!

Naturally, the drivers of the truck started laughing at me for taking pictures of their load. Sure, I may have looked like an idiot, but they were amused and gave us samples!

Annika with our gifts.

I've been taking a lot of pictures lately and put some of them on my flickr page. Here are some, just click them to see more on in the photo stream.

Shinjuku - the gray city.


Shinjuku - where kids sleep on the street.

A fennec puppy. Cute, huh?

There are a lot more in the stream, so feel free to take a look!

That's it.

Take care!