Friday September 29 started cloudy but got very sunny in the late afternoon. High of 18C.
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| Outside our apartment building. We are on the first floor (second floor in Canada). |
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| Small playground across from our building- view from our window |
We decided to spend the day in our neighbourhood, Vasastaden, and the nearby neighbourhood of Norrmalm, checking out some galleries and eventually getting to an indoor food market. Vasastaden is a relaxed, residential neighbourhood with good restaurants, art galleries and an amazing library. We are on a very quiet street. Norrmalm is the adjacent neighbourhood and is Stockholm's business hub. It is home to the main train and bus stations, has a number of retail stores, bars, restaurants and some cultural institutions.
We started our day with a visit to the Bonniers Konsthall, a contemporary art gallery with a café and small shop. It is housed in a transparent flatiron building designed by Johan Celsing (b. 1955), which opened in 2006. The gallery is only about a five minute walk from our apartment.
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| Outside of the Gallery |
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| Signage for the exhibit |
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| Café and shop area |
The exhibit we saw featured two artists, Sara-Vide Ericson (b. 1983) and Tilda Lovell (b.1972). The exhibit was entitled:
Something Darkly Set Itself at our Senses' Five Thresholds Without Stepping Over Them.
The title of the exhibition is from a line in a poem by Thomas Tranströmer,
The Palace (1962), as "a reminder of that which exists beyond what we can perceive with our bodies".
It is their first exhibit together. Both artists are based in Hälsingland (north-eastern Sweden). Tilda Lovell finds most of the shapes and contents for her sculptures in the countryside around her studio. Sara-Vide Ericson's experiences of the landscape is important to her paintings.
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| Sarah-Vide Ericson, The Percussionist, 2019 |
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| Tilda Lovell, The Mire, 2021 |
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| Ericson, Freediver, 2019 |
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| Ericson, The Lab, 2020 |
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Lovell, The Oracle and Queen Conch, 2016, Ericson, Hollow Point, 2023 (painting in the background)
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| Lovell, Forest Fools and Dusk Dogs, 2020-23 |
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| Lovell, Sandbed, 2017, part of Sandlands exhibit (entire small room covered in sand) |
We enjoyed the exhibit, especially Ericson's painting which had a real depth about them and the colours and lighting were wonderful. The two artists' works went well together.
We then walked to the Sven-Harry's Konstmuseum. an ultramodern building. It was built in 2011 and financed by Swedish real-estate mogul Sven-Harry Karlsson. The building houses a contemporary art museum and luxury flats. The architects Gert Wingårdh and Anna Höglund clad it in a golden alloy similar to that used for coins. Apparently, there are two floors of display space, which includes Karlsson's impressive collection of 20th century Scandinavian art and design. Unfortunately, the museum was closed as they were installing a new exhibit.
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| One side of the Museum |
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| Other side with café, which was open |
We carried on to see the famous Stadsbibliotekt (Stockholm Public Library). This library is one of Stockholm's most internationally lauded structures. It was Gunnar Asplund's (1885-1940) last Nordic classicist building. It opened in 1928. A processional stairway beginning at the entrance leads up to the magnificent rotunda, with 1000s of books.
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| Approaching the library |
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| Main entrance way (forms and ornaments from ancient Egypt) |
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| Processional stairway to rotunda |
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Amazing rotunda
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| My attempt at a panorama |
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| Another view in lovely light |
We stopped at Johan & Nyström, a great coffee shop for an avocado toast and a coffee. It was wonderful sitting out in the bright sun.
Outside the coffee shop
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| Allan with our late lunch |
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| It was quite warm mid-afternoon |
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| Architecturally designed interior with additional room to the right of this picture and seating in the back |
We walked down the street to a wine store to get a bottle of wine. Systembolaget (The System Company") is the government-owned chain of liquor stores in Sweden. They are the only retail stores allowed to sell alcoholic beverages that contain more than 3.5% alcohol by volume. Systembolaget was established in 1955, following serious issues with drinking in Sweden. Originally customers had to ask shop attendants to retrieve desired products (remember the old days of the LCBO in the late 60s). Customers would not be permitted to serve themselves until 1991! According to polling about the alcohol monopoly in Sweden, 59% support alcohol only being available in Systembolaget stores, and the proportion is increasing.
Outside a Systembolaget, known colloquially as systemet "the system" or bolaget "the company"
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Allan with our bottle of Barbera d'Alba--- looks like an old boring LCBO store
before they spruced them up!!
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Gustaf Vasa Church--opened in 1906 and named after 16th century King Gustav Vasa- situated between two busy avenues- one of the largest churches in Stockholm.
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We got some cardamon buns at Fabrique Bakery --- t
hey have become my favourite (lactose pills are helpful) |
We stopped at Pralin Huset to pick up some chocolate bars. We talked to one of the owners. She is from the Netherlands and her husband is German. They live on the outskirts of Stockholm near a forest and moved here a number of years ago. They have operated the family-run chocolate business for quite a while. Their daughter now runs the chocolate factory and they run the store.
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| Lots of wonderful high-quality chocolates--we got a sea salt and a pistachio/cardamon bar |
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| They had just put up the Halloween window display |
We continued walking down the pedestrianized Drottninggatan Street.
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| Going downhill- very busy street |
Our destination was the Hötorgshallen food market. It is located in a square with the large blue concert hall (Konserthuset), home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert hall opened in 1926 and since that time has also played host to the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony on December 10 each year.
On the way back to the apartment, we walked through Norra Bantorget park just off Olof Palme Street. There is a large monument with a statue of the Swedish Social Democratic leader Hjalmar Branting (1860-1925). The bronze monument by artist Carl Eldh (1873-1954), is located in a small park which is the traditional Social Democratic grounds of the city. Eldh started work on the monument in 1926, but it was only erected in 1952. Branting is addressing a group of workers on a May Day demonstration. There are some other prominent social democrats among the crowd.
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| Branting Monument |
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| In Memory of Olof Palme- 1989 sculpture by Nils Dahlgren (1932-2019) |
We arrived back at the apartment and Allan cooked a wonderful fish dinner with the Norwegian sea bass, zucchini, onion, potatoes and chanterelles. We had a glass of the Barbera d'Alba.
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| Late dinner at the apartment |
Even though we spent most of the day in Vasastaden, we still put in over 16,000 steps. On Saturday, we will explore another nearby neighbourhood.
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