Karl Stanton

Kungsträdgården, Stockholm, Sweden

I finally got my Yashica 635 film developed. This roll had been in that camera since my trip to Hong Kong in 2008. Not longer after that I moved to Sweden and fired off the last few. This is taken in Kungsträdgården, in the center of Stockholm, Sweden. Spring 2009.

Sorry, it’s been a while…

Sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been busy, stressed, and more stressed. My company took us out to the Stockholm Archipelago last week, it was breath taking.

More news in the next few days…

My hood

Looking lovely in the Swedish sunset.

A monster weekend.

Cigars in the park! Last Friday the Stockholm office took a mid-afternoon to evening break to eat BBQ and drink Carlsberg. The sun was shining high and it was great to enjoy a Friday afternoon off, much like the good ol’ Australian tradition of beers at lunch! For more photos, view the post on Kontain.com.

We left here at about 9pm (sun still shining bright) and managed to make our way to to Seba‘s welcome home gig at K2 in Södermalm. Not as many people as he would have pulled in Australia. I’d say we were amongst 50 of Stockholm’s only drum & bass crew (all very nice people, too!) who were there to give it all and have a great night. Seba’s music was as expected, deep, soulful and lots of bass. I didn’t get to catch up but I hear he is playing another gig in town soon! Woop!

From here, (yes, still on our way) we managed to find ourselves (thanks to Jonas) at a cave rave out the back of Liljeholmen. Now this was a special event of some sorts. Basically, these guys had found an abandoned train tunnel and decided to host a party about 500 meters deep. Behind that false wall is the true tunnel which stretches for miles. I think Johnny (pictured in the Seba paragraph) and I walked about another 500 meters before we realised how rediculous this was and ventured back. Needless to say we couldn’t see anything except for what light out iPhone’s were broadcasting into the dirt.

That was Friday.

Saturday I cooked up burgers and went to my work mate’s house party. I was heading off home at around 10pm until a few gin’s later we were heading off to another party on Liljeholmen, this time in an old office. There was some sort of animal theme going on and I met a cat while waiting in line for the bathroom. I was pretty tired from the night before but managed to hold out until the temperature was warm enough to go swimming in Trekanten pond… have a look at this!

Not bad for an early morning swim! The water was so still and warm enough to flap about in for around 30 minutes. We dried off in the sun and managed to make our way back home… only to return 10 hours later in the warmth of the afternoon to really enjoy the water.

On our ride back home, Liam (pictured with me) and I decided to stop for one last drink at Mälarpaviljongen which is a bar floating on the water between Kungsholmen and Södermalm. We stayed until the sun dropped drinking mojito’s and enjoying the summer time.

Oh, and everyday that the sun is out, so are the hot air balloons. Stockholm is a beautiful city to be in when it’s warm and sunny… if only it were like this for more than 2 months a year.

Nothing quite as large as last weekend for me this weekend, as I will be travelling to Arboga to meet my long lost relatives, but you never know… the week after that LONDON!

Hej!

Glad midsommar?

Click the image for the large version.

This was supposed to be the “best day on the Swedish calendar”. Parties, people, sunshining and celebrating summer. But, look!

Hrmph.

Rain, rain, go away…

Ah S:T Eriksplan. This is where I live. The first tall peach building, I’m somewhere around there. Shame you can’t see the miserable rain falling in this photo. I went outside to capture the essance of the Swedish summer. Nothing but rain. I think we topped 8ºc today. Boo!

This coming Friday is midsommar, and apparently it’s the biggest day on the Swedish calendar. I’ve heard countless stories of the city going crazy, but most, nej, pretty much all of my friends are leaving town to go to their parents holiday houses on the archipelago. One thing that I’m trying to understand is why the Systembolaget (the governing body of the alcohol monopoly of Sweden) is closed the night before and during the entire celebration. Thursday 7pm, no more booze until Monday 11am. What the hell! It’s a bloody public holiday. And, to further this, the employees of the Systembolaget are threatening to strike this week. It’s not as bad as I first thought, but who knows what else could go on.

Needless to say, people have already started to stock up. If it’s a beautiful weekend, people want to be in the park with a few beers and a frisbee, not kicking the doors down of the bottle shop.

So, apart from my 4 day week, I’ve actually finished booking my Europe trip coming up in 3 weeks. Above is the first image I’ve seen of Zurich. I have really no idea what to expect, but my good friends Al & Jules just returned from there and sang nothing but praises about the city and the surrounding areas. Yes, that’s the Alps you can see in the distance… a short train ride out of town and you’re amongst it. I’m looking forward to relaxing here after what is already drumming up to be a pretty big week and a bit in London.

I land July 10th and the next day I’ll be joining my good friend G at the TCR BBQ, and later that night partying it up on the Lot49 boat cruise. I can’t wait to catch up with my old breakbeat crew. I met so many great people during that period of my life, it would kill me if we didn’t keep in touch. I’m actually playing G in an online Chess battle, so we are keeping in touch, so to speak. I just wish he would let me win.

After Zurich, I will be flying to Paris to witness the final stage of Le Tour de France 2009. 7 laps of the Champs-Élysées should give me enough time to fire off some shots of the pelaton making their way to the end of what I imagine will be another tight and gruelling race. I can’t wait!

Speaking of Chess, if you have an iPhone, download the app “Chess with Friends”, install, and look me up (lynt). It’s the most addictive application on the iPhone. Constantly playing other people around the world. Keeping me occupied while I wait in line and on the train. It’s great!

I’ll report again after midsommar, bless!

My failed attempt at Vaxholm

Yesterday I tried to ride to Vaxholm. Vaxholm is one of the first points of the Stockholm archipelago, and is easy to get to by boat, and almost impossible by bike.

Stockholm in general has excellent bike paths, well signed with distances, wide and smooth. That is, until the council can’t be bothered anymore. Several times on this trip I ended up on dirt roads, industrial areas and peoples back yards. At point I was heading on to a highway. One minute I’m following bike path directions, the next I’m on the E18 heading to Oslo.

So I got frustrated and had to abort my mission. I was around 15 kms from my goal, which would have rendered me spending the afternoon on an island, drinking beer and having fun. Instead, I returned to Stockholm, and drank beer in the park with some friends.

It’s also nice to ride back to places I ventured to when it was snowing, this is a totally different town now. Summer is here, the rides are long and the beer is cold. Loving summer!

Lidingö #2

Today I took another trip out to Lidingö with 3 guys from the Stockholm fixed gear fraternity. Lovely people, great ride, and super windy. This time we took the back way at the northern part of Lidingö, which provided much up hill stress for my already weary body. I plan not to do much for the next few days!

Lidingö

Smashed it!

Spring time in Stockholm

Well, what a week. My first week back since Australia and I feel like it’s a whole new city. The weather has been hovering around 17ºc – 20ºc during the days and just below 10ºc at night, perfect.

I sit here in my kitchen, with a bottle of French riesling to help me reflect on the week and weekend just gone, and I must say that Stockholm is a place to visit when the sun is out. The trees have leafs, the rivers are flowing with boats & kiyaks, the parks are full of people and and the city is alive! The long dark winter is finally paying off, and everybody is making the most of it, including me.

Saturday I woke up early and took a walk through Östermalm in an attempt to get into some spring gear. I spent a fair amount of my time though taking photos of the beautiful cherry blossoms that line Kungsträgåden (King’s Garden). I will be uploading the rest of the blossom shots this week. It was really nice to be out taking photos again, headphones on (DJ Krush only with spiritual enlightenment thanks to DJ Krush – Zen). I sat and watched the people for a good while and realised that Spring has definitely landed.

Last night I caught up with NYC legend and fellow Fi employee Priscilla (Lil’ Pri, Ludapris, The Mexican) at Mosebacke, which lead us on to pizza and then a crazy apartment party, which while didn’t go late into the night (we packed it in at 1am), still managed to attract the attention of the Stockholm Polis who claimed they could hear us from 5 floors down on the street. We weren’t playing music loud, but because it’s spring, we have our windows open, and the sound echos across the area like nothing else. Oh well… they were cool with it.

As in my previous post, I woke up with an itch to get on the bike. After making a cracking breakfast with Canadian housemate Liam and Italian housemate Matteo, I jumped on the saddle and belted out 45kms. I decided to head south as far as I could go. I am so happy that Stockholm has such awesome bike paths. They’re wide, well directed and so smooth. It was like riding on a skating rink for 4 hours. I rode hard and fast for what felt like forever, there were a few moments when I realised I had been day dreaming and had to snap back to reality. It was that good.

I got as far as Skogår, which is about 20 km’s south of Stockholm. I know this because I managed to jack some unsecured wifi connection and Twittered about it. It was amazing. A rich area I would suspect, with houses raised high on cliffs overlooking peaceful lakes and amazing forests. It doesn’t take long out of Stockholm before you’re immersed in nature. The best way to see it is obviously on a fixed gear bike.

I arrived home exhausted and made up a nice plate of cheese and meat and am currently finishing off that bottle of riesling, almost topping off the perfect weekend, apart from the obvious.

I’m back to no drinking this week, and also running hopefully 4 of the 5 nights. I bought a great running jacket, and now that it’s warming up, the sun is out longer so I can run longer and avoid getting the flu.

Until next time… hej dåg!