Tuesday, May 3, 2016

A New Member of Our Family, Another Trip to Stockholm, Laundry and a Final Day of U11 Tryouts


Tuesday, 3 May, 2016:

First and foremost, CONGRATULATIONS to our niece Lauren Ramirez and her husband Lorenzo!

On Monday they welcomed a new member to their family, Leonardo Aurelio Ramirez. Little Max is now a big brother.

 Leo!

This morning I decided to take the bus back into Stockholm with only two touristy goals in mind First up was a visit to Stockholm's City Hall and then off to the Saluhall market in Östermalmtorg.

I've wisely decided that on these quick 20 minute trips into Sweden's capital city, to only focus on seeing a couple of sites at a time as it makes no sense going too crazy each day trip given the proximity.

 Why is there a soccer ball
permanently on this wall?

Oh, that explains it

First Church of the Beautiful Day

I walked by this building . . .

. . . it was the Stockholm District Court

Justice

 Court Fountain

The Fountain had a sign saying
DON'T DRINK THE WATER

I'm with you on that!

Random Carving

Spring in Scandinavia

 Police Headquarters
directly behind the District Court

April showers bring May flowers

North sayeth the arrow

 I may have to eat here someday

 Random carvings . . .

. . . everywhere

 Nice Garden

Lots of Churches in Stockholm

POWER!!!

It was a short walk from the Metro Station to the City Hall, but as you just saw, there was lots to see!

Stockholm's City Hall
inaugurated on
Midsummer's Eve 1923

The Three Crowns of Sweden

 Relief Map of Stockholm at the
entry way to the City Hall . . .

. . . and more of the 14 islands that
comprise Stockholm 

GREAT Entry Door!

Now, THAT'S a door hinge!

 Majestic City Hall Tower

Solid Brick

The Nobel Prizes are awarded annually in a ceremony inside the City Hall.

Bad Moon Rising?

Statues . . .

. . . were . . .

. . . EVERYWHERE!

 Game Face

And me without a horse to hitch

Sure, why not . . .

HEY, THERE ARE FAMILY'S PRESENT!

Nice Column Capital

Cherub with a Fish

 A local enjoying the sunshine

Cool Tree

Swans are always a nice touch

Birger Jarl
c. 1200 A.D. to 1266 A.D.

He played a key roll in the consolidation of Sweden and was the founder of Stockholm.

Carvings . . .

Carvings . . .

Carvings . . .

The City Hall was spectacular!

Now it was another quick Metro ride to my final destination of the day, the . . .

 Saluhall Market

This is Stockholm's renowned marketplace built in 1888. I love markets in Europe and was anxious to see what this grand old building had to offer.

Unfortunately, the old building was closed for repairs.

A newer, cleaner and less atmospheric
Saluhall annex stood open across the street

The seafood looked good

Desserts ALWAYS look good to me

This new addition to the Saluhall lacked the character that I have come to expect from these traditional European markets. I hope that the old building is reopened before I return to California.

 A Church across from the newer
Saluhall Building

Nice Cupola

 Ornate Pulpit

Haunting Figures

Modernistic Stained Glass Window

A fine organ

I had, more or less, accomplished my two goals for the day so I boarded the commuter train to return the Upplands Väsby in plenty of time for a free lunch at Thomas Kök & Catering.

Potato pancakes smothered with thick slabs of bacon and some lingonberry sauce worked for me.

Fully sated yet again, it was time for my first attempt of the season to do my laundry. Our complex has a huge laundromat area that was completely empty today.

 Lots of Washing Machines

Lots of Dryers

And lots of instructions in Swedish

Not sure what I was doing but it seemed to work just fine.

Finally, it was back to work with the final night of the Wäsby Warriors U11 team tryouts.

It was a ROUSING success

Over 20 new players in attendance and they all seemed to have fun.

The Mom of a 9 year old who showed great promise as a wide receiver related to us that her son also had soccer practice tonight but after attending our tryouts on Monday told her that he wanted to skip the soccer practice and return to the American football tryouts.

We are making inroads and we are growing!!!

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