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Gamla Stan is the old part of Stockholm. A lot of it is taken up with cutesy restaurants and souvenir and T-shirt shops.

Sweden

Hank Shiffman
2003-11-26 21:53:06

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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.

Gothenburg, Sweden

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.)

Gränna, Sweden

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!