Topic: My town

[GSyren]

In a recent PM to Kathy I bragged a bit about how Stockholm was one of the most beautiful capitals in the world.
I though I would back up my claim with a few pictures that I took the last few days.
You can click each picture to enlarge it


Stockholm is divided by the lake Mälaren and the Baltic. The blob in the middle is the Old Town. To the left of it is Mälaren, to the right of it is the Baltic.

This is Kungsholmen, on the north side of Mälaren, just to the west of the Old Town. The building at the far right i the Town Hall.


This is a view of the Old Town as seen from the south.


A popular Swedish song goes something like this in translation: "Summer is short. Most of it rains away. But it's here now, so go grab some". Well, on a warn summer day many of the Stockholmers who are still in town (and a lot of tourists) bask in the sun in one of our parks. This is Rålambshovsparken.


Some venture out in the water to cool down. Even in the center of town the water is very clean and safe for swimming. In the background you see one of the bridges. Just how many bridges there are is hard to tell because it's not always easy to define which are bridges. I've heard the number 36 for the larger Stockholm area.


This is part of the main south island, Södermalm, as seen from Kungsholmen.


People enjoying the sun just outside of the City Hall.


A bit of green just north of City Hall, overlooking some office buildings.


A couple of canoers paddling in the canal just next to the spot in the previous pictures. City Hall is just to the right outside the picture.


Smack dab in the middle of the city is a park named Kungsträdgården (literally The Kings Garden). This fountain is in the north end.


Just on the other side of that fountain is an open air stage where you can often enjoy free concerts.


Not far from Kungsträdgården is where all the boats dock that go to the archipelago. I was a bit late in the afternoon, so most of them had already left, but this is a typical old style boat. I should mention that Stockholm has a vast archipelago with over 30,000 islands...


This old ship, The Af Chapman, has been turned into a permanent youth hostel.


These cannons have the Old Town in their sights. But don't worry, they're only used to shoot blanks at festive occasions. The latest occasion was the marriage of princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill.


The cruise liner Cinderella arrives and makes a 180 degree turn in order to dock facing seaward. Turning a big ship like this in a relatively narrow inlet is probably not for the faint hearted. But she only goes back and forth to Åland, the Finnish island in the middle of the Baltic, about a 6 hour trip, so the skipper gets a lot of practise...


This somewhat smaller passenger ferry takes you on a 10 minute trip between Slussen ("The Sluice") at the south end of Old Town and Djurdgården, right next to the Gröna Lund amusement park. You can get there by bus or by tram as well, but this is a very popular trip.


Finally, when you ride that ferry towards Slussen, this is the view of the Old Town that you get.

I hope you have enjoyed this little show of Stockholm, and that you agree with me that it is indeed a very beautiful town. It's sometimes refered to as "The Venice of the North". Perhaps you understand why.

If anyone else feels like sharing some pictures of their home town, please do so!

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Wow,

great pics from a beautiful city.

Thanks for sharing.

[Achim]

I didn't know Stockholm was this nice! I used to live in Hamburg for a while, which had a similar vibe, in my opinion (just from the pictures...).

[Dragonfire]

Gorgeous pictures.

[GSyren]

Just in case anyone is interested, these pictures were all taken with a Nikon D5100 with a 35mm normal lens.
They were processed with Nikon's ViewNX 2 software. I often like to make them just a bit darker, and sometimes also enhance the color slightly. And, as you can see, I like to crop my pictures, often to "widescreen" proportions. Maybe it's the movie bug in me...

I also own Nikon's 18-105 mm zoom and a Sigma 10-20 mm wideangle zoom. Sometimes I lug around all three lenses, but I have found that the 35mm is usually all I need. The resolution of the camera is so good that I can crop the pictures quite a lot and still end up with usable pictures.

The next to last picture above looks like this in original, for example:

[Kathy]

Gunnar,

You do indeed live in a most beautiful country. Old architecture, changes of seasons and proximity to water are things that make me happy.

Although there is beauty found in modern works and hot dry areas, those aren't places I want to visit or live.

Do you get lots of snowfall where you live? If so, you must share some of those photographs.

Have you been a photographer for long? You're work is quite good - the pictures make me want to visit Sweden.

[DJ Doena]

Originally I'm from Berlin. But for the last 8 years I've been living in a small town by the name of Herxheim, west of the Rhine and near to the French border.

The town has about 10,500 inhabitants and belongs to the county "Südliche Weinstraße" (Southern Wine Route).

The first few pictures were taken last Sunday when I cycled through the forests and fields and then stopped to read my weekly news magazine (when you click on the pictures you will get a larger version):





Here you can see the model airplane airfield:







Now I'm unrolling my picnic blanket, enjoy the sun and read my newspaper:










The following pictures were taken this evening:

The is the old train station. The last train left Herxheim in 1980. Now the building is a pub, literally called "Old Station" (the railroad tracks are still behind it):



This is called the Tobacco fountain because the leaves in the middle are from a tobacco plant. Behind it is the local ice cream parlour (yummy!)







This is the park behind the fountain:





And this is the newest settlement in the town:







The fields south of the town:





The houses on the horizon belong to the village of Hayna which belongs to the same municipality as Herxheim:



Hayna has a lot of timber-framed houses:



The house on the right doesn't look like much but it's a hotel and the chef there has two Michelin stars. Former US President George W. Bush and former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder have dined here:



Our open air pool:







Herxheim has even got a sand motocross track:



And of course a soccer field:



with a beer garden attached to it:



This picture was taken at 9:05pm and it's still 29°C (84°F):



Like most of southern Germany this region here is mostly Catholic and this is our local church:



This is north of Herxheim (more fields ):



What you'll also find are Christian symbols (like this one) along the old trading routes which have become hiking trails and tractor paths:





And our bio-energy windmills:







The peak on the left is the Catholic church, the other one on the right is a Stift:



This is a small prayer chapel which was built by a wealthy patron:





I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike. I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like!





I'm going to post a few short videos once I've uploaded them.

[Kathy]

These are great Karsten.

Do you know what those white flowers are in the 2nd to the last photo?

I'm also curious as to what that creature is on the Tobacco fountain. It looks like a hippo with wings riding a motorcycle! 

[DJ Doena]

I have no clue regarding flowers.

Re: the fountain: The big figures are a stylized horse and the other is a unicorn. The small creature is a rabbit riding a motorcycle. There are also frogs and other animals around it.

[DJ Doena]

Here are some short videos. Sorry for the shaky cam and the bad sound. I was filming them with my photo camera in one hand while steering my bike with the other.

[Blair]

I live in the south-eastern part of the United States (or just "The South.")

We have... um.... churches, anti-religion protesters, rednecks, racists, and far too many reality TV shows on that result in people laughing at/about how weird and stupid that we are.

So, not much worth seeing here



Nice pics, guys!

[GSyren]

Gunnar,

You do indeed live in a most beautiful country. Old architecture, changes of seasons and proximity to water are things that make me happy.

Although there is beauty found in modern works and hot dry areas, those aren't places I want to visit or live.

Do you get lots of snowfall where you live? If so, you must share some of those photographs.

Have you been a photographer for long? You're work is quite good - the pictures make me want to visit Sweden.

Kathy,

I used to photograph a lot in my youth, mostly black & white, doing it all - spending hours in my bathroom/darkroom developing and enlarging. But then other interests took over. It wasn't until I retired (about 18 months ago) that I started to think about photography again (for more than holiday snaps) and got myself the Nikon. I'm a bit too lazy to carry the camera with me unless I'm out for something specific, though, so I haven't been shooting as much as I thought I would.

Although Stockholm is a lot further north than Buffalo (approximately the same latitude as the southern Yukon border), the climate is approximately the same as in Buffalo. We can thank the Gulf Stream for keeping Scandinavia warm. So yes, we do get snow in the winter, sometimes quite a lot, sometimes very little. I haven't done much winter photography, but I'll keep you in mind next winter... 

Now, how about a few pics of Buffalo? Or do we have to google them...?

[GSyren]

Karsten,

Nice pics and videos! Many thanks! A bit more rural surroundings than where I live (although I don't live in central Stockholm, but in a suburb just to the south).

I guess you do like to go riding on your bicycle, huh? So, what do the farmers grow on all those fields that you ride past?

[GSyren]

So, not much worth seeing here

You know what, Blair - I bet there are things worth seeing there. You're just too used to them. What's ordinary and dull to you may well be exotic and exciting to others.

I used to work as a mailman in the Old Town, and I didn't think "Wow, beautiful hundreds of year old houses", I thought "Crap, lots of stairs and no elevators". Fortunately, 40 years later I have learned to appreciate its beauty.

[DJ Doena]

So, what do the farmers grow on all those fields that you ride past?

Mostly some green stuff ( I've seen rhubarb somewhere) and wheat.

But depending on the season this area is also famous for its asparagus.