Christmas Market in the Old Town

Stockholm is sometimes called "Venice of the North" as it is built on 14 islands. There is water everywhere and Stockholm is a very pretty city. Compared to the US most buildings are old and Gamla Stan/the Old Town (which also is built on an island) is from the 13th century. According to Wikipedia "The town dates back to the 13th century, and consists of medieval alleyways, cobbled streets, and archaic architecture. North German architecture has had a strong influence in the Old Town's construction."

I remembered that Gamla Stan has a Christmas Market every year and a couple of days ago, when the sun was shining for a change, I decided to be a tourist for a day.
The market takes place on Stortorget - a large square in the middle of Gamla Stan - and there were quite a few booths with food, clothing, and Christmas decorations. I did not buy anything as I do not have any space in my luggage, but I enjoyed looking at all the things that were for sale.

Then I took a nice stroll through the cobbled streets and alleyways. Despite the old houses, people live in this part of Stockholm. It gives Gamla Stan quite a nice feel with a mix of apartments, restaurants, and stores.

This is a very narrow alley - it is only about 3 feet wide. Fascinating really.

Sweden is a monarchy and the Royal Castle is also situated in Gamla Stan.

As the day was sunny I decided to take a walk along the water where there are lots of boats. These are used mostly in the summertime and go to different parts of the Stockholm archipelago that consists of about 30,000 islands. Some of the boats are restaurants and have entertainment.

The white ship is actually a hostel called Af Chapman.

And when I was on may way back to go "home" I saw several big moose as decorations. As it was still daytime they were not lit but I am sure they look nice at night :)

Lakes and fall colors

I had packed quite a few winter clothes for my trip to Sweden but so far have not had to use very many. Fall and winter can sometimes come already in October. Fall is here but it has hardly rained and it has been mild with temperatures around 50 most days.

As I live at 3500 feet in Weed in California it is quite different to be at sea level now. There are many more deciduous trees and the leaves are turning colors. We do not have the multicolored leaves like some parts of the east coast in the US, but they are turning yellow and reddish brown. I am not used to seeing this after so many years at a higher altitude and it is nice with a change of scenery.

I am still staying with one friend mostly when I am in the Stockholm area and she moved about 2 weeks ago to a fairly rural area about 20 km from where she lived before. As I was on a trip, to other parts of Sweden, for about 8 days and just got back a few days ago I have not been able to go for walks much in this rural area, but am now trying to go for a walk every day to experience the wonderful Swedish forest. I love the green moss and that I can walk everywhere. I am, however, noticing that I have become "Americanized" and am sometimes thinking about where I can walk. Then I have to remind myself that Sweden has "the freedom to roam" or the right of public access to the wilderness (Allemansrätten in Swedish) which means that you can walk almost anywhere even if it is private land. That is one thing I have always missed since I came to the US.

I went to two different parts of Sweden - Värmland and Dalarna - to visit and check out those areas. I went to a small town i Dalarna that sits right next to a very nice lake. Sweden has almost 98,000 lakes and there is water everywhere. A nice change coming from the drought in California. These pictures are from the lake I visited.

These pictures are from the rural area where my friend now lives and this is what fall looks like right now.

Thoughts about cars

I never had a driver’s license when I lived in Sweden. That might seem odd when you live in the US but the Stockholm area has great public transportation with buses, trams, a subway system, and local trains. Now, I am used to having my own car and it is also needed when you live in a rural area.

When I am now in Sweden I will not rent a car as I do not know all the Swedish traffic signs and regulations so I would most likely be somewhat of a traffic hazard on the roads. ;) Also, most Swedish cars have manual transmission which I have almost forgotten how to use. Michael and I had two cars and one had manual transmission so I did learn how to drive that car at least somewhat decent. However, the car I have had for the past 10 years has automatic transmission which has made my manual transmission skills almost non-existent.

Tomorrow I will be leaving for about 8 days to go to two different parts of Sweden, Värmland and Dalarna, to visit friends and I am taking buses and trains. That feels much safer and I can relax and enjoy the scenery.

When I visited Sweden several years ago I noticed that the cars were quite a bit smaller than the cars in the US. Now I have noticed that people seem to drive cars that are significantly bigger. It must be a trend most likely. Many Swedes love US-related things so maybe the sizes of cars are influenced by the US "standard" size. I saw this pickup truck the other day and immediately felt more at home. :) Pickup trucks are very common in California but fairly uncommon in most parts of Sweden.