We had quite the storm here in Karlskrona in Sweden yesterday. Especially during the evening and night. I actually thought my windows were going to blow away few times, that was how hard the wind shook them. Trees fell and blocked roads in several places around here, roofs were blown off houses and over 80 000 households in Southern Sweden lost their power (I had mine though).
But the big incident of the evening in my family was that while my sister was visiting a friend, the wind got hold of a trampoline (one of those things children jump up up and down on) from her friend's neighbour's garden. This trampoline flew all the way across the road and hit my sister's parked car. Yikes! Luckily though my sister was not in the car at the time, which was really the most important thing. However her car did get quite a few dents and a broken front window.
Now despite the fact that a storm was in full motion less than 24 hours ago, the sunset I encountered in Nättraby in Karlskrona earlier today could not have been more still and beautiful. Definitely a typical "calm after the storm" moment. And I think that because yesterday was such a stormy one, this sunset felt to me like a reassurance of the fact that all moments do truly pass. Even stormy nights. So with that in mind, I indeed took the opportunity to fully enjoy this lovely moment.
The first sunset after the storm. Location; Nättraby, 10 kilometers outside of Karlskrona in Sweden.
Yesterday was the kick off for our yearly Sail festival here in Karlskrona, Sweden. Yay! And it will last all weekend. Another yay! Originally the Sail festival was all about big boats. Lately however it has become more about live music, food stands and beer tent parties. But I don't mind. I visit it more because of the fun and happy atmosphere that surrounds it. Too bad the weather has not been very cooperative so far though. Oh well. Despite the slightly chilly weather conditions earlier today I had a nice visit along the harbour. :p
I got a gift card from my mum a while back for an afternoon buffet at a local cafe called Cafe Utkiken - Cafe Lookout here in Karlskrona, Sweden. This cafe is located at the highest point in Karlskrona which is called Bryggareberget - Brewer Hill. So of course I grabbed my camera and shot a ton of photos while I was up there. Below are some of them.
The name of the road up to Bryggareberget is Kärleksstigen - Love Trail. Such a cute name I think, hehe.
View of Karlskrona from Bryggareberget. The big roof in the photo belongs to the old German Brewery estate. This brewery was founded by the German brewster Philip Kraan in 1693 and was in business until 1972. Today the estate is used for offices.
Another view of Karlskrona. Actually the city of Karlskrona is made out of a bunch of small islands.
Straight ahead is Karlskronas main island called Trossö which is where our city centre is.
To the right is Karlskronas main road called Österleden which leads into Trossö.
View of the other side of Österleden.
Almost looks like I live in a jungle. Lol!
Karlskronawater tower is also located at Bryggareberget.
Cafe Utkiken at Bryggareberget. Which is where I had my afternoon buffet.
It was very hot outside on this day so we sat downstairs in the shade instead of on the balcony.
And this is what my gift card bought me. A baked potato, baguette, different fillings, pasta salad and other different salads. Everything tasted alright.
But the best part about Bryggareberget is of course the views! :p
Yay! Now the Leaf market is a truly traditional Karlskrona market, in fact this market has been a yearly tradition in Karlskrona for over 200 years.
It's also the first major market of the summer season so it's always packed with people.
Originally the Leaf market was when farmers went into town to sell shrubs and flowers, which were used as decorations around farms. And although flowers still are a popular part of the market today, there are a lot of other things for sale at the market stalls as well.
Like handcraft.
Brända mandlar - Roasted almonds covered in melted sugar. These are so good! Especially when they are freshly made.
Home made candy.
Old fashioned chocolate covered cream buns.
Which look like this inside. But the white stuff is not cream, it's whipped egg white.
Swedish strawberries, which are a huge seller at the Leaf market. This is of course because the Leaf market take place the day (always a Thursday) before Midsummer's Eve. And something you HAVE TO EAT on Midsummer's Eve is strawberry cake!!!
Another very popular berry at the Leaf market is Bigarrå - a sort of Cherry.
Of course all this walking around creates an appetite! And my favourite market food to eat is Langos! And there are plenty of Lango carts to choose from at this market.
Langos is not a Swedish speciality though, it's a Hungarian dish. It consists of fried bread with different toppings. I love to have sour cream, shrimps, caviar and red onions on my Lango. It's sort of like a mini pizza when I think about it.
And here I am devouring a Lango at the Leaf market. So tasty!!!!
A major concern each year is how the weather is going to turn out on the day of the Leaf market. But I have to say that, although there were a few rain clouds in the sky, the weather was pretty nice at Karlskronas Leaf market this year. :-)
Summer means swimming in the ocean! Yay! Although I'm not as brave as Lisen, lol! I haven't jumped in yet. But Lisen has. She had her first swim of the year in the ocean (Östersjön - the Baltic Sea) at Verkö, Sweden today. And how she loved it!
This is definitely one of her absolute favorite activities in the world! So it's always a pleasure for me to play with her and see how happy she gets on these occasions. Love it all the way!
I just got back from watching the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in our lovely little cinema here in Karlskrona this evening. I say little because it is quite a little cinema we have here, hehe. But still, once in a while it's fun to watch a movie on the big screen. :-)
So here is a quick review of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides from me. Now I have seen the other three movies, although I don't remember them all that well... But I found this part to be ok. There were a lot of fight scenes, which is alright, but it felt to me like many of them were designed to simply fit a future computer game. Plus the movie wasn't as funny as the others, not to me at least. However, Johnny Depp was awesome (as always)! Therefore it definitely was, all in all, a watchable movie indeed. I score it 3,5/5 points on my goodness scale. :-p
Here is the enterance to our cinema.
Inside the cinema.
And inside the actual saloon we sat in. (I took the pic during the commercial...) This saloon fits about 62 people and I would guess we were about 20 people in here tonight. Now there is also a 3d version of this movie, so maybe more people chose to watch that one? In any case, it definitely was nice to have a whole row of seats to stretch out on! :p
Today I took the opportunity to snap some shots of our more than 300 year old Fish Market Square in Karlskrona.
Fish Market Square in Karlskrona - close up.
Fish Market Square in Karlskrona - from a distance.
This lovely lady statue named “Fisherman's wife” is one of Karlskronas most photographed works of art.
The statue was made by Erik Höglund (1932-1998) and placed on Fish Market Square in 1982 (same year I was born :p). In Swedish the statue is called Fiskargumman.
And she represents all fishermen wives who in the olden days used to row into town from the surrounding islands to sell fish here. :-)
Or perhaps I should call it a haunted apartment building. Anyway, in the pic above you can see which building I'm referring to. I lived there with my family for a few years when I was a teenager. It's located in Galgamarken, a couple kilometers from Karlskrona. Actually the name Galgamarken literally translates to Gallows ground, but I'll explain more about that a bit further down in this post.
So, when I lived there I had a lot of weird, unpleasant experiences that still to this day give me the creeps. The most intense experience I had began with a bad dream and ended with me seeing a white bundle of light disappearing through my window. And once I realized it was gone, I also realized that I was completely exhausted and out of breath.
In fact even today I seriously dislike, or perhaps I should call it fear, that building. I mean if I have a dream where I move back into that apartment, it's no longer a dream - it's a really bad nightmare! Yikes! But can this building really be a haunted one? Well, perhaps Galgamarkens past can provide some answers.
Ok, so Galgamarken, or Gallows ground, is located on a hill approximately 2 kilometers from Karlskrona. These grounds has been known as Galgamarken ever since the town of Karlskrona was founded in 1680. And the reason it got this name is because it was widely used as an execution ground, particularly for executions of Snapphanar, in the 1600s.
A Snapphane? Snapphane was an invective used in the 1600s for the very worst people in society, like robbers and bandits. It was also used as a term for the brigands, peasants and troops who supported or participated in the Danish part of the Danish-Swedish wars of this period. A Snapphane was considered an outlaw and Swedes could execute them without trial.
Hm... Not the most charming tale perhaps. And today Galgamarken is full of apartment buildings. However, I have also lived in another building in Galgamarken and it was not at all creepy. Which is why I relate my experiences more to that particular building than the entire grounds. All I can say is that you won't see me living in that building ever again! Uh-uh!!!
Yet another storm is heading in over Sweden and once again warnings have been issued. This storm is predicted to be a class 2 storm (class 3 is the strongest). Which means possible danger to thepublic, especially surrounding the area where I live. Fortunately we won't get snow with this storm though, yay! Just strong winds and rain... However, I don't really think it will be as bad as the weather reports make it out to be. They always issue warnings over everything nowadays.
Anyway, I thought I show you some pics I took this afternoon. The calm before the storm...oooo, hehe.
Lyckeby today.
I'm waiting at the traffic lights at Amiralen, heading towards town.
It's a lovely sunny day here in Lyckeby today. The birds are singing outside and I feel like spring is just around the corner. It's one of those perfect days when I truly enjoy taking a long walk with Lisen. Which of course I did today. :-)
Now, I could just share pics of our beautiful surroundings, but I thought it would be more fun to see some other stuff we encounter on our walks. And today I could not help but notice a sort of theme of "There must have been a party somewhere around here last night.". Lol! Because there were all kinds of different beer cans and vodka bottles along the way. OK, not thaaat many. But still, more than usual in my opinion. So here are a few pics of a (my imaginary anyway) roadside party - the morning after.
Above pics: Some Pripps Blå and Special Brew. Below pics: A bottle of Meckstädter doppelkorn and one of Dworek vodka. Yihaaa!
And of course Lisen looks at me like I'm the weirdest person in the world while I'm taking all these pics. Lol! :p
