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Fashion/Fury over fur pompom: Blue fox Crown(ed) Princess.

Monday, February 21st, 2011

Since Victoria kicked off a fury of fashionista followers and well…a plain old fury with her mössa med blåräv toffs (knitted hat with blue fox fur pompom ) I’ve been seeing them all over Stockholm. pompom hat

For the record, I’m not a bunny hugger and as long as we treat animals humanely when we farm them for food and clothing, I’m pretty much ok with it. Natural materials and pelts make warm and beautiful articles of clothing and luxurious linings and collars (I admit that I do love the feel of real fur) But seriously, a pompom might be arguably the best candidate for a faux fur replacement. Unless you take it off and waggle it playfully in someone’s face, no one reaps any of the properties of fox (and not faux) fur.

Now the Swedish Crown Princess isn’t supposed to participate in political positioning but the image of her (albeit a very cute princess in a very cute hat) sporting a decadent adornment of fluff from a fur[r]y blue fox isn’t really sending the right international message, is it? (Though that fox does look like a very cozy hat in itself).

Since uproar in the mainstream and tabloid Swedish media last week I would imagine that Victoria will resist pulling that hat on again in public. However with the sightings of foxtoffs (Newly created Svengelska word?) especially around Stureplan central will only increase until the spring (summer at this rate of deep freeze) thaw.

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Tags: blue fox pompom, blåräv, mössa, pompom, stockholm, Stockholm fashion, Stureplan, toffs
Posted in Swedish politics, Swedish products, stockholm | 1 comment »

Stockholm’s silent soldiers: Terracotta Army occupies Sweden’s central command

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

There is an army of terracotta warriors guarding the passages deep within the mountain of Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. And yes, they are the real deal, the Terracotta Army from China; on tour.

Stockholm’s East Asia Museum . The temporary exhibition opened at the end of August and closes after an extended period this Sunday at 10pm. terracotta

Leave it to me to wait until the final hours (or days in reality) to gawk among the many. Nearly 6 months later they still draw quite the crowd. I imagine this weekend will resemble the early months of the exhibit when visitors even with pre-ordered tickets would have to wait an hour to get in. (But unless you’re planning a trip to China this could be your last shot.)

The venue to host these silent guardians of centuries past, Bergrummet (the rock shelter,) is also steeped in military mystery. The shelters blasted out of the rock mass in the early 1940s to house a potential war room should military strife reach Sweden’s capital and were a secret to the general public. While central command moved to Muskö in 1969, the rocky cavern was used as a store for military equipment until the late 80s. The boys and girls (yep, some female statues too) of clay are the first sentinels to stand watch in these caves for decades and part of the very first public art exhibit.

If you feel up for a very cramped and somewhat poorly presented display of a most amazing cultural phenomenon the clock is ticking. They’re open until 10pm both Saturday and Sunday, could be better timing that daylight hours.

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Tags: east asia museum, skeppsholmen, stockholm, terracotta army, terracotta warriors, östasiatiska museet
Posted in stockholm | 1 comment »

Ball at the Blue Hall: Not the Nobel party, but close enough for jazz.

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

The men were all suave and debonair in their white tux tails (Swedes call them “frack” and I’m sure the British have some other name for them as I’m pretty sure none of the men were wearing suspenders).
tux

The women were primped and stylish in ball gowns and evening wear. The event at the Stockholm City Hall (Stadshuset) Sunday evening could easily have been mistaken for the Nobel Prize Banquet except the King and Queen weren’t in attendance. We did, however, have a Nobel Laureate among the guests.

We were attending the 100th jubilee celebration for the mechanical engineering faculty at the Royal Technical Institute (locally better known as KTH or Teknis) and I knew that this is the closest I’m ever going to get to something like the Nobel Banquet.

(Overview of the actual evening’s dinner guests) 100 år KTH

This evening’s event was close enough that the staff have used it as a training opportunity for the newbies who will be working the true Nobel Banquet on December 10th. Our dinner had “only” 750 dinner guests. During the “real deal” there are over 1200 waiting for their hot meal. Amazingly they manage to get out the hot meal in a matter of minutes (I can’t remember the exact number but 3-4 minutes sounds right.)

Also magical was finishing up the evening dancing to the same orchestra, On Cue, who will play for this year’s Nobel Banquet, so we got a little preview on that too. They were fabulous and 3 of them (all 3 played the sax funnily enough) are also former alums from the mechanical section and the ME section’s big band orchestra Osquar Mutter.

Here’s a shot from their perspective of the guests toasting the 100th birthday moment at midnight. champagne toast

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Tags: blue hall, kth 100 år, makin 100, osquar mutter., stadshuset, stockholm, stockholm city hall
Posted in All about Blatte, Swedish culture, stockholm | 11 comments »

Word needs: Coining Svengelska (for boating)

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

If a language has no inherent need for a term, can you coin one and make it native? (yes, borrowing loosely from the riddle.) Swedish culture and daily life has a slew of Swedish terms which just don’t translate conveniently into English because the concepts behind the terms don’t exist (or not to the same extent) in the native English-speaking countries.

Stockholm is smack dab in the middle of boat-up-taking (båtupptagning) season. Boat clubs all over the greater Stockholm area are buzzing with the community effort of the end of the boating season.We pulled our little Ocklebo T14 out of Lake Mälaren and put her in her cozy winter spot on Långholmen this weekend.

(technically the photo is from this spring’s sea-setting (sjösättning) time.)

boat

Both seasons (spring and fall) there’s sjösättning and båtupptagning and I always search for a term to match the Swedish (last year’s blog entry about putting-boat-in-water (too awkward I’d say)) But as far as I know, there isn’t an all-encompassing term. Sure we describe it as putting the boat in and out of the water, but these land-lubbing and water launching (can’t say I like those optoins) activities are more seasonal rites of marine passage than a procedural chore.

The reason is that most people belong to a co-operative boating club. We the members run the club and all the practical chores and needs around it. We are the ones working the heavy machinery and precariously balancing several ton vessels teetering on their keels.

You can just as well keep your boat in a marina where they take care of all the boat uptaking and inputting (that could work couldn’t it?) but then why would you care what they call the mechanics of lifting and lowering (seems the right marina-based options) since that all goes on without your sweat, blood (I have seen it) and tears?

I’ve become very fond of our fellow boat club members. After being a member for about 9 years, the guy known to be grumpiest has become one of my best buddies. He’s a living example of two theories I have about Swedes.
1. The crustiest of Swedes on the outside are the gooiest of Swedes on the inside, you just gotta scratch through the surface.
2. You just have to invest the time to get to know Swedes, or more importantly, let them get to know you.

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Tags: båtupptagning, långholmen, mälaren, ocklebo t14, sjösättning, stockholm
Posted in All about Blatte, Swedish culture, stockholm | 9 comments »

Buying Bergman: Death requires no passport

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

You too can bid on Ingmar Bergman’s canceled passport at Bukowski’s Market (formerly Auktionskomaniet.) I’m tempted. Ingmar Bergman passport Link to auction.

Of late I am a bit addicted to the on-line auctions. (We need a lot furniture and things -like art- after moving from a little 1-bedroom apartment to a house.)

That leaves me vulnerable to buying things I plainly just don’t need but am oh, so intrigued by. The estimated value of the passport is 5000kr but currently bidding is at 6700 with 10 days left, so I have a feeling we’re going to see this take a run and pass 10,000. Thankfully, that financial reality leaves me out –especially considering there’s a 20% commission to pay.

But it leaves me mulling about what it would be like to have that kind of memorabilia in my possession and what it could be worth in 30 years. Bergman has only been dead since 2007. Retirement fund?

I think I’ll have to stick to traditional saving vehicles for my retirement, but I am still romanticizing the idea of owning a tiny bit of something so personal of someone so culturally influential, all the while within my niche all things Swedish.

Ain’t gonna happen for me, I’m afraid.

(for those who aren’t familiar…)
Ingmar Berman is world renowned for the iconic direction of The Seventh Seal döden

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Tags: auktionkompaniet, bukowskis, ingmar bergman, Ingmar bergman passport, seventh seal
Posted in Swedish culture, Swedish products, stockholm | 3 comments »

Flying the skies of Stockholm: 100 years of flight

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

Stockholmers love flight. A whole mess of us paid tribute to 100 years of flight in Sweden at this weekend’s Flight Festival, Stockholms Flygfestival, at Gärdet We attended yesterday, a beautiful late August Sunday. I am so grateful that this vibrant city, Stockholm, with its abundant green areas, can host a flight festival smack dab in the midst of it.

And despite the popularity of the event, Stockholm is a small town. I stopped counting the number of people we knew whom we bumped into while we were there Sunday. Ok, I shouldn’t have been surprised to run into members of our skydiving club since 3 of our members (along with 4 wingsuit flyers from another club) dropped in -literally- by parachute. I didn’t film it, but so far I’ve found two YouTube videos already uploaded. (Simultaneous hook landing and high-speed landings.)

One of the highlights was the attempted flight of the Blériot XI plane. She never got more than a few meters off the runway on Sunday. (Saturday wasn’t as windy and she got air (video)) This bird is very similar to the original plane that Carl Cederström flew in 1910 -also apparently somewhere at Gärdet. Here’s the Technical Museum’s video of the first flight after restoration.) Here’s the Blériot as she passed us.
plane

Purely coincidentally there were other older fliers in the air above (and slightly north of) Stockholm this weekend. While not as old as the Blériot (92 years old), two of our active club members (Holger and Klacken -both pushing 80) were soaring through the air at our drop zone. Karin Lien Olofsson while practicing with her new camera, recorded one of their jumps (YouTube link).

It does go to show that we don’t stop playing because we grow old but rather we grow old because we stop playing (yes, stolen from a greeting card.)

Here’s to blue skies for years to come.

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Tags: bleriot XI, flygfestdagarna, gärdet, stockholm
Posted in Swedish culture, stockholm | No comments »

Blatte 1, Blottare 0: Unsettling event on Långholmen

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

The “perp” (or perve) on Långholmen was actually a voyeur so the “blottare” (Swedish slang for an exhibitionist) in the title employs a great deal of poetic license. Unfortunately, it still does not adequately achieve the ick level that accompanies the event today. Mostly because the “victims” (though I don’t think Sweden has any criminal voyeurism laws on the books ) were all pubescent girls.

Now Swedes, and especially Swedish children, are not particularly prudish and the flashes of public nudity (pretty much exclusively at places people swim/bathe) can ironically occasionally offend the unwilling non-Swedish observer. But it’s deeply unsettling when you witness, confront and confirm a voyeur of pubescent girls changing innocently (and relatively discretely) out of their swimsuits on a public beach in central Stockholm.

What also disturbs me (this was a real-life event for me and I’m not really thrilled to have it as a living memory) also takes into account how we (that’s all of us) are so unsure of how to evaluate and then confront someone we suspect (and the perves know it.) Also, how our prejudices want to discount anyone young and decent looking from being “icky”. This guy was in his early 20s and clean cut –so unassuming.

It was my friend who had noticed him setting himself up in spots on the grass to observe a changing girl. When she called my attention to it I saw that he even went so far as to stretch his neck to get a better view if a passing/shifting person obstructed his view.

My blood started to simmer. But how do you know? How can you be sure?

There’s a point of no return in me in these types of circumstances; the point where I’m in for the count and if I come out bloody it’s the risk I’m willing to take. That point occurred when I confronted him asking in Swedish “Vad gör du” –What are you doing? –And we quickly arrived at his arrogant response along the lines of “So what you (or the Police who I had threatened to call) gonna do about it?”

He couldn’t speak Swedish so this was all in English (Yay, I MUCH more aggressive and scary in English.) The arrogance faded fast when I told him that I would photograph him and show the police his picture. He didn’t like that and quickly covered his face.

I never did get a good shot of him, but I did run him off and planted the fear of a crazed American mom on him.

This is one shot I got of him. wanker
He’s in his early 20s, somewhat Asian looking, wears black wire glasses. He takes out his phone to take pictures and he targets pubescent girls.

Give ‘im hell if you spot him (or anyone for that matter)

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Tags: långholmen
Posted in All about Blatte, stockholm | 19 comments »

Two pricks: The Swedish umlaut

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

–How do I say the two pricks over the O and A?

I’ve been asked that a number of times. Most often with a crooked smile and a wink by the Swedes doing the asking.

–Call it an umlaut. Umlauts are trendy
That’s my standard suggestion while giving reference to Motörhead and Häagen-Dazs

However, the pricks (ok, you can just as easily and less controversially call them dots, though the “Swede’s joke” comes from the direct translation from Swedish; två prickor to describe the dots ) are not accent marks (as we English speakers might be inclined to call them.) The Å, Ä and Ö are now regarded as completely individual letters (and tag on to the tail end of the alphabet.) And thanks to the popularity of Stieg Larsson’s best-selling trilogy umlauts are returning to their trendier status among popularized punctuation.

A friend linked (via Facebook, my lifeline to the world) a wonderfully humorous New Yorker short “The Girl Who Fixed the Umlaut” by Nora Ephron to my page. It’s fabulously written though the “native(ish)” Stockholmer in me would like to tidy up the travel description of getting around Stockholm. (Sorry, but you just can’t “Take Stora Essingen and Gröndal into Södermalm” while you can drive Essinge Leden via Gröndal into Södermalm)

I haven’t read the books yet. Might have to pick one up and wander the streets of Stockholm through Larsson and Lisbeth Salander’s eyes.

I’ll read it in Swedish, but I’m pleased to know that the pricks remain in the English translation.

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Tags: lisbeth salander, nora ephron, stieg larsson, stockholm, the girl who fixed the umlaut, the new yorker, umlaut
Posted in Swedish culture, stockholm | 15 comments »

Grand romantic gestures: Locked in love (No, not about Vicky and Danny)

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Love is in the Stockholm air. To a certain extent it’s suffocating. (If you’ve managed to escape the Love Bombardment, Love 2010 is the lead up to the Crown Princess’s wedding June 19th.)

On the other hand, why not? A little more love can never hurt and one Love 2010 event has even sparked the somewhat lacking spontaneity in the average Swede; the drop-in wedding.

Skansen, an already popular tie-the-knot backdrop for couples, came up with a rather unprecedented drop-in concept for getting hitched. How utterly un-Swedish to have a monumental event without eons of planning. In all seriousness, Swedes will reserve dates to grab a cup of coffee with you weeks down the road.

But in true Swedishness, even spontaneity requires a little planning ahead. For the 357 couples (according to SvD) who dropped by Skansen last Saturday to say “Ja” (translation for “I do”) they did have to come with the legal forms for getting married already approved and in hand. Then it was only a matter of taking a queue ticket and waiting for their number.
(I wonder if they had a LED display or if someone just called out the next number – one of those beeping/flashing paging systems would work great so the couples could roam Skansen while waiting.)

Whatever the case, my sincerest congratulations to the newly wed couples. And here’s to continued spontaneity.

Speaking of wedlock, a second sign of love locked me in the other day while crossing Västerbron (my favorite bridge in Stockholm.)
wedlock

A new grand romantic gesture had locked on in Stockholm. Love padlocks are increasing on the railing at the highest spot on the bridge. Sources say they first arrived in January 2009. The idea is that a couple attaches a padlock (preferably marked with the couple’s names or initials and/or a date; some of the newer padlocks were formally engraved) and together they toss the keys into the lake.

I’m kind of wondering how long before the “master key” is used by the city. bolt cutter

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Tags: drop-in wedding, love 2010, love padlock, skansen, stockholm, sweden
Posted in Swedish culture, stockholm | No comments »

Keeping tradtions: Taking the student

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

We were invited to our neighbors’ house for a party. Their daughter “took the student”. That’s a literal translation of the Swedish way to express the formal event of graduating from high school (I’ve never quite figured out the closest equivalent in the UK, so sorry, can’t offer a British term).

While American highschoolers march solemnly in caps and gowns to receive their diploma, shake someone’s hand and gloat jubilantly that they made it; Swedes just “run out” utspring Well, so I’ve heard. I’ve been invited to two (including today’s for the neighbor daughter) but haven’t witnessed on myself yet.

Contrary to the gown idea, there’s no formal wear for graduates. Their outfits are made up of something nice to wear and though certainly their student caps. I like those caps but I can’t help but expect to hear the Popeye the Sailor man theme. Regardless, they seem a whole lot slicker than the funny cardboard platform we wear
graduation cap

Had I been among the masses of family and friends watching the “out run” I would have seen the numerous plaques with giant photos of the graduate as a baby. The cuter the better apparently. Though it kind of looks more like a happy protest sign.

The best thing going for the Swedish students, at least around Stockholm is the parade ride through the city center.
They get to choral into large containers on the back of heavy trucks and jump and sing and spray near-non-alcoholic beer on people (and themselves) while these trucks create traffic backup to the displeasure and dismay of those who work and move around central Stockholm this time of year. Swedes are very safety conscious most of the time. That need for safety does a big scadaddle with these float/parades.

I know they’re a nuisance in downtown Stockholm but I am charmed by the suspension of the strict adherence to all rules (as is rather Swedish) to let newly graduated teens shake their groove thing.

It does go to show that Swedes are indeed known to bend a rule now and again. Good for them.

And congratulations Ida.

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Tags: high school gradation, stockholm, student, sweden, ta studenten
Posted in Boston blend, Swedish culture, stockholm | 8 comments »