New Friends and Cold Weather

It has been a quiet few days in Uppsala. I have been making the arrangements for our trip to Bucharest and Athens and the weather has been cold and uninviting for several days. It feels surprisingly good to not have much in particular to do and I have been making the most of it: lots of reading, reacquainting myself with the subtleties of my DSLR camera, and napping at will. And I find that I have a lot of will. CJ, on the other hand, is working like a Clydesdale at harvest time and, without all the distractions of home life, is doing the work of ten men.

Yesterday, which was Friday, April 14, I noticed an Easter-related event at the Cathedral entitled Cross Devotions of Organ Music. I am not sure that the translation is accurate but the event clearly involved organ music. Always eager to hear that giant, bone-rattling organ, whose bass notes are felt as much as heard, we decided to attend. As it happens, the service involved more sermonizing in Swedish and less organ music than we had hoped but we were glad to have gone.

In the evening, we went to Ingrid's house for dinner. While she and CJ were talking shop and preparing a delicious meal, I retreated to the second floor. It consists mainly of a large room lined with books, has lots of ambient light and a view of the City Forest. I settled down in a comfortable chair and read for an hour or so; they are spoiling me.

Ingrid had also invited a colleague of hers, Julie, who arrived around 7PM. As it turns out, Julie is an American who grew up in the Seattle area and graduated from the University of Washington! She is very involved with an American expat voters organization and we had LOTS to talk about as you may imagine. I hope we didn't bore Ingrid but I'm afraid it may have happened.

At one point during the meal, Ingrid somehow convinced me to try some pickled herring. I was suspicious of course and expected some kind of horrible fishy taste. I prepared mentally for the worst and was determined not to let on when I found it to be appalling and disgusting. I would keep a polite smile on my face even if... well you get the picture. As it turns out, there was no fishy taste, it had a smooth texture, and tasted mostly like pickles! I felt like the guy in "Green Eggs and Ham."

We ate and talked until after 11PM and had a very good time. As Jane Austen pointed out, the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation is not good society. It is the best.

Julie is planning to participate in the March for Science in Stockholm next Saturday with a group of friends. She invited me to come along and, of course, I accepted with pleasure. Why not resist even while in Sweden?

This morning was the first in quite a while that started sunny and stayed that way. I took the opportunity to get out the camera and stroll around town even though the temperature was a bitter 25 degrees. At least there was very little wind. Here are the results:

Easter decorations in the City Park.

Along the Fyris. Note the cathedral spires in the center.

Reflections in still water are the best

The orangish building was built in 1666.

The cathedral from across the river

A quiet side street

Black-headed gulls are everywhere here

I like the color of this wall. So sue me.

Picturesque ain't it?

This is the Gustavianum Museum. Nice cobbles.

I have an affinity for colonnades. This one is on the front of the Royal Botanical Gardens building.

Here it is from a distance

This is the lily pond in the botanical gardens

Spring is coming, if slowly.