Sweden Signage

...and you thought the Sweden posts had finished. Bah! I have loads more to share. And, seeing as I'm still struggling to come to terms with the fact that I am no longer on holiday, there will be plenty more living in the past to come. Today- signs. The fonts! The colours! The neon!

Along the Thames

My photo course is coming to an end. I've really enjoyed having a focus and receiving critiques and praise from my classmates and teacher. It's all very well thinking I'm not half bad, but to hear it from other people, as well as ideas for ways to make my work better has been a great opportunity.

The other week, we walked along the Thames and managed to get right down on the mud bank. I took some photos I really liked but am a bit gutted that my favourite one actually has a burnt out sky. It looks ok small, but blown up not so much. I'm still learning, but I have lots of ideas of what to work on over the summer and plan to continue with a new course in the autumn.

 I'd be interested to hear what people think about all the photos I've been sharing recently. Too much? I'm definitely taking advantage of having somewhere to display my pictures but am aware things have been a little photo heavy recently!

Links

Why yes, Alice is my spirit animal (particular points 3, 5 and 6)

I've never thought of steaming beetroot (I mainly like to eat it pickled) but think I need to make a stack of veggies to steam very soon!

Lucille Ball looking gorgeous

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this married couple who match their clothes every single day

I found this article about women who have decided to be housewives an interesting read and found the following quote really spoke to where my thoughts are right now, even if I don't have a house or husband or kids to be a housewife to!
"Depending on a career as a path to self-actualization can seem like a sucker’s bet."

Isn't this wing house beautiful?

I'm in the process of moving house (currently finding the house/flat/hole that I will be moving into) but love the idea, if appropriate, of sprucing up a few spaces with this removable wallpaper once I'm there

These photos of vintage cars in front of matching San Francisco buildings are so deceptively simple and beautiful

Emma's read 44 of the top 100 books on the BBC's top 100 list from 2003 (I've read 31). There's loads of books on there that I've been meaning to read and also some potential suggestions for new ones I've never thought of!

...and speaking of books. I've still not managed to get my head round ebooks, but found this interview about ebook design really interesting. It touches on some of the things I can't understand about ebooks (such as seeing the thickness both at purchase, but also as a weighty gauge of how far I've read)

Art and whimsy around Gothenburg

 

Carrying on with my post-holiday Gothenburg love fest. Let me tell you why I think the above photo is awesome. Those kids are running around on a skateboard ramp. That ramp is in front of the Gothenburg Opera House.

I don't know, maybe I am very easily pleased (I am) but I love that two quite different worlds are living side by side. The whole area in front of the opera house is fun- there are segways you can ride (we did- twice), built in trampolines (photo below) and chairs for lounging in the sun. Plus, bonus point- those rainbow flags were up for the pride weekend (there's going to be a whole separate post on that).

All around Gothenburg, there's public art like statues and murals, but there are also smaller more whimsical things like little men climbing up a wall and yarn-bombing.

Those kids in the sailor hats were part of a massive graduation celebration- the city was full of people in sailor hats acting very excited, riding party buses, singing on the trams- it was hilarious!

 



And the trampoline, these were built directly into the ground in front of the Opera House and provided lots of good fun before the show!

Liseburg

Liseburg is a gorgeous amusement park in Gothenburg that was only about 25 minutes away by tram from where we were staying. It's open late into the night with live music and a range of really interesting restaurants (from fish and chips and fast food to a restaurant boasting a £100 tasting menu!)

We went twice since the first time we had so little time there (just about enough time to eat some fish and chips and for me to have a melt down on the ferris wheel) and our City Cards got us in for free!

I am not a fan of heights at all. I don't really like amusement parks full stop and my poor houemate and I were poorly matched for a visit. She loves roller coasters and things that go high (my worst nightmare) whereas I don't mind the things that spin (she gets motion sickness).

So, we thought a ride on the ferris wheel would be tame enough for me to handle and something we could do together. Not so much....As soon as we started moving, I was on the floor and clutching the middle pole. I couldn't look outside at all. It was ridiculous. My poor housemate had a solitary ride round while I giggled like a maniac on the floor.

The next day we went back, we had a really snazzy dinner (more on that later) and watched a swing band and loads of couples having a dance in a gazebo. It was fantastic. We decided to renew our efforts in finding something we could both do together. My housemate went in one of the whirly chair things on her own and toyed with getting on a roller coaster (while I took pictures). In the end we got on another big wheel.

This time, the wheel had little enclosed cabins. I thought they would be as big as the London Eye, but they were more like little swinging glass cubicles. The first time round, I kept my eyes shut but the next few times I managed to open my eyes and I really enjoyed it! I was stupidly proud of overcoming my fears. I did try to take photos, but they've all come out wobbly due to my ridiculous shaking.

I almost forgot to say one of the weirdest bits. All around the amusement park there were roulet games going on for giant boxes of candy. We couldn't decide if we wanted to play or not, but just knew we wanted a big box. In the end we didn't play, but loved watching everyone walk past loaded down with big boxes of chocolate (and massive bags of crisps!)

Around the streets of Gothenburg

Outside the Gothenburg City Museum

Yesterday, I posted a gushing list of some of the reasons I loved Gothenburg. A week ago, I was walking the streets and discovering little corners and buildings that we hadn't planned to pass. I took a lot of pictures and while I have tried to edit them down quite considerably, will  need to break them up into lots of posts.

Starting here is a selection of the beautiful streets and buildings from my time there.

This is going to be a long, picture heavy post so if you'd rather read something else, here's what was on my nightstand (waiting to be read) last year and a post about a little village full of Olympic scarecrows.

This is the view to Haga- a small area of town with wooden houses. It was originally the poor district, outside the city walls for those who couldn't afford to build homes with stone (homes could only be built with stone within the city) but is now a sweet little boutique area of town.

Before arriving at Haga, we passed a beautiful church- it looked almost make believe! The copper had a beautiful patina and was a glorious blue-y green. We had to get a closer look.

This is Oscar Fredrik Church. It was built between 1889 and 1893 but was so well looked after. It was so calm inside. I wanted to take more photos but wasn't sure if the man who you can see in the big interior shot was there to pray or not (we had seen others) and so I didn't want to disturb him.

Some of these photos are massively wonky- but I couldn't help but share the beautiful architecture. I could have wandered around for ever. I hope this has whet your appetite- there's lots more to follow!