Update

Haven't been writing much here... Haven't found the time, didn't know what to write and so on. But here is a short summary of my last weeks:

• Friends: Feels a bit strange not to meet my Gothenburg friends every week but at the same time, I am getting to know better some of my Stockholm friends and realizing how amazing they are. And I am meeting a lot of new people which is great since it was something I was looking forward to when moving here, give a boost to my social life
• Flat: have been moving every two weeks over the past two months in Stockholm but I have now found a flat for 6 months thanks to a friend of mine. It will be nice to have my own place and the flat is really nice. So now you can start booking your plane tickets! In Gothenburg I have packed all my stuff in boxes and put everything in the basement except but some clothes for the spring and summer. Feels a bit strange but oh well. And I will rent it to someone for these few months.
• Job: almost two months at my new job and I really like it! I have got really interesting projects. Small ones and biiiig ones. Learning a lot and it will probably be that way in the next months as well so it's cool.

What else? Mmmh don't know. Ah yes! I can show you a couple of pics... here we go. 

February 12th, I'm walking on water. On three layers of water: snow, ice and well water. Amazing, amazing day... Stockholm is such a beautiful city. 

The following week I moved into a friend's friend's flat to keep her cats while she was on holidays. This was my view from the kitchen during two weeks. Not too bad...

This is Fia, the iCat. 

This is Betty and my program on a Saturday afternoon. 

February 26th, I took a picture more or less from the same place as the first above. Except I had to be on land, as you can see, all had melted away in two weeks... 

Another week-end I went with some friends to visit a cemetery in the South of Stockholm that is listed on the Unesco Heritage list. An amazing place and a great day with old and new friends in my new Stockholm life. 

Only in Sweden

Sweden is a safe country. People leave their strollers in the corridors in the building when they don't have space enough in their flats. It happens also outside cafés or shops sometimes. And sometimes with the baby IN THE STROLLER! I must say after almost 8 years in Sweden, I am still chocked that a mother can leave her baby in the stroller to go in a shop... Well well that's not the point of that post. 

The point of that post is a stroller in the corridor of the house where I am living right now. And in that stroller, here's what I saw yesterday. Wonder what the neighbours would say if they saw it... 

Stockholm at its best

We had around -16 or -17 a couple of weeks ago and after that we've been back to temperatures around -5 or -8 but this week-end temperatures rose to come close to 0 and a lot of people went out to enjoy the sun and the nice weather. So did I.

Went to a walk... And had a pretty amazing day. The lake Mälaren is still frozen so I actually walked on water. ;)

GIFF

GIFF stands for the Göteborg International Film Festival and is one of my highlights during the year in Göteborg. This year I could only attend in the week-ends since I was in Stockholm during the week but I still manago to see five films each week-end. Not too bad, uh?

A mix of French, American, Chinese, Finnish, Swedish and Russo-German movies. Quite an interesting mix and that's exactly what I like about the festival: the opportunity to see films I wouldn't see otherwise (nor even hear of) since they won't be distributed here.

Gbg-Sthm

One week ago I started my new job and I love it! I am also really looking forward to this new start in my life with the move to Stockholm. In the beginning I still have one foot in Göteborg (Gbg) and one in Stockholm (Sthm) but if you look at the picture here below you will see that when it comes to transport, the transition is not so dramatic.

Right now I am sitting in the train and there is something that we don't have in France: radio on the train. Next to your seat there a little plugin thing where you can plug in your earplugs (lot of plug, uh?) and choose between theee radio channels. Most of the time I listen to my iPod but that's quite a nice feature I think.

Cheese

Often when my friends are coming for a visit from France, they ask me if I want them to bring me something. Like cheese for instance, we're French after all...

But who needs French cheese if you can have Kolibrie or Moulin Rouge brie instead?

Saveur de l'année

Look what I found at my local supermarket on Sunday? Some cherry tomatoes. What's so special about cherry tomatoes you might wonder... nothing special, it's true. But check the language on the packaging. Nothing wrong with a packaging in French, it's true. But you are in Sweden and you see those tomatoes. With a packaging in French. With a sticker saying it was voted "Saveur de l'année 2011" (2011's best flavour)... well that starts to be a little surreal, right? 

Green

November is usually the month of the year I like the least. You could go as far as saying I hate it since it brings the worst out of Gothneburg and Sweden's west coast. Grey, rain and wind... most often all at the same time. Doesn't sound too good, does it? 

Well, this year has proven me wrong! We have had an exceptionally good November with temperatures above normal (7-8 degrees today compared to -1 in Mexico City!) and a lot of sun. The good weather have given a feeling of a lot of light. A consequence of the sun and light is that the grass is still very green! Almost nuclear green sometimes. Unusual but I am not complaining. 

The photo below wasn't taken in November but in July and not in Sweden but in France. At home, on holidays. But it's still green, right? And it's nice so...enjoy!

Autumn

November is my least favourite month of the year. In Sweden the weather is usually quite bad with lots of rain and wind (often combined). And grey, everything feels grey in November. Not really looking forward to it. October on the other hand. Now THAT is a month I like! There's something with the air feeling so light and pure, the light so clear and the colours... The colours! So vibrant! Look at this tree in my residence! The quality is quite bad since I shot the pic with my iPhone which doesn't have a flash but I didn't retouch it or did anything to the colours.

Amazing right?

Call your girlfriend

The cover

The original

Food!

I most of the time do my grocery shopping at the supermarket closest to my home (who doesn't?). But the other day I decided to change and go to Lidl, a German rather lowcost chain store. What a good idea it turned out to be. I found lots of French food there! Not only the Maille mustard or Le Rustique camembert cheese. No, Lots of food and local dishes. 

Not too difficult to identify as French right? Now, I didn't know this brand before, you can't find it in France but I checked the packaging and every product is produced in the right region so I believe it is a brand focusing on exporting outside the hexagon and working/buying from local producers. 

But the best that day was this cheese. My sister and brother and my cousin will grasp the magicness of it.

Things that make me happy

- a new pair of training shoes with some red and pink
- a pink training bag (bought last June but still love it!)
- 3 hours of great training this week-end (2h on Saturday and 1h on Sunday)
- inviting two good friends to come and take part in this good thing
- giving them the chance to try zumba with me
- the fact that they liked it and liked my gym
- a gym full of people dressed in pink proving that together is strong and collecting money for a good cause and spreading some joy (and some sweat!)
- the fact that between 2007 and 2010 my gym has collected more than 500.000 SEK and has been the highest private giver every year. Hopefully we will break a new record this year!

Check out rosadygnet.se, see if you can find me on the pics and, if you live in Sweden, help us break the record and send an sms to make a gift (see on the right).

Geeka & Fika

This is what I am going to do every other Thursday this autumn. Meet with my Geek Girls and blog together. You can talk and get some inspiration, get some help with you blog when you want to change the theme, put some plug-in, start a wordpress blog... anything. Or just have a cup of coffee and relax with nice people. Me like! 

If the title sounds like Chinese to you, it's normal, it's in Swedish. Geeka comes from geek as you might have understood, we took the word and made it a Swedish verb. And fika is one of my favourite Swedish word, it stands for gathering, eating a bite and having some coffee or tea. That's what we do: eat & drink, talk (a lot) and blog.

Ulriksdal

Last July I went to Stockholm for two days to meet up with my mum and my aunt who were there for a whole week to see ALL the Royal Castles around Stockholm. They managed! And I saw the last one with them Ulriksdal. We went by car and it took 15 min max from the city centre. There is also a direct bus that must take no longer than 20 min + 5 min walking. A great spot to spend a sunny afternoon. Why not take a pic-nic next time?

A very nice garden and a great day!

The lake

One thing I love about Gothenburg is how close to the nature you are. Take the tram for 20 min and you're either by the sea, ready to board a boat that takes you to the archipelago, or close to a lake.

Last Sunday, we opted for the lake for two friends. A bit of food, a book, sunscreen, bikini & sunglasses and here we go. When I went down the tram, I had a little walk. 

First, I passed this old house.

Passed the stable, didn't the see the horses this time though. :(

Continued and recognized these marvelous little cottages. You can book them for a wedding for instance. Anyone tempted?

Walked a bit more and finally arrived there. Our usual spot is on the peninsula that you can see on the left in the background, so that where I headed after taking the picture and being surprised on how little people there was this day. Holidays + nice weather, where were they? Eh! Only better and quieter for us.

We usually take the end end of the peninsula but there was people when we arrived (took the pic later). 

So we chose a spot a couple of meters from there. Put our blankets and towels on the ground and take off our shoes.

Suddenly a duck mommy with her babies passed by. It had to be a good spot.

So I laid down and did nothing the following 5 hours except from eating and talking with my friends and thinking how great life is.

Sweden at its best

Had a BBQ with some friends yesterday. We chose a nice little spot with a sweet view. Right?

You see the two churches in the distance? I live somewhere between the two of them. :)

Wedding outfit

Two weeks ago I was at a wedding outside of Stockholm. This time it was my good friends Brenda and Andreas that were getting married at Andreas' parents summer house which is located at a beautiful place by a lake. That's my only wedding this year, a change compared to the previous years where it was an average of three. 

Anyway, here is how I looked. I had the dress already that I wore two years ago at another wedding. And I just loooooved the peacock earing that I got in Mexico last Christmas and I thought the colours would be great together. After that, I just had to stick to the green-blue-turquoise color scheme.

Stockholm

Last week we had a long week-end, Thursday to Monday so my friends and I went to Stockholm for five days. First my train was cancelled (for a reason still unknown to me) so I had to wait for more than one hour at the train station. Then when I arrived in Sthm, I met my friends at the hotel and we hanged out on the terrasse on the roof and relaxed and planned the week-end. 

In the evening we walked through the city and Gamla Stan (the old town) and went to Debaser. During the winter this is a hip concert venue but in the summer they have a big outside terrasse and like a beach club feeling with DJ's playing. Really nice.

On Friday, we started with day (like the following ones) with a huuuuge and very good breakfast. After that, we walked through the city with some shopping stops and headed to Djurgården, one of Stockholm's 14 islands, past Skansen, the world's oldest open-air museum and to the Prins Eugens Waldermarsudde. Prins Eugens is the current king Carl Gustaf's uncle and his private residence was transformed into a museum when he died. 

On Djurgården, near Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde

My friend Vera joined us and we went in to see the Lars Wallin exhibition. Lars Wallin is a Swedish fashion designer who is celebrating the 20 years birthday of his fashion house. He usually designs clothes for the Nobel Price dinner and for the Swedish princesses Madeleine and Victoria. Last year for instance he designed 14 dresses for guests for Victoria and Daniel's wedding. The show was great!

On Djurgården, near Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde

After that we had lunch in heaven. Heaven being Rosendal's garden, an amazing place still in Djurgården, so green since you have nature all around, so calm, (så good food!), you wouldn't believe you're in the city. That's one of the things I love about Stockholm, even if you are in the city, the nature is everywhere! In the evening, we had dinner at a great Latin America inspired restaurant called Supper. Incredible food and a great experience.  

Östermalm seen from Djurgården

On Saturday, we went for some shopping, more walk throughout the city, a nice vegetarian lunch with a view over the city at Herman's and visited the photo museum Fotografiska. 

Katarina Church on Södermalm

View from Södermalm

View from the Herman's restaurant on Södermalm

View from the Herman's restaurant on Södermalm

On Sunday, more walk in the city. Have I told you by the way that the weather was great every single day? Blue sky every day and 25 degrees. A great feeling of summer. Anyway after that we stopped in a sports bar to see the Roland Garros final between Nadal and Federer. Well, only the first 2-3 sets because then we had to go back to the hotel because the others went a Jerry Seinfeld show. 

The Af Chapman boat on the island of Skeppsholmen

Monday was also a day off in Sweden since it's was Sweden's national day. I met my friends Anna-Carin and Sanna for lunch. We chose Moseback theater, which offers once again a great view over the city. After that, the temperature "required" we had an ice cream so we left Södermalm (the South island) and went to Gamla Stan, bought our icecreams and found a spot near the parliament, in sun, to enjoy the icecreams. There we were joined by Helen, who I had met on Twitter but never IRL. It was really nice to meet her. She also wrote about our meeting (in Swedish) here. :)

In the background, the National Museum

I spent my last hours in Stockholm with Romain on the deck of the Af Chapman boat. You know the floating youth hostel? They have now opened a café on the deck. I think it's quite recent because I didn't know about that. Not many people seems to do either which is good because it meant it was quite calm there in comparison with the crowd in the rest of the ctiy. 

On the way back to the hotel, we saw the military closing the streets so we asked what was happening. It turned out the royal family was going to leave the old castle in Gamla stan (they don't actually live there) to go to Djurgården. We waited to see them pass and managed to get a glimpse of them. After that, back to the hotel to get our luggage, buy some dinner and huuuge (and delicious) muffins from the Muffin Bakery on the way and jump on our train back to Gothenburg.

A glimpse of the princess Madeleine (Carl-Philip behind her, Victoria and Daniel were cut)

A glimpse of the Queen in the traditional Swedish costume

A great great week-end!

Flowers

My two previous posts showed pics from a walk I took in the city the other day. Most of the pics I took during that tour were actually pictures of flowers. So here is a small selection.

This one is quite similar to the one above so it shouldn't need to be there but I quite like the effect of blurry flower (forefront) and sharp backgound.