Bicycle riding in Djurgården, Stockholm

Years ago my parents gave me a bicycle for my 30th birthday. I loved that purple bicycle and rode it everywhere in the suburbs of Melbourne until it was stolen. (If on the slight chance you happen to be reading this, the person who stole it, I hope you fall off and graze your knees!) I wouldn't recommend cycling in Melbourne though as the drivers there are absolutely out of control. Though the councils have made a big effort to create safe bicycle paths all over town, there are still drivers that think it's fun trying to run you over. (As a result a kind of 'militant' bicycle organisation started up called Critical Mass to demonstrate against the dominance of the car and do things like take over freeways occasionally. Really, really annoying drivers and everybody else.)

One of the rides many cyclists do in Melbourne is ride around Port Phillip Bay which is stunning on a sunny day. It's also death defying because of the crazy drivers. Not so in Stockholm. Is there anywhere in the world with such considerate drivers? So considerate you don't even have to wear a helmut. Well I imagine my rose coloured glasses will come off at some stage.

So to celebrate the rebirth of nature and since it was Easter we thought we might go on a bicycle ride. Hopefully in the sun. And what better place to ride than Djurgården, the magical little island in the heart of the city. The only place in Stockholm where you can drift around on the road just like when you were 10 years old. Sort of.

And lo and behold- perfect weather on Good Friday. Unblemished perfect blue sky and warm enough to wear a t-shirt. And what a difference the weather makes in Stockholm. The whole mood alters. People are out packing the cafes, on bicycles, smiling, happy. In winter there is no other noise other than the crunch of snow under your foot. Now the sounds of children, birds, loud music and parties echo through the air. 

Who first called Stockholm the Venice of the North? I don't know but I can kind of see it on a sunny, tranquil day. This is a view of Östermalm taken standing on the Djurgården bridge. It's where all the richest people live in Stockholm. I was looking through a magazine waiting at the checkout one day and was reading some expose about Queen Silvia as told by her friends. Great friends. Virtually the whole lot of them lived in Östermalm.

Djurgårdsbron, the main bridge to the island. Built during the Stockholm World's Fair 1897. You can see the paddle boats for hire from the cafe to the right. We hired our bicycles there.

Painting of Djurgården in 1535

It looks like there's hardly anyone around in these photos though there was a fair few riding and walking on the island. Most of the people head to Skansen, Nordiska Museet and Grona Lund. We've visited the Thielska Galleriet and Prince Waldemarsudde's museum a couple of times. And they're fantastic places to visit. But if you want a bit of nature and don't want to travel that far out of town you can easily get away from people on Djurgården and just be in nature, out in the meadows and forests of birches, elms, oaks. And relax and ride without a care in the world.

Just so peaceful riding around the perimeter looking at the water. 

Just watch you don't ride of the edge captured by the beauty.

Wildflowers are staring to cover the ground and the trees begin to sprout new leaves as spring or vår is here.

There are a few houses on Djurgården most of them belonging to some very lucky dudes. Little wooden cottages are dotted around like the one above. Some are a bit more grander like the one below.

I don't get the whole fishing thing for recreation. But half of Sweden does it apparently.

I love magnolia blossoms. Hasn't quite bloomed yet here but still magical.

This mother was determined to photograph her daughter at the edge of the rocks. They tried and tried and she still wasn't happy and made her go back.

Dog looking for a place to relax.

Swans in unison.

Birches surrounding the wetlands on Djurgården.

Bird viewing platform. I'm looking forward to going back one morning to do some birdwatching.

Hiie taking a break in front of the wetlands.

I love bicycles.
The way I glide.
The power applied.
It is justified, glorious!
A place to think in.
A heart to love with.
I know what my soul feels.
If I could share the breeze in my face with the world,
it would know it's neighbor.

Peter C.
April 4, 2007

How to get there:

Get tram 7 from Kungsträdården to Waldemarsudde (on Djurgården) or you can walk. Get off just before the bridge to Djurgården or the stop just after it. Djurgårdsbrons Sjöcafé is right next to the bridge on the water. You can hire a bike, canoe, kayak, rowboat. It was 320 kronors for 2 hours for two bicycles which isn't too bad.

Here's their web details.

Greatest Swedish artists of all time: Greta Garbo

Greta Garbo

In the 1970’s Australian television used to broadcast lots of films made in the 1930’s and 40’s. Sometimes even from the 1910’s, (which is hard to believe now it's so long ago), like the Keystone Cops. I would sit there glued to the tv lost in a black and white world of mystery and drama. And sometimes slapstick. It was an escape from the ugly suburban world I was stuck in. One time I managed to see ‘Anna Karenina’. The 1935 movie based on Tolstoy's novel which centers around Anna Karenina's adulterous love for Count Vronsky. It's classic black and white Hollywood. Who was in it? Greta Garbo of course.

Greta was born in Södermalm, Stockholm in 1905 (there is a square named after her in Södermalm) and at 17 went to the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school which I always think about when I pass it. She made one film in Sweden (The Saga of Gosta Berling-this You Tube video
has a really beautiful excerpt from it) which got her noticed in Hollywood and then quick as a flash she said goodbye to Stockholm in 1925 and barely returned again.

Most of the movies she was in are rather cheesy melodramas but still very enjoyable to watch. She's often so much better than the films she's in though. Emotions seem to move over her face like ripples on a pond. She has a combination of  masculine force and feminine grace that is like nobody else in the movies. A couple of films- Ninotchka (1939) Camille (1936) Queen Christina (1933) are good films in general. For old Hollywood movies that is. They inhabit a different emotional sphere than today's films. Her film presence was totally unique (as was her life).

Last week the Swedish Riksbank honoured her by placing her on the 100 kronor note. A famous Swede from each area of Sweden was chosen to grace each denomination and she was Stockholm's.  Though I was surprised a bit. I didn't realise she still has an influence here in Sweden. (Though there is a huge picture of her on the wall coming out of the international flight exit at Arlanda airport.) They've also put my one of my other Swedish favourites, director Ingmar Bergman on the 200 kronor note. They love their artists here in Sweden it seems. 

This is a clip from 'Ninotchka' (1939) directed by Ernst Lubitsch, a witty spoof on communism and capitalism. But communism mainly. The US suppressed the film from being shown during WW2 as the Russians became allies. The power of comedy! She as well as everyone else in the film is wonderful.

Stockholm Info:

To get to Greta Garbo Torg (square) in Södermalm first get the tunnelbana train to Skanstull Station. Then turn left at Ringvägen, walk to Katarina Bangata St and turn left, keep walking for a few minutes and you'll walk straight into it. Probably you'll walk straight past it!

Links: The Film that made Garbo a star: The Saga of Gosta Berling
Garbo and Gilbert: The beauty of Silence


Take a look at these other greatest Swedish artists of all time:
Ingmar Bergman
Abba