Dramatic skies

The weather lately has been rather dramatic, but Tuesday in particular was incredibly dramatic. I managed to have good luck with riding my bicycle home from the office under blue skies, just after a huge downpour and also just before a second huge downpour. After the second downpour, just before sunset, the cloudy skies turned completely yellow. It was so bizarre, and also there was major rainbow action.

This is why everyone should have a wide angle lens! Although I am a fan of the hodge podge panorama...

As this round of clouds passed over, blue skies once again were visible.

These colors are completely real, and I think I didn't even do a good job of making my camera keep the yellow-ness, which kind of got turned more white. I am not even creative enough to make up something this good!

Also, if I'm not too late, I'm linking up with Cari's Theme Thursday. Click here to check out more sky photos from others.

And if you still don't believe me, check out these photos that others took and posted to the Flickr Uppsala photo stream (click each photo for proper credits):

 

 

The rainbow of a golden hour walk

*As a disclaimer, this layout idea is not my own (the photos are my own, for sure). I saw it on another blog and loved it. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, no?

A few photos from Vienna

I have to say, I really like the travel opportunities that go along with this job of mine. That has always been a good bonus. Vienna was a new city for me, and I really enjoyed it. Some of the views from the train between the airport and the center of town were, well, not so beautiful. So at first I was thinking, why all the hype Vienna? And then as you get closer to town the train goes underground. And then I took a subway to a stop closer to my hotel, and I emerged from the underground to Stephansplatz. To the sight of this huge cathedral. Wow! Well done Vienna! This was probably the best possible introduction to the city of Vienna (and we'll just ignore those first train views).

One day I strolled through town a bit and managed to make my way to the hundertwasserhaus. It was really neat to see, but made me wish I had a lens with a wider angle. Hopefully one day soon:) And while we are talking photo-things, lately I haven't really been in a mood to do any photo editing, so you are getting these straight out of the camera. Partly I've been challenging myself to continually make adjustments while taking photos to make sure I am getting the best possible shot. Partly I'm just lazy.

7 quick takes, of course

Well I'm a day behind with the Friday quick takes, but I'm not too bothered by that.

- 1 -

Here satsumas are basically the color of lemons. They are also nearly as sour as lemons, or maybe I just got one that wasn't quite ripe?

- 2 -

I love rain pants SO much. In my Liebster award post I said that my most cherished possession was my wedding rings. Well. My rain pants handily take second place. Actually it is probably the combo of rain jacket + rain pants, so we'll say my rain gear is second.

Thursday morning I had an amazing bicycle commute in a steady, moderate rainfall. I don't know what it is about riding in the rain while wearing proper gear, but it is just so good!

- 3 -

Speaking of bicycle commute, I think I already mentioned that I was back on my bike this week. I had stopped riding during the winter because I didn't want to fall on ice, so I am really quite glad the snow and ice are all melted. Bicycle commute is so much faster than walking, and so much more fun than riding the bus.

- 4 -

At my hotel in Vienna there was a complimentary breakfast, which included little packets of nutella (like little packets of jam, only nutella). Unfortunately, most days I was eating sandwiches for lunch so I never was in the mood for toast for breakfast. I've kept the thought in my mind though, so I just had some toast with nutella for lunch. Yum.

- 5 -

Sometimes I have to eat foods that seem fancy (nutella toast is completely fancy in my book, probably because I toasted my bread on the stove with a bit of olive oil (who needs toasters?)) because otherwise I feel too much like I am living like a bachelor? I think this is the problem with living in a different country from my husband. The only good example I can think of right now is eating a bowl of cereal for dinner. I am pretty sure that is a thing a bachelor would do.

- 6 -

I got called on for my expertise in the English language again yesterday. Pretty much, my coworkers all speak perfect English, so if they are sometimes looking for a word, then it is a word that I can't even come up with. Yesterday's question: what would you call the points of a triangle or a square? "Hmmm, good question... maybe just points? As opposed to the edges, right? Hmmm.. OH how about corners? Yeah I think I'd say the edges and the corners!" Phew, passed the test. Almost had to make him walk up a flight of stairs to consult the real English language expert who is from England.

- 7 -

Here is a thing that I much prefer about American English though. We never use the expression "half eight" when referring to a time. In England you say "half eight" and (I'm pretty sure) it means half past eight. In Swedish you say "halv åtta" which translates to "half eight" but it means half to eight, or 7:30. So confusing. Let's just always use clarifiers here people.

Fun fact: I typed halv åtta into google translate just to make sure I was getting the spelling correct, and the translation? Half past seven. Google is SO smart.

Weird fact: I was proofreading this post and noticed that one of the half's was written as have. How did that happen??

Seven (really) quick takes

- 1 -

Just having an afternoon siesta, so I thought I'd do some quick takes. Today is the last day of the conference, so I went to the morning sessions, but took the afternoon off to walk around Vienna and my feet are SO happy for a rest.

- 2 -

Twelve weeks ago, I learned about Gustav Klimt, as evidenced by this pin I pinned twelve weeks ago. And he is Austrian, so I managed to just see that very painting I pinned, along with many others. I wouldn't say I'm really an art-person, and I really know very little about art, but sometimes there are just things that I like. I'm kind of the same way with wine.

- 3 -

And now I just learned about wikiPaintings! How fun! I saw this one as well, but I feel like this photo makes it look kind of not-as-good. When I was at the museum I'm pretty sure I liked it even more than that painting I pinned (see previous take).

- 4 -

I ate weiner schnitzel and sachertorte, so I think I can check off 'try quintessential vienna-foods' from the list. For some reason, in my mind I thought schnitzel was like this:

But it definitely is not a sausage coil, so good thing I came to Vienna so I could clear that up. In case you too are confused, it looks like this:

And it tasted like some sort of delicious chicken-fried-steak?

- 5 -

Food here has been cheap compared to Sweden (but not cheap like Prague). I've been getting pretty tasty sandwiches for lunch for under two euros from the little grocery store near the conference center.

- 6 -

I keep looking at that schnitzel photo, and I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to order for dinner tonight.

- 7 -

OH I went contra dancing with the locals last night.


I guess they are technically city-folk, but still. Quite a fun time!

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Onward to Jen Grace with the other quick takers.

Viennese crocus! (croci?)

Popping in quickly to share a photo I took yesterday (mainly so I can share in the fun of Cari's theme thursday). Vienna hasn't been too much warmer than Sweden, surprisingly, but it is warm enough for a crocus to grow! I always love when I see the first one of the season, and when I was walking through a park there was a section with all of these little patches of flowers. Very lovely.

quick takes!

- 1 -

I got a Swedish dentist. It was a little confusing, but I managed to get an appointment for later this month. I actually called three different places. The first one answered a lot of my stupid questions about 'how dentists in Sweden work' and then they told me there was a six-month wait for an appointment. No thank you. The second one was the clinic closest to my house, but it is very small, and I had a very hard time understanding the woman, so eventually I just said something about how I would 'have to think about it' so that I could hang up. Third time's the charm.

- 2 -

Next week I go to Austria for a conference. This is the 'big' conference of the year in Europe, similar to the big conference I used to go to in San Francisco every December. It will be interesting to see what kind of overlap exists between the two communities. I'm also excited to play tourister in Vienna. Anyone got any good tips for me?

- 3 -

OH MY GOSH THERE IS A CONTRA DANCE IN VIENNA WHILE I AM THERE FJAILENALEINKNZK.EKSIBNAEIL.NELIGNIALGN;AEI!!!!!

- 4 -

I also get back in time the following Saturday for a folk dance in Uppsala :)

- 5 -

The snow and ice are nearly entirely melted, certainly enough for me to safely ride my bicycle. There are maybe three ice patches on my commute though, so I've been holding off (mainly for fear of unforeseen ice patches while riding). I figure, I've managed to not ride my bicycle for this long, so I may as well wait until the risk of falling on ice is completely gone. Once I return from Austria though... then it is back on my bicycle!

- 6 -

I found this pin on pinterest which talked about choosing words to describe yourself (it also describes the process of how the author narrowed down the choices). I'm considering tweaking my 'about' page to incorporate the words I chose.

- 7 -

Just now, when I opened blogger, I saw that my total number of page views of all time was a palindrome. That made me happy.

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THE END

Jen and others have got more!

In my mind Pope Francis loves sushi

It happened that on the night of the thirteenth of March I had gotten sushi for dinner. I had been at the office with the live feed of the Sistine Chapel chimney in the background on my computer. I walked home as quickly as I could, stopping by the sushi place on the way. At home, I pulled up the chimney once more, took the picture I included in this post, and within minutes the white smoke appeared. I had a pretty lovely dinner while watching and waiting for the new pope to appear. And when he finally did, the sushi was entirely gone.

So now I have this association in my mind between Pope Francis and sushi. Guess what's for dinner tonight:)