Around Stockholm, January 2024
January was yet another month of snow and bitterly cold weather. There were large snow piles, kids on sledges, swathes of ice covering waterways, and piles of discarded Christmas. But the return of the sun was the most important event of all!
A big snow storm arrived early in the month and generously replenished our powder levels (hooray).
We hit a low of -21 °c, and then bounced up to 0°c around ten days later. As you can see, that triggered a massive melt. I was walking along the path above and someone stopped to warn me about "isvatten" (ice water) but I hadn't anticipated it being so deep that it reached the top of my boot! Then I got further along and a gust of wind came and blew me across sheet ice like a surfer. What a day.
There are two people in the middle of the photo above. As they passed us, he looked down at his daughter and said how amazing it was to have snow on their holiday. It made me smile because I remembered feeling the same joy when we first visited Sweden as Winter tourists. Not the best photo in the world but something I wanted to remember.
This is what a typical January day looks like in Stockholm. Lots of ice and blue light that is light, but also dark. The photos above and below were both taken at lunchtime; the brightest point in the day. I actually really love this blue light.
Big hoods were my photography theme of the month. I unloaded my camera card and hadn't realised it had become a thing until that point.
The sun started shining again!! It sheds no warmth at this time of year but seeing the rays was a good psychological boost all the same. Such a low angle is pretty blinding after all the dark days.
Brunkebergs tunnel means pedestrians and cyclists can quickly pass through Brunkebergsåsen (rather than over), on Norrmalm. We've never cycled though but we decided it was finally time to check out the tunnel on foot.
Riddarholmen completely froze over, even moreso than previous years. We joined many others strolling across the ice and commented on how surreal the experience was.
That’s all for January!
