Valborg välkomnar våren (Valborg welcomes spring)

Today is Valborg day again, the day that Sweden welcomes spring with great anticipation and merriment. In Uppsala the day starts with students racing their assembled and decorated boats/floats on the Fyris river, mainly attempting to survive the river rapids without tipping over. The whole Uppsala is out in town and having picnics in parks. Many old Uppsala students make a pilgrimage back to Uppsala to take part in the "Mösspåtagning", where the rector of the University appears on the balcony of the University library - Carolina Rediviva,  and waves his cap, upon which the sea of onlookers raise their student caps in recognition. The rest of the day is spent in various states and modes of celebration. In the evening people gather in different parts of the city and the Valborg bonfires are lit to officially welcome spring.

Valborg is an original pagan festival which heralded the onset of the growth season. In days long gone, this was the day farm animals were let out to graze for the first time after the winter, and bonfires (majbrasor) have been lit to scare away predators.

Below is a video of the bonfires at Gamla Uppsala (Old-Uppsala) that we also attended last year.



Happy spring to all Northern Hemispherians!

C&R

Picture Perfect Picnic

Yesterday we cycled down to lake Mälaren to have a picnic. We found a lovely spot next to the water and made ourselves comfortable. The weather was perfect, no wind, no clouds and a the lake looked like a mirror. We had our first "braai" of the year and had very nice accompanying dishes.

Afterwards we had a nice little nap (without worrying too much that anything will be stolen). Getting out in Swedish nature during spring is completely different from the snow covered landscape just a few weeks ago, but is still very nice.

Looking forward to more cycling picnics this year.

R&C

and this is how the lake looked like a few weeks ago...

Spring is in the air

The last 2 weeks were the first time one could really notice that spring is coming. The snow started to melt and has almost disappear completely now. There are only a few patches of snow remaining and some snow-grid heaps. The grid is put on the snow and ice on bicycle paths to try to prevent slip accidents. Every time the paths are ploughed the grid together with the snow and ice end up at the side of the paths and roads. At the end of the winter there are small mountains of ice-grit-snow on the sides of all paths. It is these ice mountains that hold out the longest against the approaching spring. Not all the grid are scraped from the bicycle paths though, and when the ice-snow cover melts, a lot of grid remains on the paths. This grid has a nasty habit to get into your shoes, but even worse into the grooves underneath your shoe-soles, which then systematically force cracks into the bottom of your shoes. I must say however, the grid is absolutely necessary in the winter and may have prevented many nasty accidents over the years. In April the city management starts to sweep up the grid with sweeping machines and you know that spring has arrived. It is very nice to cycle on the grid (and ice) free paths.

I have come to the conclusion that April in Sweden is comparable with August in SA. Not the prettiest of months, although you now spring is coming, its not quite there. Everything is still very much dead and just starts to wake up from the winter chill. Furthermore, there are nasty windstorms that kicks up a lot of dust and always seems to come from the front, no matter which direction you are cycling. But all and all I am very happy the summer is coming again, after a winter which seemed as if it will never end.

With all of the snow melting in the last couple of weeks, our city river, "Fyrisan", is also in flood. The, almost-to-the-brim-full river, in the city center is quite a nice sight. The past Wednesday evening after Swedish class, we celebrated the coming spring (and the ability to sit outside) with a burger next to the flooding Fyris river.  Below are some pics

Unfortunately Ronnie has already started to complain about all the sun, which is now rising ten to six in the mornings and setting ten to eight in the evening. For my part, at the moment - I'm loving it (the sun - not the complaining :)

C&R

A new hobby

My birthday present came early this year... ants! I always wanted an antfarm, and this birthday I got one.

It came in a big box,

here are the little beasts, a nice fat queen and 14 workers,

a bit of assembly required,

halfway there, the farm packed and the arena ready to be decorated,

the arena set up with thermometer and hygrometer, water and feeding troughs. Notice the white line painted just below the lid... that is the escape proofing, a kind of teflon you paint on (ptfe),

some final touches to the arena, a home fit for a queen... hopefully,

 and RELEASE!!

 

and the whole Saturday evening we sat and watch them venture out hesitantly, slowly, unenthusiastically and then... they started blocking up the entrance to the test tube! Not to worry though... this, apparently, is normal behavior, it can take weeks and even months for them to leave their 'cozy' test tube to move into their lovingly prepared new home,

so hopefully within a few weeks we can report that they decided to move her majesty to the nice humid, dark antfarm and rewarded us with some nice tunnels.

C&R

Good French Food

During my visit to France I realised something, it is not just a cliche that French people know about food... they really do. Here are some examples of the bait I brought back,

 Really good cheese that we bought from a cheesemonger at the morning market and saucisson (a type of French salami)

Foie Gras, a guilty pleasure - but what a pleasure

and then... a recipe recommended by the French people that visited the market with us,

you buy this particular cheese, I think its a type of Brie...

it is specially packed in these wooden boxes or the more expensive ones in a type of ceramic, that you can put in the oven,

you make a whole in the middle and put some garlic and white wine on,

and bake in the oven till brown,

and then you dig in...

it was recommended to be eaten with potato,

really, really good   :)

C&R

Visit to Grenoble, France

Our research group has a colaboration with a group in France and the past week we visited them in Grenoble. Grenoble is a beautiful city in southeastern France at the foot of the French Alps. The city is also known in France as the 'Capital of the Alps'. The city is overlooked by a fortification, the 'Bastille', which is built on/inside the mountain slope and dates from the middle ages. Although we had quite a crammed work-week, our group took the opportunity to climb the slope to the Bastille and enjoy a wonderfull French dinner of
foie gras, duck, and some good wine at the restaurant on top. The next day we visited the morning market where we bought very nice Saucisson and French cheese (with names that I never heard before) directly from their makers.  :)

Here are some pics.

The Alps from the streets of Grenoble

The Bastille from below

The view from halfway up to the top of the Basille

Looking down

The cable cars known as 'Les Bulles'

The view from the top

A beautiful sunset

Nightfall

Next morning at the market checking out the cheeses

C

p.s. next week more on the food from France

Busy, busy, busy...

The last few weeks have been quite busy. For no clear reason we had loads of extra work. In addition Carina is taking a course in statistics which requires some extra time spend preparing for the lectures and are going on a work related trip to France next week which also requires some preparation. Our Swedish course has become reasonably challenging and the amount of homework has doubled. We also needed to finish a number of applications for conferences and grants for various projects during the last two weeks. So we were quite busy.

Next week I will on my own  experience the very slow increase of temperatures (also finishing some of the Swedish assignment that Carina needed to do earlier). Not much is planned otherwise but I am sure that Carina will have some interesting things to share after her trip to the land of wine, bread and cheese…

R&C