Coaching for Pizza: Born to Sweat

Friday, May 19, 2017

Born to Sweat

Friday, 19 May, 2017:

It's getting closer every day, now only . . .

. . . More days until . . .

. . . Laurie Contreras makes her

entrance into The Grand Hotel

It was going to be another hot day in the greater Stockholm megalopolis.

It felt a LOT hotter than this and

FAT KIDS SWEAT!

I took the 565 bus into Stockholm and got off of it in the Vasatan district near two more of my 111 Places in Stockholm That You Must Not Miss.

Not one of the 111 but

interesting none-the-less

Stockholm's City Library . . .

. . . is 89 years old

It housed a sight from my list but would not open for another 20 minutes.

No problem, I just headed a block up the street to . . .

Sight # The Valand Bakery

When less is more

Just a simple café as their sign indicates, it has a limited but delicious array of pastries.

By the way, the two customers you see here are broiling in the fierce Swedish sun, I'm going to dine inside!

The simple array

Coffee options are limited too

No, latte macchiato and cappuccino are not on the menu.

The furnishings are stark as well

Oven

The coffee was good and the kanelbulle/cinnamon roll was the moistest one I've had yet so I was pleased.

The owner, Stellan Åström and his wife Magdalena have been running this place for over 60 years now with kindness and affection.

The only problem was that our kafé was being turned into an oven by the direct sunlight and lacked both air conditioning and open windows.

Think sauna.

Finished with my morning Fika Time, I was headed back to the library and saw some posters of upcoming events along the way.

Not for me I think

Now this is a real possibility

Spartans at the library's

main entrance

Man down

The agony of defeat

Sight #68 The Poetry and

Relaxation Armchair

Resting in the bosom of Abraham

There is a red chair located in the library whose cushions completely envelop the seated person and through the magic of technology has either poetry or soothing music pumped into the semi-globe like chair.

But where is it located?

I looked all over for it

but finally had to ask at the

Information Desk for directions

I was told that the chair was decommissioned about a year ago.

Curses, foiled again!

I left the library a bit dejected

Still, I was told by my guidebook that nearby on a 120 meter hilltop was another nice bakery/restaurant noted for their waffles.

There it is

Climbing up this steep hill in this heat was not my best idea of the morning.

The hired hands were just

opening the bakery

And I got a great waffle!

I sat and read here for a bit

while I digested my breakfast

Random but cool trees

The rest of my day in Stockholm featured walking on the shady side of the street as my #1 objective in this heat.

At least she is staying cool

Stockholders everywhere

enjoying the sunshine

Nice flowers

It's lunchtime so the locals

have time to work on their tans

Dominating park statue

I wonder if it is performed

in English or Swedish?

I finally arrived at . . .

Sight #72 The Raoul Wallenberg Square

Two monuments for a courageous man

In 1944 the Swedish government sent 31 year old diplomat Raoul Wallenberg to Budapest where he dedicated himself to saving some 100,000 Jewish citizens from deportation to Auschwitz by using false Swedish passports.

In 1945 the Soviet secret service arrested him as a suspected spy. We know that he was incarcerated for two years but after that he simply vanished and has never been found since.

These 12 reclining bronze sculptures are in his memory but his sister remarked in 2001 at there debut that looked like 12 ugly stones.

Agreed.