Walking the Paddington trail

To celebrate the movie Paddington there are 50 (well there are actually more as more have been added since the trail started) statues across London, which are created by artists, designers and celebrities. The trail follows the bear's favourite places in London and goes all over Central London, from Notting Hill Gate in the west to Primrose Hill in the north to Chelsea in the south-west and to Greenwich and Bethnal Green in the east and south-east. I found a map of the trail and thought it was a perfect way of seeing London.

The origins of Paddington Bear date back almost 60 years. The creator, Michael Bond, bought a small bear from Selfridges (which has three bears on the trail) on Christmas Eve 1956 as a present for his wife and named him after the nearest railway station to which they lived.

The friendly bear from deepest darkest Peru with his old hat, battered suitcase, duffle coat and love of marmalade has become a classic character from English children's literature. He is always polite, addressing people as Mr, Mrs and Miss, and kind-hearted (even though he stares hard on those who incur his disapproval). In the stories he was discovered in Paddington Station by the Brown family and has an endless capacity for getting into trouble.

The first picture is of the statue between Platforms 8 and 9 on Paddington Station, where the bear was found the first time by the Brown family. It is called 'Paddington' and is designed by Michael Bond, the man who brought him to life. This is the most traditional design on the Paddington trail.

Outside of Harrods is Emma Watson's Flutterby. When she played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series she worked alongside producer David Heyman, who also created the new Paddington movie. 

In the window of Selfridges, the department store where Michael Bond bought the bear that gave him the idea of the story, I found Kate Moss's Goldiebear. She has dressed her Paddington entirely in luxurious gold to show just how precious he is. 

Outside London Bridge station Wonders of the World, designed by Peru is found. Peru, which is Paddington's native country, would like to draw attention to the fact that Peru isn't actually that difficult to get to from London Bridge. You simply take a direct train to Gatwick where you can catch a flight to Peru. The bear shows Machu Picchu, the Inca city and UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Several bears have been added since the collection was introduced. Of the recent arrivals, which are not part of the official Paddington Trail, I got one - Paddington That. Take That painted their bear live on the Graham Norton show in 2014. The bear is next to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason's Wish You Were Here at O2. 

Toggle at the V&A Museum of Childhood Gardens at Bethnal Green is designed by award-winning artist Benjamin Shine and is the most different of all bears in the trail. 

Except for its official trail bear, Bearer of Gifts, Hamley's have several bears. The one below is next to Bearer of Gifts.

As I could not feature all 53 bears that I have captured I made a collage of all of them. The large pictures are Mayor Boris Johnson's The Bear of London on the upper left, The Telegraph's Good News Bear with Big Ben in the background in the middle and television presenter Davina McCall's Paddington Jack at the bottom. Being in the Westminster area of London, where you find Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament, the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street and Westminster Abbey she has combined Paddington with a Union flag to create a noble looking bear. The bear is close to the Horse Guards Parade, which is one of Paddington's favourite London places as he can see the Changing the Guard here. 

At some places Stockholm metro embodies Swedish design

Several Swedish underground stations are very Nordic in their design. Below is one of the most typical new stations - Rådhuset underground station.

A couple of classical Stockholm views

When having some time over in Stockholm I will try to capture as much of the nice parts of the city as I can. Started out with a couple of shots of famous places (quite random pictures - I do admit). First off is Gamla Stan seen from Nybrokajen...

Then the eastern facade of the Royal Palace, the official residence of the current King (his family actually lives at Drottningholm). The palace has 1,430 rooms of which 660 have windows. 

Sergel's Torg is the most central public square in Stockholm and is named after the 18th-century sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel, whose workshop was once located north of the square. The square has an iconic triangular pattern. 

Finally City Hall seen from Hantverkargatan. The building is one of the the most famous landmarks in Stockholm. 

Reflections around the house

Stockholm is built on water, which is something I love with the city. Sweden's largest lake, Mälaren, meets the Baltic sea at Slussen and our flat is just by the lake. On quiet nights the reflections in the lake are very nice and one of those nights I decided to take a walk.

Central London wishes Merry Christmas 2014

It's that time of the year again - the time of Christmas lights in Central London. Went down to Oxford Street with high hopes. After getting off at Bond Street I was greeted by Paddington the Bear.

The lights were magnificent as always, even though not much had changed since last year. Below Oxford Street.

Regent Street:

London remembers WWI

Remembrance day or Poppy Day is is recognised to remember the victims of World War I. To remember the fallen one poppy for every British casualty (888,246 poppies in total) are planted around the Tower of London. Each one is hand made and thus different. The red is a symbol for the blood spilled in the war. Hostilities formally ended "at the 11th hour of the 11th dat of the 11th month" and Remembrance Day is hence on November 11th.

The lynx is a very shy cat

The lynx is one of the big 4 predators in the Nordic region (together with wolf, bear and wolverine) and the second most common after bear. There are 1,250 lynx in the Swedish woods but there are still very few that has seen a wild lynx - they are very shy. It is the largest wild cat in Europe and is often referred to as the "minitiger" of the northern pine forrest. There are currently about 1,250 lynx in the Swedish woods.