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.

A walk around downtown Chicago

Had a chance to take a walk around downtown Chicago the other day. A friend living there once told me that the reason he likes it (and that he would never move to New York) is that it's a very 'outdoorsy' city. I completely see what he means. I walked from Michigan Avenue, one of the key streets:

I walked down to the waterfront of Lake Michigan, saw a couple of the beaches and down along the Chicago River back into the city. Trump Tower is in the background. 

This is the way to do it in a city with limited space! Park your car in the bottom half of the house and live on the top half (and if you want also your boat at the bottom)! 

The overground train is one of the main public transports in Chicago. Below feels very ER. 

View from an office window:

Michigan Avenue at night:

View from an office window in Canary Wharf

I cannot complain about the view from our office windows. Many days you can't see the buildings because of the fog but this Sunday there was no fog. I have seen the skyline of City of London almost every day for the past six and a half years - isn't it breathtaking?

Fejbol

It's the first weekend in September and it's still warm and what better way to spend an early spring weekend than at dad's summer place - Fejbol (about 100km out of Stockholm). The place is very nice, very relaxing. It is just by the lake Båven.

It was warm enough for the yellow jackets still to be out... 

During the day we took a walk in an oak forrest. On the way there was lots and lots of horses. Magnificent animals. 

Once in the forrest there was mostly cows. And they were very curious. 

Dad walking the little one.

My beautiful wife. 

Like a painting by Monet. 

Exploring Sweden: Uppsala

When we started to explore Sweden Uppsala - the fourth largest city in Sweden and located about 70km north of Stockholm - was the obvious choice. It is a very nice town with the castle and cathedral being two of the main sights. Uppsala, which was once called Östra Aros, has always been a religious centre and it has one of the oldest universities in Europe. Carl von Linné lived in Uppsala at the end of his life. It was a short trip and we should definitely go back.

The little one was very excited about going!

The cathedral is built in Gothic style and is one of the largest in Northern Europe with its towers reaching almost 119 metres. 

The castle, which was once the home of Sweden's first king - Gustav Vasa - was a reminder of Swedish history! Very special place!

Gustav Vasa is buried in the cathedral, a magnificent place. 

Outside the train station there is a gigantic bike parking. Everyone bikes in Uppsala. 

Agrigento and Valle dei Templi

Next stop was Agrigento on the southern coast, which is known as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas (or Agrigentum in Latin). It's a fantastic place, definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It had 200-800 thousand people at its peak around 400 BC. The temples are relatively well preserved and are spread over a large area. It was scorching hot so it was good we brought water!

First off is the Temple of Juno or Temple of Hera Lakinia, a 38m long, 17m wide and 6m tall temple.

Temple of Concordia is one of the best preserved of its kind and I also read somewhere that it has given UNESCO its face (I haven't been able to confirm though). 

Temple of Hercules

Temple of Zeus, that has been almost impossible to rebuild an image of the temple, was massive - it was over 110m long. 

After Valle dei Templi we decided to try to find Scala dei Turchi or "Stair of the Turks" which has become a tourist attraction due to its unusual white colour as well as by its mention in Andrea Camilleri's series of detective stories about Commissario Moltabani. The rock is formed by mari, a sedimentary rock with a characteristic white colour. 

Scala lies between two sandy beaches and is accessed through a limestone rock foundation in the shape of a staircase, hence the name. In 2007 the municipality of Realmonte applied for the inclusion in the UNESCO Heritage List. Unfortunately we never got to use the actual beaches - next time!