Invisible Sun

In a recent post, I complained about the snow and delay of spring. The past week in Uppsala has been beautiful - clear skies, lots of sun, and lots of melting snow - it almost felt like spring! But, for the last 2 days, the sun and warmth (by warmth, I mean high 30s, or slightly above 0 in celsius) have disappeared and clouds and fog have set in. The wonderful view of the cathedral and castle that I usually have is no where in sight...

The view from my window on a nice day

Today

Uppsala Slott

Photos from a walk at sunset to Uppsala Slott - the big pink castle

Steps leading to the castle

Sam and Nefeli looking down on the center of Uppsala

Uppsala Slott - construction of the castle began in 1549View of Uppsala

Uppsala again

Me and NefeliCarolina Rediviva at sunset - Uppsala University's main library

Sunset

Greece Day

A Greek celebration in honor of Nefeli's homeland!

Our homemade togas The Greek gods and their OuzoThe lovely Greek goddesses
George, in all of his god-like glory

Me, acting as the trash goddess
Yoko and I walking back from the "environmental cottage" in our togas

The light at the end of the dark, cold and snowy tunnel

March is more than halfway over. There is still snow and ice on the ground. Long underwear is part of my daily dressing routine - in fact, I feel strange when I don't have that extra layer between my jeans and skin. I've worn the same winter boots almost every day for 2 months. I've slipped on the ice countless times and many snowflakes have attacked me and pelted me directly in the eye. I've dealt with the pain and fear that comes from walking on ice in high-heeled boots just to look cute. I've helped make snowmen, or rather, helped pile snow into something that sort of resembles a snowman. I've tried to master the art of making snowballs. And, my hands and fingers have frozen numerous times trying to take a nice photo (the abundance of photos on this blog serves as proof).


I've tried to be a good sport and embrace the cold and snow as much as possible. But, it has been a long winter. And, although snow is beautiful and the cold weather was a nice and much needed change from Texas heat, the novelty of snowflakes and a "real" winter wore off long ago. So, I'm jumping on the "No more winter, spring come soon!" bandwagon that the rest of Sweden seems to have joined weeks ago.


Luckily, I've found evidence that spring is right around the corner...

There really is grass under all of the snow

I've seen the sidewalk for the first time

Flowers are blooming

The days are getting longer - sunset at 6pm. This is a big improvement compared to January when it was dark before 4pm!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears

There aren't really any lions, tigers, or bears (they were hibernating) in Sweden, but there are plenty of other Nordic animals at Skansen - a zoo/museum in Stockholm.

Horses

Grey seals

Elk

Me and a dala horse

Reindeer Wolves

Lynx in a tree

Anatomical Theater - Then & Now

1995

2006

A nice day for sunglasses

Today was an extremely cold day in Uppsala - around 15 degrees at the warmest part of the day, but it felt much colder. The unusual upside to another day of a never ending winter was that the sun shone brightly all day long!

Gustavianum and Domkyrka

The Gustavianum, the former main building of Uppsala University, was erected in the 1600s. Today, it is the university's museum and houses a famous anatomical theater, where medical procedures and dissections were once performed.


The Gustavianum and Uppsala's domkyrka in the background

Entrance of the anatomical theater

Looking down onto the dissection table (look how steep the staircases are!) Nefeli, Karoline, and Johanna - waiting for the dissection to begin A view of Uppsala's beautiful domkyrka - the largest church building in Scandinavia

Rose window

Walkway into the church - construction began in 1287!

A staircase inside the church

Chandelier

Walkway

Ornate windows

Many Swedish kings and other famous people are buried inside of the church