Tenniszwillinge

To my surprise some people have actually asked me when I'll post something on my blog next. The answer is now. I assume that if people ask then people read too, which is nice. I'm not doing this for myself you know.. :-)

I guess I've settled in here in Stockholm now. Things don't surprise me anymore like they did in the beginning and with work being an everyday thing I even have something like a daily routine. Speaking of work, it's coming along nicely with responsibility from the very beginning and with the first meeting "abroad" (eh, Norway) coming up next week. I've even been supplied with some office infrastructure which is also a great help.

Almost at the same time I started work the miserable weather arrived reminding me why Scandinavian people tend to be blonde - there just isn't any sun! Unlike Kufstein, the weather is predictable but, unfortunately, bad.

Markus Steiner experienced this when he visited me towards the end of July. However, this didn't stop us from taking in Stockholm in a truly touristy way.

Markus at Drottningholm, probably trying to get Madde's attention

Stockholm Jazz Festival, Djurgården, Vasamuseet and Drottningholm as well as several must-see sights including a two-hour boat trip "under the bridges of Stockholm". Needless to say, we also found time for beer drinking and relaxing in Södermalm.

Vasa, probably the crappiest ship ever.

Just 24 hours after Markus' departure Jenny arrived from Finland to spend the weekend here. This sparked another few days of intensive sightseeing (yes, Drottningholm again) but also, of course, shopping. With the NK shopping mall covered I've now seen two of Stockholm's most famous murder sites, those of Olof Palme and Anna Lindht. (Thankfully, Farsta Strand isn't one of them. )

Despite the constant flow of more or less ridiculous Swedish legislation and news my attention has now turned to the elections in Norway in a few weeks time. After a few televised debates I'm already sick of it so I won't bore you with that. I just thought I'd mention it.

However, the fact that a baby boom is taking place in Stockholm hasn't escaped my notice. It hasn't been proved but there may be more buggys than rucksacks in the streets of central Stockholm ( interestingly enough called "city" in Swedish) at the moment. The other day I was going for lunch with an old friend (from my Salamanca days) and she called me shortly before to check if it's ok if she brings her sister along - to which I had no objections of course. I knew Helena had a baby daughter in March since it happened exactly when I was in Stockholm for my job interview but I didn't know that her sister had a daughter too, only some five-six weeks older.

There was one place I didn't see any infants though, at Stockholm stadium where the Nordea Nordic Light Open tennis tournament took place. Ok, the Russian tennis players are young but not that young.

I'd watch women's tennis any day

The identical twins sitting next to me turned out to be the almost famous Salzburg-born Klemenschitz sisters (their Open dreams ended in the semis) who disclosed some almost interesting double tactics. It's a rare joy to see identical twins wearing excactly the same outfit (ok, they have sponsors so they're forgiven) and an identical haircut.