Oh, I’ve just logged back in here after the week from hell (oh, it’s Thursday? So, it’s still not over? Aaaargh…) and I’ve found my entry to The Gallery, unfinish and unpublished, languishing sadly in the Drafts folder… So, here it is completed (albeit it in a bit of a hurry now, while Little O tries to sleep off his fever).

Friday was World Photography Day but Tara kindly let us take a photo over the weekend, which was just as well because Friday was a crazy day that culminated in me falling asleep on the sofa for almost two hours after settling Little O down to bed and waking with a terrible crick in my neck. Back to the photo, yes… I took this one on Sunday, which is a love-hate day for me most weekends. I hate it because Husband works most of the day and so our weekend is truncated and we have to pack all “family weekend” into Saturday; on the other hand, I love it because Stockholm has a certain vibe on Sundays, especially in the summer. If the weather is anything but miserable, there are people out everywhere – tourists and locals alike – wandering around, taking in the sights or just people-watching. I think I like it so much because I spent the previous seven years to living here in Copenhagen, and during those seven years, the city still abided by it draconian opening hours laws, so nothing (seriously, nothing…) was open*. Stockholm’s Sundays are manna from heaven by comparison.

The city also has a more touristy feeling at the weekends because the old trams are back in service, alongside the shiny new and completely impractical trams (and that’s a whole other rant there…). Of course, the old trams are impractical too, but you make allowances for that – they were built shortly after the Second World War, so you wouldn’t expect them to be child or pram friendly. But they are REAL trams – as real trams should be, in my opinion.

Photo © English Mamma

So there it is: my contribution to this week’s Gallery – something that sums up the essence of a lazy Sunday walk around Stockholm city centre.

I cannot wait to see the many different photos that people will have come up with for The Gallery this week. Check them out at Tara’s place:

* To be fair to Copenhagen, it’s very different now and most shops are now, I believe, open on Sundays.