Now that it has turned cold the ski slope has opened. I still find it kind of cool that we live pretty much in the center of the capital and yet you can take the tram with your skies and get to the slope. One lives in the city and yet you don't need to travel far at all to go skiing. As I have said before walking around here on weekends in Hammarbysjostad feels like you are living at a ski resort as you pass people carrying their skis and wearing ski boots.
They started preparing the slope about two weeks ago. The weather was still kind of mild then so they must have gotten a good forecast so that they knew that it was time to start preparing the slope. In order to get enough snow they have been using the snow canons quite some. As you can see in the picture to the left they are still on, blowing out large amounts of very fine snow crystals.
Then at the same time at the other end of our area you can still take the boat that crosses the canal to get to the southern part of the city center. This boat crosses back and forth all year around. There was a thin layer of ice on the canal but so far that is no problem for this boat. If there is more ice building up as last year then they still make sure that it has a free passage. If you did not know it was winter this last picture almost as if it were summer.
Today it was really really cold as I biked to work. It was a gorgeous morning as the sun was slowly coming up painting the horizon in a soft pink color. Wished I had brought my camera with me. Actually it is only hands, feet and legs that were cold because I did get warm from the bike ride. Even if the air felt biting cold it was worth going by bike just to be able to take in this beautiful morning.