Vacation in Båstad/Skummeslöv

The Bjäre peninsula, view from Båstad beach, near Pepe's Bodega.











Tara enjoys the summer's last raspberry cider at the tiki bar in Sweden (!) in August.
Kim is having fun watchin the thunder circle around the bay area. These shots were from the last days of our week in the summer cottage. We had some incredibly hot and sunny days, although the ending of the week was rather gloomy.

As usual, Tara wanted to snap some shots of houses in the area that she would like to buy when we get old. Here are the results.


This fence, made of branches, is a trademark of the region. Chances are that the we will work on getting ourselves something like this if we get a house of our own.








Below: At the beach in Mellby. Sand dunes, sun, the ocean and a chess board. Can a vacation be more perfect than this? (Last time we played chess by the sea was in Key West, right next to the Gulf of Mexico.)

Tall Ships' Race

Stockholm's inner harbor was crowded with schooners, sloops, barques, frigates and other versions of sailing ships. The Tall Ships' Race was in Stockholm this weekend. More to come...

Picnic in Hagaparken

Joakim's colleague had invited some friends to a picnic at Hagaparken (see map here), right next to Gustav III's pavillion (the yellow building) with the copper tents up on the hill. It was a beautiful weekend and we both enjoyed the afternoon in the midst of the park. While we walked through the park we went to see the Queen's pavillion, the ruins of the unfinished castle, and Gustav III's outdoor dining hall - the Temple of the Echo (below).

Visit to Drottningholm

On crown princess Victoria's birthday we visited the home of the Royal family - Drottningholm. We arrived at the palace by steamboat and walked through the French and the English gardens, took a quick tour through the palace and got ourselves a peek of the Chinese castle.

By the waterfront. It was a truly magnificent day. Drottningholm, which has been put on Unesco's World Heritage list, is a Versaille palace in miniature.

Pictures from the park and the gilded gates leading up to the entrance of the palace.

Hammarby Sjöstad! Here we come!

We finally moved to our new apartment in Hammarby Sjöstad. Here is a virtual tour of the neighborhood.
Approaching Hammarby Sjöstad by ferry from Barnängskajen on the island of Södermalm. The trip takes less than five minutes and the ferry runs every 15 minutes until midnight.

Close-up of the ferry's approach to the dock at Hammarby. "Jimmy's Steakhouse", one of many great restaurants in the area, is located right next to the marina.

The boardwalk in the local marina. Here you find sun decks and cute restaurants along the waterways.
Hammarbybacken, our local ski slope. Although not comparable to the Rockies, it is all right for an afternoon of fun. Plus, it is great exercise to run uphill in the summertime!

Typical houses in the middle of Hammarby Sjöstad. Notice the little stream of water, running right across the neighborhood.
View from one of the many bridges inside the community of Hammarby Sjöstad.

Our living room/study/TV room. From the windows we have a great view over the bay. Two new IKEA Billy book cases help us keep things somewhat organized. Tara was responsible for putting together the one on the left.

Our kitchen. With a dishwasher! Great stuff!

Another night at the Opera

Tonight we took Martin and Ida with us to the premiere of Rigoletto at the Royal Opera house in Stockholm. (To thank them for all the work they put in during our wedding.) It's about a week since we went to the opera, but the difference from the last performance was astounding. Swedish radio broadcasted the opening night (live) and it seemed to inspire the singers' contribution on stage. A great night and a lovely version of Rigoletto. (Joakim last enjoyed Rigoletto in 1993 - funny enough with the same tenor in the role as the Duke of Mantua.)

Media Seminar

Joakim, speaking at the Open Society Conference at the Helsingborg Campus.
(Lots of Popperians with dissenting views were present.)

More photos here(thanks to Danyael).

A night at the Opera

Today we went to see the season finale of Verdi's Il Trovatore, playing at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. A nice performance, although not as grand as we expected. It almost seemed like the singers we tired of the librettos.

Honeymooning in Florida Keys

Top center: Tara sitting by the Mexican Gulf, at the "Piña Colada" Beach, downtown Key West.
Left: Palm trees at Smathers Beach.
Right: Kim at Smathers Beach with his latest purchase from the Hemingway house - To have and have not.

Newlyweds at the Sunset celebration at Mallory Square, Key West.












Left: After enjoying a tour of the Keys at 80 knots.
Right: Tara finds another art gallery downtown...

The Blessing of our Marriage!!!

Tara and Joakim Nilsson

Polk Street United Methodist Church
Amarillo, Texas
May 12, 2007

Thanks to everyone who attended the ceremony as well as the reception in the Panhandle Plains Museum and made this such a wonderful day for us!

Our warmest gratitude to our parents, our brothers Dwayne and Martin, and Matron of honor Debra, who organised things and helped us with all the details.



We would also like to thank pastor Gale "Rev" Williamson for performing a wonderful ceremony, including the communion for the attendents.

Organist Norman Goad did a great job playing the prelude "Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)" by John Williams, as well as the Allegro (as interlude) and Vivace (as postlude) movements from The Drottningholm Music by Johan Helmich Roman.


(These are only some of the preliminary shots from our day. Please check back in a few weeks. Better quality, high-res versions are soon to come. Click on images to enlarge.)

Our Wedding!!!

Tara and Joakim
Nilsson
Dalby kyrka, Sweden
5 May 2007

Thanks to all our friends who attended the ceremony/reception and made this such a wonderful day for us!
(The Newlyweds together with parents, brother of the groom and Matron of honor gathered outside of Dalby kyrka, Sweden.)The grandparents of the groom together with the newlyweds.

(These are only some of the preliminary shots from our day. Please check back in a few weeks. Better quality, high-res versions are soon to come. Click on images to enlarge.)

Wedding update! To all our guests

Today we are happy to be able to present a few new posts for our guests to the wedding in Sweden and the blessing in Texas.

(We have updated the wedding/blessing itinerary, since our original posting included a few errors. The hours on the invitation cards are correct.)

To the right of this column, you will find our permanent wedding links with useful information for both of the events (accomodation, travel tips, sightseeing and more) .
As of today, you will find that we have added two more links: Swedish wedding registry and American blessing registry. (No list is exclusive, and guests who are attending the blessing in Texas are welcome to sign up for the Swedish registry. The toastmaster will hopefully be able to help you with such an arrangement. Look under each heading for more information.)

About Tara and Joakim:
We know that we move around alot. And it is sometimes hard to keep up with old friends. To make it a little bit easier for all of you to stay in touch with us, if only virtually, we have created this blog where we continue to post pictures and stories from our life together.

Please feel free to browse through our archive directory (can be found on the right) for postings from previous months. Here you will find photos from our summer vacation (our three day hiking experience, the Swedish west coast archipelago, the Swedish Open Båstad tennis tournament and more), November festivities on both sides of the Atlantic (Thanksgiving in New Jersey, Mårten Gås at the Swedish summer cottage), Christmas in Lund, pictures of our moving project to the capital of Sweden and our sightseeing trips around Stockholm. (Also a thing or two about getting to know Swedes...)

American blessing registry

Here, at last, is our American blessing registry. We apologize to all of you who have been sending us requests. A few things over here have taken us more time than we thought. Well, without any further ado, here is our American blessing registry.

You'll find the complete list at Bed, Bath and Beyond ... Just go to the tab which says "Bridal and Gift Registry" and then type in our registry number: 2782400

Please contact the people mentioned on the invitation card if you have any further questions.








You may also send a contribution in our name to Hillary Clinton's election campaign (JUST KIDDING!)

Enjoy the best of Stockholm!

After walking in Stockholm during weekends we've tried to narrow down the places where Tara's parents would most likely want to stay when they come visit. We've concluded that the following hotels would be top choices for Tara's parents. (Follow the links to view the picture galleries.)

Tara's Mom's favorites:
Sheraton Stockholm (Located, a one minute walk from the parliament and a two minute walk from the Royal Palace and the Royal Opera house, this hotel is just wonderfully convenient in every possible way.)

Hilton Hotel Stockholm (If you want to live on the south side (Södermalm island) of Stockholm, and still have the major attractions just a few minutes away, Hilton is a great choice.)

Grand Hôtel Stockholm (If you want to wake up every morning and have your bedroom windows face the Royal Palace, there really is no other hotel for you.)

Tara's Dad's favorites:
Lord Nelson Hotel (Named after the naval hero from the battle of Trafalgar, a three star hotel in the middle of the Old Town.) Be sure to check out the poop deck and the gun deck!

Lady Hamilton Hotel (Named after Lord Nelson's mistress, this four star hotel is located only 20 yards from the Royal Palace in the Old Town. The original well from the 1300's is still in use.)

Victory Hotel (Named after Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Victory. This five star hotel in the middle of the Old Town with its own unique, naval interior decoration style, is quite simply breathtaking.)

Regional School Chess Championship

The last of March was a day filled with things to do, planning for May 5th. However, we were also able to go to "The Blue Hall" inside the Stockholm City Hall - where the Nobel banquet is being held every year - to cheer for Tara's students in the Regional Chess Finals for 4th graders. The English School had two teams in the finals - and they ended up receiving the gold and silver medals! So now both their teams are off to the Swedish Chess Nationals in Västerås, next month.

Another grand view of the Blue Hall, packed with young chess enthusiasts.

Tara and Joakim also toured the City Hall to view the other ball rooms. The pictures below (click to enlarge) are from The Golden Room, where the walls are decorated with 18 million golden mosaic pieces.

Swedish wedding registry

A registry (bröllopslista) can be found at the Swedish Cervera stores.

For guests from Sweden: The easiest way to find out more about the registry is to just walk into a Cervera store near you and give them our names and wedding date.

For international guests: If you would like to take part in the Swedish registry we advise you to get in touch with the toastmaster.

Any further questions - including login-key and password to our personal page at the Cervera online website - will be answered by the toastmaster Martin Nilsson. He can be reached at: idaochmartin[at]telia.com.

Happy 30th Birthday!!!

Tara turned 30 today! We have been forced to take it a little bit easy though, since Tara has caught something from school and has been staying at home. The pink Champagne that Joakim gave her will probably be used sometime in the near future...

Update March 24th:

Joakim's parents treated everybody to a wonderful dinner at Fem Små Hus in the Old Town of Stockholm to celebrate Tara turning 30 on March 22 (which, interestingly enough, was the same day Joakim's dad turned 59). The table is decorated with the Star Spangled Banner and the Swedish flag in honor of a cosmopolitan girl getting older.

Most of us around the table had very tender caribou filet with a black currant sauce. We finished off the meal with a cloudberry icecream dessert.

And more pink Champagne ... (this bottle was a gift from Martin and Ida) Tara is seen wearing a Swedish birthday wreath.

Some pictures from the restaurant cellar:

Chess for kids

Tara went to cheer for her kids at the "Schackfyran" Chess tournament for fourth graders. It was held in the Stockholm Globen arena (picture below) - just a few metro stops from our place on Söder. There is something quite appealing in the sight of a conference hall, packed with 10-year-olds eager to take on intellectual challenge over a board. Everything went well during the tournament and now it's on to the next round!


Update: Some more photos from the event. (Click to enlarge.)