I woke up into cloudy, windy and sort of depressing Uppsala. Once I left dorms to go for more exploration of the city, I was given a chance to encounter also rainy and very cold face of Uppsala. Well, some rain was predicted by http://www.yr.no (Norwegian Meteorological Institute) while another website promised only a cloudy day. I chose to believe the more optimistic forecast, which turned out to be the mistake. So, next time I should believe yr.no much more: their forecast predicted rain since 10am (that is when I got out of the dorms) and it start drizzling at 10:15 – not so bad forecast.
When it finally started raining cats and dogs I was right in the middle of my way and sure I would get wet anyway. So, instead of escaping back to the dorms I chose to made it downtown and hide in a museum or mall there. However, I was completely wrong about the shopping part, since stores looked to be closed on Sunday. Increased attention to mind my steps was needed as well: cobblestones giving the city sort of charm turned to be a dangerously slippery on a rainy day like this one.
Fortunately this rainy misery did not last longer than an hour, so pretty soon I turned this weather into an advantage: no people outside and no sharp sun blinding my camera lenses = increased chances for great pictures. And that is how I spent following hours.
When the mission at very downtown of Uppsala was completed I returned to places, where I had to give up yesterday: Botaniska trädgården (Botanical gardens) and Uppsala slott (Uppsala Castle) once again. On my way there I happened to be lost at a local cemetery. It extended on a vast area and if there were no graves, it would look just like another park. That is also the reason why it took me some time to realize where I was. Once there, and because I needed to get through, I kept going: feeling the silence of the place and passing graves dating as back to the past as to 1950’s, and remembering people born in 1860’s. Honestly, I did not find it appropriate to take pictures there, but once I spotted this gravestone I had to: someone Swedish born in 1867 having her grave there made me feel as a witness not only of Swedish history but also centuries of existence of humankind.
Finally I made it to a happier place, Botaniska trädgården (Botanical gardens) adonated to the Uppsala University by King Gustaf III, and being the oldest botanical garden in Sweden. I am sure on a sunny day it would have been much nicer there. The other a bit disappointing thing was that I knew so many plant species from my Mom’s garden and those I did not know I could not understand their Swedish names. Latin names would not be of any help either, so I “just” admired the flowers:
And last one, specially for my dear US Grandparents:
The Botanical Gardens were huge and consisted of several parts: the oldest one being Baroque Garden with its plant relationships and typical strict symmetry such as spruce pyramids; Linnaeus´ Garden reconstructed by original plan of Linnaeus; and Orangery that was also built thanks to Linneaus, where he could grow exotic plants.
Uppsala slott (Uppsala Castle) made my really happy today. I climbed there once again not only to warm up but also to try again for snaps, which due to so much sun most likely did not work very well yesterday. Both of the golas were achieved and for the latter one I have a proof:
During my strolls, I spotted couple of knitted pieces of work, decorating different places: banister next to the City Library, railings of bridge and last time it was a piece decorating stem of a tree in the Botanical gardens:
The knitting on the tree looked very different than the other two, so I wonder whether it is two different knitting projects. What might be the point of giving a scarf to a bridge and kind of a lace to a tree? I must find the answers!
In the afternoon some people staying in this corridor had guests. Three Iranians invited few friends of theirs, so I got quite a lot of Persian language, which is not similar to anything I had heard before. Christoph also had lots visitors this Sunday. Presence of so many Germans in one place explains the increased number of cans of beer in our refrigerator. I did a bit of observation and came up to following statistics: six Iranians were much louder than 10+ Germans.
While kitchen was occupied by Iranians, I had two choices: fight for a free burner or use another kitchen. I decided for the second option and this time I truly had to persuade my immunity it will be all right to cook my potatoes there. Here is why:
MOMENTS IN . . . 
