Spring in Stockholm: what it’s like so far

By the calendar at least, it’s been a few weeks since the season has turned to spring. What that has meant so far in Stockholm: snow flurries, often bright blue skies, lots of sun, outdoor seating has opened back up, people are sunbathing everywhere and I even saw some crocus peeking through the snow on Saturday. The high temperature is predicted to be 3 degrees C tomorrow. Sunrise: 5:53 am. Sunset: 19:47.

So temperatures are warming up just a tiny little bit, but the days are getting longer and longer.

And I offer this little story as evidence that the longer days are affecting people in all sorts of strange ways: I was having lunch at a local cafe and went up to get glasses of water for my friend and I. On the way, I ran into a coworker and had a chat with him. In English. As I turned to go back to my table, a woman somewhere around 70 jumped out of her seat and blocked my way.

In Swedish, she said: “You can’t go through here.”

In Swedish, I replied back: But I must. I need to get back to my seat.”

“Ah, but YOU are not from Sweden,” she countered in a strong voice as if that obviously was the reason why I could not go back to my table.

“No, I’m not Swedish. But I live here. And I would like to go back to my seat now,”  I said, still using Swedish.

“Oh, good for you. There you go!” And then she laughed and got out of my way.

As for me, I have no idea about what that was all about. I’ll just call it spring fever…

So, what’s spring like where you are? The pictures here were all taken Sunday on Kungsholmen in central Stockholm.

Tagged as: Kungsholmen, Lake Mälaren, Spring in Stockholm