View of Strandvägen

My favorite street in all of Stockholm is Strandvägen.  It is the prestigious street in the wealthy district of Östermalm in central Stockholm.  It is the street that faces the water and the focal point of many of my pictures.  In fact, it is the street lined with gorgeous cupola topped buildings in the top picture of my post from yesterday, or the current cover photo on my Facebook page.  It is just gorgeous and I envy the inhabitants of those buildings every time I walk along the street.  These top two pictures today are just two of the pretty buildings on the street.  Today, I had the opportunity to actually go inside one the apartment buildings on Strandvägen because a fellow book club member lives there and she hosted our book club meeting today!  I was so excited!  The temperature was only about 25 this morning and the sun was hidden behind clouds for most of the day, but that could not squash my excitement to see Ally's apartment.

Our whole little ex-pat community lives such funny lives.  No one owns where they lives.  Many do not own the furnishings or provide the decor on their own.  No one even really controls how much is paid for where they live because their companies either provide the place or cover the rent.  And, because Stockholm is such a difficult place to find housing, no one has much of a choice on where they live.  They may have 2 or 3 choices that are available on the one day that they have to look and they have to snatch them up or they are gone.  No one can remodel to their particular likes or dislikes.  So, we can envy where some one lives and appreciate the luck that they had to find such a place!

Ally happens to live in a big, beautiful corner apartment on Strandvägen on the 5th floor so she has a beautiful space and gorgeous views!

If you look behind the cruise boat in the distance, you can see Stockholm's local ski slope

We had a wonderful fika, followed by a vigorous discussion of the book called "The Painted Veil" by Maugham.  Very fun.  Again, you cannot beat a multi-cultural perspective when discussing books.

 Today's conversation lent itself to the expectation of women in different societies.  Will they work or will they stay home with the kids?  In Sweden, it is very expected that you will work and "stay at home moms" are looked down upon.  Everyone is highly educated, "over educated" in Josh's opinion at times for the jobs they are applying for, because higher education is free and almost everyone goes to college.  So, women are expected to use that education and not "waste it" on staying home with their kids.  Interesting...

The junior high put on a language fair this afternoon after school. Max's 7th grade French class did a French version of Sleeping Beauty.  Max played the role of the prince and did a great job.  Very fun to see and hear his beautiful French in action. He is obviously more comfortable in his French than most of the kids in the class.  I took a great video but this site will not allow me to upload it so you will just have to trust me...  Later in the school year, Max's Swedish class will also do a demonstration.   I am eager to hear his Swedish!