Tromsø / Norway...

 

A perfect summer day in Stockholm: Alice Cooper at "Gröna Lund"

I already told a little bit about the perfect summer day we had in Stockholm / Sweden when Alice Cooper played a show at "Gröna Lund" on 3rd July 2015.

Now, I'm going to share some more snapshots from that perfect summer day in Stockholm... I hope you enjoy it! :o)

It all started with us hopping on the ferry from Turku / Finland to Stockholm on the evening before. This time, we travelled with Tallink & Silja Line's "Baltic Princess"... 

On the ferry, we enjoyed amongst others the sunset over the stunning Archipelago Sea [in Finnish: Saaristomeri / in Swedish: Skärgårdshavet] and some drinks... 

The next day, we arrived in Stockholm at sunrise...

During the noon, we were exploring the district Östermalm and its quarters Gärdet (Official name: Ladugårdsgärdet), Norra Djurgården and Djurgården... 

The beautiful train station "Värtans station" which has been closed down in 1913
 

The TV tower "Kaknästornet" which is located in Gärdet (Ladugårdsgärdet)

Countryside idyll in Gärdet (Ladugårdsgärdet)

  The memorial monument "Restare" in Norra Djurgården, created by Monika Larsen Dennis
 

The "Nordic Museum" [in Swedish: "Nordiska museet"] on Djurgården 
 

The market hall "Östermalms saluhall" with some 

beautiful decoration by "Melanders Fisk & Vilt"

After exploring the district of Östermalm for hours, we naturally became hungry. According to the weather forecast, one had to count with temperatures around 30°C that day, so we were very happy when our dear friend from Stockholm recommended the salad bar of the "ICA Supermarket" in the shopping centre "Fältöversten" to us. A fresh salad is just perfect on such hot summer days! And the place where we ate our salads wasn't less perfect: "Galärparken", a park full of lovely ducks... 

After eating our salads, we went into the nearby amusement park "Gröna Lund". It was not only the first time that I was going to see a show at "Gröna Lund" but my first time at "Gröna Lund" overall, and - to my surprise - the stage is located in the middle of all the hustle and bustle, right next to roller coasters and other amusement rides. It's definitely one of the most remarkable concert venues I've ever been at. And this is what you're looking at while leaning against the barricade in front of the stage... 

Awesome, isn't it? And we all know what happened later at "Gröna Lund": Mister Alice Copper live on stage! 

As usual, I don't want to reveal too much about the show itself as there is going to be a LIVE review about it in the near future, but here is already a part of the setlist... ;o) 

And we all know as well what happened after the phenomenal show at "Gröna Lund": We ended up at the (damn boring) official after-show party at "Hard Rock Cafe Stockholm"... 

More details about the after-show party will be revealed in the mentioned LIVE review. Until then, I'm sharing two more snapshots with you, from the morning after when we walked to the ferry from Stockholm back to Turku. For the return trip, we chose Viking Line's "Viking Grace", so we got to see "Gröna Lund" again... ;o) 

 

Alice Cooper at "Gröna Lund": Video uploaded

Well, the title says it all: I just uploaded a video from the Alice Cooper show at "Gröna Lund" in Stockholm / Sweden on 3rd July 2015, featuring some live snippets from the performances for the songs "House Of Fire", "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" [The Doors cover], "I'm Eighteen" and "Poison". If you want to see more, don't miss the opportunity to visit an Alice Cooper show near you - It's absolutely worth it!

 

Instead of M'era Luna 2015: Alice Cooper at "Gröna Lund"!

On Thursday evening, we hopped on the ferry to Stockholm / Sweden, in order to see this guy live on stage on Friday evening...

The one and only Alice Cooper! 

Due to our very tight time schedule, especially this month, I'm going to write more about everything later. But I can tell that much for now: The entire trip was just absolutely perfect! ♥ Ok, except for the damn boring official after-show party at "Hard Rock Cafe Stockholm". No wonder that Alice Cooper himself preferred to stay "home watching horror movies" [Quote on his Instagram account] while the rest of the band hosted the mentioned after-show party...  

 

This was the very first time that I took a seat in a "Hard Rock Cafe", and it was pretty much as I had always imagined it: Overpriced drinks and food served to the tunes of rock songs which couldn't be more mainstream: KISS, Metallica, Nirvana... Well, you get the point. Nevertheless, everything else was just absolutely perfect, and as soon as I have more time, there will be more to read (and see) about everything... ;o) 

Until then: Rock on! 

Catching up with a dear friend from Berlin...

Another visit from Germany? Well, almost. This meeting already took place in the beginning of April 2015, during the Easter weekend, at "Hotel Scandic Julia" which is located in the centre of our hometown Turku / Finland... 

It was a very lovely evening, and today, the dear friend from Berlin shared a picture taken by me on the "Official Michael Monroe Street Team Germany" page on facebook (for which she is working as one of the administrators) and on the "German Michael Monroe Fanpage" on Instagram (for which she is working as the only administrator)... 

   
The picture was taken in April 2015, in the main library here in Turku. Probably the most rocking library in the world... ;o) 

   
Already in January 2015, she shared my picture from Michael Monroe's signing session at "Suomalainen Kirjakauppa" in Turku...

   
It's nice to see how much such snapshots are appreciated by his fans, and if you want to stay up-to-date regarding Michael Monroe, just give the mentioned pages a "like" or a "follow"...

Besök från Hamburg

This week, a dear friend from my native city Hamburg / Germany was visiting us here in Turku / Finland. It was her very first stay in Turku, and since Turku doesn't have an adequate nightlife for rock fans to offer, we focused more on sightseeing during the day and visiting cafés - because for this, the beautiful city of Turku is just perfect. 

I decided to share some of my snapshots from our sightseeing tour here on BlogSpot... I hope you enjoy it! :o)

 

A well in the nearby Garrison Park [in Finnish: Kasarmin puisto / in Swedish: Kasernparken]... 

 

... and the "Drummers From Pori" sculpture in the very same park, 

designed by Niilo Savia

On the way to the Turku Cathedral [in Finnish: Turun tuomiokirkko / in Swedish: Åbo domkyrka]

The fishtail fountain sculpture "Harmonia" [in Swedish: "Harmoni"], designed by Achim Kühn 

The star of Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks) on the "Walk Of Fame" which is located 

at Veistämönaukio [in Swedish: Varvsplan]

The Turku Castle [in Finnish: Turun linna / in Swedish: Åbo slott] 

And the Turku Castle, seen from the port of Turku

 

And last but not least: The Åbo flower sign

Tack för alla fina gratulationer och presenter!

Exactly three months have passed since my last blogpost, and I will spare you the usual "lack of time" part...

This is certainly a very exciting time for us: We got engaged, have other big projects "in the making" and so on and so forth. Interestingly, just a few days before the marriage proposal, I started to pack away most things from my days in Helsinki / Finland. From my native city Hamburg / Germany, I have even less items left these days. Well, this is how it goes when one has lived the life of a Rock'n'Roll wanderer for years... ;o) Those were the wild, restless days, and as much as I love to have all those beautiful memories in my heart, my life went on around three years ago when I decided to settle down with my love here in Turku / Finland. And so it was simply time to kiss most of the souvenirs goodbye...  

 

And this was just the tip of the iceberg... ;o)

After the engagement, I became occupied with other things than re-organising our walk-in closet. Some of you might know what this was all about... ;o) 

By the way, if you are in need of a photography store in Turku, I can highly recommend "Kuva-Paijula" (Address: Hämeenkatu 1, 20500 Turku)... 

At the post office in the city centre of Turku, my breath was taken away by these postage stamps... 

I never expected to find postage stamps which would fit the occasion so perfectly. The stamps were designed and photographed by Ari Lakaniemi and Susanna Rumpu, and released in the year 2012 (Another fact which fits quite perfectly... ;o) ).

During the following weeks, we received phone calls, text messages, emails - and engagement greeting cards... 

We even got some "Förlovningspresenter" [Swedish for: "Engagement Gifts"]... 

Once again: Thank you all sooo much for all the congratulations and "förlovningspresenter"! ♥

From Turku with love, 
Stefanie

We sealed the deal: Engaged to be married!

So, this is one of the things I didn't want to reveal yet the other day. The biggest thing, actually.

My love and I got engaged! ♥ ♥ ♥

Our engagement announcement 

which was published today in "Hufvudstadsbladet"

We sealed the deal on 17th January 2015 at the restaurant "Pinella" here in Turku / Finland...

 

Of course, I'm totally over the moon - and still speechless... ;o)

From Turku with love,

Stefanie

Hoppsan! A new blogpost...

... or actually just a little note in order to inform you that my LIVE review about Viper Arms' performance at the Turku Band Festival 2015 is online now: http://sleazenation.be/concert-reviews/663-viper-arms-turku-band-festival-2015--klubi-abo-14012015 

There is nothing to add to the actual LIVE review, except for: "Look what I spotted at 'Klubi' after the gig!"

I used to have that poster of the Michael Monroe Band on my front door, back then when I lived in Helsinki-Vallila. Well, this concert evening was special in many ways...

To be continued...

 

2015, you blow me away!

It's just three weeks ago since the year 2015 has begun, but... 

 

2015, you blow me away!

As some things are still "in the making", I will share only a part of the things that happened during the past three weeks. More will be revealed later... ;o)

After rocking into the new year on Viking Line's cruiseferry "Viking Grace", the party continued at home, at least for our stomachs, since many of the Christmas presents we received this time were eatable / drinkable [A fact which I liked quite a lot, by the way...]...

A small part of the gift basket we received at Christmas 2014 

Danerolles croissants from the can, filled with Cloetta's "Royal" chocolate 

I also baked for real during the past three weeks, of course, but that topic is reserved for my food blog... 

We also went to IKEA from where I got myself amongst others more boxes from the IKEA series "Pingla", this time just in another colour than last time, for our walk-in closet whose re-organisation is more time-consuming than expected... 

Despite the constant lack of time, we went for a longer walk in our lovely hometown Turku / Finland the other day... 

  

Definitely the cutest letterboxes I have seen so far... 

A cute little bridge somewhere in Turku

Entering the forest... 

A few days later, walking outside wasn't that fun anymore as the road surfaces have become icy and slippery. In December 2012, people in Stockholm made a great hullabaloo about the gently falling snow in the capital of Sweden; everyone was talking about a meteorological phenomenon called "snökaos" [in English: "snow chaos"]. One would think that Sweden should be familiar with handling snow, even if it is a bit more. But one would also think that Finland would know how to handle icy, slippery road surfaces... 

 

Icy, slippery road surfaces, barely taken care of. Everywhere. Every year. 

That's definitely one thing that does NOT rock about Finland since many people get seriously injured and end up in hospital. However, my humble self had to walk outside, amongst others in order to review the gig of Viper Arms within the framework of the Turku Band Festival 2015 last Wednesday (14th January 2015)...

More about the gig to come soon, but here is already a video clip from that night when Viper Arms performed "You Will Not Possess Me" at "Klubi"... 

The days after, I fortunately could work from home, without risking any bone fractures - and with the possibility to admire our beautiful view... 

Since there are currently so many things "in the making", it can take a while until the next blogpost - but we'll read again... ;o) 

Until then: Enjoy the winter! ☥