Hello August

This afternoon was more pleasant outside than I expected. I had only intended a short walk but found myself continuing all the way into the town centre and park.

Part of the flower arrangements on one of the bridges. 
Sweet peas in bloom now on the trellises.

A flowerbed in the main square.

A sculpture standing outside one of the major hotels in the city centre. The name of the artist is Lars-Åke Åberg (click on the link to see more of his stone sculptures). This is not a new sculpture and I've probably shown it before, but I think not recently. The collage shows it from opposite sides.

The new stairs in the park have been finished. (I think I showed them under construction earlier in the summer.) I walked up them today (around 30 steps) and found them quite well "balanced" - or whatever the correct terminology to do with stairs may be. (Feeling less steep than they may look.) 

Looking down on plantations on the hillside from the top of those stairs.

The new stairs connect the bridge down below with an older set of stairs leading up to the very top of the park (where there is a miniature golf course, but I did not go all the way up there today).

 

Finishing off with a photo of this construction, which is growing (literally!) increasingly effective in hiding a rather hideous piece of machinery inside (belonging to the indoor swimming hall nearby, I think).

 

Stairway to Heaven

 Continued from Good Friday (yesterday)

Turning back home again from my walk to the lake yesterday, I decided to take a "shortcut" which is at the same time also a little bit of a challenge. 

I used to climb this footbridge over the railway a bit more often in the past, when it was a convenient shortcut for me to a garden centre on the other side of the tracks, where I used to buy plants for my balcony in spring. But that garden centre closed (moved) a few years ago, and now it's been a while since I last went that way. But back when I did, the first time in early spring also used to feel like kind a "fitness test" after winter...

It's quite a sturdy construction, though, and I appreciate that it has "closed" steps. (Not fond of heights, I hate the "open" kind of stairs that you can see through...)

This time, I manged to walk up the 40+ steps in a flow without stopping, which in my book (with asthma and allergy etc) means passing the test. ;)

Views from the top, looking north-east (towards the city centre):

View looking south-west, and with the stairs leading down again on the other side:

Safely back on the ground again. By now my knee was muttering a little; but on the other hand (I told it), not all that much further to walk before being home again. The alternative would have been the "long route" in either direction to a road crossing - on flat ground, but a longer walk.