I went to see the cherry blossoms at Kungsträdgården this weekend, a yearly tradition almost every citizen of Stockholm honors and holds dear.
Every year, people living in the city and, as well as people living elsewhere, travel and gather in the park called Kungsträdgården in the center of Stockholm to watch the majestic and dreamy cherry trees in full bloom, take a selfie and maybe enjoying the first ice cream in the park of the year.
I went there early on Saturday morning, there were still this crisp in the air and the park was almost empty, apart from a couple walking their dog and a jogger stretching his leg against one of the park benches. I was strolling through the bright pink alley, noticing a few sun rays fighting their way through the ocean of sakura which was almost forming a roof of flowers over the pathway. It was quiet and I got a feeling of calm slowly flowing through my body.
Then I was reminded by one of my elephant academy meetings with my small group. We were doing a writing prompt in every session and this time the assignment was to take something we had written before, maybe just a sentence or a paragraph and then we were going to rewrite it, using the tools we had been given earlier in a writing lecture. I chose a caption I had written to a picture of me in Kungsträdgården earlier that year. The caption was "Welcome to the season where
every person in Stockholm takes a picture with the cherry trees in Kungsan". And when I rewrote it, it became:
“Spring is coming, the seasons of bright, beautiful cherry trees. The season where life again awakens from its’ deep winter sleep.
The birds, the flowers and the people gather once again at the Kings Garden in the heart of Stockholm.
Peaceful strolls through the avenue, gazing up towards the sky seeing nothing but a sea of pink sakura. ”
It reminded me of how much I appreciated the writing and how it made me feel. I have been having a real writer's block for quite a while now but suddenly I got the urge to write again. So hear it is, the first blog post in a long time.
If you have the opportunity to visit the cherry trees during this season you definitely should not miss out on it. It is absolutely stunning.
There are also cherry trees at Luma in the nearby area of Hammarby Sjöstad, just outside the city center. This is a less touristy place to go, and the upside is that it can be less crowded for those who prefer that. Some think the trees in Luma are even more beautiful than the ones in Kungsträdgården. Come see for yourselves!
