View from a Swedish Cafe

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is a beautiful city. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been overly cooperative, but I've been having a nice time sipping lattes in cafes and watching the locals trudge around in their rain gear. There are parks and trees and virtual forests all over the city. Just down the hill from my friend's house there is an entire little community of country cottages right in the city. They are not inhabitable during the winter and are accessible only on foot or bicycle.

I bought the funniest (and trueist) little booklet called a "Zenophobe's guide to the Swedes". It explains so much really - I highly recommend this series for anyone wanting to understand the subtleties of cultural difference. Volvo and Saub get mentioned a lot in the booklet and it is quite true that they must make up about 70 percent of the cars on the street. I am posting this pic of a vintage car especially for my friend T.

If the Swedes are often thought of as somewhat 'smug' - they do seem to have good reason, from what I have seen. Things seem to be running quite well, there does not appear to be any poverty to speak of (perhaps they are just hiding it better than we are? - although I don't think so), everyone speaks 2 or more languages, and public transit is amazing and affordable. I could go on - but I'll let you read the book - or better yet - come visit yourself.

Couchsurfing Part 2

Well, I am going to get to be a couch surfing host in July. I am expecting a couple from Tennessee in early July and a couple of French girls after that. I am starting to contact hosts in London, and am optimistic we will be able to find a nice host for a few days when we arrive there in August.

Meanwhile.... I am actually off for a short vacation to Sweden tomorrow. I'll be back for the month of July though.

QM2 Here We Come

Paid for our tickets yesterday! We sail on August 3 from Brooklyn. Check it out: http://www.cunard.com/OurShips/default.asp?Ship=QM2

Of course, we will be in the tiniest little cabin, without windows or free daily fruit baskets. I think we will be able to cope!

Couch Surfing

A friend just told me about couchsurfing.com and I'm thrilled! Basically it's a site to connect travellers with people who are willing to host travellers in their homes. I've put up a profile and have started looking for possible host homes for the few days we plan on being in London, UK. I've already had one request from a young Chinese woman living in Finland who will be visiting here in July. So, maybe I'll be able to play host before I leave. It's initiatives like this that make me hopeful about people!

Good to go

Yesterday I signed a lease agreement on my house. I have tenants! So - we're good to go and I'll be making bookings this week. The plan is to depart from New York on August 4 aboard the Queen Mary II passenger liner. It is a 6 day transatlantic crossing and we will land in Southhampton UK.