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This week I am on a business trip in Korea. They nice thing about travelling with work is that you get to stay at better hotels than what you would normally do. Although I was very upset when I found out that the sauna at our first hotel was for men only! What is that all about?? I know it is out of the question to have a mixed sauna, but men only?! Upsetting!

This weekend I decided to take Friday and Monday off and head up to Luleå in the northern part of Sweden. This is the place where I went to university and also where my sister Viktoria lives with her husband Janne. I almost did not make it due to a strike at SAS which of course started the same day I was leaving. Thankfully there is one more air line operating this route and it was good enough to run extra flights for us unfortunate people who got stuck. This air line also had a very suitable slogan, “FlyNordic – the way it should be”. I didn’t notice it on the way there but when I went back to Stockholm I saw it everywhere. They also had a big poster saying: “The best thing about Stockholm is that it is so easy to get back home again.” He he, they are not really impressed by Stockholm up here. Good reason to try to practice that accent I picked up while living here for five years… 🙂

This is a very good season to visit Luleå. The temperature is about the same as in Stockholm but it is light all night long, the trees are just turning green and there are no mosquitoes yet. I still can not get used to watching the sun set when you are finishing dinner around 10.30 pm and then see how it is coming back up just a few hours later. Fantastic! There is something very special about the light up here (accept that there is no light at all in the winter…) and the way it affects your life. In the summer everyone wants to spend as much time as possible awake and outside compared to winter when you want to get indoors as soon as you can. Life is just different in the summer, people have more energy and seem more positive and happy. Winter in Luleå has its charm though, the crisp air, the snow and of course the amazing northern lights. The picture shows the view from my sisters apartment in the middle of the night in May.

I am glad to see that also Stockholm attracts tourists. And it should because it is in my opinion one of the most beautiful cities in the world. When it comes to beauty it is in the same league as Rio de Janerio but Stockholm also has a freshness about it that is not easily found. On sunny Sunday mornings I often take a walk around Riddarfjärden (the picture) which takes me over the highest bridge in the city from where you get one of the best views of Stockholm. You see the sunshine reflecting in the water, the City Hall, the Old town, Slussen and Långholmen and it is absolutely beautiful. During this 1 ½ hour walk along the water front you have spectacular views every step of the way. Walking along Söder Mälarstrand you see visitors having breakfast on the deck of the boats that now serve as budget hotels. Some are on their way out with a map in their hands trying to locate themselves. This seems to be the ones who are travelling on their own, wanting to discover the city on foot. When you pass the City Hall you meet the crowds of tourists who are taking photos of the view and every corner of the building. If they are lucky a steam boat is just passing by on its way to one of the sites around Stockholm. Big groups of Japanese and Russians are dominating but many other languages can be heard during the 30 seconds it takes to walk through the courtyard and out the back gate. Along the water front you then pass the buses that has taken most of the tourists to the City Hall and will probably in a few minutes take them to the next site, maybe the Royal Castle or the Vasa Museum. Many probably just stay for a day or two but I hope that many of them can take the time to do the walk I just did. It is really worth it!

When I visit my sister in Gothenburg I take the train going south west from Stockholm. I like taking the train because you get to see a lot more of the country than if you fly. There is a lot more space and if you have problems being disconnected to the world for three hours you can use their wireless network and write your emails. But the best is just to bring your ipod, listen to your favourite music, make yourself comfortable and just enjoy the ride. Living in the city without a car makes trips to the country side rare. So I like watching the farms, fields, forests and small towns pass by. Since I was brought up in the country I get a special feeling and some flashbacks when I see the farms and small country roads that remind me of the roads that I used to cycle or walk on. Although it is nice being away, coming back to Stockholm is in this case a real treat. When you emerge from the tunnels under the southern parts of the city you find yourself on a bridge in the city center with a wonderful view of the old town and the City Hall. It only lasts for a few moments but it is time enough to fill me with love for my home town. So if you ever approach Stockholm from the south by train do not be too fast gathering your things, do not forget to watch the scenery just before you reach the Central Station.

During spring in Sweden there are a lot of holidays which gives you the opportunity to go somewhere 4-5 days without actually taking any time off work. It is excellent, really. This weekend I was going to see my sister, Helena, and her family (husband Mikael and son Joel) in Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden. It does have a bad reputation of being very rainy and it really lived up to it too… It is nice visiting Gothenburg though, the thing that struck me this time was the amount of cafés with tables on the streets giving me a central European feeling. You could just as well be walking around Paris or Florence. Unfortunately I didn’t get to visit one but my sister and I did find a fantastic wine bar (SoHo wine bar, go there if you get the chance!) which is set in an old furniture store. It has a wine cellar, a patio with sun chairs and where the glass walls can be opened on a fine day, dining tables and sofas for the after work champagne. The place has a very relaxing atmosphere, great decoration and their motto was simple and excellent: “every day is a wine day”. The very bad thing about visiting this wine bar was that none of us felt like drinking wine!? And those of you who know me would also find this very odd. Thing was that a stomach flu had affected all of us more or less this weekend. We had all been looking forward to shopping around at the local fish market, cooking three or more course meals and drinking beer on the sun drenched veranda. Yeah, right… Instead we spent a lot of time in the sofa watching videos, looking out at the rain and taking turns being more or less sick. Well, it never really turns out the way you expect. I did get to see my sister though, which was the whole point in going so I am happy anyway.

Whenever I see the tracks from an airplane against the blue sky I get this fantastic feeling. You know, similar to being in love and suddenly discovering the subject just before your eyes. You can feel a mix of butterflies in your stomach, total happiness and/or agony because everything might not be exactly the way you wanted it to. Maybe he is walking the other way and did not even see you or he is accompanied by someone and you wanted him all for yourself. Looking at that airplane in the sky I can’t help but thinking about where it is heading, what the people on it are going to do when they get there and how I would feel if I was there. Where would I like to be heading? For how long? With whom? Or would I go visit someone who lives far away? All these questions start spinning around in my head and I end up day dreaming for a minute. When I catch myself doing this I take a deep breath and find that I am a little happier than I was just a minute earlier and anything that might have been bothering me is gone. The image is of an airplane that I saw from my sofa where I sit typing this.