NYC in Sepia

I like playing around with the sepia function of the camera:

I have realised though that sepia needs clouds – a sepia-coloured sky without clouds (or in this case too many clouds) isn’t interesting, it’s just too flat… The Rotunda, Guggenheim

Tarot readings – only $20

I love the lit-up Blackberry screen in the girl’s hand, underneath the Roosevelt Island aerial tram and the Queensboro bridge in the background

Cozy Corner flowers

The Ritz Diner where a blog brunch took place in November 2008, between 4 Swedish bloggers, three husbands and two American-Swedish daugthers

New York fire escapes

The Queensboro bridge again

The Met

The Met, again

Amazing to know that some of my relatives probably passed through this hall on Ellis Island 100 years ago or so

All the stories these luggages could tell us… Ellis Island

The view from the 38th floor

Wednesday Food Rant: What’s with the cheese [obsession]? and burger etiquette

The Wednesday recipe is today substituted by a food rant However, if you are interested in an inspirational food blog – check out my friend Erika’s Food Blog (in Swedish). She publishes weekly menus and yummy but simple recipes. It is quite fitting that I refer to Erika today as we share an obsession for the Alpine cheese speciality raclette ever since we studied French together in Annecy, France*!

Swiss cheese specialities in Gruyère, Switzerland

Standard question in the US: Do you want cheese with that? which often becomes Don’t you want cheese?* Bitchy Petchie thinks “I would have ordered a cheese burger if I wanted cheese with my burger!” However, most of the time you don’t even have a choice; cheesy omelettes, spinach with cheese, cheesy scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes with cheese, artichoke dip with melted cheese, cheesy hash – the list goes on…

Not the best illustration of a egg-and-cheese-biscuit (since I didn’t open the wrapper) I got as breakfast on the plane last week. I only ate half of the muffin as I had already eaten a proper sandwich at the airport, and didn’t touch the scarily cheesy biscuits…

I read a recipe in Elle Decor (US edition) for Duck-and-egg hash, where it was first of all claimed that “putting potatoes together with meat is distinctly American“, which I would beg to differ – what about the Swedish pyttipanna or the Danish biksemad? But yes, the recipe was distinctly American in the sense that it contained 4 oz of cheddar!

What’s with the cheese obsession in the US? I probably sound like a snobby European, but if you love cheese so much – why don’t you eat the real deal, instead of “cheese”? Processed cheese doesn’t even taste like cheese, and is so full of preservatives and additives. It does seem like there has been a turn lately in the cheese habits of the Americans, at least in the ads on TV it is increasingly common to point out that the pizza is made with “real cheese” or that the cheese is not “processed” but made the traditional way.

I am also fascinated by the little variety of cheese: I head Rachael Ray say once “Gruyère tastes similar to Swiss” – You don’t say, Gruyère IS a Swiss cheese!! And what is “Swiss” cheese anyway, that’s like calling a cheese “French”! Switzerland has 450 types of cheese (and France even more), while the US seems to have American, Swiss, Monterey Jack and cheddar. You would expect a cheese-loving people to demand a little more when it comes to taste, texture and ingredients.

Real Swiss cheese in Gruyère, Switzerland

Don’t get me wrong, I like cheese too, but there’s a time and a place for it! I don’t want cheese in every dish – scrambled eggs are perfectly tasty without cheese, mashed potatoes as well, while I do like a slice of cheese on my morning sandwich. I had breakfast at the hotel in New Jersey last Friday and was a little surprised to realise that there was no cheese on the breakfast buffet. Quite a few types of bread (well, two types of ready-sliced bread, and different kinds of bagels) but only jam, cream cheese and peanut butter. In the end I didn’t have any bread, just some cereal, hash browns and fruit salad.

Our cheese [and ham] drawer in the fridge – and I do not take any responsibility for the tube of Swedish “Kräftost” (Crayfish “cheese”), nor the slices of “Swiss cheese product”!

In our household we eat our fair share of cheese; O’s yummy sandwiches for breakfast on the weekends, and O loves a snack of the above crayfish “cheese” on a piece of bread. I also do acknowledge that this kind of Swedish “cheese” is not better than American processed “cheese”, but to my excuse I don’t actually eat it. The “Swiss cheese product”, next to the cheese tube in the above photo, was left behind by our youngest visitor – whose mother noted that it was obvious that her daugther was American-born since she had refused to eat ”real cheese” when she was in Sweden! O’s family absolutely loves Swedish hard cheese and we always bring a few kilos when we go to Spain from Sweden, while my parents love the Spanish Manchego, a type of sheep’s cheese.

Mexican cheese in a Tijuana market

Finally, I also find it interesting that Rachael Ray (who I by the way, do like) will say that a dish that she is making is really healthy because it has a lot of vegetables, and then she pours in a cup or two of cheese!! Oh well, that’s like putting cream on your breakfast porridge, as shown on ads for Reddi Whip***; just another one of those American phenomena I am so fascinated with. Maybe it is just an ad (let’s hope), but the idea of whipped cream on porridge feels like a sacrilege – porridge that can be such a healthy choice for breakfast…

And for an etiquette question, more or less related to cheese:

When you are in a proper restaurant (i.e not a fast-food joint), and you have ordered a hamburger, with or without cheese, do you eat it with your hands or with cutlery? I always eat it with fork and knife, which I realise maybe is completely against the idea of a burger but I don’t like eating stuff with my hands (too messy) and I usually don’t eat the top part of the bread (usually too much bread for me). What about you?

NB. The question refers to eating a burger in a proper restaurant, i.e not in McDonald’s, Wendy’s or Burger King…

*) We also studied in Linköping but that didn’t leave any long-lasting food memory!?
**) Almost comparable to the reaction you get in the  UK when you don’t want milk with your tea!
***) I won’t get started on what I think about whipped “cream” sold in a can – something I have hated since I was a child and I learnt to order “eis ohne sahne” in German!

Rainy Autumn in New York

The freshness of the autumn rain in New York is already a distant memory, and my jacket, socks and long-sleeved tops are waiting to be stored back in the wardrobe… until next time I leave the island, for Christmas in Spain.

Here are some photos to show you what I was up to last week in New York:

The 6 o’clock morning flight from San Juan to Newark is at least two hours too early… but the sunrise is always beautiful! And it is great to arrive in New Jersey already at 10, and to be able to be in NYC by 11.30 or so.

I didn’t care that it was raining in Newark… For an autumn-lover like myself, living in the tropics, it was the perfect weather!

When I arrived to my hosts, my dear blog friend Saltis & her family, a sick M greeted me with a hot cup of tea and a little chit-chat before he headed back to bed. Saltis came home and we had a chatty lunch over Thai food (the fried rice with chicken was almost as good as in my favourite Thai restaurant in Brussels). In the afternoon I headed to The Guggenheim to see the Kandinsky exhibition.

My favourite Kandinsky painting was one called Bleu de ciel (Sky blue) – it was just so cheerful and I loved the different circus-looking shapes. I am considering buying the print from art.com…

It was my second visit to The Guggenheim in New York but I have also visited The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice several times – a wonderful museum by the Canal Grande. I can recommend the Peggy Guggenheim autobiography “Out of this Century“ - what a fascinating woman and life!

I walked along the Central Park three times in the rain on Tuesday and Wednesday and every time with a smile on my face under the umbrella! I told Saltis that I would treasure this experience and think of it when I walk in San Juan in the heat and humidity…

Yes, it rained and it was grey – but I enjoyed it! After my museum visit on Tuesday I headed to Crate & Barrel (best free toilets in this area of town!!) where I looked at Christmas decorations and mused over the fact that the Swedish Höganäs pottery is sold under the name “Nilsson”. The Marimekko textiles haven’t been renamed Heikkinen or Virtanen though

Preparations were on the way for the New York Marathon that took place on Sunday, i.e after I had left. I really liked the poster listing the different neighbourhoods that the race passed through.

Christmas seemed to be more present in the City than Halloween… And the bus decorated with the Radio City Christmas show definitely cheered up the dreary autumn afternoon.

The evening turned out to be a real girls’ dinner since M was too weak and feverish to eat with us. Saltis took advantage of the situation and served gnocchi, one thing that M doesn’t like and I love*. The meal was great and we talked non-stop until I realised that my early morning (woke up at 03.15) was starting to take its toll… I had a great sleep on the comfy Ikea sofa, even though the very charming cats Lipton and Tazo made me jump a few times when they tried to cuddle with me - since I was already sound asleep by then!

On Wednesday morning I went to the second museum of my trip – The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I love their slogan “It’s time we Met” – very clever.

At the Met I saw Vermeer’s The Milkmaid and an exhibition called “American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life 1765 – 1915″ - just the kind of art I like; of ordinary people doing everyday things, instead of kings and queens posing stiffly on horses…

Rain on Union Square

After having walked down to 59th Street for the third time, I decided it was time to take the subway – to save some time. I headed to Union Square where I was to meet up with Saltis for lunch. However, I had some time to spare so I visited my favourite shop in NYC – Fishs Eddy and then nipped across the street to ABC Carpet & Home, another cool interior design shop.

The ABC Carpet & Home shop window had this text displayed - register on the website www.hopenhagen.org and show your support for the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December!

It was still raining and while I waited for Saltis, I went to Barnes & Noble to look for a place to sit and read, without having to buy a coffee. I found a row of chairs by the window on the 1st floor, perfect for a tired walker… I love that you can sit down in American bookshops, either on chairs or on the floor (it is quite common in France and Belgium as well), to read a book or magazine. I had brought my own book though, the first Paul Auster book “The Brooklyn follies” that I have read and I loved it!

Saltis and I had a yummy noodle lunch at Republic on Union Square and it occurred to me that if my last New York visit had a French bistro-theme, this definitely had an Asian-theme**! My hostess was in desperate need of some new jeans so American Eagle was our next stop where she actually found two pairs of jeans. Our shopping motivation decreased rapidly and after a quick visit to GAP and H&M we decided to call it a day (the 80’s inspired fashion in H&M might have contributed…).

Tazo, the drinking-out-of-a-glass cat

The sick husband, M, was still fast asleep when we came home, but he did feel strong enough to have dinner with us – sushi! I was amazed at everything that can be home-delivered in New York City - not just food but diapers, and food for both humans and cats… So practical and it must be great to not have to haul heavy shopping bags around town. It is something I have been thinking about lately, and I suggested to O this weekend that we should consider getting some of our basic grocery shopping ordered and delivered when back in Brussels. However, I am married to a man who loves shopping (!!) so he was sceptical “as it takes away the pleasure of supermarket shopping“ 

Lipton, the majestic cat

After dinner I was treated to the amazing view from the 38th floor in the neighbouring building. Saltis & co live on the 18th floor, and their view is already quite impressive, but on the 38th floor you can actually see Manhattan in all directions, as well as the East River and Roosevelt Island and the beginning of Long Island City where O and I were staying in November last year.

Ella, the diaper box climber

Some more photos of my visit on Saltis’ blog… And I still have some sunny photos from last Thursday to show you.

*) When Saltis & co were visiting in Puerto Rico, M and I discovered that we have very similar taste in food – unlike our spouses we don’t like intestines (liver, kidneys etc)  and they think that we are quite picky…
**) I was also reminded that I still haven’t written about our Philly-trip in August, which had a certain Belgian beer café-theme…

Shopping tip for New York City…

… while O and I celebrate – not Halloween, but our WD…

This is my favourite shop in NYC – as I am a sucker for interior design and fun stuff for the kitchen!

Fishs Eddy entrance with old glove models

Fishs Eddy on Broadway, two blocks north of Union Square (exact address is 889, Broadway @ 19th Street).

I found lots of Xmas present ideas, including one very cool one for my father, but since he seems to be reading the blog with more and more regularity, I won’t show you that just yet…

The Floorplan plates come in different sizes – from studios to big “Upper East side apartments”

The Floorplan plate design is one of my favourites, the slogan is “Why rent, when you can own“. To thank Saltis and her family for hosting me during my NYC trip, I gave them a “bigger apartment” as they would like to have one more bedroom. Earlier this autumn my brother and his girlfriend got a floorplan plate as a house-warming gift from my sister and I.

The shop is full of old and new china, as well as cutlery (silver- or flatware in American) and quirky NYC souvenirs. Perfect for finding a gift that is a little different and not very expensive!

Vintage china from closed-down restaurants and hotels…

Read about the history behind Fishs Eddy here. The shop was named after an actual place in New York State.

Wednesday … but travelling to autumn!

I am at the moment in New York City on a short autumn trip so enjoy these fall vistas from last year while I enjoy the current ones in real life  

Princeton leaves in November

Central Park in November

A New York Oasis – the High Line Park

My sister and I had three lovely days in New York City last week. Since it was exactly 20 years ago that my sister visited the city last time (August 1989), she had a long list with what she wanted to see. So, we walked a lot (up and down 50 blocks in that heat and humidity was tough!), visited Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, cooled off in Starbucks – preferably in a Barnes & Noble book store (my sister reads more than I and works in the publishing business), and visited Times Square, however not as impressive in daylight…

We also visited the Frick Collection on 5th Avenue (12 blocks south of the Met, i.e on 70th St) – a great medium-sized museum in a beautiful old Millionaires’ Row-mansion with art from Degas, Whistler, Rembrandt, El Greco and Goya. No queues and do-able in 1-2 hours!

However, the highlight for me was the relatively newly opened High Line Park. I had read an article about the park, a year ago or so, I think in a Swedish newspaper and it sounded like an amazing project – a park on an old railway line, three levels up from the street in the middle of Manhattan!

When we had lunch with the other blogger girls, it turned out that Anna and her boyfriend P also wanted to see the High Line Park, so we decided to meet up at 10th Ave – 20th St on Thursday morning.

Of course J and I were a little late, the train was delayed and then we walked in a brisk pace from Penn Station (32nd St)… Phew! Did I mention that it was really hot and humid? We were already feeling our [fast] walks from the day before and had blisters and aches in our legs… But as soon as we had climbed the stairs and started walking along the park we relaxed. It was so quiet and calm up there, even though you could hear the muted noise from the traffic below.

While Anna and P were waiting for us, they were observing this funny elevated parking and trying to work out how it works…

The High Line Park runs from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. However, only the section from Gansevoort to 20th Street was opened to the public in June 2009. The rest is still under “construction” or maybe “planting”.

The High Line Park is accessed by stairs, and in some places by elevators.

The High Line railway was built at the end of the 1920’s to avoid accidents in the Meatpacking District. The railway on street level was nick-named Death Avenue because of the amount of people getting killed in accidents with the trains transporting meat from the ~250 slaughterhouses in the area.

I like how the vegetation is kept wild and not trimmed into typical park flower beds…

Parts of the railway were placed in tunnels but from the 34th St to Gansevoort St it was elevated in a sort of bridge. The line was discontinued in the 1980’s and the railway tracks were taken over by rust, wild flowers and grass. In 2001 it was decided that the railway bridge should be torn down, but a few enthusiasts decided to try to save it and make it into a park. Read more about the High Line Park on its web-site.

We were trying to work out what this was – just seating to watch the traffic? There’s no stage so it couldn’t be for theatre?

The walking paths’ paving have been designed so that flowers and plants can spread in between the cracks… The billboard is not on the park by sticking up from the street!

You can have a coffee while walking along the park – I hope that they will never go commercial… A Starbucks would just be wrong here!

The Standard Hotel saddling the High Line Park

Anna is enjoying the sunbeds in the Park – some of the sunbeds were movable along the old railway tracks…

The High Line Park view

Street view from the High Line Park

There were not many tourists in the park – probably because it was opened recently and if you have an old guidebook (like I do), it is not mentioned. It is also off the beaten track, most tourists stay around 5th Avenue and Times Square and might prefer the more accessible and famous Central Park. But, personally I will definitely come back to the High Line Park next time I am in New York City!

Wednesday Food Pictures from NYC…

We are back from our trip to NJ, NYC and Philadelphia and since I have a lot of food-related photos, and it is Wednesday, what better than to skip the Wednesday recipe and just share some pictures:

My sister J and I started our NYC days with taking the NJ Transit from New Brunswick to NY Penn Station ($10.50 one-way) and then head for a Starbucks for a quick breakfast. On our third day, on our way north from Times Square and having tried two very busy Starbucks we found a “secret” one on a side-street to Avenue of the Americas.

When sitting down I realised that it was actually part of the NHL flagship store but you hardly see it if you don’t enter the store or come from the side-street. In other words, no long queues (sorry, lines), plenty of seating space, fresh toilet (sorry, restroom we were trying to speak “American” all week long) and J met a girl from Ängelholm while waiting for the coffee!

Our first lunch in NYC was a blogger lunch at Bistro 61 (great French place, complete with French-speaking waiters on 1st Ave @ 61st St) with Saltis (NYC) and Anna Fair and True (Stockholm) – both whom I have met before, but never together. It was quite funny that the first time I met Saltis, in February 2008 we were two Petra(s)* and one Anna – and I was on my way to California. This time we were two Anna(s) and one Petra, and Anna FT had just been to California.

It was the first time my sister met my blog friends, but she seemed to enjoy it as much as us bloggers did. The lunch went far too quickly, but J and I met up with Anna and her boyfriend P the next day, and Saltis and her little family are coming to Puerto Rico next week!

We continued the French theme the next day when J and I had brunch at Bistro Pastis in the Meatpacking district (9th Ave @ 14th St) with Anna and her P after visiting the High Line Park (more about that in another post as it is an amazing place).

I had one of the yummiest scrambled eggs ever with potatoes and tomatoes. J had a bagel with salmon and cream cheese – she was after all in NYC

 

I asked a waiter when leaving if the place was as old as it looked… Not really, he replied – just 9 years old! However, it still made me long for Paris and Brussels, and those old-style bistros and beer cafés** (in Brussels). It didn’t help either that I had just started reading Julia Child’s “My Life in France”… My sister and I decided that once O and I are back in Belgium we are going to plan a girls’ weekend in Paris!

After the brunch in the Meatpacking district, we backtracked one block north to Chelsea market (9th Ave between 15th & 16th St) - not so much a real market with market stalls selling fresh fruits and vegetables, but small bakeries, eateries, wine merchants and kitchen supply shops. Lovely!

The Chelsea Market used to be a cookie factory – making Oreo cookies!

A cupcake bakery – I have actually never had a proper cupcake and honestly, I think that they look just a little too sweet (and difficult to eat!?). Muffins are probably more my kind of thing!

Some shops did sell vegetables and fruit! We were discussing if covered market halls with open market stalls (hm, halls and stalls?) are maybe more a European thing but in Philadelphia we visited a more “proper” market, at least from an European perspective.

 Baking bread in Chelsea market…

Of course there was a lot more to our NYC visits than just food and eating, we also walked A LOT and did some shopping… But that’s another story (blog post)

*) We didn’t “invite” the other Petra to our blog meeting this time since she was busy getting married in Connecticut!
**) More about Belgian beer cafés in the blog post about Philadelphia – we had a certain Belgian theme to our visit to Philly after the French bistro theme in NYC…

Scary traffic and comparative weather

I have already mentioned several times that I don’t dare to drive in Puerto Rico (for example here and here). I definitely prefer taking the bus even if it can take up to 2½ hours to get to the mall (it would probably be quicker to walk if only I could figure out how to do that in a city without pavements everywhere…). However, everytime we go back to Europe, or just to the US, I realise that people don’t actually drive very fast in Puerto Rico! One of the reasons is probably that you can’t drive faster because of all the traffic! We never cease to be astonished by the amount of cars on the roads, at any time of the day or night…

Not traffic but a beautiful rooster that I saw on the street yesterday (the green thing in the corner is part of a fence – the bird moved behind it just when I was about to take the photo)

So, it is not because of the speed that I don’t want to drive – it is rather how people drive in Puerto Rico, and the fact that I am not used to multiple lanes (in Sweden most of the motorways have two lanes, around San Juan the standard is 4-6 lanes!).

On Friday we were invited to a joint birthday and farewell party thrown by a Puerto Rican / Spanish couple; the girlfriend just had her birthday, the boyfriend is leaving [today] to work in New Jersey. I spent most of the evening talking to the English-speaking guest – an Indian guy. We had lots to talk about, and among other things he asked me if I drive in Puerto Rico… Nope! He told us that he is also very uncomfortable about driving here, despite coming from New Delhi!

Cars in the emergency lane – not an uncommon sight when there’s a traffic jam in Puerto Rico

What scares me the most about the traffic in Puerto Rico is the lack of respect for emergency vehicles! Today we were stuck in a traffic jam (not unusual) due to an accident on the motorway, and ambulances were trying to pass to the site of the accident… Since the emergency lane was completely packed with cars trying to pass the queues, the ambulances and tow trucks had to get through the traffic in the normal lanes - but nobody gave way to them. This scares the hell out of me - I wonder how many people die because they are not reached by ambulances, or not brought to the hospital quick enough due to selfish drivers*?? Neither O nor I have seen anything like it in Spain or Sweden where drivers always do everything possible to facilitate the access of emergency vehicles (and I think that you could get fined if you don’t!). How does it work in other countries??

A Puerto Rican traffic jam

Tomorrow morning we leave for New Jersey and I have been comparing weather – especially since the first TS** of the hurricane season, Ana and Bill are expected in the Caribbean. I hope that they don’t develop into hurricanes and slow down before landfall. The weather in NJ / NY is hot at the moment but there’s hot, and then there’s hot! I know that it can get very hot and humid as well in the NJ / NY area, but I still think that San Juan is a little warmer…

Comparing weather on the computer

The current weather (according to Wunderground.com):

San Juan, PR: 35,1 degrees and 55% humidity

New Brunswick, NJ: 33,6 degrees and 36% humidity

It is actually surprisingly low humidity at the moment in San Juan, it is usually 60-80%… It will interesting to see how cool it gets in the night in New Jersey - in San Juan the day and evening temperatures don’t vary much. 
  

Our street by sunset on Friday

*) Sorry if this post is critical towards Puerto Rican drivers, and I am not saying that everyone is behaving in this selfish way, but it is phenomenon that both O and I have seen too many times when driving on this island…

**) TS = Tropical Storm

The Stockholm syndrome…

Apparently Americans are afraid of the US turning into… Sweden, i.e a socialist country! If you want to see an funny take on the so-called socialist Sweden – check out the Daily Show with Jon Stewart this week (click on link to see the video – I can’t embed it for some reason).
The funniest is when they visit Robyn’s home and compare it to MTV’s Cribs… Yes, her TV is a little bit smaller than 50 Cent’s and she collects her recycling under the kitchen island

A traveller’s complaints

I am back in Puerto Rico and it feels great to be home, but also a bit weird after two full months in Europe! I haven’t done much today, slept until 10, tried to unpack (boooring!) and get some order in the apartment. O had already done some heavy cleaning in parts of our home (bathroom, kitchen) but I think we need to do a proper spring cleaning (inspired by Anne in Oregon!).

Planes ready for take-off at Newark airport in New Jersey

My trip back yesterday went ok but some remarks:

• Why is it impossible to plan the security check zone in a more practical manner? There is always a buildup after the x-ray scan where people are trying to put on shoes, belts, put laptops back into bags as soon as possible (and still you are told to hurry up)… And very often there is no place to actually sit down while putting back your shoes – I feel sorry for old travellers and people with children.
• Why is it not possible to buy credit for your mobile phone in an American airport? I have a “pay & go” AT&T phone and the credit expires so quickly (I think it is 30 days if you recharge with $15) that my credit was no longer valid when I got back yesterday. In Europe every news agent sells phone credit!!
• The Delta business lounge in Atlanta is a joke – internet is not for free if you are not a Delta member (not the case for Continental in Newark), there is hardly seating for everyone and they only serve some sad looking snacks. In the Novia lounge in Copenhagen I had a great breakfast with a choice of different rolls and bread, cheese, jam, cookies and pastries + newspapers in almost every European language. I actually left the Delta lounge because it was too crowded and not very nice at all – I preferred sitting at the gate!


Copenhagen airport

• Why are you questioned as a [young] woman travelling business? While waiting for the check-in desks in Copenhagen to open I was asked by three staff members if I was really travelling business… Just because I am not wearing a suit and tie!?
• Why are all the in-flight movies in economy either action or a true story about a baseball / football team? Fortunately I was travelling business and got to watch 3 films that I have wanted to see for a long time: Changeling, Doubt and The Secret Lives of Bees.
• In the last two months I have travelled to / from / via the airports in San Juan, Newark, Copenhagen, Sturup (Malmö), Bromma (Stockholm), Brussels (Zaventem), Charleroi, Zaragoza, Madrid and Atlanta – and Copenhagen remains a firm favourite! The atmosphere, shops, restaurants and service is the best according to me. Madrid was a disappointment, where there seemed to be no independent shops, only boring old duty-free (I don’t usually do a lot of shopping in airports but it is nice to “window-shop” while waiting for a connection)!


Copenhagen airport view

• I met the nicest immigration officer ever yesterday in Atlanta - he turned out to be Puerto Rican and we had a nice chat about electricity prices in PR (very high compared to mainland US), the housing market and what to visit on the island!
• Am I the only one who never drinks alcohol on planes? I get so dehydrated anyway so I stick to lots of water! In the Copenhagen business lounge two Swedes (of course!?) drank beer at 07 in the morning!

But really, I prefer taking the train – which I did last Thursday when going back to Skåne from Stockholm; a 5½ Inter-City train-ride! No worries about liquids in your hand-luggage, no stressful security check (which you actually have when travelling by train in Spain for obvious reasons), space to walk around and a great view from the windows! However, the people travelling from Stockholm to Sävsjö can’t have been very happy as the train driver forgot to stop at that station!?

The view from my train window last week