NYC anniversary trip - day 2

HUGH JACKMAN! 2nd row! 3 feet away! WOW!

But that isn't all we did today. We walked a lot. We were over-run by Santas. We wandered through Central Park. We checked out store Christmas decorations (Bergdorf Goodman wins). We stopped for lunch in a diner. We had dinner at the Russian Tea Room. And, oh ya, we saw Hugh Jackman's 1 man show, and it was terrific. Grin non-stop start to finish.

After breakfast today, we set off from 44th street to walk up 5th Avenue to 82nd where the Metropolitain Museum of Art is located, at the far end of Central Park. We wandered through the photography exhibits and the displays on American furniture. Then, we walked back through Central Park, lovely in the sunshine, before stopping at a diner for lunch. After lunch, we walked all the way back up Broadway to Macy's to see their Christmas displays, then wandered all the way back down 5th Avenue to see the displays at Saks and Tiffany's.

Funny thing about 5th Ave today - it was over-run by Santas. They were all converging on the front steps of the library on 5th Ave. There must have been thousands of them. The police were there in their riot gear, ready for it all to get ugly. We also saw one of NY's finest chase and tackle a thief. The police officer knocked over an older man and a stroller in the process of tackling his target. The sidewalks were crammed with people - worse than Moscow car traffic (and that's saying something) so it took a lot longer to walk places than it should have because we had to shuffle in the crowd. Dinner at the Russian Tea room was very nice. We had a lovely chat with a man and his family at the bar before we were seated. He was a lighting guy, responsible for lighting the holiday displays among other things. He gave us some tips on what to see tomorrow before we head home.

Hugh Jackman was great. He sang. He danced. He even tap danced. At the end, he tried to raise some money for Broadway Cares. "I'll auction off my undershirt - I'll autograph it - how about we start the bidding at $1,000?" Guy in the front row says "how about $10.000?" then somebody counters with 11 and front row guy comes back with 20 and the other person matches it! Can you imagine just donating $20,000 spur of the moment like that? I can't.

The Anniversary Trip to NYC

It's been a while, hasn't it, since my last travel post? This Christmas marks mine and Peter's 20th anniversary. Years ago, when we talked of how we would celebrate it, there was travel to somewhere exotic planned. Since we did a lot of exotic travel last year, Peter's idea was to stay closer to home and spend the weekend in New York City.

There's something about a city all dressed up for Christmas. Last year, we saw London in all its holiday splendour. Sloan Square was particularly beautiful with all its Christmas lights. Last night we flew in and had the chance to do some wandering after settling in at The Algonquin Hotel on W 44th street, very close to Central Station, 5th Avenue, the Metropolitain Museum of Art, Times Square - all the big stuff. The Algonquin is NYC's oldest hotel. It opened in 1902 and they have maintained the charm of yesteryear. There's even a resident cat, Matilda, that we are hoping to meet at some point during our stay. Dinner at The Round Table last night was terrific - attentive staff, beautiful well-appointed dining room with that olden days feel - very elegant.

After dinner, we went for a wander. We started in Times Square. From our entry point at 44th street, it felt a lot smaller than it looks on tv at New Years. If you wander away from the building where they drop the ball, the space fans out, but it still doesn't seem very big.

Next we stumbled upon Rockefeller Centre, its big Christmas tree, and the ice rink. Today, we will go back there to spend some time at the Metropolitain Museum of Art.

Next stop - 5th Avenue. Sak's does a movie in the same style as the Christmas movie on the Konstmuseet in Göteborg, but less detailed. There's a clock that counts down to the next presentation, and people (like us) stop to gaze up at it and wonder what's about to happen. It's a lot of bubbles and opening and closing windows. Somebody did a lot of planning. All the big fancy department stores have wonderfully detailed. Bergdorf's and Tiffany's were my favourites.

The weather is supposed to be colder today. We'd love to have snow, but bright sunshine will be just as nice.

Where were you on September 11th?

September 11th is the Kennedy assassination of my generation. I used to think it odd that people remembered exactly what they were doing and where they were when Kennedy was shot. Then the twin towers fell. And I saw it. And I remember.

I think it was a Tuesday. Doesn't matter. I do know I was working late shift or afternoons because I was still home getting ready for school, and the news was on. I remember thinking that the 1st plane's navigation system must really have gone wrong for it to crash into that office tower. And then the 2nd plane hit, and 2 planes with faulty nav systems didn't make sense. And then the rest of the details came out.

I can picture the tv in my mind. I know exactly where I was standing in the room. Odd.

How do we prevent this from happening again? Better airport security isn't the answer. They catch all the wrong people - they catch the innocent but 'didn't read the new rules' ones. Global understanding? Maybe. I think Love is the answer. England Dan and John Ford Coley do too.

And when you feel afraid
(Love one another)
When you've lost your way
(Love one another)
And when you're all alone
(Love one another)
And when you're far from home
(Love one another)
And when you're down and out
(Love one another)
And when your hopes run out
(Love one another)
And when you need a friend
(Love one another)
And when you're near the end
(Love)
(We've got to love)
(We've got to love one another)

Light of the world, shine on me
Love is the answer
Shine on us all
Set us free
Love is the answer...

Soul Searching

Anyone who's seen my quote wall knows I find inspiration everywhere. I copy good quotes down onto any scrap of paper I can find in my purse. Sprout still has one saved in his cell phone I saw at Tjolöholm slott outside Sweden (As time can be redeemed at no cost, bestow it well let no hour be lost).

I wanted to share a couple of blogspots I found this morning full of good stuff:

http://www.brigittelyons.com/ - Unfettered Ink: Unconventional Wisdom for creative people on a mission

http://zenhabits.net/unrun/ - Zen Habits: Smile, Breathe, and Go Slowly

Last night, I went to hear Carrie Fisher's one woman show called "Wishful Drinking". I had read the book and enjoyed it, and thought ' hey why not' so I went. She was very entertaining in a way that made me think she'd be a great person to be good friends with. Her perspective on life is so positive. Granted, getting to that point has involved several detoxes, time in mental institutions, substance abuse, and electroshock therapy. I had to write down a couple of the things she said. The first is about Paul Simon, to whom she was married for a short while. They were a volatile mix to say the least, and when things went downhill, they really went downhill. "Things were getting worse so fast we didn't have time to lower our standards." I love that. The other thing I've taken with me is one of her lifelessons: Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

True.

Which is what led me to Zen and Unfettered Ink.

St Lucia Learning Project 2011

This is a photo of the Teaching Team 2011.

The backdrop is Mango Tree hotel where we stopped for a drink before dinner on our weekly Wednesday afternoon trip to Soufriere.

Thank you all for lifting me up. I hadn't laughed so hard or so often as I did with all of you.

Blessings.

* Stories to follow

Only forward

A few years ago, a dear and cherished friend said to me,"we can't go backward - only forward". I was starting a new job, and that sentiment to me at that time was the kiss of death. I wanted to keep all the previous magic going, to relive it. In looking ahead, I saw no chance of anything getting better than it had been. By saying what was said, I think my friend was encouraging me to be open to possibility and to a future that could be more magical than the past I had already lived.

My friend was right of course. Life brought more magic, magic I wouldn't have experienced if things had stayed the same. We can't go backward even though backward is safer. Forward is scary. Forward is unknown. Forward takes courage and an adventurous spirit that I think I left behind in Sweden.

But as moms do, I'm soldiering onward anyway. I'm trying to imagine what Sprout's life will be like over the next 3 years. Who will he turn into next? What will his life be like? How much of a social animal will he become? and all because he needs a new cellphone and the plan is for 3 years and I'm trying to decide between buying into what he may want in the future or just going with the guy he is today. I don't know. Today he thinks Facebook is a waste of time. Will he always? Just because today the cell phone is a novelty that never seems to be on when Mother calls, does that mean that 6 months from now he won't be wishing he could access the internet from said phone to look something up with his buddies? If only I could pop into the future to check...

Looz is getting her drivers' license tomorrow. No I'm not frightened. It's a right of passage and deserves to be celebrated as such. So she's going to learn to drive in the Mercedes not the Volkswagon. Years from now when she talks about learning to drive, the story will come out (yes Mom you've told me about practising parking in the school parking lot and how Grampa wouldn't let you have the radio on because he thought you wouldn't concentrate but you turned it on anyway)(btw, the song was She Blinded Me With Science and the car was a rust coloured Mustang hatchback) I want her story to be memorable. Maybe even magical. (So my dad was living in Moscow at the time and my mom taught me to drive...)

Courage my love. Only forward.

Adjö

For my last day, Gothenburg has given me hot and sunny. It's beautiful like this - later today there will be people everywhere trying to catch some sun. The cafés will all be full and so will the parks.

The movers came, the movers went. There are few things so depressing as an empty flat when you're locking it up for the last time. It's been a hard year - so many trials, so many challenges, so many adjustments, all of them played out somehow within those white walls and beautiful high ceilings. The flat was a character in its own right in our story this year. Perfectly situated "downtown", overlooking Vasagatan which in itself was a constant entertainment watching people kommer och går, I loved its big windows, balconies, and back stairs.

No matter what, the one thing I could consistently count on to be perfect was The League of Extraordinary Women. These are the expat ladies, all transplants to Göteborg from all over the world. These are the women who've been there, suffered through that, made it to the other side and knew I would too. These were the ladies who knew who to call to fix it, how long it would take, whether it was worth the bother. They understood every rough day because they'd been there, but rather than wallowing with me or trying to pollyanna me out of it, they supported with a story, or a smile, or just their presence. I admired their strength, their confidence, and their neverending belief that there was always room for one more.

Saying goodbye to the League was hard, as was saying goodbye to Peter, our choir director. I chickened out of telling the Askimkyrkakör how special they were to me, how those Wednesday nights were the highlight of my week because no matter what else was going on, I knew that for 2hrs I would be surrounded by beautiful people and beautiful music and all my troubles would fade away. I don't think any of them knew just how much this token Canadian treasured the time she spent with them and the harmonies we made.

When the police investigator came looking for witnesses after the shooting, he asked if I had seen anyone suspicious in the neighbourhood, and I said no. Truthfully, I couldn't even tell him who was a regular in our building. We never met the doctors across the landing, though we encountered many of their patients and the only contact we ever had with the other tenants on the 1st floor was when they opened their window to yell at us for parking where they didn't want us to park. No, the people I knew in my neighbourhood were an odd bunch. I can tell you that screaming lady hasn't been around for a while, the old woman who yells at you when you walk past. I hope she's ok. The factum man is off crutches, but he's lost a lot of weight and I'm afraid it's because he's not well, rather than as part of a health regimen. We have new beggars this Spring. These folks are much less willing to take no for an answer. Dancing Accordion Man is back. I guess he wintered over somewhere else. He moves around - last week he was near Kungsgatan, but on a sunny day like today, he'll probably be under the big tree beside the bridge over the canal near Saluhallen, switching his tune to a tango to try and entice every pretty woman that walks past.

I am sad to be leaving my friends. I am fearful of what lies ahead. But as for today, like Dancing Accordion Man, chin up, get your dancing shoes on & go get a great day.

and so it begins...

Weekend in the Fjørds

The fjords don't look anything like I thought they would. I thought they'd be more like the white cliffs of Dover. I dreamed of standing at the edge, looking out at the ocean, straight across to the horizon, at the top of the world. They don't look like that at all. Every fjord has its own character. The Dalsfjord is flatter, the Sognefjord very green with slopes that slide into the water. There are waterfalls everywhere, some big, some the result of all the rain this area of Norway has had lately. We've been across the tops of the mountains to the glaciers where some of the water is still frozen over and there are patches of snow everywhere. We slept beside a fjord where the only sound was rushing water from a waterfall across the bay.

Friday was drizzly and grey. Today was sunny and bright. I'm glad we had the chance to experience the fjords both ways. I think I actually liked them better in the mist because their shapes played out better. The greens were electric in the sunshine, but seeing new mountains appear out of the mist was better somehow.

The Flåm railway takes you from sea level at Flåm up to 866 m above sea level at Myrdal. It's a distance of only 20km. The scenary is breath-taking - green fields, farms in the most remote places, waterfalls large and small.

As much as I loved being out on the water, I think my favourite thing is being up on top of the mountains, surrounded by the snow even though it's June. Truly a trip of a lifetime.

E16 to Bergen

We're in Bergen on the west coast of Norway. We are here to tour the fjords this weekend. This is our last trip before moving home. It's also a trip I've been waiting to do for years.

The E16 across Norway is magnificent. It's a long drive - 7+hrs to cover the 500km distance, but every bend in the road brings another breath-taking view. Waterfalls everywhere. Water (fjords?) and rivers. Farmhouses and sheep. Snow. Yes, we saw lots of snow today. The closer we got to Bergen, the wetter it got. The tops of the mountains disappeared into the mist.

Norwegians are master tunnellers. We drove through a lot of tunnels today, the longest being 25km. That's a long time to be underground.

Time for bed. Early start tomorrow - first leg of the fjord tour leaves the dock at 8am!

Blur

I'm trying to figure out what day today is because I'm genuinely not sure. We've been living "if it's Tuesday, it must be Rome" for a week now. I think it's Monday night because I'm back in Göteborg and the calendar says I'm supposed to be in Gborg on Monday night. In the past 7 days, we've been to Moscow and back and Ireland and back. Things are a bit of a blur.

Let’s summarize Moscow. Neat place to see. I need to learn more about its history. Our relocation agent, Yulia, preferred the Soviet era to current times. She liked that everyone was equal, that you couldn’t tell who was richer or who was poorer. The traffic is insane. It’s like trying to get out of Toronto on the 400 on a holiday weekend, but it’s like that all day long. They close main roads whenever the politicians want to go somewhere. There’s no advance notice, the traffic just stops dead and you sit and hope somebody had the good sense to create a detour. We experienced this Wednesday late afternoon when we were trying to take a quick trip up to Moscow State University to see the view over the city. I think the view was worth the hassle, but I think I’m the only one. Everyone smokes. There are very few places where you go and don’t end up smelling like an ashtray. That hasn’t happened to me since going to clubs 20 yrs ago. Russians are friendly and the women are well turned out, lots of tall shoes, but you also have the feeling that everyone is out for himself. They live for the ‘now’ and don’t plan for the future. The corruption is still there. We were walking to see the statue of Peter the Great and the cathedrale that was torn down by Stalin so he could build a swimming pool that was then rebuilt a few years ago. At an intersection, a police officer has stopped slightly out of the way of the traffic. Peter told us that he was waiting to pull somebody over to try and get money out of them on some bogus charge. Money for himself, not money for the gov’t. Sure enough, on our walk back past, he’s pulled over a car and is trying to tell the driver he has a problem with his headlights. I wonder how much money he got. One of the good things about Moscow, other than that it was really neat to see, was that the hotel pool and gym was open 24 hrs, which with our crazy schedule was a bonus because E wanted to work out and Sprout wanted to swim and time didn’t allow it until close to 11pm. We’ve decided we’re not sorry we’re not moving to Moscow, but we needed to experience it to know we’d made the better of the 2 choices.

The plan to spend this past weekend in Ireland was in place months before the visit to Russia was squeezed into the schedule. Peter thought we should go to a concert while in Europe and he picked Kings Of Leon because he knew I liked a few of their songs, they were playing near Dublin, and we like Dublin. Then he discovered that they were headlining a concert festival on the grounds of Slane Castle where the likes of U2 and the Rolling Stones among others big names had played over the past 30 years. We arrived in Ireland Friday late morning and picked up the rental car. Kudos to Peter for managing a stick shift while driving narrow country roads on the wrong side. Kudos to me for not having heart failure every time we came a leettle too close to the walls, bushes, and ditches on my side of the road. First stop New Grange. New Grange is a Neolithic burial site older than the pyramids of Giza. It’s about 5200 yrs old. One of 3 buriel mounds in the vicinity, New Grange was constructed to capture the light at the winter solstice. It’s light box is designed such that light only enters the chamber between Dec 19 and 23. The peoples believed that the old year ended on the 20^th and the new on the 21^st when the light began to return to the land. It’s an engineering marvel. The entire place is extremely well organized. Someone meets you when you enter the visitor’s centre, and talks you through what you’d like to see. Then you’re labeled with a sticker for the time of your tour and they tell you where to meet the bus that will take you out to the site. Then you pay. Usually they make you pay first and ask questions after. The guide at the site was excellent. Their museum was outstanding. We had lunch in the café afterward and it was wonderful – very good food with a lot of variety. From there, we drove to the site of the Battle of the Boyne and wandered the fields where the battles took place. The concert at Slane was larger than we had expected – about 80, 000 people in the crowd. The concert takes place on the castle grounds. It is situated beside a river (where apparently people drowned 30 yrs ago trying to get in to hear Thin Lizzy – this story told to us by a very friendly very drunk Irish lass who’s mum had been at the first concert) and the ground creates a natural amphitheatre with a hill sloping down to a large flat space by the river. We arrived and staked out a spot on the hill. 6 bands played: The Whigs, Mona, White Lies, Elbow, Thin Lizzy, and Kings of Leon. For the first 3 acts, things were pretty much calm with people sitting and listening and chatting. Most of the crowd had a lot to drink. People looking for a place to sit unknowingly dribbled their 4 packs of beer over the belongings of unsuspecting people sitting on the ground. Most of the drunks were happy. We only saw one fight. Everyone wanted to chat. Many of them were very entertaining. By the 4^th musical group, we had to stand up to avoid being dribbled on and together with the young ladies in front of us, we tried to stake a claim on our space, preventing those wandering around from pushing through the middle of us. The young ladies gave up early into the Kings Of Leon set when the crush of the crowd worsened. We toughed it out until after ‘Sex on Fire’. That was amazing. 80 000 people all singing along and jumping up and down. After that song, I led our parade up off the hill to where there was more room in front of a big screen. A very cute blonde girl with flowers in her hair thought A was pretty special and convinced him to dance with her. Then her friends got E in on it too, and the group of them danced along to the music. We left after ‘Use Somebody’ which was also really impressive, and they ended the event with fireworks. It was quite the experience. Thank you to: Dancing Hatman – we were sure you were going to bounce right into us, but somehow your radar always kept you just far enough away; the flower girls who danced with A&E – they had a great time; to the young blondes for chatting with us; to the brunette with the running commentary, where’re ya from? Canada Wow Canada Really? You came all this way just for Kings of Leon – aren’t they great ya? oh me mum was at the first concert ya 30 years ago ya etc etc etc; to white shirt and daisy girl and everyone else – you all provided my children with the best infomercial possible of what happens when one drinks too much. The next day, we drove to Dublin. The girls shopped (shoes!) and the boys toured Dublinia and the Guiness storehouse. For dinner, we found the restaurant we’d liked so much when we were here 6 years ago (Chatham brasserie on Chatham street). It was still terrific. This morning before going to the airport, we wandered over to the park at St Stephen’s green. All the flower merchants were out on Grafton Street and it smelled wonderful.

So many stories to tell. Thanx for hanging in to the end. Next stop: Norway.

Location, Location, Location

Today started off kinda bumpy. I forgot to reset my cellphone which doubles as the alarm clock. Moscow is 2 hours ahead of Gborg, so 6am on the phone is 8am in Moscow yougettheidea. The rooster went off as programmed at 5:45 / 7:45 (the alarm is a rooster crowing to remind me of the rooster in St Lucia) and E&I had to get dressed and ready for breakfast in 15 minutes. The relocation agent is a young woman named Julia. She missed the memo that said all 4 of us were coming. She was just expecting Peter and myself. The car wasn't quite big enough for all 6 of us (us + Julia + driver because everyone in Moscow has a driver and trust me you don't want to navigate this traffic on your own), so Andrew took turns sitting on E's or P's lap for the first couple of hours as we squished 4 into the back seat. Whatever - makes for a good story.

Today we lived our own version of Location, Location, Location, as we drove around different areas of Moscow to look at housing possibilities. Altogether, we toured 5 houses, 1 apartment, 1 townhouse, had meetings at 2 schools, met one very keen ex-pat named Carole from Ireland, and spent a lot of the inbetween time sitting in traffic (15 million people in Moscow, I'd bet most of them had a car on the road). It was a day in Fantasyland trying to imagine living in these places. All of the houses were massive!( 2 had pool tables and jacuzzis in the basement and every property had a sauna). But do you know, they all showed signs of leakage in the basements, and one had a roof leak. Another had tiles missing and cracks in the walls. Tomorrow we're focussing on apartments inside the city and checking out another school. I'd explain the map to you, but it's hard to understand without the visual. Our current fav is house #1, should we ever actually live here.

Dinner tonight was at Pushkin's Café. It's a very famous restaurant in Moscow (and a bit of a tourist trap except that from what I could tell, we were the only tourists there and the place was packed!) I had to explain to the waiter how to make a white wine spritzer and it was fine. The borscht was amazing. They even brought me a footstool for my purse so it wouldn't have to sit on the floor.

Today's best story (other than the 4 of us in the backseat driving around Moscow): We had an appointment scheduled with the principal at British Intern'l school #3. In my book, if you have an appointment with someone, and they are 10 minutes late, you are already ready and waiting for them. Not here. We (get this) stood in the hallway outside the office to wait for him. The secretary came out to chat and went to tell him we were here several times, but he didn't show up. So we stood. Now, across the narrow hall from the office is a senior class science room. They sound like they are doing an experiment. The young lady science teacher is not impressed with what's going on. She starts to ream them out. We enjoy this immensely because she is really good at it. We especially like it when she tells them she isn't finished her rant yet. Unfortunately, we startled the pants off her when she opened the door and discovered us as the audience. Very entertaining. Oh, and the principal eventually did show up.

p.s. The photo is of the view out the window of the apartment, looking across the river at one of the Seven Sisters. There are several big parks in Moscow. They're like High Park with walking paths and playgrounds from what we've been told. The Seven Sisters are 7 magnificent skyscrapers built by Stalin in the 1940s and 50s. The one in right of the skyline in the picture is now a Radisson hotel.

First Taste of MOCKBA

We are in Moscow.(I know - holy cow, hunh?)

It's been a really long day. (Thank you Salem for getting Mummy up at 4am as pre-payment for being an alone-a-kitty for a week). We flew from Gborg to Stockholm, then on to Moscow, arriving here about 8:45pm local time. Given that it's now 1:15am local time (tomorrow), you get the idea.

The drive in from the airport (Moscow has 2 - the bombing a few months ago was at the other one) takes you past the monument marking the place where the Russians stopped the German invasion. You drive past apartment blocks, all tall, all tired-looking. You drive past IKEA (yes - it's everywhere, but spelled differently in cyrillic) (actually, short version of a long story - when IKEA tried to build here, they refused to toe the line and pay people off, etc etc etc so now, they build the entire shopping mall in order to stay open for business. Ever seen an IKEA as an anchor store in a mall? Only in Russia). The driving is intense. Fortunately it was stop and go, not faster. No lines on the road - it's make your own lane! Think you'll fit there, then go! Cut somebody off - too bad! (Glad I was in the back seat!)

After settling in to the hotel (very posh - thank you Volvo),we had a walk down Tverskaya street (english phonetic pronunciation) to Red Square. We walked through the subway underpasses to get from one side of the street to the other, and saw the tiny shops in the walls that Peter had told us about. Red Square is nothing like I'd imagined. The last time Peter saw it, it was empty except for the tanks practising for May 9th when they celebrate the surrender of the Germans May 8th, 1945. Tonight, Red Square was getting ready for something athletic, with barracades, a basketball court, and something that looked like a paintball terrain (though how they'd contain the paint through the screening, I'd rather not be close enough to find out!)

I'm so grateful to be here. My grandparents came to Moscow on their honeymoon in the 1930s. (my dad's folks) My grandfather was doing research for his doctorate and they spent a month here. I've always thought they had a real pioneering spirit, unafraid to take anything on. As it turns out, we won't have the chance to take on much more than a taste of Moscow in the 4 days that we're here, but I'd like to think that some of that pioneering spirit has carried through the genes. Rather exciting to think that their great grandchildren are seeing some of the things they saw too.

Varvet

Today was Göteborg's Varvet, their half marathon. It attracted 73,000 people. The adults ran today and the children run various distances tomorrow, depending on their ages.

We sat on the balcony and watched them all run by. Our flat was located at about 17.5km along the 21km route. They ran past for 4 1/2 hours, with the first at about 2pm (50minutes race time to that point) and the last woman walking past at 6:30pm. We saw a person in a bee suit, a small group carrying musical instruments, 3 firefighters running in full gear including air tanks, a guy in a cow suit and his friend dressed as we're not sure what but it was a body suit with pink fluffy ears and a pink fluffy tail. There were a couple of ballerinas, but most of the runners just looked either find and like they'd hit their stride, or else really tired and ready for it to be over. Most of them looked like they'd found their stride.

The race route started at Slottskrogen park, then down city streets, across the big bridge to Hisingen island, across Hisingen to the small bridge to come back over to town, up the Avenue to Götaplatsen, then a U turn to return to Vasagatan, past us, and back up to Slottskogen to the end. It was good weather for running today - dry, cool, mix of sun and cloud. The wind picked up the later in the day it went, but at least they didn't have the oppressive heat they've had in the past.

We were serenaded by 2 bands while we watched. A marching band settled itself to our left, at the corner by 7-11. They were good, but their repertoire was about 4 songs, and they took a lot of long breaks. To our right, another band set up outside the church beside the french place. They were much higher calibre musicians with a broader repertoire. Very good indeed.

Several spectators lined our part of the route. At one point, some young men came with fishing poles to dangle doughnuts for the runners. Neither the donuts nor the danglers lasted very long.

None of us are ready to run a half marathon, but if you are, mark your calendar for the end of May next year and come to Sweden for the Varvet. I'd be happy to come with you to cheer you along!

Legoland Denmark

Happy Belated Birthday, Sprout! This was worth waiting for!

We left Gborg on the 8am ferry this morning and arrived at Fredrikhavn, Danemark after 11. The drive down Danemark to Billund and Legoland took about 2 1/2 hrs. Denmark is flat. It's green on green, with the green fields broken up by yellow ones (linseed?). It's not a very exciting drive, but at least this time I bought a map(!) instead of trusting the directions off googlemaps (which always seems like the best option at home in the living room, but notsomuch when the directions don't match the signs on the actual road!)

Everywhere you turn, there's lego. Lego figures at the decorating the park areas and the rides, even lego block shaped french fries. We did some great rides this afternoon - one of those moving target shooting range things like Buzz Lightyear at WDW, traditional roller coasters, a very wet pirate-themed ride, another boat ride like Pirates of the Caribbean. The "Hall of Fame" ride was Power Builder. You program the ride you want. There are 5 levels of intensity and once you've picked that, you pick the moves you want it to do like swirling you around upside down. It all gets transferred into a data chip on a card like a bank card. Attached to the end of a robotic arm is a pair of seats. You put your card into the machine, get strapped in, and away it goes! It's something else to watch. Elizabeth's moves hung her upside down several times, hair flying, legs flopping like Raggedy Ann's. She said she giggled the whole time.

Our hotel room is called a Treasury room. It's all kitted out like Indiana Jones. There are lego spiders and snakes, beetles and butterflies. We have a parrot and monkey, and treasure of course. Indie seems to have left his (lego) hat in the bathroom. We also have his n hers bunkbeds (E's pulls down from the wall), and us n them tvs (though we are all watching Aliens on the big bed instead). Elsewhere in the hotel, there are tubs of lego for building (each tub is the size of a wading pool). Dinner was scandanavian buffet.

We think we're in for a lot of rain tomorrow. We still need to see all the miniatures (castles, Køpnhamn, Big Ben, Star Wars), Crabzilla, and do a few more rides, but we're not worried about anything getting rained out. Funny thing about amusement parks here - at home, when it rains, the rides close down, but here they don't - you just get wet) and tomorrow for breakfast, I'm really hoping to have a Danish danish.

the Home stretch

For those of you still out of the loop, here's the lowdown: our time in Sweden is almost up. Short version of a long story, Peter was transferred to Moscow and he's been there since January. He comes back here if we have a trip planned, or for the occasional weekend, but that's about all. Our belief was, and still is, that we will be relocating to Moscow to join him. We're excited by that prospect, but it isn't a done deal yet. We're still waiting to hear from the schools. If there is a place for A, we go. If there isn't, we pull the plug on Europe and move back to Canada.

All of a sudden, it feels like life is a rush. Is it always that way at the end of something - trying to squeeze the 'last' whatever into the time you have? This weekend, we're off to Legoland Denmark. It's A's birthday present, a holdover from January. We're taking the ferry to Frederikhavn, then driving down from the top of Denmark, but doing the long road trip via Köpnhamn and the bridge on the way back. Current expectation is that we're off to Moscow week 21. It will be a crazy week - 4 days in Moscow, followed by a few hours back in Gborg, before getting back on the plane to go to Dublin for a long weekend. In June, I (finally!?!) get to see the Norwegian fjords. Just booked it last night. We'll drive across Norway to get to Bergen, spend an intense 2 days soaking up as much gorgeous Norwegian countryside as we can, before making it home for Swedish Flag Day. Then the movers come. Then we leave.

So in the spirit of "profitez-en", this morning I'm off to tour the Concert hall with a group of expats. The symphony is rehearsing today I'm told, so we get to listen in. Otherwise, things are status quo. Salem and I are spending as much time on our sunny balcony as we can. Swedish lessons continue. Choirs continue. Laundry and grocery shopping and the weekly war with the parking police all continue.

Keep on keepin' on

Elizabeth's Dance Recital

This afternoon was E's dance recital. A Miss Marnie Special it wasn't. E said it was much more chill. No specifics on costumes. No instructions for hair and make-up. No long dress rehearsals in a week of late nights at the theatre. Participation was optional.

The show itself lasted under an hour. In my opinion, a lot of it was bad cruise ship dinnershow choreography, but not E's group for street jazz.

E herself just shone. She got her dance face on, and sold it to the crowd. She really looked like she was having fun. Give the girl a stage, a spotlight, and an audience, and watch the magic happen.

Trettondag

All's Well That Ends Well said William Shakespeare, and today has been a case in point for that.

We had a shooting on our street this morning. 9am seems an odd time to be gunned down as far as I'm concerned. I figured that was an 'under cover of darkness' thing, but apparently not. From what I've figured out, the man who died was a member of a branch of somebody's mafia and he was hunted down and shot at 9:15. About 9:30, I come out onto the street to discover police tape, police cars, and ambulances all over the place. I shrugged and went for my run anyway. Turns out this was the same time that the ambulance folk were trying to revive him before transport to the hospital. By the time I got back to our building, the ambulances were gone. Shortly after that, E went off to the gym. By noon, Andrew and I are ready to go out to get some groceries, but a policeman stops us at the door. If we go, he says, we won't be allowed back throught the tape (which they had moved since I went out this morning.) OK, we went back inside. Meanwhile, E has been trying unsuccessfully to get back into the building after being at the gym. She didn't see us and we didn't see her, but I mentioned she'd be coming back from the gym, and shortly after that when she tried to get across the tape again, they let her. She was understandably very upset by her interactions with the police. By 3pm, they've wrapped up the investigation (this I figured out by keeping an eye on things from our balcony), so Andrew and I tried again for the groceries (hint: if someone is going to be shot on your street requiring the police to close it all day for an investigation, have the foresight to fill the fridge the day before). They've brought in a firetruck to wash the blood stains off the sidewalk. It didn't work. They're still there.

Ah, but there's rarely a dull moment when you live downtown. Today was also Trettondag, or the day Swedes celebrate the arrival of Spring. In Göteborg, it's also the day of the Chalmers Cortege, a parade done by the university students satirizing political figures. Traffic-wise, it's a nightmare of closed streets. We managed to get out of Dodge and get to Hovås to celebrate Trettondag with my choirs. We sang a concert of traditional swedish spring songs tonight at 7 on the beach, overlooking the sea. A good-sized crowd came out to listen to us. By the time we returned to town, the parade was over and so were the street closures. We get to do it again tomorrow, the street closures I mean, because tomorrow is första maj and labour day, so all afternoon there will be demonstrations. I think we'll get the heck outta Dodge nice and early tomorrow morning to go back to spend some quiet time in the sun by the sea. After all, isn't that what enjoying Spring is all about?

Viva Italia - Verona - our last day

It's been a really long day. We were up so early to catch the 7:40 train to Verona that we caught the 7:09am train instead. Once in Verona, we decided to catch the bus from the train station out to our hotel near the airport in order to save some money except that the bus driver did not speak any of my languages (good thing I can point) and when he dropped us at the stop we'd asked (pointed?) for, it was on the other side of the highway from the hotel. So, we played Frogger, running between the cars from one side of the road to the traffic islands to the other side. BUT we got here AND they had a shuttle back to the centre of Verona, so we dumped our stuff in our room and went off to explore.

First stop - breakfast / brunch / lunch / food / COFFEE!! (because there had been no opportunity for breakfast) so we sat in the sun in Piazza Bra across from the Arena. (Verona has a colliseum like Rome, but it's smaller and they call it an arena. They hold concerts there in the summer). Then we set off to explore and wander. After much searching, we found "Juliet's Balcony" which was created a couple of hundred years ago in tribute to Romeo and Juliet. It is well staged, complete with vine covered wall for climbing over or hiding in the shadows of... But soft what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun

The best part of our day was Giardino Giusti (the Giusti gardens). They're smaller than the Boboli Gardens in Florence, but we had just as much fun exploring and imitating the statues. Lemon trees. Orange trees. Fountains with fish and turtles. A lookout over Verona and a secret chapel.

Wandering in warm sunny weather makes Peter thirsty. Fortunately for him, here in Verona a large beer is 1 L. Nice and big (understatement). Good and cold. I discovered the Aperol Spritz. Absolutely divine and a good thing it isn't available anywhere I live on a permanent basis.

I was underwhelmed by Verona. We had 7 hours to prowl around (based on hotel shuttle bus drop off and pick up) and it was a stretch. To be fair, we didn't spend our time doing museums and churches, we spent our time wandering around getting a feel for the place, and we didn't need 7 hours to do that. Verona had a Pisa-esque feel to it, in that there were a fixed number of things to do, and when we'd done what we came to do, we'd had enough. But unlike Pisa where we hopped on an earlier train to go back to do more of Florence, today there was nowhere to hop back to. We head back to Sweden tomorrow (v-e-r-y early 4:45am). It's been a good week. We really lucked out with the weather, but as my grandmother used to say every time she came to visit, it's nice to get away, but nothing tastes quite as good as bread and butter at the kitchen table when you get home.

Viva Italia - Venezia day 2

Indiana Jones came to Venice on a quest for enlightenment, and we came to Venice on a quest to find Indiana Jones. In "The Last Crusade", he finds an old library in Venice, through which he finds a knight that leads him to Petra and the Holy Grail. The old library is in fact San Barnabas church and it took us quite a long while to find it. BUT WE DID!

E's quest today was to find the perfect Venetian mask. It took hours, but we found it. (It's beautiful - she chose well). Sprout decided a few trips ago that he was going to collect 'typical' hats from the places we visit. We found him a gondolier hat to add to the collection, that he happily sported all day. I wanted to go across the lagoon to the other side for no other reason than to say that we did. San Giorgio church, which you can see directly across from Piazzo San Marco, is lovely. They also have a bell tower ready to be climbed for a good view, only their's feels a bit like cheating because instead of climbing 400+ stairs, they have an elevator. (Very civilized). We had an afternoon drink in St Marks Square, serenaded by a quartet (violin, accordian, piano, clarinet), then set off on another quest for postage stamps. With time to kill before dinner (and in keeping with my Disney World analogy about Venice - time for a water ride), we climbed aboard the waterbus again for what turned into an hour-long tour around the canal. Great way to get a feel for more of Venice. Seeing cars was almost a disappointment after 2 days without them. There is an enormous carpark just outside of Venice that we rode past on our boat. We've all enjoyed the lack of wheels over the past couple of days.

I have referred to our week in Italy as the taste of Italy tour (ha), meaning we were only going to each place long enough to get a taste of it, rather than that we were going to eat our way around northern Italy. It could also be called the Tiramisu tour because it has become a requirement that every night at dinner, we taste that restaurant's tiramisu. I am not a fan of the stuff, but I can tell you from taste testing that the best one anywhere is at Restaurant Alla Rampa in Rome near the Spanish Steps. So if you like tiramisu, the next time you're in Rome...

Tomorrow we head off very early to Verona and the last day of our trip before returning to Sweden on Saturday. I am afraid that many places will be closed because it is Good Friday, but if all we get to do in Verona is sit in the sun and soak up the atmosphere, that won't be all bad.

Viva Italia - Venezia day 1

There’s nothing quite like being by the water. We arrived in Venice today, by train. We are staying at the Hotel Caneva, as suggested by Sarah R, and while it is very basic, it is well located. Their directions started with a trip on a waterbus, so we climbed aboard for a short cruise down the Grand Canal to the Rialto Bridge. From there, we had a short wander through the labyrinth of alleyways to the hotel. Some of their rooms overlook a canal – ours does not, but it’s a good size, and who wants to spend that much time in the hotel when you could be out exploring Venice?!

Truthfully, at this point of the night, today is a bit of a blur. We stopped in every mask shop and murano glass shop we saw. We found St Marks Square (unfortunately much of it is covered by scaffolding and is under repair) and toured the Basilica. The gold mosaics are magnificent. (The ceiling structure and marble work is also remarkable in San Stefano). We wandered the alleyways, following the little arrows: this way to the Academia bridge, this way to San Marco, this way to the Rialto. We had a wonderful lunch in the sun overlooking the lagoon. After dinner, we wandered over to the other side of the Rialto bridge and decided we would return tomorrow when more of it would be open.

One of the things we commented on were the bells at St Marks. At 6 o’clock, they chimed 6 times, which is what you would expect except that in Florence, the bells at Santa Maria del Fiora (Il Duomo), the bells chimed 23 times at 7am. We couldn’t figure that one out either. It has something to do with Il Duomo telling time based on 24hrs starting either from sunrise or sunset. Either way, we found it odd.

Tomorrow, we will find the church in the Indiana Jones and Moonraker movies, do the Rialto Bridge by daylight, watch the figurines strike the bells atop the astronomical clock beside San Marco (like in Prague), and take the waterbus across the lagoon to San Giorgio. Venice is like Disney world for adults – what’s a trip to the amusement park without a boat ride?

Viva Italia - Firenze day 2

Today was climbing day or at least that's what my legs think it was, now that I'm here at the end of it. We started today by climbing to the top of Il Duomo. Ever seen a picture of it? See that cupola at the top? We were there. I'm not sure what's more amazing - the great view from the top or the tiny passageways you climb through inside the walls and roof to get there. Honestly, you feel like Quasimodo or some deranged monk working your way up the curve of the roof.

The Baptistery by comparison is magnificent. The dome in the cathedrale is frescoes. The dome in the baptistery is mosaic, mostly gold, depicting bible scenes. I would have liked to lie on the floor to gaze up at it better (but they frown on you doing that). We were all suitably in awe.

Late this afternoon, we got into the Uffizi. We had to go with a tour group because that was the only way to get tickets for any day we were here. (If you're coming to Florence, reserve your tickets online ahead of time). The main purpose to going was for A&E to see Botticelli's Birth of Venus, which we saw. The museum itself has beautiful ceilings in the 2nd floor hallway, not like any style we'd seen anywhere else.

The boys and girls split up for a couple of hours this afternoon so the girls could try to shop and the boys wouldn't have to be dragged along. The boys found a sundial outside the Gallileo museum that measures astrological time. The girls found, well, shoes but not in the right sizes, and E found some jeans. There have been wonderful stores in so many of the places we've visited, it was nice to have time to actually go inside them.

Tomorrow we head off to Venice. So many movies to rewatch because they take place in cities we've seen: Sabrina & The Devil Wears Prada (Paris), Roman Holiday & Only You (Rome), A Room With A View (Florence), Moonraker, Casino Royale & Indiana Jones (Venice).

Viva Italia - Pisa

Andrew had 2 requests for our trip to Italy. He wanted to eat pizza (surprise) and he wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so today, off to Pisa we went. It's about an hour's train ride from Firenze, and another 20 minute walk across Pisa to the other side of the river where the Tower complex is located. The town (city?) of Pisa itself seemed pretty run-down. There was a lot of construction, but many of the buildings were in disrepair.

To see the that the tower actually does lean is surreal. Construction started in 1172 and the 1st 4 levels were completed before work stopped (maybe because somebody noticed the building wasn't standing up straight?). It took another 200 years before work started again on the next 3 levels. If you look at the tower, it curves. This is because they compensated for the lean when construction began again in the late 1300s.

When you buy your tickets, you are assigned a time. Ours was for mid-afternoon, so we decided to start our tour with the Baptistery and end with the tower. Construction on the Baptistery began in 1152. What is extraordinary about it is the acoustics. Every half hour, the attendant closes the outside doors, and demonstrates the echo. We stayed to hear it twice and each time, she started with one note, added a 3rd, then a 5th above it, to create a one person 3-note chord. Amazing.

The Cathedrale is beautiful too. It also dates from about 1172 (the leaning tower is its bell tower). Elizabeth doesn't like touring churches because of the holy relics. This one just about did her in. One of the side chapels has the skull of a saint in its glass reliquary, and the one in the chapel on the opposite side contains all of St Guido (he had been scattered all over Italy, and they had to find his parts before putting him back together). To add insult to injury, the attendant at the entrance thought E's skirt was too short (we thought she looked pretty chic) and tied a paper skirt around her waist, long enough to cover her knees. We thought it looked pretty chic too, but E was mortified.

The tower itself is still under renovation. Inside the core, there is scaffolding to shore up the structure. It's true that sometimes it feels like you're climbing downhill even when you know you're climbing up, simply because of the slope. The slant is most pronounced at the main entry door. By the time you reach the top, the view is magnificent, and you've stopped noticing that the floor isn't exactly perpendicular to the ground.

Sorry - no picture today either - still having uploading problems. Tomorrow, we tour Firenze properly (il Duomo, the Uffizi) and let there be shoes!

Viva Italia - Firenze day 1

Look up, look w-a-a-a-ay up and you'll find our hotel in Firenze (Florence). It's on the 3rd floor, which doesn't sound high, until I tell you that each floor is about 2, so it feels like we've hiked up 5 floors not 3. We're at Hotel Perseo this time, just a couple of minutes from Il Duomo.

Elizabeth called today our bonus day. The original plan was to stay in Rome until noon, then spend the afternoon travelling to Florence, but we decided yesterday to come here this morning instead. We paid the surcharge to take the faster train (1 1/2 hrs instead of 3) and were here by noon. The italian countryside was so green!

Beautiful sunny and warm (hot?) again today. We had lunch (vegetables!) at a sunny patio in Piazza della Signoria. The guy sitting beside us wanted to talk. Turned out he's from Florence, owns a leather store just down the street, and gave us restaurant suggestions (thanx Raphael). We're going to try one out tomorrow night - stay tuned. Then we wandered past the Uffizi, over Ponte Vecchio, and into the Boboli gardens (thank you culture week for another free entry).

Peter wanted to have dinner somewhere overlooking the Arno. Golden View Open Bar is directly opposite the Uffizi, just off the Ponte Vecchio. We had a really fun waiter named Vilsa and Rick Steeves was there (of Rick Steeves Europe? PBS? ring any bells?) Great food. Wonderful experience.

After dinner, more strolling around, gazing in shop windows under a full moon. Elizabeth is in love, italian style, with a pair of designer shoes from Miu Miu ($900).

Sorry - no photo today. Nothing wants to load.

Viva Italia - Rome day 2

Vini, vidi, vici - we came, we saw a whole lot of stuff, we conquered the tourist map.

Today's highlights:

• Santa Maria Maggiore church, built in 432 A.D. Magnificent mosaic work above the altar. Beautiful marble floors.

• Colliseum. This is culture week in Rome, which means (apparently) that admissions are free. We still had to queue up to get our free ticket, but hey, it was free. From now until September, there is a special exhibit on the top floor of the colliseum. It explains the history of the building, what Rome looked like before the great fire, and Nero, using a combination of displays, artifacts, and text. Did you know that the floor of the colliseum was covered in sand to absorb the blood from the fighting, and that the ancient word for sand was arena?

•Palatine and the Roman Forum. This is the archaeological gardens beside the Colliseum. It is massive (!) and would have been a great place for a picnic if I had thought to pack one. The whole place smelled wonderful because of the wisteria and the orange trees.

• Bocca della Verita. The mouth of truth is a stone mounted on the wall at Santa Maria in Cosmedin church. It is featured in 2 movies, Roman Holiday (Audrey Hepburn) and Only You (Marisa Tomei and Robert Downey Jr) and I really wanted to see it. Legend has it that if you put your hand in the statue's mouth, only the pure of heart will pull their hand back out intact. My hand is still attached.

• Circus Maximus. Nowadays it's a big grassy field, but the track is still visible where chariots used to race in front of 300,000 spectators.

• The cat sanctuary at Torre Argentina. In an among the sunken ruins of 3 very ancient temples, live roman pussycats. We tripped across them because the site is separate from the other ruins, encircled on all sides by busy streets.

We liked Rome. In spite of its size, it doesn't have the bustle that Paris, Berlin, or London have. Everywhere you turn, there's an ancient something - corinthian pillars just standing in the middle of nowhere, a detailed portico on a wall, half a wall in a park which, upon closer inspection, turns out to be a remnant of ancient roman baths. We wondered if the people who lived here get blasé about it, being surrounded by all that history all the time. This will sound dumb, but I got such a kick out of all the nuns everywhere. Think about it, if I was a nun tourist, where else would I want to go?

Tomorrow: Firenze

Viva Italia - Day 1 Rome

The Shep's are on the road again. This time we're doing the kamakazi tour of Northern Italy. This is påsklov in Sweden - the kids' Easter break, so we're taking advantage of the time to get a taste of Rome, Florence, Pisa, Venice, and Verona.

We arrived late this afternoon in Rome. The weather forecast had advertised sunny and 27C. False advertising. Drizzly and cool, but it's Rome and that's what umbrellas are for. We are staying at the Hotel Tirreno. I did better than usual this time - our quad room is larger than the one in Paris was, and the hotel is more well-appointed than usual for this price bracket. We're well-situated too - a short walk to the train station, a short walk to the Colliseum, a decent walk to anything else we could care to see.

Today's (tonight's?) tour itinerary was the Spanish Steps. I had stayed near them when I was here in '88, but it took me until about 4 years ago to figure out what that big staircase was. On the walk over, we passed by some very nice looking shops - such dresses - such purses - such shoes! We found the corner of the quattro fontana (Me: what do you think that means Elizabeth? E: 4 cheese? some days she's really blond) 4 fountains. The steps themselves were a tourist zoo, but I didn't care. We found them, and then we found a lovely little restaurant, Restaurant Alla Rampa, for dinner. We sat outside believe it or not, under the heaters, and toasted ourselves with inadequate red wine. Decent food - not haute cuisine - I picked it for the location. Should have worn pants with stretchy waistbands to allow for all that pasta and cream-filled dessert. Peter had the best tiramisu we've ever tasted. House Special? Absolutely!

On the way back to the hotel, we took the wind-y route that led past an Oratorio with a magnificent ceiling, and Trevi Fountain, also a tourist zoo, but beautiful nonetheless as you can see. Even in the drizzle.

per aspera ad astra

Thursday night I saw the rings on Saturn and the craters on the moon. It was extraordinary. It's one thing to see it in pictures and another thing completely to look through the telescope and see those rings for yourself. The moon really does look like swiss cheese.

Slottskrogen is the big park in Göteborg. It's like High Park in Toronto - walking paths, playgrounds, mini zoo, picnic spaces. But Slottskrogen also has an observatory, which is where we met Andrew's teacher, Susan, for an astronomy field trip Thursday night. 9:30-10:30pm might sound like an odd time to have a school trip, but any earlier and it wouldn't have been dark enough to see anything. Susan taught us about variable stars - have you noticed that sometimes a star looks brighter for a few days, then the same star looks dimmer? Maybe there are 2 of them circling around each other, taking turns being seen by Earth. We saw the double star in the Big Dipper. You can see it with the naked eye if you concentrate - 2nd one in from the end of the handle - but there are actually more than 2. I saw 3 through the telescope, but I think I was supposed to see more. We focussed on the Pleiades and the nebula in Orion's belt. So much to see - such powerful telescopes.

In case you were wondering, per aspera ad astra means "through hardships to the stars". A rather fitting summary of our year.

Gunnebo Slott

Thought #1: it would be really nice to see one of these places when it's sunny and the gardens are in bloom.

Thought #2: caption for this photo should be "little brothers are weird".

Today's field trip was to Mölndal and Gunnebo Slott. Built in 1792 as a summer house for the richest man in Sweden, it is Sweden's Versailles. All the interiors are neo-classical. The plaster work is magnificent. It was designed to look like an italian villa, complete with a separate orangerie in its day which housed many exotic plants including lemon trees and pinapple plants.

Every room was designed to be different - each has its own chair design and fabric. No 2 ceramic stoves are the same. The planking in each room is also lain in a different pattern. While opulent, we found the rooms to be smaller than we expected. All perfectly proportioned, but smaller. Perhaps we've been spoiled by touring Versailles and Tjolöholm and palaces, and of course living in our lovely @1880 flat. What a difference to design a hundred years can make.

April in Paris

Doris Day dreamed about spending April in Paris. She imagined sitting in sun-filled sidewalk cafés surrounded by gardens with flowers in bloom. Poor Doris - Mother Nature didn't comply, and her April in Paris was grey, soggy, and cold.

I'm wondering what April in Göteborg is going to look like. We're all ready for Spring. Saturday, most of the cafés put out their sidewalk tables, and the conservatory-builders are busy putting all the glassfronts back out on the fronts of restaurants on the Avenue. Any day it's sunny (like it is today), Swedes stop to sit on any available bench or staircase and soak in the sunshine. But yesterday we had flurries...

So, do I dare put the patio furniture back out on the balcony, or is that like washing the ski jackets anytime before June - tempting fate? My rainboots stand at the ready as do the flipflops. 4 days 'til April....