The Ultimate Collection of Cool Stuff in Skurup
Bengt Almquist wasn’t sure what the English word was that describes his vast collection of machines. “Gadgets?” Well, sort of. I’d say it’s more like a thousand assortments of things. At the Johanna Museet, he’s got walls full of typewriters, including models from the 1880s before they came up with […]
Listening to an Automatic Organ in Sweden: Video
An automatic organ was just one of the amazing things we saw today at the Johannes Museet, a collection of thousands of machines, all arranged together. The museum is owned by Bengt Almquist, whose father was the original tinkerer and collector of the family. 41 secs Here is a video […]
A Blazing Yule Tree in Malmo Sweden
This is one of things I love about Sweden. This tree is ablaze with small candles, cranking out a whooshing noise as they burn in the cold Swedish night. Next to the tree, there are three rows of at least 150 candles each, all burning and emitting that same pleasing […]
The Oresund Bridge: Malmo’s Secret Weapon
The 12 km Oresund Bridge connects Copenhagen with Malmo, and has helped the entire Skane region prosper with new jobs, new tourists and a new flexibility to travel. Many Danes live here in Skane where taxes are cheaper and commute over the long bridge to work in Copenhagen.
Video: Choosing Christmas Herring in Malmo
This little seaside fish market stall is where the locals find the freshest herring and salmon for their Christmas tables. “Hey’ means hello, and ‘tack’ means thanks in Swedish, as you can hear in this 39-second video.
Park in Malmo–Who Turned On the Light?
Turn on the lights in Malmo! I want to put one of these into South Deerfield’s town common…do you think I can get the ok from the selectman?
At the Nobel Museum, Listening to A Jerk on Tape
Kent and I are holed up in our monk-sized rooms in the monastery, er, Hotel Rica in downtown Malmo. No, they’re ok, just kinda small after the cavernous chambers in Stockholm we called home for three nights. Today we noticed that the darkness, which succombed Stockholm at 3:30 pm, hit […]
Sweden the Home of the Filka, or Coffee Break
No Swedish break is complete without some rich cake or cookie and the obligatory strong cup of Joe. Here we are sampling their cappuccino, and a cheesecake at a cafe in Stockholm’s SoFo area. This cake was redolent of lime, a teasing key lime sort of taste, and coffee was […]
Kentski, World Traveler and My Pal
Here is GoNOMAD’s connoisseur of travel, facing the cold winds atop an outdoor elevator in the city of Stockholm. We’re visiting Malmo this week, and you can read reports about our travels and the people we meet on this blog and on Kent’s Be Our Guest blog.
Sweden: The Ultimate First-World Country
We’ve reached Malmo for the second half of our Swedish journey. Here there were only frosty hills, lots of green actually, and it’s a bit warmer than Stockholm. No snow to be found. As we glided to the airport on the Arlanda Airport 20-minute shuttle, I thought about how advanced […]
Video of the Koh Phangan Thai restaurant, Stockholm
Here is what you see and hear as you enter this fantastically wild Thai restaurant in SoFo, one of Stockholm’s coolest neighborhoods. The green curry and baby back ribs were delicious!
Seeing Gamla Stan with Ylva da Silva
Ylva da Silva showed us her hometown this morning. It was brisk, about 20 degrees, and we took off walking to a nearby underground station and then jumping aboard a city bus. We were headed to the Old town, on the island of Gamla Stan, one of fourteen islands that […]
A Christmas Tree with Lit with Candles in Stockholm
From my previous trip here to Sweden last December I knew that the holiday of Christmas is celebrated with more vigor and enthusiasm here than in any other country. This darkened nation revels in their candlelit doorways and every window in the city has a triangle of lights or a […]
Settling in to the Hotel Hellsten in Stockholm
After a train, monorail, two planes, a train and a cab, I’m in my room at the Hotel Hellsten in downtown Stockholm. The temperatures are cold, but there is no snow on the streets here, but it has that feeling in the air that it’s about to snow. At 3:30 […]
"All We Have Is Pasta and Pizza" Say Italians
I joined my mom and dad out on their enclosed porch to read a New York Times article about the malaise that is modern Italy. The sleet rained down and it’s quite cozy in here. It seems that everything is going wrong in Cindy’s adopted country…from Europe’s lowest birthrate, to […]
You Think It’s Expensive Here to Ride?
I’m spending part of today with my family in Blawenburg NJ, the town and the house where I grew up. Last night it was nice to see two of my sisters and other relatives gathered around a huge table. I’ve got that familiar pre-trip feeling, trying to make sure I […]
Rushing Out the Door to Stockholm
A nervous end of the day because I’m on the road tomorrow for a week. What did I forget? Tomorrow I begin with an early morning bus ride, Springfield to Port Authority then a visit with an ad agency we work with. Then I meet Val, my mother, at her […]
The Credit Karma Comes Back to Haunt Me
Karma is a funny thing. Today I am experiencing this from my decades-long career in sales. The boomerang is coming around and I can feel it wacking me on the side of the head. It has to do with credit terms and vendor relationships. I used to sell shirts and […]