George Washington’s Single Act Saved the US
Today’s WSJ came with a op-ed piece by Thomas Fleming, an excerpt from his new book called “The Perils of Peace: America’s Struggle for Survival After Yorktown,” in which the author credits George Washington for a single act that he says saved the US. It was difficult time, at Christmas […]
The Anger of a Taxi Dispatcher on a Rainy Night
Last night I had a job to do at 1o:55 pm. I hate having to stay up that late, and as I sipped wine at 7 pm I thought that I’d better not have another since ugh, I have to drive to Northampton to meet the bus. My son Sam […]
Congregation Amazes Itself after $50 Gifts
My eyes were misty when I finished reading an AP story by Helen O’Neill about a pastor who both stunned and challenged his congregation by handing out $50 to all of them with a caveat: They had to use the money to raise funds for the church. The parable of […]
Cats Prowl the NYC Bodegas and Keep Rats Away
The New York Times today had a piece about working cats who help out in delis and small bodegas all over NYC. The store owners say they’re invaluable, patrolling the aisles looking for rats and mice. The problem is that the health department has laws against keeping cats and other […]
What Makes a Really Good Party?
What makes a party? What is it that makes you talk about it excitedly the next day? I think you can tell it’s a good party when you hug everyone who walks in. Like each person is worthy of that level of affection, they’re the ones you’ve missed, or haven’t […]
Tor Tells the World About Malmo’s Bo01 Area
Today I met a man who spends his days meeting with people and officials from all over the world. He’s Tor Fossum, the Project Manager of the City of Malmo’s Environmental Department. He talks again and again to visitors from the UK, China, the US and others from around the […]
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 […]