Together in Poland

A new chance for us to travel together again, as I have to go to Poland for a sales conference in Warsaw and we have the chance for Caroline to come along with me. We fly to Warsaw on Saturday morning and arrive before lunch at the hotel. We throw our bags in the room and head out as the suns shining. We walk along the main street which is a pedestrian shopping street full of shops and café’s. We pass many of the churches along the way, which are all busy with weddings. It’s fun to go into one of them and see part of the wedding service and all the guests. We reach the old town and see a little of the main square and the old houses before we head back to the hotel. In the evening we eat out in a popular lounge bar and restaurant called the Living Room, nice. On Sunday we take breakfast in bed and enjoy a lazy morning while the rain stops outside. We take a walk in the city, have lunch and checkout the new shopping centre by the central station. In the evening we try an old restaurant in the old town and test some traditional Polish dishes. On Monday my conference starts and I get an introduction to the Polish railways while Caro gets her hair cut and relaxes. In the evening she joins me at the conference and after a mingle we go on with the other company representatives and the Swedish trade Council to a restaurant for another traditional Polish meal, but this time with more courses. Tuesday was the last day of the conference, which ended just after lunch. In the afternoon we had a few hours to walk into the centre again and visit the imposing Palace of Culture and Science, a huge building complex which was a gift from the Soviet Union from the 1950’s. The view of the city from the panorama level on the 30th floor is worth the small entry price to get a feel for the layout of the city. We head off for the airport and catch an evening flight to Stockholm… all in all, an interesting trip and a fun weekend together away.

This is England

Emma, Caroline and I went together to see the film “This is England” on Sunday. The film is set in the north of England in the 80s, and is about a young lad who’s Dad has died in the Falkland’s war and is being bullied at school. He meets a gang of skinheads, who befriend him and take him into their small gang. Life starts to look up and he enjoys their company and adopts their style. When an ex-gang member returns on the scene, things start to go wrong in a big way. At this point the film turns sharply in direction and the gang have difficult decisions to make as the nationalistic ideals of the new leader threaten to destroy the statuesque.

The film made me laugh at times, but is quite disturbing in many ways. It’s filled with great actors and loads of great northern accents… one to recommend, if you can take the bad language and sometimes serious violence.

On my way home

A week away and I’m looking forward to getting back home… longing for my girl and her warm embrace. Caro’s been alone all week and I know we will be spending the weekend together, catching up on together time and all that.
After a very busy week here in Chicago and Pittsburgh I’m at the airport and trying to phone, mail and MSN all at the same time before boarding. Having run for the plane from Pittsburgh to Chicago and caught it!, I am for once at the airport in time here in Chicago. Plane leaves in an hour and a half… eight and a half hours flight… landing at 7:45 tomorrow morning.

Away from home, in the US

It was only a matter of time after the summer before I would need to be away from home on a business trip, and here I am, away in the US again for a week. Caroline is at home alone in Solna for the first time since she moved. We're both having to get used to a new set of feelings and missing each other. And Caro has to cope with being alone in her new Swedish home. Its not so easy I’m sure, not having her friends around the corner for support, but I think she’s getting to know Stockholm now, so I hope she’s managing being alone.
I flew to the US on Tuesday and started the trip in Chicago. I think it’s a nice place and I have some time on the day we arrive to do a little trip round town with Bo, a guy from work who’s with me on this trip, and who hasn’t been to Chicago before. We take in the city views in our hire car and it’s a hot day. The lake looks great in the sun and such a contrast to the high city skyline. We eat a steak for dinner, as you do in Chicago, then we go into the Hancock Building and take the lift to the 94th floor and the observatory level to see the city by night. Cool to view the city skyline at night.
Wednesday, and an intense customer meeting, which I’ve been preparing hard for. It goes unexpectedly well… what a relief, it makes the trip well worth while so far. Then its lunch, and a drive to the airport and we're lucky to catch the earlier flight to Pittsburgh. We land at 19.00 and drive straight to the PNC Park to see the last half of the baseball game! Cincinnati Reds vs the Pittsburgh Pirates, it’s a fun thing to do and it’s another first for Bo.
Time for bed now… only 2 more days to go.

In the search of elks

As I am living now in elk-country, time was ripe to see some real elks. The only elks I saw so far had been lying on the ground in Skansen (an open-air museum in Stockholm), sleepy and lazy, and I didn't get the chance to actually see them in full size. And it's not like they were running around here everywhere in the countryside, even though I might have assumed this before I first came to Sweden... ;-)
Therefore we decide to make an excursion to Kolmården which is the largest zoo in Skandinavia and 150km south of Stockholm.
They have a regular zoo-section there and a part where you can drive through with your own car - the safari park.
We get a ticket, read the safety instructions and soon we are on our safari ride. First we enter the section with the Skandinavian animals....but what's up here? All elks and deers are lying on the ground. We stop for a while thinking about how we could activate the lazy bunch... but then another elk appears in front of us. It approaches the others and all of a sudden all the others jump up and move around. Finally - several elks in full size and so close!! We sit in the car, excited like children and watch the scene. One elk even crosses the road right in front of us and yes, they are really huge, and beautiful, at least I think so. They have a very pretty head with big eyes and a sweet soft nose.
The ride through the safari park continues being adventurous. We pass the animals of the Savannah where a giraffe nearly manages to stick her head in our car, we pass a bunch of sleeping lions lying one meter away from the car and we drive through the part with the big brown bears and the wolves.
After our safari we stroll through the zoo and visit the rhinos, penguins and the monkeys and we watch a dolphin show. It's a nice day and the weather keeps up until the end so that we just manage to get back to the car before it starts to rain.

I was seeing elks - in full size. Mission completed :-)

A walk through Millesgarden

This Saturday we are planning a bike trip to the Island Lidingö to visit the sculpture garden of Carl Milles, a very famous Swedish sculptor.
The garden is beautiful with loads of amazing sculptures in all sizes, many fountains and a great view over the water.
The weather is really nice with clear blue sky and we are incredibly in love with each other that day :-)
We stroll through this amazing park, enjoy being together and of course we have a nice fika in the sun...... just a perfect day!

Difficult decisions

The second week I ease up a bit. Richard goes back to work on Monday and being on my own during the day is doing me quite good. I now have lots of time to rethink my study plans. I talk to several of my friends to hear some different opinions. I am so unsure what to do and I feel like I could never make up my mind about whether I should cancel it or not.
But I realise more and more that I don’t want to go to Maastricht, that I am concerned that this project is just too much.

But how for god’s sake am I supposed to cancel this? This cunning plan!
The more I think about it the more I realise that this cunning plan is not fitting me anymore. Now as I’ve moved here, now that I am living here I get more and more the feeling that the most important thing should be to actually BE here and to concentrate on getting used to here.
One of the points that attracted me most in the beginning was that my move here would be a bit more a step-by-step thing. I would not have to cope with everything at the same time. Well, but things change and being here doesn’t scare me so much anymore. More scary seems to be going away again soon having to cope with even more changes. And what outweighs even more is he fact that my integration here will be delayed for at least half a year.

Apparently a clear decision, isn’t it? But strange resistances are keeping me very hesistant. It somehow really hard to accept that I might have resolved too much. And even harder, to actually allow myself to take my time to settle down here.
To convince myself that I won’t be lazy sitting around and neglecting my professional advancement I sign in for a psychodrama course in Köln. That’s a good plan, I am really interested in psychodrama and I get the chance to be in Köln regularly.

Unfortunately the course is cancelled two weeks later... I’m very disappointed but at the same time I think maybe it’s not the right time to do something somewhere else than here...

Survival of the first week

The first week I feel completely upside down. Not one day goes by without me crying for at least once.
On Tuesday we try hard to sort out the kitchen, to have at least one room reasonably tidy before we leave for a short trip to Malmö on the next day. It’s not easy, of course all the cupboards I open are full with stuff. So a big sorting out is necessary and we have to decide about nearly everything whether we want to keep it (if it’s double, mine or his) and where it should be. In the flat, in the attic, in the bin or in some boxes for whatever.
On most things we agree quite easily but nevertheless the whole process quite puts me under pressure. My need to unpack boxes as quickly as possible (as I always did when moving, probably having my things around knowing where everything is gives me back some security) can’t be met as I need Richard’s help in every corner, apart from my wardrobe we bought a couple of weeks ago – it’s wonderfully empty :-)
So I get quite impatient from time to time, even though I know that he can’t sort out in three places at the same time. I’m sorry for being quite tense and stressed in these days even though he is doing such a good job trying to make space for my stuff everywhere. But it’s not easy to move from a flat of my own into a already inhabited flat and I realise that this is really a challenge, especially not even having a room for myself.

In between the whole unpacking procedure we spend two days in Malmö as Richard needs to be there. The first day it’s nice weather and we rent some hotel bikes to explore Malmö for a while.

It's a cosy town with a friendly and lively atmosphere and a very pretty centre with loads of restaurants and cafés.
In the evening we go out for dinner and while talking about our plans again my doubts concerning my Maastricht plans pop up. This time quite insistently. I slowly get the feeling that I maybe shouldn’t expose myself to another big change in such a short period of time. Another foreign country, another living situation, more new people...
The next day we try to explore Lund as we don’t fly back until the evening. It’s pouring with rain all day so that we are not keen on walking around very much. But it seems to be a nice little town.

The rest of the week we are busy with diminishing the amount of boxes in the flat. And we are doing quite well! For a change and to see something else we go to a barbeque at Aaron’s on Saturday. I feel strange and a bit alien, even though it’s a nice gathering.

It's been a tough week - but I survived it.

Last leg of our trip

The drive to Sweden was easy, driving through Denmark and then taking the long bridge which joins Denmark with Sweden. Passing into Sweden, an emotional moment for Caro, as we cross the bridge, and she entered Sweden for the first time… with the intention of staying in Sweden. There was a policeman just after the road toll station and he waved us down to talk to us. We wondered if he would want to look in the van… hoped not, as it was so full that things would fall out if we opened the doors. He asked if we had been shopping in Denmark. No I said, were moving my girlfriends things from Germany to Sweden. He looked at Caro and said “Welcome to Sweden”. That was nice… we drove off feeling personally welcomed in to Sweden. We drove to Karlskrona, one of the towns on the south east coast of Sweden and check into a hotel for the night. We celebrated my birthday with a meal and a lovely night together in our cosy big hotel bed. The next day we drove the last 500 km to Stockholm and arrived at the flat in the afternoon. We had some help to unpack the van from Josip and Martin, and this went very quickly. Soon we had a flat full of boxes, but we were home, and together. Caroline was very emotional and in the end it was all too much, she broke down and cried in my arms. She was tired and confused, but she had me and I was there to hold her and listen and love her for being here. The next day we began the job of unpacking.

A trip to Sweden

After handing over my flat and a last ride to the dump site we eventually leave Köln with the van on Saturday morning. Our destination is Kiel where we spend the night at my friend Anika’s house. I feel quite good and not as confused as I expected.
As usual the A1 up north is quite busy and just before Hamburg we manage to miss the turn to the Elbtunnel and end up driving all the way through Hamburg city.

But eventually we arrive in Kiel and spend a relaxed evening with Anika and Daniel.
Both Richard and I are very tired but it’s his birthday at midnight and I really want us to stay awake somehow. Can't wait to give him my present... ;-)

The next day we continue our trip. We arrive in Puttgarden in good time to catch a ferry to Denmark.
The actual leave from Germany by ferry I experience in the toilet... but anyway I could feel it that now, I am leaving my country.

After leaving the ferry we drive through Denmark until we reach the Oresundbridge.... the link to Sweden. But where were all the happy feelings as we eventually cross the bridge and enter Sweden??
I more feel confused and melancholy than enthusiastic.


We make it until Karlskrona after another 500km. We find a nice hotel and later on we go out for a birthday dinner at a restaurant in town and Richard finally gets his birthday card. It’s the first and a very special birthday as we are on a very special trip together.

The next morning we manage to hit the road pretty early. The last 500kms and I am even more contemplative at that day. The nearer we get to Stockholm the more confused I feel. How can I already miss my friends and my life in Köln? Shouldn't I be happy?

We arrive in the afternoon and Hannah welcomes us. It’s really nice and warm, perfect welcome weather! But nothing helps and finally I burst into tears. I hardly can keep me from telling Richard that he has to take me back again....
Of course I stay and we unpack the van and I finally feel slightly better when I view
my beloved kitchen cupboard in the kitchen and how wonderfully it matches with the wall colour.

Now I am here. With much more different feelings than expected - but I am here.

Thanks that we arrived safely.

Saying goodbye to Köln

The last few days in Köln were good fun. We spent some time packing boxes and wrapping paintings in bubble wrap. Josip was helping us and we wanted him to see a little of Köln during his stay, se we went out on the bicycles to see the city. It was quite warm and the sun came out for us. We rode round the town and Caroline showed us some of the places she knew well from her days at university, while she did some of the last tasks on her to-do-list. We decided we should include the cities Cathedral, the Dom, on our tour, which has been on Caroline and my list for ages too. The sky cleared as we arrived in the square and we parked the bikes and went in. It’s an impressive building and we climbed the endless steps to the top of the tower. It provides a fantastic view of the city and Caroline was obviously moved with the view and the moment, the last chance to see her city from this magnificent building, at least for the time being anyway.
On the Friday we moved the van to outside the flat and began the serious work of carrying boxes and loading the van. Lots of Caro’s friends turned up to help and soon I had a full time job in the van loading all the boxes and furniture. It was obvious it was going to be a tight fit and every possible space was filled in the van from floor to roof. In the end we had to leave a few things behind, but we managed to get everything important in. After cleaning the flat, we changed and went to Caro’s favourite bar, the Mexican, to meet her friends and say goodbye. It was a really fun evening with everyone turning up and chatting. They made me a Josip very welcome and spoke English all evening with us. Caroline was both happy to see them all and at the same time, sad to be leaving them. We got home quite late and went to bed to sleep on our mattresses and sleeping beds on the floor of the empty flat.
Josip got up early and left on his motor bike to ride bad to Sweden. We left a little later and started our first leg of our drive to Lubek. We stayed with her old school friend Anika and her man and family. It was a special evening as at midnight it was my Birthday. Me and Caro stayed awake and Caro gave me a wonderful present in the first minutes of the morning on my Birthday, it was a painting she had made especially for me… what a surprise, it was fantastic. She’s such a special girl and knows so well what I like. It was a perfect evening.

Last days in Köln - as seen by Caro

After moving out of my office in school and organising the last things there I am really off work now. Then the last week at home is quite busy. There is a lot to do and many people to see once again too. I have the girls around for the last dinner in my flat and we go out for a cocktail afterwards. Sunday afternoon my friend Markus is arriving. I am very pleased that he actually manages to come to visit me before I leave. We take the bikes and start a real Köln tour around town. We visit the large building sites on the riverside, ride into the Old town, have some Kölsch here and there and just enjoy „our“ town ;-)

On Monday I start packing boxes and in the evening then my old friend Alfred pops in. He is on his way back from Essen, where he just bought a new car. I take him to my atelier to pick up my last painting there. We go out and have a glass of wine together and have a good chat about his plans to get self-employed. I really like talking to him and I can sense that he is glad about my positive feedback. In the morning he sets off home, with a big painting of mine that he wants to buy. That’s cool as I won’t have space for this one anyway. I know that he really appreciates what I paint and therefore I am sure it’s in good hands.

After he’d left I continue my packing... still so many things in my flat.

Tuesday morning is as well the time when Richard and Josip are setting off with the van towards Germany. We get in touch from time to time to check how the trip is going. They share driving and manage to do the 1500km in one go – and arrive at around 5 o’clock on Wednesday morning.

The next days keep us busy with packing and organising the last things. I can even pick up my brandnew yellow bike!
The boys are a great help, even Josip is working all the time. He is so easy to get along with and such a nice person, I really like him. Wednesday afternoon Richard and he are driving down to the Nürnburgring to go on the track there with Josip’s bike.
We manage to do some „sightseeing“ as well. And I can again say good-bye to my city from high above as we climb up the 506 steps of the Dom!


Eventually it's Friday afternoon and we pack the van – quite a tricky project! We have less space then I expected and Richard is doing a very good job in packing it as effective as possible. But nevertheless a few things have to stay – the tv, storage racks and some plants... bye-bye.
After packing we clean the flat spick and span and eventually we are ready for the Mexican. I invited some friends to come around for a last Kölsch and very many pop up! It’s good to see them all on this evening. The good-byes are affectionate, a lot of big hugs and some tears too.

Is it really true that I am about to leave my place in only a few hours?

To the Nürburgring

Wednesday 27th June.
Checking the weather showed there was rain forecast for the following days. Josip and I decided that we should take advantage of the dry day and set off for the track. This was our plan for his Kawasaki, to go the Nürburgring race track and complete a few laps of the famous long circuit, called the Nordschleife. This 20km circuit is famous for its twisting path through the hills of the Eifel region south-west of Cologne. Josip and I left Cologne after lunch in the van and drove the 1 hour journey up into the hills. We stopped on the way to fill-up with extra petrol for the bike, which was strapped down in the back of the van. At the circuit we joined the waiting group of cars and bikes for the days open track session. You pay in advance for the number of laps you want and get a magnetic ticket which enables you to enter the track for each lap. We prepared the bike and Josip was first out, well it’s his bike! I took some pictures of the waiting area and the cars there. The lap time record for a bike is just less than 8 min. For un-accustomed novices like us, it takes about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on traffic. Josip returned from his first lap full of enthusiasm and surprised by the complexity of the circuit. The track is so twisting and un-predictable for a new comer. He went out on his second lap and I got ready to do 2 laps. When he came in I got on and set off on my first lap. It’s the first time I had ridden his Kawasaki on the track and it took a while to get used to the position and setup the mirrors. With all the porches and bikes on the track at the same time, it seemed pretty important to see what was coming up fast from behind. The track’s pretty daunting compared with the circuits I’ve been on in Sweden. The corners take every possible form, on hills up and down and every possible combination of camber and shape. With only a few laps to try it out, it’s not possible to remember all the turns and so much was again unexpected on my second lap. Anyway I did the 2 laps and it was good to have experienced the track that so many want to tryout. The session ended early because of an accident involving some bikes, so we had to settle for 2 laps each. But we were pleased to have had the chance to test the Nordschleife circuit. We packed the bike into the van and drove back to Cologne. Caroline was waiting for us and we cooked dinner and ate in the flat, chatted and then went to bed in good time as we were all tired.

On the road to Köln

Tuesday morning, 26th June, and my alarm goes off at 8… time to get up and get ready for the big trip, to go to Köln to collect Caroline and all her belongings and bring her and everything back to Sweden. Josip collects me at 9 and we go to the Statoil garage to collect the van. My friend Josip is driving with me on the way down and were taking his Kawasaki with us, more on that later. We throw our things into the van, plus my old sofa, which gets dumped at the tip on the way. It’s soon going to be replaced by Caro’s nice red sofa. We load his Kawasaki into the van and by 11 were on the road, on our way, only another 1400 km to go! We share the driving and have a plan to do the trip all in one go. Hit some rain in the middle of Sweden, but it cleared up as we got nearer the coast. We changed drivers every few hours and stop only for fuel and snacks. Its not long before were in Malmö and driving over the enormous Øresund Bridge, linking Sweden to Denmark. Its very impressive with its 8 km cable bridge, 4km artificial island and 4 km tunnel. Its two pylons are 204 m high and the highest in Sweden. We cross Denmark quite quickly via the islands and bridges and cross into Germany as it starts to get dark. As one is driving, the other tried to sleep a bit, but it’s not so easy in the front of a van. I called Caroline and told her we will arrive in the early morning and she was pleased to hear that we had made good time and was preparing for us to arrive. We filled up for the last time on the autobahn just before Cologne and drove into the city at about 4 on Wednesday morning. Josip and I were very tired and pleased to be parking the van and ringing Caro’s door bell. She was also sleepy but very please to see us. We all went straight to bed and had a long and much needed sleep.

Kiruna midnight sun

For some strange reason the heavy-haul railway industry decided to have its conference and exhibition in Kiruna. Kiruna is in the very north of Sweden at a latitude of 67.53 degrees North (the Artic circle is 66.33 degrees north). I suppose the fact that they have one of the largest Iron Ore mines in the world can contribute to the choice of location, so here we are to present our products to the industry.
I have never been quite so far north and as to be expected, there is daylight 24 hours a day as its summer and above the artic circle. Midnight sun is quite a special feeling. Having soon seen most of what can be seen in Kiruna, I decided to hire a car with my colleague and go and see some of the Lapland countryside. We drove over the mountains to Narvik in Norway, a 180km drive which takes 2 hours from Kiruna. It’s very pretty and the combination of snow covered peeks, reindeer, sun, snow, rain and great views make the drive well worth it. This view is of what’s called “Lapporten” which means door to Lapland.
Now I’m tired after 4 days here I’m and looking forward to going back to Stockholm and the coming weekend with Caroline, who’s coming to visit from Friday evening to Sunday evening.