Our hard working friends

Today we have been going through the forest and crossing frozen rivers with these sweet and strong animals. We enjoyed a warm sauna after dinner, before heading back to our small cabins. The wolfs and the lynxes were luckily hiding and the bears did not wake up from their winter sleep. Our second tour soon starts and we will have another run and a good cuddle with the husky-dogs.

             

The ice hotel

 

Kiruna by night

Umeå - Boden - Kiruna

I do still enjoy it.

Ume-å

I spent something like 15 hours in Umeå (no problem if you don´t know how to pronounce the last letter: skip that and you will be taken for a local) and I mainly slept during this time, but the city definitely made an impression on me. If you would like to hug a tree, there are some beautiful birches in the city that I could recommend, and Umeå is actually often referred to as the city of birth trees. There are a couple of wooden houses too, that I could imagine living in, and some nice stores and cafés. Thank you Anja for your tips!

Linköping - Umeå

I really enjoy the traveling in Sweden right now! I have not done so much of this during the last years and it is as adventurous to me as going to countries far away. It is a bit crazy this train journey, to travel throughout Sweden, from Malmö to Kiruna and back, but I enjoy it! So far...

My inter rail pass pays off. :)

Hej Stockholm

Hej sunshine

Malmö - Linköping

I am on the road again and I love it! You can travel from Malmö to Linköping in less than three hours by train which was a perfect start before the two monster days on the train: Linköping - Umeå and Umeå - Kiruna. 

Babettes, the sweetest café in town if you should believe Ellika, and she uses to be a reliable source. It was good seeing Ellika again and travel back in time to the life as a student and a cosy one room apartment with wise sayings as wall decoration. Me and Ellika also shared some wise thoughts, perfectly combined with dreams and everyday updates.

To put students on bread and water

The mud-monster

The "skånska myllan" is the definition for the soil and nature in the southern part of Sweden. There is quite a lot of this "mylla" surrounding Malmö. During this time of the year, it does not look very uplifting either on this picture or in reality, but if you are in good company and if a white dog joins you, looking like a mud-monster after a walk, then it can actually be very enjoyable.

See you soon eranthis hyemalis

I will soon say goodbye to the first yellow spring signs in Malmö, traveling to Kiruna far up north in Sweden, where the reindeers live and where the hotels are made of ice. And even though I love spring, I am not done with winter yet, so I am really looking forward to snow and cold. See you in about two weeks, dear eranthis hyemalis. I will then be ready to enjoy the passing of winter to spring and embrace every sign of this season.

What I am doing these days

I really enjoy the balance between discovering new places and being home in Malmö. These days, between my Germany-Austria trip and my upcoming trip to Kiruna, I have mostly just been hanging around. Not so much upside down, but in sofas, armchairs, trains, cafés and peoples' homes.

All you need is love and a dog

Café knus is the place to be if you would like to bring along your dog for a "fika" in Malmö. Ashi liked hanging out with all the other dogs, Alfons could not make up his mind whether to enjoy the company with the dogs or not and me and Sophia enjoyed the socialising, beside taking care of child and dog. 

From Copenhagen with love

One of the things I wanted to do during my time in Malmö was to discover more of Copenhagen. Yesterday me and Anna did so by hanging around in Nørrebro where Anna is teaching tango. This area is one of the more multicultural and hip districts of the city with lots of interesting restaurants and small inspiring stores. We ended the tour by going to Cirque du Soleil. Wow, such a beautiful fairy tale! 

Världens finaste Anna!

The importance of semlor

Today was “fettisdagen", the last day before the fast. This day (and actually ever since Christmas…), a tradition has developed of eating buns, called “fastlagsbullar” or “semlor”. We baked the buns just before midnight, so we had to hurry up in order to eat the semals when it was still “fettisdagen”. Well, it was not very easy to hurry up since Anna had her mixer (to whip the cream) in one of her 100 moving boxes… So when we saw a girl coming home, living in the same house as Anna, we asked if we could borrow hers, which we could. We invited her for a semla and this was how we got to know Emelie. 

A small adventure

Leonin, you would have loved this day: 12 hours by train from Munich to Malmö, including an hour on the ferry from Germany to Denmark. I spent the first half of the trip with my computer and the second part reading. In between I was changing trains, waiting for a while, observing people, observing nature out there, thinking about the beautiful days I have behind me and looking forward arriving to Malmö again.

Not only me was longing for someone...

The best picnic you can imagine. Made by Susi. 

Vienna - Munich

I said goodbye to Vienna and my dear cousin today for another five hours on the train to Munich visiting Sven and Susi. They must be one of the sweetest couples that I know, with a sweet little daughter who likes the cobra pose, eating rice crackers and biting people. Hard. They live in a small and cosy apartment, quite similar to mine in Switzerland, with lots of adorable details, with books ordered by colour and a very inviting atmosphere. So let me know if you go to Munich, and I am sure Susi and Sven will invite you to their 50 square meters. 

Somewhere in-between Salzburg and Munich

My sweet picnic

Im Apfelstrudelland

Nina told me, Austria is the perfect country for deserts, and she was right. It is! And not only the desserts, but also the cafés as such, and the restaurants, traditional cafés as well as newbies. Emelie took me to some really nice places that definitely suited my taste and every time I thought, wow, I really like this city. We found a couple of nice stores as well. I can't believe it's true, but without me doing any shopping.



We of course spent some time in Emelie's sweet apartment as well. This Saturday evening we decided to have sushi at home, combined with "melodifestivalen". This was a great combination. Or "myskväll" as you would call it in Swedish.

Bratislava

Today me and Emelie visited Bratislava, and we did not fall in love. Last time I visited this city was about 15 years ago, on an interrail trip through Europe. I have a tendency to embellish reality and remember places to be more interesting or beautiful than they are, and I think this is what happened with Bratislava. Or maybe the season made the difference with winter instead of summer. Or was it the fact that it was Friday the 13th? Or maybe because my cousin almost got robbed... One lady tried to distract Emelie on the bus while another person opened her bag, trying to steal her mobile phone. Luckily I could stop her from doing so, but nope, there is no hero in me. I felt shaky for an hour after this incident.

Big city life

I have arrived in Vienna and enjoyed a sunny day in the Austrian capital. Servus Österreich! I have been observing birds (@Nadine), trams, people, art, huge buildings, small shops, the blue sky, the shining sun and simply enjoyed my life this February Thursday.

Freedom

Wednesday at lunch time, but still morning for me. I feel a bit dizzy due to lack of sleep, but luckily I don't need so much of that for now. I am sitting in a wonderful café in Salzburg, being the only one here typing on my computer, surrounded by people reading the newspaper. Since I can catch any train with my Interrail ticket, I will stay here for a while before I continue my trip to Vienna. Life feels so luxury right now and I really enjoy all the freedom. I am a bit behind with this blog, but I will catch up on the train and soon share a blog post from the days in Wiesbaden and Munich.

Beautiful in all aspects

The sun, the snow, the hotel room, the breakfast, the cat we met on our way up to the castle on the hill, the view, the Alps, the clouds, all the laughing, the café, the hugs, to run along the river and the sweet company that I can't wait to spend many many more days with. 

Grüss Gott

We have arrived to Austria and have been greeting God a coupe of times.

If I had a flirt with Beethoven in Bonn, then I had a more intimate meeting with Wolfgang Amadeus here in Salzburg, waiting for me in the bed at the hotel.

Sending some love to Wiesbaden

I have only very few pictures from our days in Wiesbaden, which is probably just proving that we had such a good time talking a lot, enjoying our sweet hotel and the sunshine in Wiesbaden which is actually quite a nice small city. Sometimes I have the feeling I should give Germany a little more love, and today I did so.

Bonn - Wiesbaden

I am back on the train. This time from Bonn to Wiesbaden which was a beautiful journey along the river Rhein, with hills and small castles. Saying goodbye to Nina, but saying hej to my yoga girls a couple of hours later. I got to know Linda, Ligaya and Susi as we were visiting a yoga retreat in Italy, among the beautiful green hills in In Sabina, four years ago and we have met several times since then. Wiesbaden is probably the most unusual place where we’ve met so far, but the idea was that all of us could go by train, so we just pointed on the map and chose the place between Zurich (where I was supposed to live at this time…), Utrecht and Munich and that place was Wiesbaden.

February Friday in Bonn

I really enjoy being in Germany and today was a beautiful day in Bonn. I am sorry my dear German speaking friends, but it was not the German language that made my day, but the company with Nina, Juri and Sharmila, the hospitality of Uwe and Anna, their cozy home, a student writing love letters for Valentine’s day, adorable houses in the Südstadt (a quarter in Bonn), finding a mouse path, visitng Café Blau, Café Lieblich, and the Friday feeling that I haven’t had for a while. I also hung out with Beethoven at the Münsterplatz and had a flirt with the sun. Not too bad for a February Friday, or what do you think? 

On the road

Home is an important place, but there is definitely also a wanderer in me. I love being on the road again, with an interrail ticket in my bag. I look forward to see some really nice places and meet with good friends during the next weeks: Bonn is the first stop, visiting Nina, Juri and Nina-parents, followed by Wiesbaden where I will see my dear yoga girls, Munich and Salzburg with that special someone and then finally Vienna where I will visit my dear cousin.

I admit it will be a bit too much time on the train, but today I enjoyed the slow pace with music, my book and salta katten. 

Time

It has been a lot of traveling this week. Today I went to Vittsjö for another reunion with my parents, my dear August and the forest. The luxury of all the traveling during a sabbatical is that it doesn't matter if the train or the bus has a delay: I have time to wait. It does not even matter if you miss the train or the bus, long queues does not matter and it does not matter if you sleep away the day. My relationship to time has changed. A big luxury, I must say.

Copenhagen in slow motion

Copenhagen, the beautiful capital of Denmark where life feels a bit more easy-going than in Sweden (except for the language I would say). With a journey time of only 30 minutes, Copenhagen is a bit too close and too familiar for an overnight stay and that´s exactly why we went here. Because it is nice to discover a place you are familiar with in a different way: to wake up in a nice hotel furnished in beautiful soft colours, to count the falling snowflakes from the bed, to stroll through the city without a clear destination, to have "fika" in the royal café, lunch in a simple restaurant since it is always good to keep the balance, get inspiration from observing people and visiting stores and all this with the best company you can imagine.