by Per Svangren
When we were in a small beautiful town in Alsace, enjoying a moment at a street side cafe,all of a sudden there was a big fat pig passing our table. A man was walking his pig around, just as if he was a dog. People were stopping and watching and taking photos. And so was I, so I share the pig pictures with you now.
By Per Svangren
In La Londe ,just a few kilometers from the sea we found a lovely house, owned by a Swedish family. It has three bedrooms, a large kitchen and living room, and a marvellous view over the surroundings and the Mediterrian sea. It was my wife and I, our three children, and two of their boy/girlfriends.
The days started with a big French breakfast with new baked baguette, camember cheese, vegatables, eggs, marmelade, yogurt, juice and coffee. Eaten outside in the sun. We did have sun all seven days and a temperature just over 20 C.
Then we went away to the beach, for tourist attractions, for wine testings, shopping or whatever was on the program. A French three course lunch at 12 and then more activites. Back to house for dinner and relaxing. We are all very fond of cooking and eating good food and with an excellent chef in the family, we had wonderful dinners with wine from a vineyard we had visited during the day.
By Per Svangren
Not so common in Sweden are markets anymore. From time to time you can see markets here, but in France they are very common. Every week on Saturdays there is a market in La Londe, were we stayed. From early morning until mid day you can buy, olives, chicken, meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, cheese, clothes, records, candles, honey, glasses and so on. The market was very crowded and the lines were very long in front of the most popular sellers.
We spent a few hours at the market and bought olive oil, olives, fresh figs, cheese, bread and some wine. The fresh warm and newly picked figs tasted wonderful and were soon finished. After a small cup of coffee, we brought all our things back and had a wonderful lunch.
By Per Svangren
In the old wharf and harbor district a new part of London is growing. Around the Thames, houses are built. Houses with apartments and houses with offices. It is a very modern and beautiful new part of the city. When walking around ,some parts of Dockland reminds me of the feeling you get when walking in Manhattan. Huge skyscrapers of different companies are built high up in the sky. Everywhere you find small cafés and restaurants, crowded during lunchtime and after work. Here Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey have one restaurant each and we were visiting Jamie’s Italian restaurant. Very nice
The Docklands are connected with a new self going tram. And from the tram you have a fantastic view of the new part of city and you will see a top ntoch modern city growing around the river Thames. Here one can also find the London City Airport and the Olympic Village.
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (1874-1965) described himself as "an English-Speaking Union," being the son of Lord Randolph Churchill and the American heiress Jennie Jerome. He was educated at Harrow and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, and was sent to India with a cavalry commission in 1895. He won early fame as a war correspondent, covering the Cuban revolt against Spain (1895), and British campaigns in the Northwest Frontier of India (1897), the Sudan (1898) and South Africa during the Boer War (1899). Churchill had authored five books by the age of 26. His daring escape from a Boer prison camp in 1899 made him a national hero and ushered him into the House of Commons, where his career spanned 60 years.
In London a newly opened museum, you can follow his life from birth to death, via second world war, The Nobel Prize and so on. Here you also can see all rooms used during the war, bedrooms, offices, meeting rooms and so on. When walking around here you can feel the smoke of Churchill’s cigars, you can hear the bombs over and suddenly you are in the middle of World War II.
By Per Svangren
What to see in London? A lot if you are here for the first time, less and less for every new visit. I have been here so many times in my life, so when walking around I just took some pictures for the blog of tourist attractions. Two quite new things are The London eye and the Churchill museum. New compared with Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and so on. London Eye is a huge Ferris wheel with a height of 135 meters. And the Churchill museum, is tomorrows blog as it is a lot to say about it.
So for today, just take a sightseeing tour with these pictures
By Per Svangren
Many years ago, London’s richer people, maybe mostly wives of rich men, spent the afternoon having afternoon tea. Today there still are some places serving afternoon tea. We went to The Ritz and had afternoon tea, or coffee for me.
So dressed in a suit and tie and proper shoes we sat down for a relaxing afternoon, feeling that we had travelled back in time. Polite waiters and very beautiful surroundings with gold, flowers, mirrors and in the background a piano player, playing light music.
Afternoon tea is divided into three parts, except from the tea drinking.
First sandwiches, cheese, turkey, salmon, cucumber and so on and then warm scones with clotted cream and jam. To finish it all, different pastries.
So very full and very satisfied, we took a very long walk afterwards.
Early morning, we went away from a dark fall cold Stockholm, with British Airways to London. We, my mother, my sister and myself. Thursday to Sunday in the capital of England. My mother just had her eighties birthday and this was a present to herself to go to London with her children.
Early in the morning, on a dark cold fall day, we left Stockholm. We, being my mother,sister and myself, to spend Thursday through Sunday in London. My mother has just had her 80th birthday and this was a present to herself,to go to London with her children.
So let's start today's talk from the air. Sitting in the plane, we are just being served breakfast. Somehow my thoughts are mulling over the differences between SAS and Bristish Airways, and all other airline companies one has to choose from. So why did we choose BA instead of SAS? Us being Swedes, we should have chosen SAS. I must say in this circumstance that price comes first and when you also get better service, it's a win, win situation.
When I fly internationally, I always go with SAS. One for the bonus points program and two it feels more personal, when using the same thing you are used to.
It's been a long time since I flew with BA and now the idea of choosing other airlines is mulling itself over in my head. I won't always just leap to SAS anymore.
British Airways had a very fast check in, very friendly staff all the way through from check in to stewards. Lovely, free breakfast with coffee and juice, for all passengers. The plane took off on time and landed 10 minutes ahead of schedule.
So what are your experiences with different airline companies and what are your thoughts about waht is important when choosing which airline you fly with?
Did I get your attention?.....thought so.
Well this is what Per called these pictures. As we were driving our way through Sweden, taking photos for the book I can't talk about yet, I noticed that there were "P" signs in the oddest places, in fact there were little signs and huts in completely deserted areas.
When questioning Per about the signage in the middle of nowhere, I was told that these are bus stops. In Sweden, you can get from the middle of god nowhere to somewhere. Just stand by the sign or in the hut and a bus will eventually come and cart you off to someplace.
Another type of "P" picture is along side of the road with a place to park one car....maybe a car and a motorcyle. These signs are for the ever foraging Swedes,I guess that makes sense, I'm in Sweden. Swedes, love to stop and go into the forest and pick the berry in season or like now ,hunting for mushrooms. Nature is a big part of Swedish culture and because of the "right to roam" people stop on the way to here or there and enjoy nature and what it provides. It's also to stop and have a coffee break with some sandwiches, or the preverbial car breakdown.
Okej.....then there is the science of "P". What's this you ask? Each city or area has it's "Parking" rules. As a general rule I don't drive in Stockholm so I'm completely unaware of how to manueuver parking there, but the island of Gotland has a little system which is in a complete genre of "P" pictures in and of itself.
On Gotland we have these little parking cards which we display in our front window. You place the marker on the time you arrive. Depending on the sign, you have to return to your car to turn the marker again.
Do you see this sign here? It's telling you exactly what you to do. You can park here for two hours, between the hours of 9-6 pm. So every two hours you have to go and change your parking card.
This parking spot is for 24 hours. You just leave your marker on the time you arrive and you're good to go for 24 hours. You will have to move your car after that time though.
This sign has extra instructions......the times in parantheses will let you know that on saturday and sunday you have to change your parking marker as well until 2 pm.
Ok.....I think that covers pee pictures for today.
"I didn't think the town really existed" James stated in the din of the conference. "I really thought it was a town in children's stories." I was really suprised to find it."
We weren't. We left early on a Tuesday morning,passing all of the incoming traffic into Stockholm. We had agreed that our first stop would be Söderköping. Little city of the Göta canal. It was still so early that everything was closed, but that didn't matter. It was perfect for taking photos, and having a coffee.
While walking by this little stream we found a lovely and cheap cafe in the kyrkogården. There we had cinnamon buns,coffee, and a lovely and kind conversation with the caretaker. It was a lovely way to start our "Sweden in a day" tour. More of that to come.......
