Meetings and friends

Rise and shine! This morning I had lots more energy, so started early fixing the last things with Hypoxia, then sent it to the print shop. Always nice :-)
Met my old friend Krister for breakfast in Gamla Stan and then had a lunch meeting at Gondolen. If you haven't been there you should try it, their lunches are not much more expensive than others in Stockholm and service, food and views are all very good. I had some lovely wild boar.

In the afternoon I met up with former Kosovo colleagues Anders and Pettsson for beer and Raggmunk at Soldaten Svejk, my home away from home in Stockholm. We continued to Akkurat to check out their Belgian beers (as I am writing about Belgian beer bars we had to do thorough research) and here Micke, another old friend, met up. Ingrid and Pettsson had never tried geuze, so of course we ordered a beautiful oude geuze from Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen.

Somehow Micke and I ended up at Man in the Moon in the end, which was good for although the place as such is not very special they had a surprisingly healthy beer list, and also lots of vintage beer to reasonable prices. In other words an excellent opportunity to taste a 10 year old Chimay Bleue. Very interesting, with round sweet notes, almost a bit like sherry.

Sun, ice and work

I woke up somewhat tired today (how can jazz make you tired?) but the sun was shining from a clear winter sky so I had to get up and out. Like half of Stockholm, I took a long walk out to Djurgården. There is still ice on most of the waters in the city and people use it as a handy boulevard. Although I didn't dear to venture out after hearing about people breaking through due to the warming sun.
Instead I walked into Skansen and said hello to the animals.

But I couldn't stay out all day - there was still a few pages of Hypoxia that I needed to write and layout. So I ended up working until midnight. Everything for the art!

Yearly meeting and Jazz party

Today the Swedish Paragliding Association had its yearly meeting just outside Stockholm. Since I am the editor of their magazine Hypoxia, I spent my whole day listening to the proceedings. Although it is more interesting than you would think, and most people are really fun.

Afterwards I was invited for a salmon sandwich and a drink at Magnus and Jenny, two nice Stockholm pilots. Then we all joined Björn's fabulous party, complete with a four man jazz band! Now that's what I call a great party.

Belgian beer tasting in Stockholm

Tonight I arranged a Belgian beer tasting in stunning Stockholm. This time, it was not only stunningly beautiful, but also stunningly cold. Cue glowing, warming Belgian beer :-)
All in all we were 15 happy tasters, some friends, some paraglider pilots, some new faces. We started softly with a Maredsous 6 (blond), then continued with a wild shot, a La Trappe dubbel, La Trappe being from the Netherlands and the only Trappist beer not from Belgium.
As a tripel we retreated to the most classic in the genre, the Westmalle tripel (also a Trappist, from Northern Belgium).

After that we started to navigate the more unchartered waters of Belgian beer, although  no less beautiful. A Lindemans Cuvee Renée surprised the uninitiated being a Geuze and hence very sour (but also refreshing). The Vlaamse bourgougne/Oud Bruin-style Liefmans Goudenbrand was a new acquaintance for me, and a very pleasant one.
To round it off, we enjoyed the hoppiness of Houblon Chouffe, a beer from the charming little brewery in the Ardennes.

After lots of sniffing, tasting and comparing, we realized that the bottles were empty and the time was 23.45. So we did the only right thing - closed the tasting and walked over to Pressklubben, where we tried some more Belgians :-)

Belgian beer tasting

While in Stockholm, I arranged a Belgian beer tasting for mostly friends and fellow paraglider pilots. It's always a pleasure to spread the Belgian Gospel and see how the guests start to discover this new splendid universe.

We tasted following beers (in this order):
St Feuillien blonde
Chimay Grand Reserve
Westmalle Tripel
Oud Beersel Geuze
Bios Kriek
Orval

I was busy talking people through the tasting, but Fredrik Angrimer snapped a few photos with his mobile:

More friends, and a new license

Thursday was Svejk day. Soldaten Svejk has somehow turned into my inofficial office when in Stockholm. This time, Åsa, Susann and Margareta joined me, all friends form Jeruasalem. Femke came by later on as well, as did Björn, a paraglider. He seemed to enjoy joining my company of four cute girls.

In the weekend, we stayed in Krister's fantastic apartment in Gamla Stan, while he was in Göteborg. This time, we met mutual friends from around the world. We had dinner with Peter, an old University friend of Femke, and his sisters. They arranged a little tacos party in his apartment on Kungsholmen. Nice!

Saturday, we met up with Anna, another one of our dear friends from Jerusalem. We had a beer in the sun just by the water at Slussen. Unfortunately, I didn't feel well and had to go home. I tell you, it takes a lot for me to say no to a drink with two blonds on a terrace, I was really feeling very ill.
Later on, Lotta joined the girls (we have a lot of Swedish friends we got to know in Jerusalem) which I also missed :-(.

Luckily, I felt much better Sunday morning, when I went up early to go paragliding. Finally, I had the chance to take a towing licence, something I needed to be able to take the next, much more inportant paragliding licence.
Robert picked me up, and kindly borrowed me one of his gliders. We drove out to Härkeberga, outside Enköping, and what a lovely place.. A real idyllic Swedish summer landscape, with an old barn, green fields and swaying golden corn, forests and cliffs, some water passing by and even cute sheep. Lovely!
Björn and Fredrik showed me the inns and outs of tow-starting with a paraglider and then up it went, a number of times. So now I am a tow pilot as well :-)

Friends, clients and the Parliament

This week, I am spending in Stockholm. I try to go here every time I am in Sweden to meet my clients and the ever-increasing group of friends that live here.

I started with staying at Micke’s place, which is always fun. We met in Cairo 1992 and since then, he has come to visit me wherever I have been living in the world.

I also had the opportunity to have lunch with Peter, my old boss at UVM, and having drinks with paraglider friends, not to mention dinner and beer with Krister, Dag and Anne. Anne was my bodyguard in Kosovo, kind of, and Krister and Dag are friends from University. The same day, I visited Maxson and his Maria in their new home. It wasn't only the home that was new, they also had a new baby, Nelly, only three weeks old. Tiny!

Then, Femke came to Stockholm for a conference, and I helped her out with photos. She works for AWEPA, facilitating the development of African Parliaments and Parliamentarians with the help of Parliamentarians from different European Parliaments, This time, they cooperated with the Swedish Parliament, and that was also the location for the conference.

After the conference, I joined Femke and her colleagues for a drink at the Ice bar, then Belgian beer at Pressklubben. A very nice evening together with four lovely women :-)

Meetings and friends in Stockholm

Brian, me and Fredde

Now and then, I go to Stockholm in Sweden to meet my customers and pitch new ideas and coming stories. Today was one of those days. I had productive and positive meetings with three customers, then headed for my inofficial office in Stockholm, Soldaten Svejk, where I had the great pleasure to meet several friends I haven't seen for a long time.

First to arrive was Fredde, once my paraglider instructor and now an avid contributor to Hypoxia (the paragliding magazine I produce). Then came Susann, a Swedish diplomat who I got to know in Jerusalem. Next in was Brad, an American aid worker and also a fun friend from Jerusalem. He is now studying in Uppsala. Lotta came as well, yet another Jerusalem friend working for SIDA, and this evening "on leave" from her cute little baby.
The Jerusalem gang grew with Åsa, former UN and TIPG staff member, and Lotta, freelance journalist soon moving to New York.

We had a beautiful evening full of laughter, good food and Czech beer :-)

Winter-visit in Sweden

The last week was fun but busy. Tuesday morning, I flew to Sweden to combine some business with pleasure. First, the proof print of the next issue of Hypoxia had to be approved at the print shop in Lund. It looked good, so now it is being printed and should reach the readers in time, somewhere around 7 December.

In the evening, I had dinner with my mother, my sister and her husband. It’s nice to meet them again, and so much easier now, when we live in Europe.
As always, I stayed at Bonen’s place in Limhamn. Together with Kimmo, we went out for fika and then some fun on Wednesday evening, doing Malmö as if we were in Copenhagen. That meant going to odd, scruffy bars that we do not normally frequent. Fun!

Thursday morning saw me taking the train to Stockholm, where I had three meetings with different clients, then dinner at Soldaten Svejk (this marvellous place!) together with Lotta and Susann, both friends that we got to know in Jerusalem.

Friday was slower, with an early morning meeting, lunch with old friends Krister and Dag and then dinner at Lotta’s and Per’s place, with sound effects ©Sigvard, five weeks old. He is a little cutie, but sleeps even less than his energetic mother.
Waking up Saturday, Stockholm was dressed in white, and it was still snowing. I ventured out in the winter climate, walking to the old city to try out my new little back up-camera. At lunch, I had a fika with another freelance journalist (or, rather a former freelance, she works with copy now), then went for a museum visit. The evening came with another appointment at Svejk together with another Lotta, also a friend from Jerusalem and a journalist. We ended up spending many hours at Svejk, chatting away, enjoying the excellent beer and food and getting to know other people there.

Sunday was my last day in Sweden, and started with a relaxed brunch together with Anne, a friend from the peace-keeping missions in Kosovo. She reminded me of an idea about a childbook that I had, so now I have written a synopsis and contacted my illustrator-friend Micke. Who knows, we might even publish it.

On the way out to the airport, I stopped for a fika in a wintry Sollentuna, visiting Lena, Ulrik and their children Alexander and Carolina. This was my first meeting with Carolina, being only five months. A happy and smiley little girl!

Continuing to the airport, my train was delayed. Then my flight. The snow storm covered all the runways with snow, and they could only keep one open. That one quickly became to slippery and had to be treated again. In the end, I came to Amsterdam, to discover that the train didn’t go all the way home. Well, after almost seven hours of travelling, I did come home. My sweet Femke had some warm tea and a sandwich ready to cheer me up. She had spent the last five days in Paris on a conference, and came home just a few hours earlier.

Now, I am busy writing. Just about to finish a text about Belgian beer. Tomorrow, I might go flying at Wijk aan Zee, the forecast looks perfect. We’ll see how the weather develops.

Nostalgic in Cairo

Hello, back again. I am afraid I have been extremely busy lately, and neglected my private blog somewhat. Also, my travel blog for MSN takes a lot of time.

As usual, I have been doing a bit of traveling. Last week, I visited the big travel fair TUR in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was great to be back in the city where I once studied, and also fun to meet old and new friends in the travel business, and editors from the major Swedish travel magazines. Managed to sell a few nice stories that will keep me busy this summer. About what? Can’t say yet, but it is going to be fun.

I also met two old friends from University over a beer at the friendly Polish restaurant Kraków. It’s funny how little we change over the years – we agreed on that we were pretty much the same persons as when we studied together, more than 15 years ago.

Friday, I took the train to Stockholm and stayed over at Lotta and Per. Lotta used to work in Jerusalem, so that is were we met. Both of them are really nice and generous persons, and Lotta and her always cheery mood is dearly missed in Jerusalem.
Anna, another Swedish friend in Jerusalem, was also visiting Stockholm and staying at Lotta’s place, so we went out for dinner the four of us. I really enjoy keeping up contact with good friends like this, I find it a pleasure but also important. When you live an international life on the move, it is far too easy to loose contact with people, even if they are important for you.

Saturday saw me attending the Swedish Paragliding Association's annual meeting. I am the editor of their magazine Hypoxia (which I very much enjoy producing) but I have not been able to meet the board before. So this was a most fortunate occasion. The meeting was held in conjunction with a big adventure fair, where most of the Swedish diving industry exhibited. So I could say hello to a few old colleagues and friends from my diving years while there.

In the evening, I went to my favored Stockholm drinking venue, the Czech pub/restaurant Soldaten Svejk. Their beer is poured with utmost care and love, and of the very best quality. The food is recommendable as well, if you like the heavy cuisine of central Europe (which I do).
My old University friend (and nowadays customer – he asked me to write the travel blog for MSN) and regular Svejk-company showed up as well, nowadays a somewhat rare event since he lives on an island in the Mediterranean right now. Later on, Maxson, another friend from the University of Journalism, joined us for a glass or two. Fun!

I called it a day rather early, which was wise, considering I had to go up at four the next morning to go to the airport. Sunday was a looong travel day for me. First a flight from Stockholm to Vienna. Then another flight to Tel Aviv.
In Tel Aviv, the Israelis managed to call in 13 staff members just to arrange for my transfer between flights (something that is normally done without any staff at all other airports in the world). It took them an hour to figure out that I was not going to blow up any planes this time either. I mean, they check me in and out every time they see me at the airport outside Tel Aviv, which is very often. Paranoia is a strong understatement when it comes to them.
Anyway, in the end, they let me enter the airports waiting lounge, where I sat for more than three hours, before it was time to board my flight to Cairo. Landing there late in the evening, I took a taxi to the fancy Cairo Marriott Hotel on an island in the Nile.

So here I am, in Cairo again. There is a nostalgic feeling in the air when I walk the narrow and crowded alleys of the souk – I visited Cairo three times in the 90’s, but have not been back since. Most of it is exactly the same. Maybe the buildings are slightly crumbling somewhat more, maybe the traffic is a notch worse. But the same kind of wrinkly old seen-it-all men sit at the corner cafés, smoking their shishas (water pipes) and sipping their tea.
I like it.