Back in Brussels, again!

Today, I took the train to Brussels for a long weekend of work and fun. It is such a pleasure t to travel by train. Comfortable, quiet (compared to airplanes) and best of all – with a lovely landscape swooshing by outside the window.

Of course, it is also a pleasure to arrive to my old hometown Brussels and meet up with old friends. First out was Brian, who we got to know in Jerusalem. He was here temporarily before going back home to the US, so I was lucky to catch him.

We met at Place Jourdan for lunch at Friterie Chez Antoine, allegedly Brussels best frites-place. Next stop was one of my favourite little secrets in Brussels - the bar inside the airplane hall in the Military History Museum. You sip your Chimay literarily under a Junker 52 airplane, and with lots of more planes all around you. Excellent!

In the afternoon, we headed to my other favourite bar in town, the brilliant Moeder Lambic. This is a very relaxed neighbourhood bar on a corner in St Gilles. But they happen to have a mind-blowing selection of good Belgian beer (we’re talking hundreds of different ones here) as well as very knowledgeable staff. They also have some pretty pungent cheeses.

At Moeder Lambic, we were joined by Henrik, an old friend from the Sea Cadets that I last met 1987 or so. Now, he works at the European Commission and lives in Brussels. Later on, Marianne, Dagens Nyheters Brussels Correspondent, joined us, as well as Sara (who used to be a freelance here, but just started a new job within the press service at the European Parliament). Last in was Teresa. And, oh yes, an Irish friend of Brian showed up as well. All in all, we were a merry bunch sampling the delights of Belgian master brewers and talking about everything from old times to foreign politics and the relation between man and woman. A great evening!

Last summer day in Amsterdam?

Today we had what might well be the last real summer day in Amsterdam. A bright sunny sky and temperatures above 25°C made me close the office early and go for a ride in my boat. It feels so luxurious to be able to do that, just decide that today, the weather is to good to sit indoors, lets take a spin on the canals :-)

In the evening, I met Femke on a terrace (Bloem) for an Al Fresco dinner. This was especially nice as she leaving tomorrow for a long weekend in Albania, visiting a friend.

Berlin Berlin

I like Berlin. Ended up here several timnes the last few years for different stories, last time this winter. And now, it was time again for another story about what must be the most alternative capitol city in Europe.
This time, I was dead lucky with the weather - sunny and 25-30°C. Even enjoyed a bout at a city beach along the Spree, just behind a preserved stretch of the Berlin wall.

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 :-)

Dutch emigrants and cute cows

The last few days I have had the pleasure of visiting my Mother in Tyringe, Sweden. While here, I also visited a Dutch family for a story. It’s the result of a funny coincidence – when Femke and me were out biking in Friesland in Northern Netherlands for another story we stopped at a farmer’s cheese shop. It turned out that it was run by the family Hogendoorn, who were surprised to hear that I am Swedish – they had just sold there Dutch farm and were moving to a new farm in Sweden within weeks.

Today, I visited the Hogendoorns at their new farm in North-eastern Skåne. After three months in Sweden, they are slowly settling in. From having 80 cows, cheese manufacturing and a cheese shop, they have now shifted gears to having 220 cows. My visit will result in a story for the Swedish magazine Allas veckotidning.

You will find the photos from my visit at the Hogendoorns here.

Sailing in Bohuslän

First week of August 2009, I went sailing in the beautiful archipelago of Bohuslän on the Swedish West Coast. With me was my beloved Femke and friends Rut & Sander.

It rained the first three days, but then came sunshine and tropical heat. Unfortuantely, we had weak winds all week, but we still managed to do some sailing. And we met friends Lotta & Per and Morgan on the way.
Not to mention that we saw lots of seals, a few porpoises, a mink swimming between two islands, a rare Atlantic bird (I think it was a storm petrel) and a fish with its fin poking through the surface - I believe it to be a Sun Fish (mola mola).

You will find lots more photos here.