One for pure fun and one that deals with a very serious subject in a funny way!
It's the church preaching part that I like the most! :)
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
A Little Step Forward in the Fight Against the Sex Trade
I read that Nordic MEPs are trying to make its fellow (male) members of the European Parliament to set a good example by not using hotels that do not have an explicit policy against prostitution. 37 MEPs (out of 700 something) signed a letter addressed to the Parliament President stating "[We] strongly propose that the EU parliament without delay follow the Nordic Council* and decide that the EU parliament only use hotels that issue a guarantee that the hotel is not involved in the sex trade, and that all staff have written guidelines on this issue". The move is to particularly target hotels that turn a blind eye to what happens or even encourage it.
* The Nordic Council adopted a policy on prostitution and hotels in 2006.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Show & Tell: Walls
This week's - and Petra's last - theme is walls: "it could be anything from a beautiful wall, to what you have ON the wall(s), or what the wall say about you".
I want to write something political about brick walls and glass ceilings but I had such a nice, care-free weekend at the country house in such sunny, beautiful autumn weather that I don't feel like being that serious. So I will just post - re-post actually - a picture of my favourite wall in our flat. It appears that I don't really have anymore pictures of it since it came about back in early 2007 - a bit strange since it is such a favourite but so it is - so I will have to use the same wallpapering photo again.
I want to write something political about brick walls and glass ceilings but I had such a nice, care-free weekend at the country house in such sunny, beautiful autumn weather that I don't feel like being that serious. So I will just post - re-post actually - a picture of my favourite wall in our flat. It appears that I don't really have anymore pictures of it since it came about back in early 2007 - a bit strange since it is such a favourite but so it is - so I will have to use the same wallpapering photo again.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Healthy Smoke - UPDATED
Today the European Parliament decided on carbon emission levels for new cars from 2012. Even if the share of "green cars" has increased substantially over the last couple of years (partly due to a 10,000 SEK grant towards purchase), Sweden still has the oldest car fleet in Europe and desperately needs tough requirements to get rid of old, fuel-consuming cars. This means that when it comes to actual emissions, Sweden is worst in all of the EU.
Today's decision is important but unfortunately the Swedish government was successful in getting their particular demands through, namely to easen restrictions on flexi-fuel cars. Sure, flexi-fuel cars are "greener" than regular petrol run cars, but that is provided their owners actually fill them up with the greener fuel option. But since these cars can actually run on both biofuel, mainly ethanol, and traditional fuel, owners can easily get away with fuelling the old, regular way, and producers can keep on making cars that run on petrol (especially at the moment with ethanol prices competing with petrol for the most expensive position). And even if they do run on ethanol, ethanol isn't perfect either - it still emits carbon and then of course we have the issues of where it comes from but I won't go into that debate now.*
Greenpeace has made a very interesting and important point - I hadn't really thought of it that way before. The car producers and the politicians, including Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren talk about "green fuels" when these fuels are still far from "green". But car producers make it sound like these fuels are in fact good for the environment and healthy, i.e. not just a bit less bad but actual on the plus side so-to speak.
Last year the Swedish Consumer Agency reacted and stopped Kia Motors from using terms such as "in harmony with nature" and "environmentally friendly" in its commercials. The Agency said that "words like environmentally friendly in principle can never be used in the marketing of cars, since cars normally are a major stress on the environment".
But one year has passed and such slogans are now every day stuff. Words like "environmental engine", "environmental family diesel", "environmental champion" and "environmentaly nice" are common. Greenpeace also questions the car producers' choice of images in their marketing - they often use their slogans together with sun flowers, butterflies, forest, greenhouses and fields.
Greenpeace is consequently reporting 25 international car producers to the Consumer Agency for misleading marketing. Instead producers should be telling the truth, that cars have a more or less negative effect on the climate or are more or less energy efficient. Greenpeace argues that if the marketing doesn't change we will have "an impossible discussion - that about the environmental cars and the green fuels' environmental problem".
Today's decision is important but unfortunately the Swedish government was successful in getting their particular demands through, namely to easen restrictions on flexi-fuel cars. Sure, flexi-fuel cars are "greener" than regular petrol run cars, but that is provided their owners actually fill them up with the greener fuel option. But since these cars can actually run on both biofuel, mainly ethanol, and traditional fuel, owners can easily get away with fuelling the old, regular way, and producers can keep on making cars that run on petrol (especially at the moment with ethanol prices competing with petrol for the most expensive position). And even if they do run on ethanol, ethanol isn't perfect either - it still emits carbon and then of course we have the issues of where it comes from but I won't go into that debate now.*
Greenpeace has made a very interesting and important point - I hadn't really thought of it that way before. The car producers and the politicians, including Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren talk about "green fuels" when these fuels are still far from "green". But car producers make it sound like these fuels are in fact good for the environment and healthy, i.e. not just a bit less bad but actual on the plus side so-to speak.
Last year the Swedish Consumer Agency reacted and stopped Kia Motors from using terms such as "in harmony with nature" and "environmentally friendly" in its commercials. The Agency said that "words like environmentally friendly in principle can never be used in the marketing of cars, since cars normally are a major stress on the environment".
But one year has passed and such slogans are now every day stuff. Words like "environmental engine", "environmental family diesel", "environmental champion" and "environmentaly nice" are common. Greenpeace also questions the car producers' choice of images in their marketing - they often use their slogans together with sun flowers, butterflies, forest, greenhouses and fields.
Greenpeace is consequently reporting 25 international car producers to the Consumer Agency for misleading marketing. Instead producers should be telling the truth, that cars have a more or less negative effect on the climate or are more or less energy efficient. Greenpeace argues that if the marketing doesn't change we will have "an impossible discussion - that about the environmental cars and the green fuels' environmental problem".
In case you haven't really seen the problem with this yet, Greenpeace illustrates it well:
"If a cigarette manufacturer would market cigarettes with less nicotine as health cigarettes many would react. But not when car producers market less emissions as environmentally friendly."
UPDATED
Just to give you a few details from the decision. New cars will be able to emit a maximum of 130g/km of CO2 by 2012 and 95g/km of CO2 by 2020. This can be compared with the present average of 158g/km of CO2. Should carmakers fail to meet these limits they will have to pay a penalty of 20 euro for every extra gram emitted. Larger cars will be allowed to emit slightly over 130g/km but for Volvo and Saab, both of which currently produce cars that emit an average of 190g/km of CO2, much needs to be done.
The lighter restrictions on ethanol cars that I mentioned is in effect an exception designed in a way so that it currently applies to Sweden only: the prerequisite is that the country must offer ethanol (E85) at more than 30% of its petrol stations. Then ethanol cars sold in that country get a 20% "discount" on CO2 emissions - as long as it's not more than 25 grams/km.
* Also, for me it's difficult to see a huge SUV as a green car just because it runs on ethanol. We need to look at the actual emissions rather than the kind of fuel, i.e. output rather than input.
No Home, No Vote
I just read a very disturbing article in New York Times about Americans losing their right to vote because they have lost their homes in the current financial crisis. Lack of a valid address equals not being able to register to vote. And this does not just apply to homeless persons but also to people who have a new place to live but have not had the time - or thought (I guess you have other things on your mind when the bank takes your house) - to re-register under the new address.
"More than a million people have lost their homes through foreclosure in the last two years, and many of them are still registered to vote at the address of the home they lost. Now election officials and voting rights groups are struggling to prevent thousands of them from losing their vote when they go to the polls in November.
Many of these voters will be disqualified at the polls because, in the tumult of their foreclosure, they neglected to tell their election board of their new address. Some could be forced to vote with a provisional ballot or challenged by partisan poll watchers, a particular concern among Democrats who fear that poor voters will be singled out. That could add confusion and stretch out lines that are already expected to be long because of unprecedented turnout."
Full article here.
"More than a million people have lost their homes through foreclosure in the last two years, and many of them are still registered to vote at the address of the home they lost. Now election officials and voting rights groups are struggling to prevent thousands of them from losing their vote when they go to the polls in November.
Many of these voters will be disqualified at the polls because, in the tumult of their foreclosure, they neglected to tell their election board of their new address. Some could be forced to vote with a provisional ballot or challenged by partisan poll watchers, a particular concern among Democrats who fear that poor voters will be singled out. That could add confusion and stretch out lines that are already expected to be long because of unprecedented turnout."
Full article here.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Show & Tell: Music that Represents my Hometown
This week's Show & Tell theme is "a song that you think represents your town / region / country (home / adopted place of living) (use You Tube if possible)".
Monica Zetterlund's classic tune probably best represents Stockholm, my current hometown and in a way, the city that has been my second hometown from when I was young since Södertälje is part of the greater Stockholm area.
But I wanted to find some modern music from my real hometown Södertälje, so I googled some and found several good bands that I have never heard of. I couldn't find anything on You Tube but I can at least provide some MySpace links.
* Jane Gulliou (I like the name! For those who are not Swedes: it's because it's a joke on a famous author's name)
* Vanessa
* Fallenleafs
Södertälje is also hometown to the 1980s band Shanghai but I think I was a bit too young so I didn't really know about them until I googled for "Södertälje bands".
Monica Zetterlund's classic tune probably best represents Stockholm, my current hometown and in a way, the city that has been my second hometown from when I was young since Södertälje is part of the greater Stockholm area.
But I wanted to find some modern music from my real hometown Södertälje, so I googled some and found several good bands that I have never heard of. I couldn't find anything on You Tube but I can at least provide some MySpace links.
* Jane Gulliou (I like the name! For those who are not Swedes: it's because it's a joke on a famous author's name)
* Vanessa
* Fallenleafs
Södertälje is also hometown to the 1980s band Shanghai but I think I was a bit too young so I didn't really know about them until I googled for "Södertälje bands".
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Show & Tell Topics for October
I'm very excited because Petra has handed over the baton in the Friday relay to me! On popular demand I'm releasing the themes for the month of October so you can start thinking and planning your posts!
I have decided to do it a little bit differently - I'm that kind of person! So here goes...
3 October: If I were a man/woman (i.e. the opposite sex*) for one day, I would...
10 October: If I could change careers, I would...
17 October: If I were a celebrity, I would...
24 October: If I were a time traveller I would...
31 October: If I had to wear the same Halloween costume every day, I would...
I have left an open ending so that - let's say it's 17 October - you can pick a certain celebrity and write about who you'd want to be, or write about what kind of celebrity you'd be without specifying who. Or do something completely different. It's all up to you, as usual!
I'll end with something funny I read the other day:
Bread is bad
1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called “dough.” It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average North American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 240 degrees Celsius! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
12. Most bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.
In light of these frightening statistics, we propose the following bread restrictions:
1. No sale of bread to minors
2. A nationwide “Just Say No To Toast” campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of “bread-free” zones around schools.
* Though I think that all participants in the Friday Show & Tell are women but I could be wrong?
I have decided to do it a little bit differently - I'm that kind of person! So here goes...
3 October: If I were a man/woman (i.e. the opposite sex*) for one day, I would...
10 October: If I could change careers, I would...
17 October: If I were a celebrity, I would...
24 October: If I were a time traveller I would...
31 October: If I had to wear the same Halloween costume every day, I would...
I have left an open ending so that - let's say it's 17 October - you can pick a certain celebrity and write about who you'd want to be, or write about what kind of celebrity you'd be without specifying who. Or do something completely different. It's all up to you, as usual!
I'll end with something funny I read the other day:
Bread is bad
1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
2. HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.
4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
5. Bread is made from a substance called “dough.” It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average North American eats more bread than that in one month!
6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and osteoporosis.
7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
8. Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.
11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 240 degrees Celsius! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
12. Most bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.
In light of these frightening statistics, we propose the following bread restrictions:
1. No sale of bread to minors
2. A nationwide “Just Say No To Toast” campaign, complete celebrity TV spots and bumper stickers.
3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills we might associate with bread.
4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to children) may be used to promote bread usage.
5. The establishment of “bread-free” zones around schools.
* Though I think that all participants in the Friday Show & Tell are women but I could be wrong?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
US Road Trip Part 2: Philadelphia, Dover & Annapolis
Time for part 2 of our road trip. On this stretch of the trip we covered Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Dover (Delaware) and Annapolis (Maryland).
Day 4 - Thursday 31 July
Day 4 - Thursday 31 July
On our way to Dover, which was going to be our basecamp for the next few days, we stopped in Philadelphia. It takes 3-4 hours to drive from New York to Dover and Philly is about half-way there. I've been there before and we wanted to get to Dover by dinner time so we decided to just visit the historic district. One of the places we visited (well, the outside) was Independence Hall.
Another building we looked at was the Second Bank of the United States. Peter looks pretty small in between those pillars.
Our favourite street in Philadelphia is Elfreth's Alley, which happens to be the oldest continually inhabited street in the entire United States. The houses were built in the early 18th century, the oldest one in 1702.
Around 6 pm we arrived at the house of my aupair family, the wonderful family I spent over 8 months with back in 1996 and have visited almost every or every other year since then. Last time was October 2004 though so this visit was well overdue. I did see Kristin, one of the children (who's not a child anymore but almost 21) in Sweden at Easter when she visited from Denmark where she was spending a term abroad from her American university. She is the first one from the family to have visited Sweden (except for members of the extended family) so I'm still waiting for the others... It was a good thing that I did see Kristin back in March because she was away visiting her father in Texas during our stay and only got back around 8pm on the Sunday night (when she immediately asked if her new boyfriend could come over :)
Day 5 - Friday 1 August
We didn't take any pictures this day because basically we spent ALL day (well, we had a sleep-in too) at Dover Mall shopping. It wasn't even such a good mall but when the dollar is low...
Day 6 - Saturday 2 August
The original plan was to go with my host mother Karin and my aupair child Drew (who's no child anymore either but just turned 19) to the beach, however, we woke up to a thunderstorm and decided to go to the outlets by the beach instead and see if the weather cleared up later in the day.
We hadn't really bought enough at Dover Mall... And Delaware is the tax-free state and the outlets all had 20% back-to-school offers so we left the shops with as many bags as the day before.
The weather did get better towards the end of the day but we were just to busy spending money! We did take a walk along the boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach though.
Here's me with Karin and Drew in Rehoboth. Rehoboth (and the outlets!) is about an hour's drive from Dover so they have chosen a very good place to live in my view!
Day 7 - Sunday 3 August
Karin needed to do some chores at the house and Drew had to go work so Peter and I went by ourselves to the beach. I'm not too keen on Rehoboth so we went to Cape Henlopen State Park nearby instead, a place I have been to several times with Karin & co.
It didn't turn out to well in the photo - they were difficult to catch on camera! - but there were dolphins swimming around for hours! (The dolphins are behind the person swimming.)
In the evening we had a farewell dinner with my host family - Karin and her partner Steve and also Karin's mum and the kids' grandmother Barbara and her husband Vic. Drew was also there but arrived after the photo was taken.
Day 8 - Monday 4 August
Before leaving Dover and heading for our next stop, Washington D.C., we stopped by the Amish neighbourhood. The Amish really fascinates me and especially in Dover because the two communities - the Amish and "regular people" - live so side-by-side. I've spent so much time in Dover and I still want to go and "look at them" every time.
A horse & buggy next to cars in parking lots is a rather common sight in Dover, at regular supermarkets but especially at Buyler's, a shop run by Mennonites. By the way, if you're ever in the neighbourhood, Buyler's has delicious homemade ice cream.
Boy on an Amish style bike.
The Amish still farm their land the old way.
Amish laundry - these are pretty much the colours they use.
Washington D.C. is a two-hour drive from Dover. Half-way is one of my favourite American towns, Annapolis. And no, it's not the name, though I have to confess it appeals to me, but its colonial history and style and its waterfront location.
I especially like the cute little streets like this one.
Annapolis's main street goes down to the water although it's a bit difficult to see in this photo as the camera's focus is all on me! :)
And that's about it for this leg of the road trip! Next episode: Washington D.C.!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Wello
A lot of people (read Swedes) complain about the Swedish healthcare system even though we're quite high up on the international comparisons of "best healthcare". It's a bit like in "Sicko" - if you've seen it - where the American healthcare industry (politicians, pharmas, etc. in mascopy with each other, according to Michael Moore's argument) tries to portray, or at least in the past has portrayed, Canada or France as countries with long hospital queues and waiting lists for operations and the US system as one of efficiency and high quality care. Of course some of their arguments about Europe are true; the waiting time for a hip operation can be several months, maybe up to a year in certain cases (usually due to scheduled operations being cancelled), but emergency care, including surgery, is of course immediate.
I won't go into all aspects of different healthcare systems in this post, but I just wanted to tell you about my most recent experience with Swedish healthcare, one which was overwhelmingly positive. I started feeling my predicament (won't go into any details but I suspected urinary tract infection*) in the middle of the night and this morning it got worse. We were at a friend's house for a crayfish party last night and had spent the night** there, but on our way back I told Peter that I probably needed to see a doctor. He remembered where one of the city närakuter was, a sort of on-call health centre for emergency issues that are not proper emergencies (for those people are supposed to go to the E.R. (A & E for my British readers) ) and took me there.
We got there at 13.45. I went up to reception and said "I haven't made an appointment but I was hoping you could help me" (usually they prefer if you call first and tell them you are coming in). The receptionist nurse said "Okay, it depends what your problem is and where you live and where you're regular health centre is". So I gave him the answers and he told me that I was fine (there are several of this on-call närakuter and they prefer if you go to the one you belong to geographically so-to-speak). He told me to provide a urine sample, pay the patient fee (140 SEK ~$20) and then come back at 15.30. So I did and 2 minutes after I had entered the place I was out of there.
We went home, relaxed, had a cup of tea and went back there an hour later. We were a bit early but so were they so 15.25 the doctor called me in and told me me that yes, I had suspected right (he also asked me to describe my symptoms just to double-check I assume) and that he was prescribing antibiotics. He added that the nearest pharmacy was closing at 4pm so I still had time to get my medicine without going too far (as it was a e-prescription the pharmacy has the prescription as soon as he clicked on enter).
15.30 I was out of the health centre and at 15.45 I could take my first antibiotic pill. If that's not efficiency I'm not sure what is. Even if I had had to wait for 1½ at the place I wouldn't have been too upset. It's Sunday after all.
To go back to "Sicko", what's also so great about Swedish healthcare is that it is universal and available to all, not just to the insured, and there's no one who gets turned away at the door or don't apply for a certain treatment.
* Haven't had one before but have heard enough from friends to recognise the symptoms
** Together with another 9 adults and 6 children, with access to only one toilet...
I won't go into all aspects of different healthcare systems in this post, but I just wanted to tell you about my most recent experience with Swedish healthcare, one which was overwhelmingly positive. I started feeling my predicament (won't go into any details but I suspected urinary tract infection*) in the middle of the night and this morning it got worse. We were at a friend's house for a crayfish party last night and had spent the night** there, but on our way back I told Peter that I probably needed to see a doctor. He remembered where one of the city närakuter was, a sort of on-call health centre for emergency issues that are not proper emergencies (for those people are supposed to go to the E.R. (A & E for my British readers) ) and took me there.
We got there at 13.45. I went up to reception and said "I haven't made an appointment but I was hoping you could help me" (usually they prefer if you call first and tell them you are coming in). The receptionist nurse said "Okay, it depends what your problem is and where you live and where you're regular health centre is". So I gave him the answers and he told me that I was fine (there are several of this on-call närakuter and they prefer if you go to the one you belong to geographically so-to-speak). He told me to provide a urine sample, pay the patient fee (140 SEK ~$20) and then come back at 15.30. So I did and 2 minutes after I had entered the place I was out of there.
We went home, relaxed, had a cup of tea and went back there an hour later. We were a bit early but so were they so 15.25 the doctor called me in and told me me that yes, I had suspected right (he also asked me to describe my symptoms just to double-check I assume) and that he was prescribing antibiotics. He added that the nearest pharmacy was closing at 4pm so I still had time to get my medicine without going too far (as it was a e-prescription the pharmacy has the prescription as soon as he clicked on enter).
15.30 I was out of the health centre and at 15.45 I could take my first antibiotic pill. If that's not efficiency I'm not sure what is. Even if I had had to wait for 1½ at the place I wouldn't have been too upset. It's Sunday after all.
To go back to "Sicko", what's also so great about Swedish healthcare is that it is universal and available to all, not just to the insured, and there's no one who gets turned away at the door or don't apply for a certain treatment.
* Haven't had one before but have heard enough from friends to recognise the symptoms
** Together with another 9 adults and 6 children, with access to only one toilet...
Friday, September 12, 2008
Show & Tell: Flags
Petra's topic for today is flags. I'm working on my next roadtrip episode (yes, I promise!) so I will just do a short post today. I think one of the photos I (or it might have been Peter) took in Washington D.C. of the American flag turned out really well and wanted to share it with you.
The eagle is of course another well-known symbol for the United States.
As you might have already noticed I have now - finally - posted all photos in the first roadtrip post. See below!
The eagle is of course another well-known symbol for the United States.
As you might have already noticed I have now - finally - posted all photos in the first roadtrip post. See below!
Friday, September 05, 2008
Show & Tell: A Summer Memory & US Road Trip Part 1 New York
Thanks to Show & Tell returning after a summer break and Petra's Friday themes for September I'm able to present the perfect post: starting off my US roadtrip series under the heading "A Summer Memory".
Day 0 - Sunday 27 July
After a couple of setbacks - re-routing to Syracuse, NY, for refuelling due to bad weather where we ended up staying (on the plane as it's not an international airport and they are not allowed to let off passengers) for almost three hours and missing our connecting flight in Philadelphia and surviving a lifethreatening taxi ride from LaGuardia, we finally made it to New York and our hotel Helmsley Park Lane at midnight.
Day 1 - Monday 28 July
Despite the grand language on the hotel's site, the Helmsley probably had its heyday years ago. It is in a great location, just at the bottom of Central Park, and our room was big and nicely decorated, but it's a member of the luxury hotel group anymore. Hence we got a pretty good price.
Day 0 - Sunday 27 July
After a couple of setbacks - re-routing to Syracuse, NY, for refuelling due to bad weather where we ended up staying (on the plane as it's not an international airport and they are not allowed to let off passengers) for almost three hours and missing our connecting flight in Philadelphia and surviving a lifethreatening taxi ride from LaGuardia, we finally made it to New York and our hotel Helmsley Park Lane at midnight.
Day 1 - Monday 28 July
Despite the grand language on the hotel's site, the Helmsley probably had its heyday years ago. It is in a great location, just at the bottom of Central Park, and our room was big and nicely decorated, but it's a member of the luxury hotel group anymore. Hence we got a pretty good price.
Breakfast wasn't included though so we went to Sarabeth's for our first meal of the day. I had the Cheese omelette and Peter the Farmer's omelette together with the Pork & apricot sausage. If I had known the size of the omelette I probably would have ordered something smaller or split with Peter! We also went there for afternoon tea our last day in the city, but I think I prefer the breakfast.
After breakfast we took the subway down to the City Hall area. The plan was to walk down past Ground Zero and Wall Street down to Battery Park) and then take the ferry to Ellis Island.
We managed the first (and also stumble upon an electronics store Saltistjejen had recommended where we bought a GPS) but once we got to Battery Park the line for the ferry tickets was way, way too long. I wanted to stay for a while and see but Peter fortunately convinced me to return early the following day instead. So we walked north again along the waterfront up towards Tribeca and SoHo.
Then - after a few stops in the shops along lower Broadway - we hopped on the subway again and went to the rooftop bar of the Peninsula Hotel.
We were actually surprised that it's so difficult to find rooftop bars in New York, considering the city has so many tall buildings. But maybe views are so ordinary for New Yorkers that they don't need high sky experiences. The view - even if it wasn't very high up - was nice but the service was so-so.
After a drink we went to the Museum of Modern Art, MoMA. They have some fantastic and/or famous paintings there, for example a huge water lilly painting by Monet which spans a whole wall, and currently there is a Salvador Dalí exhibition there. We only spent one hour and half there so next time I'm in New York I'll have to go back. At the moment it feels like if I could just recommend one art museum I would have to say Guggenheim (which I visited on a previous occasion) but that might be because I didn't have enough time at MoMA. Next time I want to go to the Met as well but that's like a whole-day excursion like the National Gallery in London!
After MoMA we passed by some of the shops on Fifth Avenue but we were saving our money for tax-free shopping in Delaware! I liked the colours of the Louis Vuitton shop.
That evening we went to a bit of a touristy place, the Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The menu was a bit boring but the food was alright and the interior decor is kind of special.
Day 2 - Tuesday 29 July
Day 2 we rose early in order to get those ferry tickets before it would be too late. We were there around 8.30 or 9ish and was able to go right up to the ticket stand. Luckily we hadn't planned to climb the Statue of Liberty (we have both been there before although Peter's 14 year-old self got a bit claustrophobic and turned around halfway up) because those tickets were already gone - apparently you have to pre-order those online at least a day before. It's the same ferry for both Liberty Island and Ellis Island and I think we were almost the only ones - together with c. 10 other people - out of 300 boat passengers which didn't get off at the first stop.
New Jersey skyline
New York skyline
Ellis Island was so interesting! I've been to New York before but never had the chance or taken the time to go so this time I really wanted to tick this one off the list. For those of you who are not familiar with Ellis Island, the island was the first contact new arrivals, emigrants for all over the world, had with the United States.
From 1892 to 1954 Ellis Island was the portal that immigrants had to pass through in order to get entry to the country. 12 million immigrants arrived that way. Well, some people did not have to come via Ellis Island; first and second class passengers on the ships went through a smaller process on the ship and only had to go to the island if they got sick or had legal problems. In order to cater for all those arrivals, at the peak year of 1907, a total of 1.25 million, the island was enlarged from the original natural 3.3 acres to 27.5 acres by landfill from the city. Even if some arrivals had to stay for several weeks on Ellis Island - sometimes due to illness or because they were unaccompanied minors - eventually almost all were allowed entry and only 2% were turned away from the country. Reasons for denied entry was contagious disease or fear that the person would become a burden to the country. After 1924 the island was only used to immigrants that had problems with their paperwork or were refugees. In 1965 Ellis Island became part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. Between 1976 and 1984 it was open to the public but the buildings were now in a terrible state. After major restoration the island (or part of it) was opened to the public as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.
If you think you may have relatives that arrived to the US this way you can search on their name in the Ellis Island records and learn more about their story.
After our Ellis Island visit we took the subway up to Grand Central Station and walked from there to Rockefeller Center and Top of the Rock. If you like us have already been to the Empire State Building (on a previous visit) but still want to enjoy New York views, take the lift up to the roof of the Rockefeller Center. The views were great! There are three different levels and the lift is also pretty cool (I won't reveal why!). Before they allow you to go up they lead you through a little exhibition about the history of the building and take your picture dangling your legs on a plank on a skyscraper building site (you know, the famous photographs you can buy). Fun idea but for some reasons they have decided to do it in colour and it didn't turn out well at all. They should have done it in black and white like the originals. Needless to say we didn't buy a copy.
After Top of the Rock, it was time for a very exciting item on our agenda, a visit with fellow blogger Saltistjejen, a Swede (she's even from my hometown Södertälje but we didn't know each other then) who lives in New York these days with her husband M and baby daughter Ella. They live on the Upper East side close to the bridge to Queens so we walked over from our hotel (it was a bit longer than I thought but not too long) and got there just after 4pm. We had such a nice time - chatting, drinking coffee and eating ice cream, holding little Ella and stroking Lipton the cat - that if we hadn't really wanted to try a restaurant that Saltis and M recommended we would have stayed longer than the three hours we were there. We didn't want to overstay our welcome either but it seemed like they enjoyed our company as much as we did theirs.
The restaurant they recommended was Spice Market in the Meatpacking District. We had tried to book a table in advance but it wasn't possible the same day so when we got there we had to wait in the bar for an hour. But we definitely didn't mind at all since the drinks and beers on offer were well worth the wait. The interior is just so cosy and cool at the same time - Saltis has some photos from when she was there. This summary from New York citysearch sums it up so well:
The Scene - With teak pagodas, low golden lighting and a dramatic staircase carved into the center of the room leading down to the equally stylish bar, Jean-Georges Vongerichten has redefined exotic dining. The crowd--a sexy, well-appointed mix of downtowners, moneyed execs and occasional celebrity--is worthy of a wandering eye. Expert servers pad through the various dining areas with ease and grace.
The Food - It's billed as "Asian street food," but since the menu is a creative collaboration between expert chefs Vongerichten and Gray Kunz, dishes show unmistakable finesse. Shaved tuna and small tapioca balls--a playful substitute for roe--float in an addictive, tart-smooth pool of coconut water and kaffir lime juice. Remarkably tender short ribs are served with a sweet-spicy topping of chilies and onion. Even the green curry is nicely balanced and lush. For dessert, choose the ephemeral-yet-potent Vietnamese coffee tart partnered with condensed milk ice cream.
I can't really remember exactly what we had, except that it was delicious. The concept is that you share dishes even if you order a starter and a main course per person, so we took in at least four dishes (I think we were too full for desert). Unfortunately we didn't take any photos in the restaurant.
Day 3 - Wednesday 30 July
After two full days in New York our feet were quite sore from all the walking at this stage but we still decide to walk Central Park. And I mean walk the full length of it, not walk in the park. We took the subway to the very top, in Harlem, and then started to make our way south. After a while when you get into the very centre of the park and can't see any tall buildings or hear any street noise anymore, you start feeling really disoriented. I have a good sense of direction but one we were on the Ramble we could have easily "rambled" around if we hadn't looked at one of the maps around the park. But before we got to the Ramble we walked around in the beautiful Conservatory Garden, down past the Lake, Belvedere Castle, Bethesda Terrace and all the other sights the park holds.
In the evening we had made reservations for the Rainbow Grill in Rockefeller Center (most people will have heard of the Rainbow Room, which is the restaurant and ballroom dancing combo opened at the weekend). We very much enjoyed the view but we weren't too impressed with the food. It was good but we had expected more (like the quality of Spice Market) especially considering the price. I guess they live on their reputation, and the view. We were also a bit unlucky because there was a big group next to us which increased the noise levels substantially. Anyway, we can tick of the famous Rainbow Room on what-to-do-in-New-York list.
We finished the evening with a walk to Times Square, followed by a cab ride back to the hotel because now my feet really couldn't take it anymore! By the way, I'm glad to announce that New York cabs, or most of them at least, take credit cards nowadays!
Day 4 - Thursday 31 July
Sadly it was time to leave New York! To be continued...
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
The Enlightenment Missed a Few People
The USA can be a pretty strange place sometimes. Here's an article that gives a very good picture of the evolution v. "intelligent design" debate and science teaching in the US and shows that there are some excellent teachers (at least one) out there who are trying the enlighten American children! It's a very long article but you just can't miss it - read it now!!
If you don't get access to the article right away, just sign up for access, it's free and easily done!
If you don't get access to the article right away, just sign up for access, it's free and easily done!
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