US Road Trip Part 3: Washington D.C.

We arrived in Washington D.C. around 2.30pm and were very happy to see our stylish hotel, the Palomar, located by Dupont Circle. We had managed to find a good price for an executive room, almost as much as a regular double room.

As you can see I look pretty happy and I also match the interior pretty well! :)

The bathroom was not too bad either!

Old restored colonial houses towards a modern background. There is a name for the neighbourhood/street but I can't remember it or find it - anyone knows?

Almost the same time we arrived at the hotel, members of my extended aupair family arrived as well (they live in Virginia Beach, about a three hour drive from D.C.), and we headed out on the town with them. Here's me with Amy and her children (from the left) Ella (10 years old), Kyle (15) and Jack (12). Amy used to be married to my aupair mother's brother so these are the cousins of my aupair children. I have known them since Kyle was 3 and Jack newborn and Ella wasn't even born, and Amy and I have become close friends! Amy and Kyle visited me in Sweden about five years ago and the last time I met up with them was in October 2004, which as the last time I was in the US before the trip this summer.

We walked A LONG WAY that afternoon, from Dupont down to the White House along the Mall past the Capitol and up to Union Station where we took the Metro back to the hotel. The kids didn't complain a single time, well, towards the end when they were getting tired and hungry. The 15-year-old talked to Peter constantly throughout the 3-hour walk while Jack kept to the side - as illustrated by this photo. You could tell he was listening but he's in this (pre-)teen mood.

I think the Capitol is such a beautiful building.

Capitol detail.


This is one of my favourite photos from the trip (taken by the Capitol lawn).

Ella was so funny taking photos with her mobile phone constantly - and concentrating hard!

Animal life in the capital.

In the evening, after dinner at a Thai restaurant, the grown-ups had a few drinks in the hotel var while the kids watched a movie in the room.

The next day we jumped on one of these hop on-hop off sightseeing tours, which took us past National Cathedral (pictured) and through Georgetown where I have never been before.

The trolley also took us down a street in D.C. that houses almost all embassies, for example one with a statue of Winston Churchill - guess which one! :) We also passed by Sweden House, which is not in the ambassadorial street but down in Washington Harbour (I didn't manage to take a picture of it though).

We also went past all the sights we had seen by foot the day before - the White House, the Capitol, etc. - but I'll spare you another set of photos. A new building for us though was the US Supreme Court of Justice. A grand building that was unfortunately covered by scaffolding when we were there.

We got off the tour bus in "museum street", the road that runs along the Mall and has all (or most of) the Smithsonian museums. Peter went to the Air and Space Museum (and for example saw the capsule that landed the astronauts from one of the Apollo spaceflights back on earth) but the rest of us had been there before so we went to the Holocaust Museum instead. It was actually Kyle and Jack who wanted to go there, otherwise I hadn't even known about it! Unfortunately we only had two hours there as Amy & the kids had to get on the road again, otherwise I would have stayed three or four hours. I think that is what you need to really see it all. It's one of or maybe even the best museum I have ever been to so if you're going to D.C., it's a no-miss!

After Amy & kids had left, Peter and I hopped on the trolley again and saw the Jefferson Memorial from afar...

...and went past the World War II Memorial (there is also a Vietnam memorial as well as a Korean War memorial but I have seen those on previous visits so we skipped them).

The Lincoln Memorial is a must of course!

And a visit with President Abraham Lincoln himself! He sure was a tall man!

Here's the view of Washington Monument and the Capitol from the Lincoln Memorial. The picture is pretty dark but the weather wasn't as bad as it looks, it was just very grey and we did get a few drops of rain later in the early evening when returning to the hotel.

The final stop on our tour of D.C. was Arlington Cemetery where many American soldiers are buried. Initially all Americans who had served the country were buried there but as they were running out of space they changed the "rules" so that only those killed in battle are given their final rest in this cemetery.

Presidents qualify as well of course. This is - I dare to say - the most famous grave at Arlington Cemetery, that of John F. Kennedy, where an eternal flame burns.

Jackie Kennedy and two of their children (those that died as infants) are buried next to JFK.

One of JFK's famous quotes.

Another well-known tomb, that of the Unknown Soldier.

That evening, our last of two in D.C. we met up with my friend Nonna (whom I met at Oxford), at Kramer's Café Kramer's café. I hadn't seen her since November 2004 so that was fun!

Kramer's had some fun drinks on the menu but we were too full to try one :(

After Kramer's we went to a pub where we saw this funny sign.

The next morning we got up at 6am to drive up to New England! To be continued...

For Those Obama Supporters Out There

Courtesy of Towleroad.

I'll Take Half a Cup

I am 52% Addicted to Coffee

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Dating Sites

Boring Angel

Only 20% evil. Not sure I should be happy or sad?! One of the questions/statements was interesting: "You don't believe in God". I guess that means that any person who doesn't believe in God is evil, at least according to whoever made the test.

You Are 20% Evil

You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm. Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want!

How Evil Are You?

Show & Tell: If I Were a Man for One Day, I Would...

As it's my turn to decide the Friday themes this month I should probably live up to it myself and post on a Friday and not on Saturday or Sunday as per my usual habit.

These are just things that came into my head when I thought about the topic, in the order of their appearance.  If I were a man for one day, I would...

• go out on the town and see how (because I'm sure there is no "if" there) people treated me differently
• not bother to shave since I was only a man for one day anyway and how much could it grow in one day?
• go to the guys' locker room to see a bunch of guys naked at the same time (this would appeal to me since I would still be a woman inside)
• have sex so I could feel how it is on the other side so-to-speak *hihi*
• not have to queue very long for the bathroom
• attend a job interview or a negotiate a pay rise to see how employers treat men and women differently and hopefully learn something from the experience
• not be able to say "no, I'm not very strong" if a friend asked me to help him/her with moving heavy furniture or other heavy lifting
• eat whatever I wanted and not worry about gaining weight (well, that doesn't apply to all men but to more men than women at least)
• fall asleep as soon as I put my head on the pillow (at least the man in my life can do that but it may just be a personal trait and not a man-woman thing)
• enjoy thinking like a man for a day and hopefully learn something from it for the future
• sport a short, easy haircut that didn't need much tending to
• get paid much more for that day's work (well, perhaps not at my current job, but for many woman around the world that is the case)
• walk around bare-chested without doing anything illegal
• propose to my girlfriend
• take an intelligence test and see if I scored any differently (probably worse of course) 
• hang out with the guys and see what they talk about
• not having to worry about putting on makeup

When I googled "if I were a man/woman for one day" I found some great quotes:

"I don't know, if I didn't have the 'male perspective' it would probably just be another ordinary day."

"Well, I'd get out and have a little fun with my new 'disguise' (at least for the time being)."

"If I were a man for a day I would wear a really expensive suit and just enjoy the different power dynamics of interacting with people."

"I would get rich and famous being the '1st man to actually change to a woman - supernaturally'."

"Knowing my luck it would be that time of the month."

"I would do the hip-circle-dance and swing it all around like all men do after their showers."

Two More Great Commercials

English translation: "Did you know that more than half of children's communication consists of..."



The next one starts like this:
"Did you know that parents don't say 'yes' to their children as often as they say..."



Both commercials end with "For more ways to communicate with your loved ones, go to Telenor..."

The Best Commercials Right Now!

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! :)

The Better Palin

Found this over at Aussie Kicki's!

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.

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.

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".

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.

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".

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?

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

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.!

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...

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!

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.

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...

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!

McOld

McCain might have chosen a running mate who's young and a woman*, but it doesn't change the fact that the McCain team is an old** ticket.

10 things younger than John McCain, according to GQ Magazine and thingsyoungerthanmccain.com:
1. ISRAEL: Born in 1936, McCain was 12 years old when the Jewish state as formed in 1948
2. McDONALD'S: Opened in California in 1948
3. ALASKA: Became the 49th state in 1959. McCain is older than Hawaii too.
4. NYLON: The synthetic material was first used in a toothbrush in 1938
5. THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE: Completed in 1937
6. THE DANDY: The comic premiered in the shelves in 1937
7. BALLPOINT PENS: The biro was patented in 1938
8. THE FIRST COMMERCIAL: The Bulova Watch Company aired the first ad in 1941
9. SCRABBLE: Patented by Alfred Butts in 1948
10. SPAM: Introduced in 1937

*If I were an American voter I would never vote for someone who's a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and opposes women's right to abortion; it doesn't matter that she's the first female vice president candidate.
** Old as in policy and age.

Soon, Soon

I'm back from Nice (as of Sunday) and back at work (as of today) and I'm slowly going through four weeks' worth of holiday photos (as of yesterday) and I'm drafting travel stories (as of tomorrow). In the meantime, a funny news item from this summer:

According to a Visit Sweden survey on what the first thing foreigners think about when they think about Sweden as a tourist destination, many answered cold things like winter and snow. Next on the list were nature, countryside and forests. And here's the funny part (at least to me): Frenchmen thought about beautiful women, while Germans thought about elks (moose) and the royal family. Isn't that so according to the stereotypes?!!

Speaking of tourists foreign tourists are apparently spending record amounts of money in Sweden. Last year tourist consumption totalled 88 billion SEK. Tourists on a cruise spend on average 3,000 SEK per person and for every 100 SEK a foreign tourist spends around 45 SEK goes to the state. The top spenders are from Russia and China although most overseas visitors come from Germany and the UK, the USA and Norway. The attractions that bring in most visitors are Kulturhuset, Globen and Skansen. Personally I would think Vasamuseet is pretty popular too.

I leave you with a little travel story preview!

Back Home

Just a short post to tell you that we're back home. It was quite the road trip - we travelled 2,971 miles or 4,754 kilometres (475 Swedish mil) in two weeks!! And tomorrow we're going back in the car, well not the old people's car, a Mercury Grand Marquis, that the rental car company dumped on us in the US*, but our own, much smaller albeit big for Swedish standards, BMW combi, to go to our friends Åsa and Rikard's wedding in Västergötland. Back on Sunday and hopefully some time to post reflections and photos from the US trip before we're off again to Nice for a last vacation for this summer.

* Sure, petrol is very cheap in the US, even after the recent price increases, but this beast was pretty thirsty

Road Trip

Off to the US for a little road trip along the East Coast. Stopping in New York City, Dover (Delaware, where I'm visiting my old aupair family), Washington DC and New England (Cape Cod, towns along the New Hampshire , Massachusetts and Maine coastline, and Boston). Probably won't blog while away but will hopefully have some good stories to tell and beautiful photos to share once back.

Fellow blogger Saltistjejen gets a special mention as she and I have scheduled a little blogmeet in NYC, which is very exciting indeed!

See you soon!

Wednesday Recipe: Sponge Cake... and Travel Preparations

I feel I have been neglecting the blog lately. To my defence I can say that I've been busy researching over one hundred B&Bs in Cape Cod (well, perhaps not that many but not far from it!) and recovering from a very bad cold I caught in Gotland (must have been all that shaking hands and kissing on the cheeks with the political elite at Almedalen). We're also having very nice weather at the moment so yesterday after work we went for a picnic in Tessinparken and today to the beach in Lidingö (though I thought the water was a little bit chilly so I didn't go for a swim).

Time for this week's recipe!

Fatfree Sponge Cake
4 eggs
3 dl sugar
1.5 dl flour
1.5 dl potato starch
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 dl water

Oven: 175'C

1. Grease a baking tin and bread it with coconut flakes
2. Mix the yokes and the sugar
3. Slowly add the water and stir carefully
4. Mix flour, potato starch, baking powder and vanilla in a separate bowl
5. Add the "dry mix" to the egg, sugar and water
6. Beat the egg whites until you have a foam-like mix (like you would when making meringues)
7. Carefully add the egg whites to the batter. Don't stir!
8. Bake for 35 mins

I haven't actually tried it yet but it sounds very delicious with the coconut! It apparently goes well with strawberries!

Wordle Fun

Want a summary of my latest posts? Inspired by Johanna, here's the result of my wordling:

Can't figure out how to make the picture bigger though...