Category: Uncategorized

Friday. We spent 3 hours waiting for a delayed plane, then they cancelled it. We managed to rebook to the next one (in the evening) which was delayed as well. 13 hrs on the airport (with a lunch break in Docklands). At the hotel in Stockholm at 2 o’clock.

Saturday. We met with Johan’s Uncle Howard, who was also our tour-guide, and a very good one. Brilliant dinner in a vegan restaurant Lao Wai.
Sunday. We went to Fotografiska, the contemporary photography museum. It was a bit crowded, and there was a queue, but it was worth it. An amazing exhibition of Nick Brandt’s works. In the evening we took a train to the far North, to Abisko (18 hrs)
Monday. Abisko. Snow and wind. Sunset at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. November is off-season, there were a very few people there.
Tuesday. No wind. A very nice walk to the lake. Train back to Stockholm.
Wednesday. In Stockholm at 10 in the morning. We went to Nobel Museum, there was an exhibition about Maria Skłodowska- Curie. Back to London in the evening.
A very interesting, if short, trip. I love Stockholm. Feels like a relief after London. Streets wide enough to not to feel suffocated. A very elegant architecture. Lots of bikes everywhere.
The North as the North should be: cold and empty. Beautiful.

We had a lot of pleasant activities last month. There was a meeting with Terry Pratchett, with his newest book, Snuff. There was the Bfi international film festival. Unfortunately, non-members get the chance to buy tickets much later then members, so we saw just 2 films. But one of them was a very good slovak film, The house by Zuzana Liova.
Three concerts! Misty in roots, Warsaw Village Band (!) and Amsterdam Klezmer band. All the concerts very good. Polish band amazing, Johan liked them very much too.
And i’m writting all this while sitting at London City Aiport, all in the fog, hoping, that they won’t cancel our plane to Stockholm (3 hrs delayed now).

The weather’s great. I spent yesterday’s afternoon in Hyde Park, with my friend. We had a nice walk along the Serpentine and we spent some time in Serpentine Gallery Pavilion – the black barn-like building with a stunning plant explosion in the middle – by Piet Oudolf (world-famous Dutch gardener). The bike ride to get there was nice too (a bit too hot though… but i’m not going to complain, we are not getting a lot of too hot here).

Johan and I spent last weekend in New Forest – the nature reserve, just 1,5 h from London. It’s a place where ponies, donkeys and cows (cows of a very furry, ginger type, with enormous horns) just walk freely around the place (including towns as well). We stayed just outside Brockenhurst, at a very quiet Graceland Farm. They had donkeys there. The donkeys are the saddest animals ever. They are cute as well.
We rent a tandem, which we used to get around forest for 2 days. It was fun! Yes, I was at the back seat. It was the first time in my life I was biking with my eyes closed (not all the time, no).
They had mushrooms there! I was very happy to find Red-capped scaber stalks (huh, a long name for a kozak) in a big quantity.
We visited Isle of Wight, very briefly. We liked it a lot, I think we’ll come back there for a longer visit – it looks like a very good place for biking.