[aargee]

Italian food, you showed us, are making my mouth drool . I like lasagna & penne very much. I'm sure you'll or you would've had original Italian, authentic, pizza, I'll be waiting to see the pics & facts on them.

Starvegabond, MX6 & iPai - pls shed some of your knowledge on the train being shipped & the voltage conversion stuff. I like to hear more before I google. Thanks.

Oh!!! forgot one more stuff - appreicate to share on the Italian softies too

[StarVegabond]

Day two evening we returned to our rooms bit early (6 PM), We started our regular 20 minutes walk. We took several photographs of the town/roads/frozen lake etc. I will post them later on.

Our search for the power adapter continued without any success. Only difference was we began to search an adapter for mobile phone instead of laptop notebook.

We did not had any specific restaurant in our mind, The decision to go to a Thai resturant was made by my co-passenger. This Thai resturant is in the center of the town. I am posting here two images of the square where the resturant is located. It is on the left hand side of the tree in the second photograph.




I have also attached here a street map of the Lund Central Area and marked the different hotels visited by us during our first 4 days of our stay.



5th day evening we went to Malmo. i will post the experience seperately later on.

In Thai resturant, we faced the language barrier, the thai male waiter did not know english well, even though he appeared to know Swedish. His manager a Thai lady, did not bother help in overcoming the language barrier. Eventrually with some efforts, i could communicate that i need a meat less veg curry with rice. My co-passenger chose from the menu, we also placed order some thai starters and some coke

The Veg Curry appeared similar to the one i have attached here (from www), only difference was instead of tofu, they had used potato.



The dinner was very slow, we were the only other table that was occupied. The food was good, Service was swift, water was complimentory. The portions served were huge, we could hardly finish half of it.

Once again the 20 minutes walk back in -5 deg C appeared to be a challenge. On our way back, we wanted to buy some medicine, we found a phamacy shop open, with 2 customers inside, when we wanted to enter, the owner said, they are closed, watch showed 7:01 PM. He asked us to come tomorrow. Hat's off to the Swedish Timing and their work-life balance.

We also seem to be adjusted to early lunches (12 noon) and dinners (between 6 PM to 7 PM). Life continues to be good.

Thank you God for the world so sweet,
Thank you God for the food we eat,
Thank you God for the business that grows,
Thank you God for the employer who pays,
Thank you God for everything

[aargee]

Thai food...mmmm, once again, you're sharing mouth watering dishes; I love the Yellow curry fried rice with Tofu (not sure if I will be able to eat the original Thai, but I love the Americanised form).

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by aargee

Starvegabond, MX6 & iPai - pls shed some of your knowledge on the train being shipped & the voltage conversion stuff. I like to hear more before I google. Thanks.

Oh!!! forgot one more stuff - appreicate to share on the Italian softies too

I have not travelled on ths Berlin Night Express, hence can not share first hand experience, i will leave it to iPai and MX6. But i found the website of this train which is interesting. in Euro 19, one can travel from Europe (Germany) to Scandinavia (Sweden)

Berlin Night Express
In this website, there is one page brosure, I have uploaded it here seperately.

bne-en.pdf


Regarding Italian Sofities : which one you are referring to, the one which one has as a part of the meal (in the resturant) or the one which one experience after couple of hours (in the room) ??

I can share some info on the first one (small pleasure), but i do not have any first hand experience with the second one (Few minutes of bliss). Moreover I think, to expereince the real authentic experience (of second type), one needs to go to Italy, we were in Sweden, some thousands of KMs away.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

or the one which one experience after couple of hours (in the room) ??

Boy!!! I never knew this meaning before - Thanks for the enlightment. Ofcourse I meant the ice cream, the dessert, the one we eat after the meal & what's so special on it? Also on Pizzas authenticity & how it differs from the Indianised version?

[StarVegabond]

Our hosts had sent an e-mail invite for a dinner on wednesday evening. In the morning, we again discussed this dinner (all Ws and Hs) and consensus decision was done to have the dinner at The Grand Hotel.

We could leave office only by 6:45 PM, A table was already reserved for us at the Grand Hotel. We had a typical Swedish Dinner, they made some specific Vegetarian food for me including the starters and main course. Ofcourse the drinks and deserts were as per one's choice.

One can find more info at Grand Hotel

I have attached one photogprah which i shot at the night.for the clarity, i have also attached the photo found on wikipage.



I was told this is the nunero uno resturant in the town. Ture to it's name, we found everything Grand here. The resturant was full, true to it's popularity. I did not take any photographs of the crowd or interiors as it would have been disturbing others who were (fine) dining there.



Grand has one of the country's finest wine cellars. The Gambrinus Wine club one can try some of the fantastic winses in a whole new way: by the glass. Vinothek is a small high-tech wonders, a sort vinautomat, where well-selected wine bottles stored under optimal conditions for retaining
flavor and character.

I have couple of photogrpahs of this Vinothek wine dispensor, the first one is from the hotel website, the second one is shot by me



I remember couple of things about the relationship and food
1. Heart is always in the kitchen, be it at home or in a Grand Hotel
2. Way to a persons heart is through his stomach
3. Relationships are built either over a dangerous situation where people co-operate to overcome the danger or over a dinner table, I would ofcourse prefer to be in second situation.

It was Saint Patrick's Day. More info about the day can be found here.
Saint Patrick's Day - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some of us who were followers of Saint Patrick's day chose the below shown drink


Where as some among us who were not so saint chose the below shown drink named "Sex on the Beach"


After the dinner, we stepped into the neighbouring bar "The Old Bull" I attach some photographs that are self explanatory.





It was almost 10 PM, we had some three hours long dinner. We bid farewell to our hosts and walked back to our hotel rooms in about 25 minutes.

It was a perfect evening, everything was simply perfect, the drinks, the food, the desert, the service, the converstions most of it is non business, about the ways of living in sweden/India, about the heritage of the country, about each other etc etc. Nothing can be more perfect than this.

It was no longer difficult to walk in -5 deg C for 25 minutes as our tummy was full with some of the best swedish food, hearts were warm with the feel good factor and minds were full of the converstations we had over three hours.

Life continues to be Good.

[StarVegabond]

The fourth evening, we left office bit early by 5:15 PM, visited the electronic shop (i have already uploded the pictures earlier). My co-passenger bought a mobile phone charger almost costing same as a low cost phone back in India. But it was the essential to do so.

This was the first evening when we landed on the streets when still there was sun light and the vehicles. We decided to take a walk in the street and know more. We visited Lundgrad, The Grand hotel area and the Lund Railway Station. I have also uploaded these photogrpahs already.

I will upload more photographs of the streets, shops, vehicles etc later on, once i complete the post about the food.

We once again wanted to visit Italian resturant, but it was full and we were asked to wait for an hour. It seems most business visitors land at 6 PM sharp and have their dinner. We decided to skip the italian food and decided to go hunting for some street food.

Be in Mumbai or Lund, the best quality street food is found opposite the railway station.

My co-passenger decided not to go for an Indian resturant, and decided for a Greek/Turkish restaurant which served some pizza and pasta and some other suff. Here are some photographs of the place.





There were thee chefs including the "perceived to be" the owner. We again faced the language probelm. One among the chefs (turkish guy) knew Urdu. I could communicate and place the order. My Co-passenger tool lot of time to make his decision. The Chef explained him almost every dish on his menu board. At last he made decision to have a pizza.

Here is his order


and here is mine


What i love about the resturant was they did not charge us for the drink, it was part of the food, which we never knew in first place. It was an honest place. They could have easily charged us extra for the drink. The pizza was made to order, delivered as fast as it could be made, hot, fresh, tasty.

The thin crust pizza is simply the best street food or take away food. I see it as an equivalent to a "stuffed Paratha" where the vegetables are inside the dough, where as in a pizza they are placed as a toppings.

For the first time we decided to go for a taxi ride to reach the hotel. we took a taxi from the Railway station. we got a discount by just saying the name of our employer. This town is indeed an amazing place. Life is still good.

I consider that being able to have our choice of food always when needed is The Small Pleasure #2.

[StarVegabond]

A typical home of a Swede Family living in Lund is as shown below. I have marked some of my observations on the picture itself



This family seems to be of husband, wife, three kids, each one owning a bicycle for short distances and family owning a car for long distance commute.

A more closer look ar the Car, Car Park and Bicycle park


I found every day morning the man of the house leave for his workplace and the kids go to their activity on their bicycles. This is a very consistant activity found every day between 7:30 AM to 8:00 AM.





Observe the garden in the above picture, they have the entire children play tools in the garden, the kids are not dependent on the public parks for thier pay needs.

Below is the picture of multiple house dwellings. Notice clean windows, no where curtains are used. It is probably to ensure that the sunlight enters the house.



Below is the picture of typical public transport bus. I have never seen one very crowded, probably either they have more number of busses or the people using the public transport is not that high.



Below is the picture of typical bus stop and adjoining bicyle park. It seems to be a regular practice for people to park their bicycles in the bus stop and take the public transport for longer distances.


Look at the typical bicylce lane together with footpath, it has it's own traffic signal and larger vehicles respect it.


A Typical cyclist riding on the bicycle lane.


No wonder, Swedes are some of the most fit people in the world. Imagine some 45% of people in a town with population of ~ 100000 using bicylce for their daily commute. Look at the lesser pollution they are contributing to the ecology. Imagine the saving in terms of fuel expenses.

Ofcourse the society and the government respects the cyclists and provides them with dedicated infrastructure, traffic rules and other support.

[MX6]

The Tiramisu was inviting. I went over to Reliance mart and got myself the Kwality walls version of Tiramisu. Sadly it turned out to be some kind of icecream here.
Tiramisu has a fitting name. Tiramisu means pick me up.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by MX6

The Tiramisu was inviting. I went over to Reliance mart and got myself the Kwality walls version of Tiramisu. Sadly it turned out to be some kind of icecream here.

There is a Little Italy resturant on the Bund Garden Road in Pune, You may try the Tiramitsu there, i am sure it would give you some authentic experience.



Being an Automotive enthusiat, this forum may not entierly appreciate bicycles. But i am sure there must be several cyclists or atleast the people who have loved thier cycles when they were kids. I still remember my Herculus Bicycle which i had bought from my pocket money when i was in the 7th class.

here are some beauties from Sweden, they come in several forms, basic to fully loaded, gender specific, with trailing infant wagen etc. The pictures are self explanatory.

The last image is that of a bicycle shop, i might have to hit some such bicyle shop in June once my daughter's school re-opens. She is looking ot buy one from her pocket money. I have a tough job to get a similar one in Bangalore.

[aargee]

Fantastic, so fantastic @Starvegabond. Loved to see the pics & to have given the ones I generally like to see when I go out of India.

Did you see so many different varieties of cycles; IMO, I would like to bicycle in Winter (in India) than in Summer, or probably as early mornings like 5:30 AM to 7:00 AM in Summer.

Just few questions (as usual) - with so many bicycles & public transport, aren't the public buses having provision to lock & carry the bicycles?

Also, don't people prefer having a closed garage? Atleast to avoid shovelling snows in Winter?

[SmartCat]

That typical house in Lund - I wonder why only the garden is fenced? Houses in USA don't have these fences.

In Thai resturant, we faced the language barrier, the thai male waiter did not know english well, even though he appeared to know Swedish. His manager a Thai lady, did not bother help in overcoming the language barrier. Eventrually with some efforts, i could communicate that i need a meat less veg curry with rice. My co-passenger chose from the menu, we also placed order some thai starters and some coke

The Veg Curry appeared similar to the one i have attached here (from www), only difference was instead of tofu, they had used potato.

Hey, that veg curry was served on a banana leaf? I see a large green leaf in that pic.

And how was the traditional Swedish food? Masaleydaar or bland?

[anekho]

Hi from Sweden! Nice to see a travelogue on the country I'm living in!

Originally Posted by smartcat

And how was the traditional Swedish food? Masaleydaar or bland?

As bland as can be. Really simple food - you'll struggle to find any spice other than salt and pepper!

And if you're a vegetarian, you're screwed! I never really eat traditional swedish stuff when I'm out... usually ends up with Italian - best choice for indian veggies like me

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by aargee

Fantastic, so fantastic @Starvegabond. Loved to see the pics & to have given the ones I generally like to see when I go out of India.

Did you see so many different varieties of cycles; IMO, I would like to bicycle in Winter (in India) than in Summer, or probably as early mornings like 5:30 AM to 7:00 AM in Summer.

Just few questions (as usual) - with so many bicycles & public transport, aren't the public buses having provision to lock & carry the bicycles?

Also, don't people prefer having a closed garage? Atleast to avoid shovelling snows in Winter?

Hi Aargee, i am happy that you liked the pictures. I sugegst you change your liking for bicycling in winter into reality.

i did not see many closed garages, most of the cars were parked in open. The large housing complexes had basement parking.

People carry tools for shovelling snow in their cars/boots.

Originally Posted by smartcat

That typical house in Lund - I wonder why only the garden is fenced? Houses in USA don't have these fences.

Hey, that veg curry was served on a banana leaf? I see a large green leaf in that pic.

And how was the traditional Swedish food? Masaleydaar or bland?

I have no idea, why only garden was fenced. part of the fence was also with iron grills.

Thai curry rice was not served on banana leaf, but traditional copper/brass plates/dishes etc.

Originally Posted by anekho

Hi from Sweden! Nice to see a travelogue on the country I'm living in!

As bland as can be. Really simple food - you'll struggle to find any spice other than salt and pepper!

And if you're a vegetarian, you're screwed! I never really eat traditional swedish stuff when I'm out... usually ends up with Italian - best choice for indian veggies like me

Hey anekho, good that you chiped in, may be you have more perspectives on swedish way of living, habits, culture, food, etc, please contribute/correct me where needed.

One can find more info about Swedish cuisines in the below wiki link.

Swedish cuisine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[aargee]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Hi Aargee, i am happy that you liked the pictures. I sugegst you change your liking for bicycling in winter into reality.

I like to cycle all the time & whenever I take it out, I ride nothing less to 10-15 Kms. Right now it has got a flat tire & I need to fix it soon. Now that you've said, I'll consider it seriously & fix it up today. Here's a little info on my ride, read it if you like - Ganesh's Bicycle