Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Of Food and Trees and Shopping Malls
A flight and bus ride from Stansted, I arrived in Linköping at a chilly two in the morning. The other riders quickly dispersed, and there I stood jet-laggedly gazing across empty parking lots, train tracks, fields, and deserted roads thinking "well, if nobody shows up, it will at least be an adventure." But I had arrived quite early, so these thoughts were but amusing contingencies. Eventually a lone figure appeared in the distant darkness, my friend and host Clare* who I met now for the first time in person. Somewhere along our forty minute walk home, warning calls from the trees above broke the night silence and echoed between the buildings that lined the street. The calls emerged with such predictability as we passed each tree that, along with some luck, I was able to snap this recording on the first try.
I dropped my bag and body in the guest room and finally slept.
The Swedes love their crayfish, but not so much that they
weren't trying to get rid of overstock at US$6.50 a box [Oct 5]:
Once thawed and rinsed from their solid block of frozen dill brine,
they made a tasty, if a bit dilly, meal for two [Oct 7]:
Here's what's out the back door of the apartment:
I'm told when the Swedes travel, they miss their Kaviar [Oct 9]:
Come evening, we sat and watched our apple crisp bake through the huge oven
window with its always-on light (not quite a fireplace, but...):
On the foot path to Ikea [Oct 10]...
with Clare*...
we passed many trees too stubborn to migrate for the winter...
and witnessed the Swedish version of tract homes (Clare* says they're designed
to stand with no interior walls if so desired).
Here's Ikea in its native habitat, which like Costco appears to be identical world round:
The shopping mall next door was equally generic:
On the way home we passed this Swedish black panther hunting in the wild (soon
it will be nothing but mousicles for her):
And that's it for this week's random half-assed chronological photo tour of Linköping.