Thursday, November 28, 2002
Maria's M?hippa
Yesterday was my colleague Maria�s hens day � or M?hippa as it�s called here. Maria is getting married in just over two weeks. The tradition is pretty cool, the �hen� is kidnapped from their office or home during the day, blindfolded and dressed up, and is usually given a list of tasks and activities to do. The worst being selling kisses to strange men. It is not unusual to see groups of girls, especially in summer, running around the city acting strangely. At Ute�s m?hippa her friends blindfolded her, dressed her in an awful outfit and took her to a recording studio where she had to sing a Swedish song that they put on CD for Lee. Maria's friend Christina had planned lots of fun things to do throughout the afternoon, ending with dinner later that evening.
At 2pm I met Mikko outside our department and we put on silly red noses and came in and surprised Maria�we were supposed to blindfold her, but since she is not very keen on the whole m?hippa thing we let her off, and just walked through the offices to one of the conference rooms where all her friends were waiting with champagne. Maria was given a kit for staying out all night which included champagne, condoms, toothbrush and toothpaste and knickers among other things.
Maria doing well, me about one metre from the ground and all ready in trouble
We then jumped into a cab and went to the first activity � rockclimbing. It was fun. I hate to admit it, but I was hopeless. Although the photos make it look like I was somewhat up the wall I think I was about one metre off the ground at the most. My excuse was that my arms were tired from swimming that morning and yoga the night before so I couldn't pull myself up, or maybe it's those extra kilos. Everyone else made it to the top, and Mikko was a natural, scrambling up like spiderman. So I may have to take this up as a challenge when I get back to Sydney.
It was brilliant � we sat down to a plate of six chocolates and three glasses of wine each and ate and drank them all. The owner gave us a talk on chocolate (in Swedish so I missed most of it) while we sat in torture eyeing off the chocolate, until finally we could taste it and drink the wine and it was fabulous. Then we went downstairs to the cellar where they make the chocolate and after a further talk the owners let us into the cool room to eat as much chocolate as we liked�Then the others went out to dinner and more drinks and I headed home for a quiet evening. Very responsible...something must be happening to me. Tonight is Pub Night at work, so staff drinks from 4.30pm, and tomorrow I start my health kick (apparently).
Mr Chocolate
Posted at 4:32 AM
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Slightly productive day...and Prisoner?
This photo was an accident, but I think it's of a glass of red wine and must have happened when I was out the other night after the Art Lottery.I've had a slightly more productive day than usual, worked on the crisis management plan and had a proposal approved which is good news...thankfully only eight and half weeks left here, but only five and half working weeks so I'm now stressing and trying to get all my projects finshed before Christmas.
Off to Medborgsplatsen swimming pool tonight to do some laps as I've been having trouble sleeping and I think it may be because I have not done one bit of exercise since I had the flu...
So I was trying to sleep last night and it was about 2.30am when I decided to give up and put the TV on. Now, I have had quite a few viewing surprises since I've been here, Hallmark TV for example describes McCloud's Daughters as 'an Australian masterpiece', and on a number of occasions I have turned on the supposedly reputable Discovery Channel only to cringe at Steve 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin or Rex Hunt. But last night was the absolute winner...PRISONER on a Swedish channel! The one where the Freak returns to the prison in a massive neckbrace after Bea tried to kill her in a fire, and interrupts the inmates drinking smuggled alcohol from hot water bottles. I was too young to watch Prisoner when it was on in Australia, but I remember the Freak, and now I think I'm hooked.
Ameli came into the office the other day and we went out for lunch. She is so pregnant and just about to pop! She looks so cute with her big fat belly and little legs. She is on the right. The other photos are of Karin and Ralph from drinks at the Plank Place after the Art Club Lottery (the only two who would let me photograph them). Ralph says a special hello to the infamous 'Professional Man'... you know who you are!
30 minutes later...
Okay, that totally sucked. Got changed, walked through the rain to the pool, bought a book of 10 passes which cost 100 dollars, jumped in pool, swam four laps before they closed the one lane they had for lap swimming so the over 60's could get in and prance around doing aqua-aerobics. So the pool was divided into two wastes of time...the over 60 aqua aerobics which I couldn't join (I asked out of desperation) in one half of the pool, or the other half of the pool - packed with people swimming breast stroke at a rate of one stroke a minute in a circle. So I got out, got a free pass for next time sat in the sauna for 15 minutes and came back to work. If Ian Thorpe had been born here he would probably have ended up a shoe salesman. So now I'm just stuffing around and wait til yoga starts in one hour, which I don't really want to go to anyhow cause everyone can contort themselves and I can just make it past my knees. And I stupidly got on the scales at the (pretend) swimming pool cause I thought I'd lost weight and I've gained two kilos. Bloody hell.
Posted at 8:23 AM
Monday, November 25, 2002
Weekend at Ute & Lee's
I had a brilliant weekend with my friends Ute and Lee. Ute is from Germany and Lee is British and they live in Sweden and also work for Wallenius Wilhelmsen. They have been really looking after me since I've been here, so hopefully I'll get the chance to look after them when they're next in Australia. They live in a gorgeous house about 20 minutes from Stockholm. It's huge, with polished floorboards, four bedrooms and filled with lots of trinkets they've collected from around the world.It was too miserable to go for our intended walk when I arrived so we settled for some waffles (Ute and I both love our food), followed a little later by wine. Of course there was copious amounts of alcohol and since it is dark here by 3pm now, we accidently had our first beverage at 4pm - it just seems later, and you don't realise it's still afternoon.
After a brilliant fajita dinner we decided to make use of their fantiastic cd collection and played 'World Music Championships'. Basically we each took turns at selecting a CD and playing one song from it, the other two had to be the first to guess title and artist, with one point for each. Ute was the undisputed champion, she knew most songs on the first beat...we also played karaoke (I am doing Mariah Carey style hand movements)...
some lone-dancing (this is Ute's interpretation of La Isla Bonita)...
and Lee concocted some Cowboys as well as bringing out the tequila...
No wonder I was quite wobbly...
The following day we went for a long walk around their area, which was great, t's a really pretty place, an island actually, with views out through the archipelago, a harbour and lots of trees and forests. I then jumped on the bus back to Stockholm, and met up with Simon for a coffee. So it was a great weekend!Posted at 2:55 AM
Friday, November 22, 2002
Bringing home a Swedish bum
Last night I won the art club lottery! My ticket was pulled out first and I had my choice of all the art. It was actually held in Swedish so I had no idea that my number had been called until I heard a murmur of 'Yvette' running through the crowd. I felt like I had won a beauty pagent or an Academy Award, it was all very exciting. So I selected this painting that I'd had my eye on - it's actually worth around $1500, and was very popular so I'm incredibly lucky to have it! And a big thanks to Per Eitzen from the Oslo office...I was a bit daunted last week when choosing my lottery number from the 150 tickets, and bumped into Per. He picked one, gave it to me and said 'Here's the winning ticket!'. And it was!It's a watercolour by a Swedish artist, Per-Olof Netterblad, called 'Modellstudie'.
But apart from that positive event, this is how I feel (and no I did not do it):
It's heartening to note I'm obviously not the only one who feels this way. I saw this on the way to work this morning, written on a map at the Slussen T-bana and it made me feel so good, I had to take a photo. I also love that 'sucks' is still being used in grafitti, it captures exactly how I am feeling about being here. For example, I have been here for almost four months now and not one of my collagues in my department has invited me for a coffee, dinner, or to be involved in any activity outside of working hours. The Swedes say 'It's the Swedish way', they're just not a very sociable race.
I say they're very sociable when free corporate drinks are on each month, and it's just courtesy to to make a new colleague feel welcome. Thank God for Ute, Mikaela and Simon otherwise I may have gone mental by now. So that, coupled with a less than ideal working environment has been getting me down a bit....feeling much better today though after a relatively impressive meltdown yesterday (which is pretty difficult considering it's bloody freezing here). Never underestimate the result of a good vent. But it still sucks.
When I get back to Sydney I think I'll borrow a line from Muriel when asked why I left Stockholm: 'There's a lot of mentalness there, and I wanted to improve my mentality'.
It's Friday night and I'll be leaving the office shortly to head home and spend a quiet night in bed. V v tired and a bit hungover from dodgy red wine at the Plank Place after the Art Lottery. I am looking forward to the weekend though, Ute and her husband Lee have invited me to their place. We are going to go hiking and eat fajitas! And have one or two quiet lemonades of course.
The winning ticket! Have a great weekend, nine weeks til I'm home in sunny Sydney...Posted at 6:59 AM
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Not the whale but New Zealand 
The view from my apartment when I woke up Wednesday morning
It was really snowing yesterday, very pretty. I walked to work through the snow in my hiking boots. Had a slight altercation with some young boys throwing snowballs outside my office. I had to dodge matrix style to avoid being hit. I had a slight snap and banished them to the park with raised voice and school teacher type pointed finger gestures.
Not the whale but New Zealand
I collected my photos of Bergen yesterday, but found the photos were not from Norway but NZ...the film has been missing since Easter and has turned up in Stockholm, it must have been in my pack all this time. I will search the apartment - as it's only 30 metres square it shouldn't take me too long to find it.
So today here are some photos from my trip to NZ to visit my friend Simon and his sister Caroline. Caro lives in a place called Punakaiki which is on the west coast of the South Island. I flew into Christchurch and met Simon at a seedy motel. I had been very kindly given a comp pass to the Qantas lounge by Paul Butler at work and my fear of flying meant I had a few little vinos on the flight over. Topped with the gin I brought for Simon which we tasted when I arrived, I was a very seedy lady myself the following morning. We caught an early train across the NZ Alps to Graymouth which was fabulous, where Caro met us and took us to her place. 
Jacqui and I met Simon and his two friends Damon and Michael when we were in Sumatra on Nias Island in 1997 and we've stayed friends ever since, and catch up at least once a year. We've been to his family batch in Hahei for New Years, spent time in Auckland for the America's Cup - where we met Peter Blake (or rather accosted his and asked for a photo) and Simon has spent time over here with us, and visiting his brother who now lives in Sydney.
Anyway, I had a fantastic Easter - we went walking along the beaches and through the scrub, went out on Caro's boyfriend Kina's boat, kyacked, went caving, ate big steaks and generally had a brilliant time. Simon ever pulled out the guitar one night for a singalong and sort of managed to play 'I should be so lucky' for me to sing to.
My flu is almost completely gone thank goodness, just in time for the Stockholm office Staff Art Club lottery tonight. To be a part of it you pay a small amout of your pay each week into a fund, the total contributions are matched by the company and the committee buys lots of Swedish art with the fund. Then the members receive a ticket in the lottery - if your number is called you get to pick the piece you'd like...there 50 pieces and around 140 members so it's a one in three chance. Fingers crossed!Posted at 11:55 AM
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
My last day in Paris with the Griswolds Hello! I have had the flu for over a week and it is driving me crazy. The colds here just linger, nothing like the ones at home. And there are no cold and flu tablets in Sweden, you have to buy jars and boxes of individual medicine. When I asked, the lady in chemist turned her nose up and said, 'They're American, we don't sell those Advil type things here.' So I have cough syrup, fever tablets, disolvable vitamin things, and pain killer type tablets. Slowly slowy working. As for the weather, well it's overcast everyday and now gets dark at around 3.30pm. You can see the change in daylight hours from week to week, this will continue for about another month until we have about four hours of daylight each day. I should probably go to the doctor now and get some depression tablets in preparation for SAD disease - that lack of light depressive illness.
Anyway, here's the last little post about mum and dad in Paris. The Griswolds are now home and safe and sound and back at work. The only bad experience was the day after I left them in Paris dad had his wallet stolen while they were on the metro on their way to see Jim Morrison's grave (!) but they seemed to handle it okay. They called me straight away and I cancelled all their cards for them and Ren was still in Paris so took them to the Police Station. Apparently as the doors of the train were closing a robber grabbed dad's ankle and started yelling at him and as dad bent down and said 'Bugger off mate' another slipped his hand in dad's jeans and took his little money wallet. Ah well, if that's the worst thing they made it through their whole Griswolds Vacation okay. I am very proud of them.
My last day in Paris with the Griswolds
Mum and dad took the metro to Hotel de Ville and we walked up to Notre Dame. When I was here with Bex we stumbled upon the Sunday mass, and I wanted mum and dad to see it too. It�s a beautiful service with one man (some religious type person in robes etc) singing the hymns, followed by a traditional Gregorian mass with a complete choir, and all the traditional Catholic hoopla in the Notre Dame cathedral. We arrived in time and spent around an hour listening to the mass and wandering around the cathedral. It is fabulous, inside and out.
We then wandered around St Louis Island for a while before sitting at a caf� where we relaxed with a glass each of warm wine. As I had only three hours to go before the epic bus journey to the airport we went for a further wander around Bryce�s area, stumbling into the amazing Jewish quarter and lots of beautiful shops and patisseries.
After further wanderings, with dad limping along behind due to swollen knee, we ended up back at another caf� for more wine, trying to stop the clock ticking by for my departure. I had to leave at 3.45pm to catch a train to meet the bus for the 1.30mins ride to Beauvais International Airport.
Ren and Daniel came down to the cafe for a few farewell wines, and then mum and dad walked me to the metro where mum burst into tears as I tried to drag my bag through the turnstile. The flight out to Stockholm was two hours late, but luckily enough was a brand spanking new Goodjet plane so I was quite relaxed. Got home around 1.30am�Nothing too exciting has happened since, except for drinks with the boys, and last weekend in bed with the flu (possibly made worse by drinks with the boys).
On Saturday afternoon Nurse Ute came over and brought me some beautiful flowers and some oj - how sweet - and we sat and gossiped for hours.... Ute has also asked me to write that she was not named after an Aussie blokes truck, her name is pronounced 'oooh-teh'.Tonight off to yoga, but a bit scared about that cause Eva says it is getting quite energetic and I have regressed and can't touch my toes again. Going to collect my photos from my Bergen trip today at lunch so will write about the whale experience in the next couple of days.
Yvette
xx
Posted at 2:19 AM
Friday, November 15, 2002
Simon, Jem & AlexThose boys are supposedly my friends here in Stockholm. However at drinks on Wednesday night I let it slip that I have this little website and they were in hysterics and did not stop making fun of me all night. What's so wrong about loving karaoke and having a website I ask? So for revenge I took some photos of them, and here they are:
Simon is on the left, he's from the UK but would like to be an Australian. I met him through Bex, they used to work together in London. In the middle is Jem, I met him and his girlfriend Annalie at a museum in the city. Alex on the right, is a friend of Jem's from uni
Simon trying to escape. I was annoying him trying to take photos.
I know they will all be secretly pleased to be up here.
Yvette
Posted at 4:29 AM
Wednesday, November 13, 2002
Blizzard!
It snowed all night and is still going, although much of it has turned to brown slush now. Apparently it is too early for snow and it will all melt away before the real snow comes in December. The novelty is now over. Yes, the snow is pretty but the one thing I always liked about going down to Thredbo was you could jump in a car after skiiing and get out of the snow. Now I'm stuck in it. I called Jax last night and she was wearing a singlet top cause of the Sydney heat while I am wearing on top of my winter suit - two thick winter coats, hat, scarf, gloves and hiking boots so I don't slip so much.Mikaela has returned to Tran?s now to spend her last weeks in Sweden with her family, she left on Saturday, but not before we had a final drink at the now infamous plank place. We couldn�t eat a Plankstek though � we�re still recovering from the one we ate in September. Mikaela flies out from Stockholm to Sydney on the 1st of November. I am soooo jealous she will be in the sun while I am freezing in blizzards and sliding around on icy footpaths.
Mikaela, Maria, Eva and I at the Plank Place (it's not really called the Plank Place, we just call it that cause they make the Plankstek)
Paris Part 3 � Arc De Triomphe, Cafes, La Tour Eiffel
After leaving the Louvre we wandered through the gardens and up the Champs Elysee with dad photographing everything that moved or stayed still, and limping along as his knee is 'stuffed' from so much walking around Europe. We made it to the Arc De Triomphe and climbed up onto a stand that had been erected for the Remembrance Day ceremony on November 11, and watched the maniacal French drivers navigating the massive roundabout that circles the A De T. Chaos I tell you. They should have an ambulance and rescue team waiting on the side of the road.
Then it was back down along the Champs Elysee to metro station George V. We were starving by this stage and had been on our feet for around seven hours so the concensus was some red wine and a meal, and that we would go to the Eiffel Tower that evening, as since the weather was so shitty it would probably be better to head up there in at night to see the pretty lights.
So it was back to Bryce's area and Philosophies cafe for some vino - with dad ordering 'The big beer, none of those small type glasses thanks' - and some soup to recharge our batteries. Then we decided we needed a little rest, and went to Bryce's apartment, buying some little quiches along the way. We sat on the couch and watched Moulin Rouge for about half an hour before heading out again for Trocadero, the prime Eiffel tower viewing spot. Rebecca and Bryce had taken me there last year and it's fantastic viewing spot. 
We met up with Daniel and Renay and took the obligatory photos before walking down to the tower. There were so many annoying men trying to sell us stuff from the Land of Crap. Stupid flying birds, crappy silver lighters, glowing necklaces...I can't imagine that anyone ever buys this stuff, but then why are they still hanging around trying to sell it? Someone must buy it. I bet it's American tourists, they go home with their miniature statue of the Eiffel tower and tell their friends 'It's authentic, I bought it AT the Eiffel Tower and the man said it's made out of the original beams the Eiffel Tower was built with. And this flying bird, it's a genuine replica of the indigenous French parrot...' Or maybe not.
Anyway, again the line was long but we were through in no time. Although since it's been there for over 100 years there'd be a problem if whoever manages Eiffel tourism still didn't have their act together. It was very cool. Mum and Renay played the roles of Women Who are Scared of Heights while we went up in the lift but everyone was fine atthe top. We went right up, the night was clear so we had a brilliant view of the city and far away. I'd forgotten how high up the tower goes. You can't really see much of it in this photo - it's the glowing red thing in the distance.
Then after a few more photos it was time to head back down and get home. We all set off on our different metro lines and made it home safe and sound, and ready for the following days adventures...my last day in Paris.
Posted at 4:11 AM
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Paris - Red light district, dinner and the Louvre
So, after collecting Griswolds from the station we made our way to their hotel�Hotel Victor Masse, located in the very salubrious suburb of Pigalle�the red light district of Paris, described in the guidebooks as home to Parisian prostitutes, transvestites and live sex shows. We emerged from the metro to see streets lined with neon signs advertising sex, sex and more sex! Nonetheless it is apparently quite safe and we found the hotel easily. Although mum and dad were greeted with 'Sex monsieur?' each evening they arrived home after 5pm.
After shower and gift giving � a frog mug from San Gimignano, a red glass vase from Venice and a soccer jersey from Italy � we headed back into town to St Paul and to Aux Vin Pyrenees, a French restaurant recommended by Bryce. Renay and her Swiss friend Daniel met us there and we had a few wines before ordering dinner at around 11.30pm. The French eat very late, and the cafes are open til around 3am, the chairs and tables on the pavement filled with people watching the world go by.
Mum & Dad and Dan & Ren at dinner 'What's the occy like, mate?'
The drama of ordering dinner. First the translation, then the confusion of what to order�the highlight being dad, who after a very eloquent translation of the dishes, including octopus risotto, by the matre�d, pulled him aside and asked �So what�s the occy like, mate?�. True Australian class! The meals were brilliant, very rich as French food seems to be, but fantastic. And the generous Griswolds paid for the lot.
After dinner we put mum and dad in a taxi and headed down to Philosphies Caf� for a beer, and then I retired to Bryces at around 2am.
The following morning I met mum and dad at the Louvre metro station and we set of for the museum. I�d expected a huge queue but it was fine. We spent about three hours looking at paintings and sculptures, the highlights being Mona Lisa of course, and the statues Aphrodite: Venus de Milo and Cupid & Psyche.
But you can�t go anywhere with the Griswolds without incident and mum managed to set off the Louvre alarm system twice. She was leaning way over the barrier and was jabbing her finger about 2 milimetres from a painting, saying �Look at this detail� - point point point � and an alarm went off. I said, I think that�s you mum. And she replied, �Oh Yvette don�t be ridiculous, you�re so bossy,� and called dad over and repeated the exercise. The alarm went off again, but she didn�t stop until an official came over and told her off. She was very chastised and stood about two metres away after that. It was very entertaining!
I have been singing that bloody Craig McLaughlin & Check 1, 2 song ever since...
The other thing is my parents are loud talkers. I suppose I take after them, particularly after a few wines, but honestly, we�re walking through serene museums and cathedrals, and never mind the countless Americans, all you here is Lyn and Ian calling to each other in pronounced Aussie accents��Eeeeeeeeeeyaaaan comeandhavealookitthis� �Leeeeen, where arya?�. �Yve-eh-eh-ette, what does this say?� Well at least it was hard to lose them, no matter where I was I could hear them!
We finally left the Louvre and walked through the Louvre Gardens and up to the Champs Elysee on our way to the Arc d'Triumph, stopping at the fountain outside the Louvre (not sure of the name, we were totally guidebook-less).
Some bloody Parisian fountain
Will update tomorrow with Champs Elysee, Arc d'Triumph and other Griswold adventures. But now, I'm heading home to get into bed and try to make my cold go away. Good night!
Posted at 7:38 AM
Monday, November 11, 2002
Paris, Bryce & Snow
Returned last night from three days of sightseeing with the Griswolds to find it had been snowing in Stockholm. The flight was delayed for a couple of hours due to snow storms, but we were assured the runway had been swept so the plane would not slide off on landing. Everything was white, it was so exciting I ran outside and took this photo.
My footprints
I left for Paris on Friday, and had to get up at the ungodly hour of 5.00am to catch two trains out to the airport. Was expecting to see on boarding one of the beautiful new Goodjet planes shown in their advertising but instead it was an old traveleurope.com charter plane. The floor was wet, the carpet squelched underfoot and I swear the floor wobbled up and down when I walked down the aisle.
Eyemask and discman are a must to hear no evil, see no evil
The entire flight was bumpy, but we made it safe and sound to Beuvais International Airport (ie a shack) and once some stairs were found, we left the plane and walked across a field to the 'terminal'. After a 90 minute busride we arrived at a bus-stop where everyone got off and tried to find their way to the metro. Luckily Bryce had been briefed and I called him and he gave me instructions to meet him at the Champs Elysee. It was easy. I found the metro and jumped on a Line 1 train to George V.
Bryce!
It was great to see Bryce, I haven't seen him for around a year, when I last met up with him and Bex in Paris and had a huge night drinking champagne at a glam bar, and a day bike riding around the city. He's the Communication Director for the International Chamber of Commerce and has been in Paris for a couple of years. We sat down for a few warm wines, gluvine I think - warm red wine with a cinnamon stick and a piece of orange, had a quick catch up and Bryce gave me directions to his apartment and some tips about the area, booked a great restaurant for dinner that night for us, told me what train pass to buy and was generally a huge help. 
Red red wine
Then I headed off to catch the metro to Hotel de Ville where Bryce's apartment is and he wandered back to work before flying to Madrid.
Bryce's apartment is fantastic. I made it there easily and then went out for a coffee, then to another cafe Bryce had recommended at the end of his street, Philosophies, where I had a few vin rouge's, zucchini soup and planned the Griswolds activities for the next few days. After that I wandered around for about three hours, the area is brilliant - the Jewish quarter is right near by, there's loads of cafes, it's a short walk to Notre Dame and St Louis Island as well as being in the heart of an area filled with tiny side streets, gorgeous patisseries, shops, churches, Seine and it's right on the Line 1 metro so it's so easy to get around. At around 7.30pm I left to collect mum and dad from Gard de Lyons train station.
Dad knocked someone over with his backpack just before they got off
They made it! I was very proud of them, particularly since there'd been a big drama with the trains - apparently the train stopped at the border due to trackwork and evryone had to get off - they were not given any information, and didn't know how they'd get to Paris! So they ended up taking a taxi - with mum in the back hanging onto the luggage for dear life as the driver raced around mountains to get them to another station and a connecting train. It ended up costing them $120 for the taxi, but they did it! Well done Griswolds...I am at work alone today as the rest of the department have a team building day to which I was not invited! Can't wait to hear the goss on that one. I've been stuffing around all morning so must do some work as I've figured out I have only eight weeks of work left before I come home....counting the days. Will postthe next installment of the Griswolds in Paris tomorrow.
Posted at 2:31 AM
Wednesday, November 06, 2002
Paris
Bonjour...je voudrais un bier et un vin rouge sil vous plait
Well tomorrow I head off to Paris to meet mum and dad. Renay and her new Swiss boyfriend Daniel are also flying in. Trust her to already be enjoying an international affair while I am still single after three months here.
I was supposed to be spending the weekend with Bryce however he emailed me to let me know he also had just found a girlfriend who bought him a surprise ticket to Madrid for the weekend. Far be it for me to stand in the way of a dirty weekend with a new love I told him, and I settled for the keys to his apartment. At least I�ll be able to spend Friday with him before he starts down the road to coupledom. And I have his swish apartment all to myself.
This pic is from summer Park Teatern - park theatre. Free outdoor concerts all through summer. I think the people in front are whispering about the silly camera toting Australian.
Went swimming on Tuesday night at the flash Eriksdalsbadet pool about 15 minutes walk away from work. It was great to finally do some laps after three months of laziness. And I also experienced my first real life Swedish sauna. Yes, it is like the movies and no, there will be no further details. I also went to yoga and I�m planning on doing some type of activity each day so that when I turn up in Sydney in February I don�t stand out as a white blobby mess.
WC pub takes it's interior decorating very seriously. I have heard that inside you actually sit on toilets at the tables. I have no inclination to find out if this is true
Nothing much else going on except that when I was in Oslo I was quite the star. A TV station, NRK, produced a documentary on Tampa that had just been shown on Norwegian television. They were filming when we had the reunion of Captain Rinnan and the crew with the survivors in Auckland, and at the press conference in Sydney.
And of course, I am in it, bossing everyone around on both occasions. So there were quite a few people telling me they had seen me on TV. I am a star in Norway! Actually I was quite concerned when I saw the press conference footage as I was walking very strangely and I was horrified that this was the way I always walked. But then thankfully I realised that the night before I had seriously damaged my toe against a wall in my apartment, hence the staggering limp.
That�s all for now, I�ll write more after the Griswold reunion. Wish me luck, I am traveling Goodjet, a cheap fare airline. Of course two days after I bought the �cheap fare� SAS advertised special deals for half the price�ah well such is the vulnerability of the cheap ticket buyer.
Posted at 7:51 AM
Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Visiting Oslo
Back in the office after a day at our Oslo head office yesterday. I'm working on a project with a deadline that's just around the corner so lots to be done. I love the Oslo office, there's such a nice, calm feeling, and the most amazing views over a lake with small boat houses on the shore, and mountains in the distance.
The flight over was fine, although there were lots of dark stormy clouds. Had my standard glass of red before boarding and once we started climbing I told myself that if I closed my eyes, the next time I opened them we'd be above the clouds. And it worked! So I took some pretty photos out of the window.
Up, up and away
I have to say that SAS check-in is a million times better than Qantas - unless Qantas have recently upgraded their e-ticket system. With SAS, when you have an e-ticket, instead of going to the check-in counter you go to a little booth and insert your frequent flyer card. Then you can choose your seat from a touch screen, it prints your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and you take your bags over to a special check-in counter - where there is never a queue as it's so fast, and your bag is sent off to the plane. It takes about three minutes.
Of course my bag came out last as is always the case (except when I came back to Stockholm and waited half an hour for my bag cause I'm used to it coming out last, then realised I was at the wrong carousel). However I have a new trick. I bought a CD by a band called Kent who are very popular over here. Of course, it's all in Swedish so I can't understand a word, but I love the songs anyway. So when I have to wait for my bags or I'm doing something very boring like the hour train trip from the airport to the hotel, I listen to the CD and it makes me remember that I'm in Sweden and it's all very exciting no matter what I'm doing.
My room at the Continental
I stayed at the Continential which is gorgeous and the Wallenius WIlhelmsen employees second home. It's one of the best Small Hotels in the world, or so they say. But it is lovely, and you feel quite special staying there, huge comfy beds, a glam bathroom and all the staff call me Miss Farrell. Had a reindeer steak for dinner and was asleep by 8pm in preparation for big work day ahead. See, I am very responsible and conscientious.
A small part of the view from the office, and Annie Mouradian, a friend from the Sydney office who now works for Commercial in Oslo.
Back to work now, take care,
Yvette
Posted at 12:52 AM
Friday, November 01, 2002
The ABBA connections are rolling in...
Had dinner at a very posh restaurant in ?stermalmstorg on Wednesday night with Amelia�s boyfriend John who was in Stockholm for a few days with work. It was one of the best meals I�ve ever had. A potato cake with caviar mash, sour cream, dill and Spanish onion, and for main perch with little prawns, horseradish and other yummy stuff - it was absolutely delicious. Of course we had to complete the meal with a couple of bottles of Sancerre. It was a brilliant night, but still very tired.
The restaurant is very famous as the setting for a book that shocked Sweden. Basically the author came to the restaurant for three years and evesdropped on the conversations of Sweden�s elite, then published all the details, scandal and names. As a result she was kicked off the Nobel literature board and it is still a talking point apparently.
This is John. Bj?rn ran over his foot
John has an ABBA story of his own. About five years ago when he was living in Stockholm, he was at Sturplan waiting to cross the road and Bj?rn ran over his foot. And he didn�t stop � he just looked at John and drove off. John says he was quite excited to see it Bj?rn, until the pain hit and he realised he had a serious injury.
This is John's foot
It took John a long time to recover from this incident. For years he had to leave nightclubs and bars whenever an ABBA song came on, but thankfully he is now almost receovered. He may even be able to join us to see ABBA the musical in London at Christmas.
Ren called me other night from an Alyson Moyet concert! Her boss had given her tickets. And also exciting at my yoga class on Tuesday night I touched my toes for the first time in about 10 years!
It just started snowing! I ran out to the roof to try to get a photo but it didn't work too well. I think you can see a couple of little snowflakes. Very exciting! The first snow I've seen falling in Stockholm. The girls tell me not to be so excited as I will see a lot more over the next three months.
Also, Shanth just called to tell me that we won the PRIA State Award for Excellence and the National Golden Target Award for our crisis and issues management of Tampa. Tops! Two more certifiates and something else to add to my CV.
Off to Oslo on Sunday for meetings Monday, and watching Muriel's wedding tonight with Mikaela.
Posted at 2:21 AM