Night out in Tokyo

Having a nice team dinner in a Korean restaurant in Tokyo. Big risk for getting a hangover, especially since it's all-you-can-drink, or Nomihodai as it's called in Japanese....

Heading out....

It's almost time to get on the flight to Tokyo. It feels pretty nice to be travelling again, after a long hiatus for about 10 weeks :)

Party

It was a nice party! Lots of good people and the alcohol level was just right. :) when it was time to go home, I noticed it was bright outside and that I could hear seagulls. Summer is not that far away...:)

Poker

Playing poker with the guys can be a fun experience, but definitely not when you're losing. I guess it's back to the basics in order to get better...........I don't know what that means exactly, but I'll get better, promise :)

The most famous painting in the world?

The Mona Lisa could arguably be the most famous painting in the world. What is not visible in this picture are the huge number of people all crowding around the painting and snapping pictures. This is surely one of the biggest reasons that a lot of people visit the Louvre :)

To Paris or not to Paris?

Some ramblings from Paris....

The time has come to pack up and go back home. As I am writing this, I'm sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to leave. And it occurs to me that I am ambivalent about Paris as a city. The visit to this great city has been a lot like many others to other cities. It starts off with "Euphoria"; everything is simply great. Then comes the "curious"phase, where it's so great to just walk around and see as much as possible. Finally, usually on the day of departure, it's time for the "slowdown" phase; thoughts start to come and some sort of judgement is made about the place just visited.

Paris, like many capitals that are of respectable size around the globe, commands a lot of respect. Being in the city centre, it is impossible to miss that this country has taken part in shaping history for a very long time. Everywhere are buildings and monuments that attest to various acheivements and victories. This is certainly an old city and it differs greatly to ones such as Tokyo or New York. Simply put, you can feel the French culture permeating everything about this city. Being here, it is not at all difficult to understand why the French are proud of themselves and their country.

Whenever we've walked around, there have always been many things to discuss. For instance, it seems like most of the people walking around in Paris' city center are tourists. Nowhere before have I seen so many people carrying cameras and just scurrying about, getting to their intended sights and destinations. Also, it is difficult to not be impressed by the incredible diversity of France these days; everywhere the are people from many different countries walking about. Just the huge number of restaurants and culinary possibilities is mind-boggling. Remember, this is the country that dictates terms to most of the rest of the world when it comes to food; a star the Guide Michelin is something that every restaurant in the world wants to achieve. In any case, drinking lots of red wine whenever it's time to eat is something I can get really used to.... :)

Without really having any facts to base an opinion on...I might be very wrong......but it seems that France has made more progress than the US in managing to raise their second- and third-generation immigrants to high places in society (I'm thinking of the large inequalities between whites and blacks in the US, for instance). But here I might be really wrong.... But like Britain, France has hade more of a tradition of integrating it's post-colonial countries. I don't know, and as I write this I become even more unsure....but anyone that feels differently is really welcome to let me know why....

In any case, this visit has been a really great one! We've enjoyed ourselves immensly and managed to see quite a lot in just two and a half days. Though I am not sure if I would like to live in Paris, I can definitely say that it's worth visiting a couple of times in one's lifetime. It is really easy to feel romantic in this city, so I recommend it for all couples that haven't tried it yet :) Having been here with a friend, I can't say much about it this time. But on the other hand, there have been moments where sipping an espresso, having a glass of red wine and just watching people walk by, has been an experience well worth making. And so that you don't think we haven't also seen a bit of Paris-by-night; it's a great city for partying!! Try a Mohito or Caipirinha at La Fumoir and you're golden :)

So, enough of my ramblings...for this time...

Guess where I am...

By the time this picture was taken, we had been walking around for 3 hours. There's really too much to see in just one weekend. But we were lucky with the weather :)

In Paris

I landed in Paris yesterday, about to enjoy a long weekend here. The first thing that struck me was the incredible mix of people from everywhere. So many colours, nationalities and languages. Walking around the city center was nice. Old French cuisine restaurants mashed in next to Lebanese, Thai and African ones. The picture is taken at the Louvre, with its famous glass pyramid. Expect more about Paris soon :)

Seating Concept

Thomas and Bengt are trying out Thomas' future couch at Seating Concept. It does look comfy :)

The night of the blue, erotic sticks :)

Sune and Sannie, two friends, started playing with some drink sticks that Thomas had lying around. They had been "borrowed" by friends of Thomas a long time ago in Mallorca and were now used to demonstrate......hmmmmm....I don't know what they were supposed to demonstrate :)

Taking it easy....

At one point in time during the day, I got separated from the other people I was skiing with. Given the weather, it seemed ok to take a break in the sun.

The dancing dingos :)

Per and Christoffer got caught up in a Dancing Dingo moment.... ;)

La Folie Douce up closer...

Found a nice place for after ski :)

We stopped by La Folie Douce ( http://www.lafoliedouce.com/ ) for some well deserved after ski. Though I haven't been around Europe's ski resorts all that much, this is the coolest place I've ever had an after ski. It's located in the slope and has a great view, good music and LOTS of people.

Taking it easy...

Skiing is really tough. Especially having a coffee in the sun...

Vacationing with the guys...

Having arrived in Val D'isere to ski for 1 week with UCPA, we're just taking it easy at the after ski. With me are Bengt, Thomas, Christoffer, Björn and Per. A great group to party with :)

In the Alps!

Close to Val D'isere now... :)

On the road again...

In an hour, I'll be out the door and on my way to Val D'isere in France. Damn, this will be a nice trip. Skiing, After-ski and then more skiing......not too bad a way to spend a week. :)

Reviving my love of travel

Since approximately 2 years back, most of my travelling has ended with me becoming a project manager again when reaching the destination. Business trips, though usually interesting and rewarding, have simply not been able to provide the feeling of joy that I used to have when I travelled to new, exciting destinations.
However, I certainly intend to change that from now on. Since I have practically no business trips the coming weeks, I will take the opportunity to go skiing in France during a weeklong trip and then pay a visit to that very nice city Paris, in March. I think that the joy will come back again soon… :)

At Koi

Two friends, Mårten and Nina, at Koi.....

Bowling is fun...

My view just before I hit my 5th straight Strike in a row......yeah right :)

Back home.....for how long?

Well, I've finally made it back from China after spending almost 2 weeks there. Right now, I have no other business trips planned there or anywhere else. Even though this is the state I've wanted to find myself in for a long time, it feel a bit strange not having to rush off anywhere or plan on not seeing my friends for some time. Now I guess I'll try to spend some time catching up on all those things I couldn't do earlier :)

Slogans can make all the difference in the world!

There are often a lot of slogans to be seen in Beijing, some good and some bad. Usually they get mangled in translation. However, this one taken at the Silk Market in Beijing clearly expresses the intent. I do wonder however, if it hasn't been plagiarized from the Beijing Olympics slogan "One world, one dream". If so, it would certainly match the rest of the Silk Market, where there a re a lot of plagiarized things being sold :)

A long, long lunch......

We decided to try a different place to go to lunch for and found a Teppanyaki place that was very nice. It's not often in Sweden that you have a private room with a chef and a waitress, without paying a lot. But this was really great food as well as interesting to watch. However, I cannot recommend you to do this too often if you have a busy schedule, since it took almost 1,5 hours to finish the meal....unfortunately, the chef was a perfectionist... :)

Last day of skiing

In good company for New Year's

Anna, Rickard, Marie, Sofia, Lisa, Kristian, Maiko, Elisabeth. Nice people :)

The last song of the new year!

Having a really good time in the last moments of the old year. :)

My view from the first ride of the year..

Though I'm not a hardcore skier, it's really a lot of fun to be standing on a pair of them again :)

The furniturization of Christmas

For those of you that have passed by Lilla Torg in Malmö, I'm sure that you haven't been able to miss the gigantic lamp standing in the middle. I'm not sure what the history behind it is, but it has been know to show up every now and then in the center of Malmö. Pretty cool to see, but I'm not sure what it has to do with Christmas....

A view to enjoy....

Here is Thomas (to the left), Kasimir (middle) and myself (hmmm.....I need a shave :), enjoying the spectacular view from the 40th floor of the Warsaw Cultural Center. The building was a "present" from the Soviet Union to the Poles and was erected as a copy of an existing building in St Petersburg. Kasimir and his girlfriend, who knows Thomas, were kind enough to show us around Warsaw during Saturday evening. A great night out! :)