Living La Vida Lunda: A blog abroad

The Minnesota No(ICE)s

Log in

  • Valborgsmässoafton Walpurgis

    Lund is employing multiple strategies to stop large gatherings in local parks tonight. Saint Walpurgis night, originally a pagan, equinox (Beltane) festival turned folk fest, with singing and bonfires has in recent decades become a huge party for students who have just completed their Spring exams. Lund has possibly the largest (unsanctioned) party in the…

  • On the mend

    Lily and I rode the train to Malmö for her Handkirurgi appointment. The hand specialist said the cast could come off- she can use a velcro wrap for a few weeks until it stops hurting and moves easily.Then we stopped in our old Hyllie neighborhood to have lunch at her favorite place from those weeks…

  • Greenhouse at City Park

    International Citizen’s Hub (just a French lady named Carole) has been hosting a weekly walk around Stadsparken, a little over half a mile from our house. This is where I take most of my pond pictures. I like the view from the top of the rampart walking path. We’ve had fairly low turn out for…

  • Arctic Spring – Night Snowmobiling

    There was an outing that was on the itinerary that escaped Jen’s attention to detail – a snowmobiling outing after dark with dinner (link). Snowmobiles? Driving them? Not for some of us. Lily and Bryant, however, thought the idea was pretty cool. So, Jen and Hil skipped it, while Bry and Lily revved it. We…

  • Kiruna, Background Info

    We decided to spend our Easter holiday doing something. In Sweden, Easter (or Påsk, pronounced “poask”) is a very secular holiday, and Holy Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays (so, no work!), and the schools are out for Easter week. So, we took a trip to Kiruna, Sweden. Kiruna is a city of 30k…

  • Arctic Spring

    We decided the risk of traveling within Sweden was minor and booked a trip to Kiruna, the northern most city in Swedish Lapland. It’s north of the Arctic Circle in Sàpmi (Sami cultural region) taiga forestland with long winters. Traditional Sami foods, cooked over the fire in a làvvu reindeer, moose, lingon and cloudberries prepared…

  • Bornholm

    A Danish island in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden, Bornholm is still closed to tourism. It used to be a fishing community, but in recent times it is known for biking, hiking and culinary culture. My great-grandfather, Fred, was born there in 1880 Fred’s mother’s family lived there for generations. His father,…

  • Face Mask Machinations

    There is one issue in Sweden that has annoyed me from day 1. Sverige seems like a country that would put the public good ahead of individual freedoms. The leaders claimed they were following the science on all issues related to covid 19 so why are they ignoring the data on mask effectiveness? We’ve been…

  • Påskkäring, Easter Witch

    My friend, Brandie, suggested we get out of town for a bit since her husband and daughters are working from home this week due to Swedish guidelines regarding the new covid variant. We drove to the southern most point, Smyghuk but it was under construction so we went to Vellinge Blommar, a huge garden center…

  • Shame in the Grocery Store

    Lily and I went to the Stora Coop (Big Co-op) last weekend for a stock-up. Saw this in the store. I have many conflicted feels about it. This is the American section. Next to the Asian and Eastern European food sections. This might have been the store’s entire stock of partially hydrogenated soybean oil.