Torsebro - Still just outside Kristianstads.

 Still enjoying the slower pace of life.

Luckily only asked for two scoops! They do have large portions in Sweden.

Gunter Grass - the Rat

 Whatever the future may bring, we shall be able to produce it in advance.

Kristianstad -Sweden

 First full day in this beautiful little house. Twittering birds and big hares. It’s Sunday, so Kristianstad was shut, apart from their museum.

Kalmar and Öland in Sweden

 Three lovely days in the City of Kalmar and Island of Oland.

So few people and such open space. Quiet and beautiful and clean.

Mouch around town, and then art gallery. No protection for the exhibits. Runs on trust. So very different to UK. Then north of the island to the rocky beach and castle. Second day in Kalmar castle and down to the lighthouse at the south of Oland.

And ate herring for the first time. Not too bad.

Almhult in Sweden

 Three days in the middle of nowhere. A chance to unwind and swim in the lake.

Quite lovely and badly needed.

Almhuly is, as it happens, the first and home of IKEA. So off to the ikea museum 

H G Wells - The door in the Wall

 A short story of a politician who as a child went through a door in to an Eden-like garden. Then it tells of him missing later opportunities to return. Until a chance at the end. Did he go through or did he die… or both.

A beautiful read.

Aldous Huxley - Doors of Perception

 Load of old tosh. Huxley recalling his acid trips. Self indulgent and trying to be mystical and progressive.

Thankfully a quick read

Stefan Zweig - Journey into the Past

 Another Zweig novella. Poor young man and the love for his bosses wife. 9 years of separation and their reunion. Quite touching.

Colloque sentimental

Paul Verlaine

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé,
Deux formes ont tout à l’heure passé.

Leurs yeux sont morts et leurs lèvres sont molles,
Et l’on entend à peine leurs paroles.

Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé,
Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé.

– Te souvient-il de notre extase ancienne ?
– Pourquoi voulez-vous donc qu’il m’en souvienne ?

– Ton coeur bat-il toujours à mon seul nom ?
Toujours vois-tu mon âme en rêve ? – Non.

– Ah ! les beaux jours de bonheur indicible
Où nous joignons nos bouches ! – C’est possible.

– Qu’il était bleu, le ciel, et grand, l’espoir !
– L’espoir a fui, vaincu, vers le ciel noir.

Tels ils marchaient dans les avoines folles,
Et la nuit seule entendit leurs paroles.

Paul Verlaine, Fêtes galantes

Mikhaïl Bulgakov - The Country Doctor’s Notebook

 Another novella, this of a freshly qualified doctor in the middle of the Russian hinterland. Making his way as best as he can; winging it really 

A good read

Jack London - Call of the Wild

 Came across this. Hadn’t much fancied it, but saw it was a novella, so took it out of the library.

Second person narration of a home loving dog, stolen and driven in the snowy wastes. Brutal story and quite upsetting. Need to tell Juno how lucky she is.

Definitely worth the read

Stefan Zweig - Chess

 I thought I’d pick up a couple of Zweig novellas as he’d passed me by up to now.

This is the first, about a boat trip on which a chess prodigy faces an unknown who has taught himself in prison to stay sane.

A good story and quick read

Henry James - The Europeans

 A short gentle romance of the upper middle classes.

Late 19th century east coast America.

Nice but twee

Arthur Koestler - Arrival and Departure

 One of three, including Darkness at Noon

Some beautiful passages reminding me of Nabokov.

Written in 1941-42, an allegory of the war. Just ordered the third book

John Wyndham - The Chrysalids

 Very early sci-fi, or post-apocalyptic future.

A quick read. Good story

Marcel Proust - In Search of Lost Time

 So, book one of seven. Took a while to grind through.

It was the final 30 pages that bought out a beautiful moment: bringing the whole thing to clarity.

Madame Swann was aged and past, a pointless mark of history and irrelevance 

Train holiday - day 13

 Long trip home. Train to Cologne, the. Change to Brussels, then Eurostar to London, the. Dodgy train to Cambridge, then a lift home from Simon. Much appreciated as awful weather causing many problems in the UK

Home around 23:00

Train holiday - day 12

 Free day in Berlin, in the rain.

Walk down Oriannstrasse and into ‘Modular’ for arty stuff and coffee. Then some clothes shops and down the Ubahn to Stokx and bought a coat and top for Jo.

Then a poor meal with everyone together.

Train holiday - day 11

 Thursday, so off to Berlin.

Early to a bus to Dresden. A long coffee stop and then train to Berlin.

We forgo the late walking tour and head off on our own.

A pair of boots from Campers for Jo.

Then dinner up the tower.

Late for bed

Felt straight at home in Berlin

Train holiday - day 10

 Today still in Prague.

Free day. First to the Kafka museum which was ok. Nothing original which is a shame, excepting some early publications. 

Coffee and the. O the old Jewish cemetery, and synagogue. Very emotive and old.

We bought a ‘chimney cake’ each which was very nice.

Finished with a cheap meal in the large shopping mall.

A pretty good day, but not feeling about Prague.

Train holiday - day 8

 So up early to coach the train first to Vienna, and then on to Prague. A long journey of around 6 hours.

Finally a bus to a very nice hotel.

A bottle of fizz to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.

Train holiday - day 9

 Funny day today. Early tour with a strange lady. Fast visits to castle and old town, and the Charles bridge. So many people; I switched off. Lots of pretty stuff to look at and photograph. Just got bored with it.

Back to hotel for a nap, then mooch around shopping centre. Not feeling it today.

Train holiday - day 7

 So free day today.

First to the Synagogue which was emotional. Then to the ex-secret police HQ. First the police were part of the ‘arrow cross party’, then quick costume change, and then Soviet secret police. Keeping rank and everything. Very bleak to put it mildly.

Then a Hungarian meal of wild boar stew and back to the hotel.

Train holiday - day 6

 Coach tour of the city, including statues and the big church on top of the big hill above the city, and cathedral in the city.

Hilarious and awful ‘children’s railway’ ride in the hills. Very full of noisy kids. Really terrible but funny for it.

Took Kevin the tour guide off for a meal.

Train holiday - day 5

 Managed to find the sewer entrance from The Third Man.

Then heading off on train to Budapest.

Train was rather full, and arrived late. Big coach to the very nice hotel with big rooms.

Night tour up to the hill above the city. Then a buffet meal which was a good laugh. Had loads of food, including fois gras and beef tarter.

Train holiday - day 4

 Still in Vienna.

Took in the museum of modern art which was ok. Then design museum which was fab.

Greek for dinner. Then back to hotel for an early night.

Train holiday - day 3

 In Vienna.

Early breakfast, then coach to the Schonbrunn palace for a mouch around the gardens, followed by a guided tour of the palace. All very palacey. Very crowded and pretty. You get a sense of the postwar red occupation slightly tainting the city. It must have very hard.

Then broke away from the group and went into the city, into the Hapsburg crypt which was amazing. Then the National library which was very ornate but disappointing.

Finally a piccy of the Goethe statue, a nice early bratwurst, sourkraut, and frites, broke back to the hotel via Spar.

Train holiday - day 2

 So train journey that went on and on and on and on.

So left the hotel back on the coach to the station. An hour to hang around and left on the train late.

First leg was 3 hours or so, then change at Munich, then another 4 hours. One very numb bum later. Finally a short coach ride to the hotel. Then a reasonable meal and bed. The hotel much better than in Frankfurt.

Rubbish photos from the train.

Train holiday - day 1

Wake up in the Montcalm hotel near the Barbican. So set off from St Pancras on the Eurostar, off to Brussels. Then change trains for the ICE to Frankfurt.

Long day getting to the hotel around 17:30. Food rather poor and got overcharged for my single beer. So had to go back for a refund. Very Faulty Towers.

Not sure about the fellow 14 tourists, but we shall see

Rich and David

Jo and Martin?

Francis and mouthy