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August 13th, 2011 Losing Norrkoping

I have traveled the world.
To Sweden, I flew.
I have seen places and faces,
A path to Norrkoping, I drew.

Trapped in the mist,
That moment feebly flickers.
My heart fears cold.
O You touched it so.

Still my tongued tied,
A frown let my sorrow show.
The flowers colored to tease me,
You stood by and let me go.

I smiled for a moment,
Don't hurt me, my love,
To haunt me to return,
You smiled back.

July 26th, 2011 The Best Cities of Northern Europe 2011

City	Affordability	Cake	Food	Fun	Girls	Ice Cream	Night Life	People	Sights	Transportation	Overall
Lund Central	9	N/A	8	10	10	N/A	N/A	8	N/A	N/A	9
Cinque Terre, Italy	6	N/A	N/A	10	6	N/A	N/A	7	9	5	7.166667
Amsterdam, Holland	7	6	7	8	5	N/A	8	4	8	6	6.555556
Nice, France	6	N/A	6	6	6	7	N/A	6	6	8	6.375
Brussels, Belgium	6	N/A	9	7	5	N/A	N/A	5	6	6	6.285714
Cannes, France	6	N/A	N/A	5	6	N/A	N/A	6	6	8	6.166667
Strasbourg, France	6	8	N/A	6	N/A	N/A	N/A	6	5	6	6.166667
Sienna, Italy	7	N/A	N/A	6	5	9	N/A	7	6	3	6.142857
Arles, France	6	N/A	N/A	6	N/A	N/A	N/A	7	6	5	6
Pisa, Italy	7	N/A	N/A	7	5	6	N/A	7	6	3	5.857143
Lyon, France	5	6	7	5	5	N/A	5	6	4	8	5.666667
Koln, Germany	6	N/A	2	4	9	N/A	6	7	4	7	5.625
Florence, Italy	6	N/A	5	6	5	N/A	N/A	7	7	3	5.571429
Bruges, Belgium	5	N/A	4	7	N/A	N/A	N/A	4	7	5	5.333333
Turin, Italy	8	N/A	4	3	N/A	N/A	N/A	7	4	4	5
Hamburg, Germany	7	N/A	6	4	N/A	3	N/A	7	3	5	5
Stockholm, Sweden	5	N/A	4	5	6	N/A	N/A	6	4	5	5
Helsinki, Finland	4	N/A	6	5	5	N/A	N/A	6	3	5	4.857143
Geneva, Switzerland	3	N/A	4	3	N/A	N/A	N/A	6	6	7	4.833333
Monte Carlo, Monaco	4	N/A	N/A	5	N/A	N/A	N/A	5	5	5	4.8
Luxembourg, Luxembourg	5	N/A	1	5	4	5	N/A	8	5	5	4.75
Copenhagen, Denmark	2	N/A	4	5	6	N/A	7	5	4	5	4.75
Norrkoping, Sweden	5	N/A	N/A	4	5	N/A	N/A	6	3	5	4.666667
Ventimiglia, Italy	7	N/A	N/A	2	N/A	N/A	N/A	6	3	N/A	4.5
Basel, Switzerland	3	N/A	N/A	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	9	3	5	4.2
Hallsberg, Sweden	6	N/A	5	2	4	5	N/A	5	2	4	4.125
Rotterdam, Holland	5	N/A	N/A	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	5	2	5	3.6
Bergen, Norway	1	N/A	N/A	6	3	N/A	3	5	3	4	3.571429
Oslo, Norway	1	N/A	N/A	4	N/A	N/A	N/A	5	3	4	3.4

July 22nd, 2011 Lund Central

Lunch Central
The rest are just a shade of you

Mjolby Station
Passing the Fjords of Norway
Knowing hope is away
Suffocated by the gushing wind
What a look could have meant
I have experienced contact
The worst kind
That leaves life behind

The sound of thunder
Edges the world until it tumbles
I long for Mr. Rain
Who was too to stop that train

Can't I just let it rest
Why must tears be shed
But it did
What was not said
Is that
Life that is rich
Comes with incompleteness in it
Those forget no longer young
Those brave will not
Not Lunch Central

July 22nd, 2011 Financials

So the total comes out to be $1149.33. I venture to guess that I spent around 1200 in my 16 day trip.

Daily Expenditure (USD)
28-Jun Florence, Sienna -50.76448
29-Jun Florence, Pisa, Turin -58.60469333
30-Jun Monte Carlo, Nice -19.79416
1-Jul Nice, Arles, Lyon -70.94290667
2-Jul Lyon, Geneva, Basal -77.48276667
3-Jul Strasbourg, Luxembourg, Brussels -80.71058333
4-Jul Bruges, Koln -67.918734
5-Jul Amsterdam -58.45090333
6-Jul Amsterdam -83.58527667
7-Jul Hamburg, Copenhagen -61.28208333
8-Jul Copenhagen, Hallsberg -84.55284667
9-Jul Bergen -206.37142
10-Jul Stockholm -67.58711667
11-Jul Stockholm, Norrkoping -37.46848667
12-Jul Helsinki -95.85488
13-Jul Amsterdam -27.958

July 13th, 2011 Amsterdam to Miami, Florida

A Photo from the First Time Around

9AM I arrived at Amsterdam. My flight is not for another 6 hours so I hopped on the train to the Central Station at Amsterdam. My interrail pass had actually expired yesterday but I decided to wing it. After actually getting on the wrong train, I took the advice of a Dutchman to take the metro to get to the Van Gogh Museum that I missed the first time around.

11AM I toured the Van Gogh Museum in 2 hours. It was decent, the best part being some x-ray analysis of his painting. It was necessary because he reuses canvases. I bought tickets for another couple to get some EURs. I then went to the FOTO Museum, which is not as good and only took 20 minutes to finish. I had some more herring for prosperity.

1PM I had to return to the airport. Luckily, I was able to get back to the airport without problem. I waited an hour or so. This airport is unique in that the security check is outside of each gate so there was not a big line. The plane was full of tourists and they all cheered and clapped when the plane arrived at Miami. I am sure they were more excited than I was.

July 12th, 2011 Helsinki, Finland

It is only poetic I am writing my 100th post for this very last day of traveling. I have visited 34 cities and 12 countries on this trip, Italy and Germany I have been to before. I shall have the financial soon.

Helsinki, Finland

Fisherman's Wharf

7AM I am at Turku.

8:30AM I met a few Estonian boys, who were photographers for the Viking Line. They were big drinkers but they were friendly and so I gave them my Obama photo.

Fried Herring Fish

10AM I reached Helsinki and purchased a 24 hour bus pass to get to Tanja's. I reached her place 15 minutes away from the center at around 11. At 12, she took me to the center. We had some reindeer meatball and herring fish for 19 EURs. We walked around some more. Helsinki is quite small so we ran out places to walk to at 4. We stopped for a couple of beers. I bought a round at 6 EURs. We then went to a small park before going to dinner. I had salmon sandwich in herring. That was very decent.

Salmon Herring

10:30PM I went to sleep.
4AM Tanja woke me up because my clock was still one hour behind. The buses 231 and 615t were both on schedule to get me to the airport at 5:25. Fifteen minutes was enough to get through both check-in and security.

6:30AM The plane took off for Amsterdam.

July 11th, 2011 Stockholm and Norrkoping, Sweden

Stockholm, Sweden

5AM My alarm woke me. I changed 5 dollars for 30 SEKs so I could have my currency souvenir.

Royal Palace of Stockholm

6AM I left Minhaajs home and took the metro to the main station, where I meant to store my bag for the day. My visa did not work so I gave a helpful stranger 5 USDs and 12 SEKs for 50 seks for the 24 hr bag storage. It took me an hour to tour the old city slowly, which was excellent but with no particular surprises. I then walked from it to the train station in 20 minutes.

The best pictures are those that you cannot take, those whose impression kills. Whatever you see here, it is only a shade of what she is.

8:14AM I left for Norrkoping.

Norrkoping
The Red Church at Norrkoping

9:52AM I am at Norrkoping. It is just about how I imaged. A beautiful small town with the population of 130 thousand. I walked to downtown in a few minutes. The main street is about 1km long with shopping and restaurants just opening. The library was at the end of the street. I met sister Christy Dabb from an Utah Mormon church there. She tried to convince me to Christianity. I walked back and saw a 21 year old reporter. I told him what I was doing there and what happened to me at Vietnam. He shot 5 minute footage of me and I hope it will be on the evening news. He mentioned a place called Himmelstalundz, which is a pool where young people are. I walked there in half an hour but only found some kids. Some nice Bosnians living in Stockholm gave me a lift to the railway station.

1:46pm I am on my way back to Stockholm.

Park near Tranan

3:30PM I am at Tranan but they dont open until 5 so I moved to another suggested by the owner. It turned out Swedish pork is just a lot of bacon. They didnt start serving until 4. I ended up missing the boat to Helsinki at 4:45 by a few minutes. I ran hard for 15 minutes but was stopped by the security that let cars in. Viking was going to ask me to catch the same boat 2 hours out in Sweden. But I ended up getting the boat at 8 for 27 eurs and 25 eur refund. I ate my pork on the harbor. When I purchased a coke, some local high school girls asked me to buy them cigarrettes. I eventually bought it for them after my attempt to ask them to quit failed. I ended up getting some local currency souvenirs at the cost of having these girls getting cigarettes from someone else.

My Dinner: Swedish Pork

7:40PM I am almost boarding the Turku boat.

9PM The dinner buffet actually looked. But it was 30 EURs since I just ate, I opted to skip it. The people in Sweden, or all Scandinavia, are camera shy. I did not get many good photos. Therefore, I asked to sit down next to a girl, or I should call businesswoman. We chatted long over a couple of beers. I was pretty impressed with her work as an entrpreneur.

1:30AM I went to sleep.