Home Swede Homecoming

Vince and I first went to Sweden together in October 2008, to see our longtime friends Jim and Lennart.
They lived in SF for years before selling their antique lighting shop and retiring, and have been lifelong friends with Vince (and me, after I came along). They spend about half of their time in Sweden and the other half in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Hmm.. a couple of guys who split their time between far-flung locales? Remind you of anyone?

When we arrived in Nice, we weren't sure our trip to Sweden would come to fruition, but it worked out perfectly. And it was just like coming home.

Jim and Lennart really put on the dog when we arrived. No, they weren't teasing Honey. Putting on the dog by celebrating our arrival with a couple of lovely dinner parties at their country cabin. First with a gaggle of Swedish friends and family:







The next night, we had a delightful dinner with Lennart's brother Jolle and sister-in-law Gittan.



We had such fun. We popped over to see Gittan and Jolle again during our Swedish adventure, and met up with some of new friends at an art show a few days later:

Vince and I took in the art, but Honey was distracted:

She met some sweet poodles:

And apparently, that wore her out:

After that, a bunch of us met for lunch at Freadals Trädgårdscafé as well. Freadals is gorgeous:


We had shrimp sandwiches for lunch. Pretty much the rule in Sweden.


Gunilla was initially served 1 shrimp:

And being a good sport, she savored her it!

We had a lot of laughs and fun getting to know everyone better:

The Trip that Almost Wasn’t

Before we left for Nice, Vince and I planned a 10-day trip to see our friends Jim and Lennart, and stay with them at their country cabin in Sweden. It’s a charming home, set in a tranquil forest by a lake. We looked forward to a restful stay away from the hustle and bustle of Nice.
The last item on our pre-travel checklist was to get Honey’s paperwork together for France and Sweden. All was in order, until we hit a glitch. It turns out that Sweden requires additional paperwork beyond what most Western European countries require.

We’ve taken Honey abroad before, and we assumed we knew the drill: A visit to her vet (no more than 10 days before our departure date) so she could get her current health certificate and proof of rabies vaccination, then a trip to the USDA near SFO so the inspector could verify and stamp the documents. The inspector told us that, in order to gain entry to Sweden, Honey would need to get a vaccination for tapeworm from her vet in France (we knew about that) and that she would need to have a blood test to ensure that her level of rabies antibodies were within a certain range (it’s called a rabies antibody titer test — we didn’t know about that). We had just enough time to take Honey back to the vet for the test, but it didn’t look like the results would be ready for three or four weeks. If we paid a fee to expedite the paperwork, we might just make it. But it was slim-to-iffy at best. We opted for standard processing of Honey’s results and tried to change our flight to a later date (to no avail — cheap tickets aren’t very flexible). So we reconciled ourselves to missing out on a relaxing stay in the Swedish countryside.

Somehow, the results came back just in time.
We got the form two days before departure, which was one day before a national French holiday (Bastille Day aka La Fête Nationale aka le quatorze juillet). It’s a big deal (a 4th-of-July-type big deal) in France, and businesses would be closed the next day. And our flight was at the crack of dawn the following day. So we scampered off to our vet’s office in Nice for a same-day drop-in visit so he could certify Honey’s titer test — and suddenly, we were good to go. Honey not only got the paperwork we needed to go to Sweden, she got a French-issued EU Pet Passport!
A big thanks and merci to our US vet, Dr. Andrew Lie, and our French vet, Dr. Paul Benzimra.

Next time: Home, Swede Homecoming!

The Vacation that Almost Was

A few days after we arrived in Nice, our friend from San Francisco, Linda Wolfe, came to stay with us for a three-week vacation. Linda stayed for just shy of a week, as she had hurt her back prior to the trip. Even though she shortened her stay, we made the most of our time together.

Linda and I took the train to Menton, where we strolled the beach and stopped for a refreshing beverage. Later, Linda treated me to lunch, magret de canard avec fruits rouges -- duck breast with red fruits.


We both went to the beach a couple of times, where the sun was hot and the water was “heavenly,” as Linda said. And although she wasn’t feeling super, Linda was (as always) wonderful company.

St. Augustine of Hippo said, "The world is a great book, of which they that never stir from home read only a page." It's one of my favorite quotes. Of course, Augie also said, "Love the sinner and hate the sin" — one of my least favorite quotes.

At any rate, I'm glad Linda was able to share a "page" of the Cote d'Azur with Honey, Vince and me.

'Summer' as a Verb

[Note: This post includes a mess of links, as I find myself with a dearth of pictures to share. Rest assured, there is no (paid) product placement, and future posts will be more pictorial. I'm even considering video-blogging. Oh, I still love writing, but my fingers get tired of typing. And a picture/video is worth at least 999 words. Roughly.]

Vince, Honey and I packed up a couple of odds and ends for the return to our 'second home' in Nice. I've always (not-so-secretly) envied/admired/wanted to be one of the folks who has a second home, especially one who flits about the globe seasonally and peppers his conversations by using 'summer' as a verb without one iota of haughtiness or noblesse oblige. Imagine being someone who can blithely dash off on a whim -- at a moment's notice with nary a care or constraint.

OK, reality check: There was a bit of luggage involved (even though we left nearly everything we'd brought for our trip last year at our place in Nice). We had to lug a lot of electronic devices for our summer sojourn: 2 US cell phones, 2 French cell phones, a MacBook, Lenovo laptop, iPad 2, Kindle, Nikon Coolpix camera, and all the related cords, chargers, adapters and batteries. Luckily, I have a full-time freelance gig (that I like) to keep me busy and to pay the bills. And we had to pack the passports, tickets, dog-umentation (Honey requires reams of paperwork for international travel), along with a frilly frock or five. One must bring a few seasonal items for a summer by the sea, of course... But after check-in, we had only a small carry-on, a shoulder bag/murse, and one wee pup in a papoose.


The trip was uneventful, although our bums (and backs and necks) are still sore from the hideously uncomfortable ride from San Francisco to Munich. The seats on Lufthansa's airbus seem to be configured for contortionists. As we are short, we don't require much leg-room, but when the passenger in front of you reclines, you must do the same or get bopped in the noggin with a headrest. Ow. And said passengers were grumpy (OK, belligerent) when we kindly requested that they return their seats to the upright position during meal service. And we asked very nicely. When did 'polite' go out of style? Le sigh... The (lower level) lavatories were large and comfy, though. We'll check into getting seat assignments in the lav for our flight home in September.

Honey, of course, could teach the world a few lessons about good manners and a positive outlook. She logged 6,264 miles in a rather stylish Sherpa bag, under (cramped) airplane seats, without a pee break (at just under 18 hours from door to door). What a trooper.


The flight from Munich to Nice was on a much smaller (and far more comfy) plane, and we were greeted at the airport by our friends and neighbors Myriam and Andre. They whisked us back to 8 boulevard Victor Hugo with ease, catching us up on the gossip at Le Metropole, and welcoming us back home with much affection. They are so dear...

Not much has changed in our 'second home' since we were last in Nice. Our landlady, Christine, made a couple of quite tasteful decorative changes (love the chair) and ensured all was in order for our arrival (thanks ever so for the bottle of wine, Christine!). It was a treat to return to such familiar, welcoming surroundings.


Despite waves of jet-lag (Honey and Vince more than me -- thanks, Wal-Som), we're settling back in quite nicely. Today, I bought a set of digital scales (still shedding the weight I gained during our last stay in Nice), strolled around town, got some sun on the terrace, took a dip in the sea, and capped it all off with the perfect Negroni. Vince served a yummy salade Nicoise (nothing says 'Bienvenue a Nice' quite like a salade Nicoise) on the terrace. At this point, a warm bath seems in order. And I will take one, as soon as Vince finishes soaking his jet-lagged bones.

Life is good. And it's so good to be summering in Nice. Home, sweet (second) home.

Orange You Glad...?

Things start hopping again in the South of France when spring begins to bloom. While Nice goes mad for carnaval at this time of year, the very quiet and stately town of Menton celebrates all things citrus with La Fete du Citron.

A few weeks ago, I strolled through the dazzlingly festooned Casino Gardens. This year's theme was "Grand Civilizations," providing visitors with an unusual trip through various epochs around the globe. All rendered in citrus fruits and flowers. And campy mannequins. It was wacky, whimsical, fun -- and unabashedly cheesy.

Enjoy the short video below. You can also view a larger rendering of the video on YouTube.

Blooming Crazy

As part of the Carnaval de Nice celebrations, the Bataille de Fleurs (Flower Parade) is a colorful, festive highlight. Our Swedish friends Gittan and Jolle were in Nice a few days ago, and went to the parade; they took some great snapshots that they shared with us. I made a video of the pictures (under my nom-de-anagram, Ace Wrangle), so I could share the fun with my tens of faithful blog readers. Many thanks to G&J for documenting the event so superbly.

To see a larger rendering of the video, click here for the YouTube version.

How Swede It Is!

One of the best things about being a sometimes-expat is meeting up with old friends. We last saw Jolle and Gittan (below, L-R) when we dashed to Sweden and Denmark for a few days during our 2008 stay in France. They invited us for a lovely lunch at their home on the sea in Åsa, Sweden.

As it happened, they came to Nice for a few days, so Honey suggested we get together so she could meet them while we all caught up. Our friends arrived with a pretty bouquet:

And lots of love (and breadsticks) for their new friend, Honey:


We headed out to a cozy restaurant in Old Nice that's become our favorite, Bistrot d'Antoine.

On the way home, we took in the nighttime sights, including some of the Carnaval festivities.

Earlier in the day, Gittan and Jolle went to the Parade of Flowers, and shared some dynamite pictures of the spectacle. Stay tuned for those pictures in an upcoming post. (In fact, it was Jolle who snapped the final image in the above series, as I was too short to peer over the barricade surrounding the main square. Thanks for capturing the moment, Jolle. And for being tall!)