Stieg Larsson Tour

My history with these books goes back to September 2010 when a backpacker unloaded them onto me in a hostel in Nairobi, Kenya. But it was only the 2nd & 3rd books, & I couldn't find an English version of the 1st book in any of the countries going up to Sweden. They were bloody heavy to lug around, & for nothing, frustrating! But here we are in February 2011 & all 3 books have been read, all 3 movies watched, & a self-guided tour accomplished!

Bellmansgatan 1

Mikael Blomkvist lives here in an attic apartment with a view of the water and Gamla Stan.

Gotgatan 11 

Millenium Offices

Gotgatan 25

Salander is a regular at this 7-Eleven, where she's always buying frozen Billy's Pan Pizza

Fiskargatan 9

In "The Girl who Played with Fire" Salander (with her new billions) buys a 350sqm, 21 room apartment on the top floor of this building. It's in an exclusive & discreet neighbourhood. 

Tjarhovsgatan 4

Kvarnen - this is the bar where Evil Fingers plays every Tuesday night, & where Lisbeth kisses Miriam Wu. The real place is one of the oldest pubs in Stockholm.

Back to Sweden

Lunch: Torekällsbergets, Sodertalje

Chili baked fillet of salmon with green lentils, pea shoots & mango-coriander salsa

Pre-dinner drinks: Nobis Hotel, Stockholm

Stockholm's 1st contemporary luxury hotel

Atrium: ceiling height 28m

Taittinger Champagne


Dinner: Griffins' Steakhouse Extraordinaire, Stockholm

Entrees: 

Seared scallops with panchetta, caprise tomatoes, pistou & marinated mozzarella

 Steak Tartare rolled in sesame seeds with chili dip, soya roasted mushrooms & tatsoi

50g kalix caviar with small potato pancakes & whisked smetana

Mains:

 Rosemary lamb racks in home-made Bearnaise sauce (with almond potato puree & pommes frites)

Bouillabaisse: condifated arctic char, seared scallop & frittered oyster. Served with vegetables from southern France, rouille, tomato & crustacean vinaigrette

Dessert

Poor knights (french toast): brioche sandwich with sea buckthorn bavaroise, sugarcoated cloudberries, vanilla ice cream and cloudberry sorbet.

Of course I didn't eat everything. Just the 1st picture of each course was mine, the others come from my neighbours. 

It's good to be back :-)

Paris II

Tourist for a Day

Paris for the 3rd time meant not having any pressure to visit any touristic places or museums.

So I was free to do indulge in my favourite past-time: playing tourist for a day = photos photos photos!!!

Besides, it was almost called-for, as on my other visits, I didn't understand the concept of pixels & resolution... I ended up with lots of photos, crappy quality. 

Not it's still about lots of photos, but better than 2 megapixels. 

But this time for some reason, they are not rotating!

Oh Paris, what are you doing to me??? 

You just want me to keep coming back right... 4th time lucky?

 Sacre Cour

Moulin Rouge

 Champs-Elysees

Notre Dame

 Louvre

The Eiffel Tower Collection:

This is France

The IKEA of France

Rabbit: Only 7 Euro a kilo 

 Galette des rois (cake of the kings) - eaten in January, has a toy inside, the person that gets it wears the crown & gets their king/queen

 Tartiflette

Choucroute (sauerkraut, smoked meat & boiled potatoes)

LACROIX SAINT OUEN