Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Monday 26th of December
10.03 The Christmas weekend and Christmas celebrations with loved ones are over. Now I'm sitting on the train going south. The sky is gray and the raindrops are small.
10.44 I have taken the opportunity to reconnect with my favorite literary characters. It's none other than Ian Rankin's Edinburgh detective John Rebus.
11.06 My journey continues calmly. Unfortunately, Christer has had a bit of a hard time before this trip. He has been ill during the Christmas holiday with a fever and a runny nose. However, the health situation is heading in the right direction. The fever has disappeared during the night.
11.25 There are secret whispers here in train car 2. A nasty rumour says that the bistro lacks a working coffee machine.
11.53 The rumour was true, but there is no major danger, there was a thermos with a noble drink. Now Christer and I are planning, via SMS, a possible hotel dinner tonight.
12.54 There will probably be dinner at the hotel tonight, but other things will be announced before then. Soon the train stops for a while in Hudiksvall.
14.10 My train has reached Gävle and there is just over an hour left of my connecting journey. The traveling companion Christer has not yet started his connecting journey from Nyköping. He has spent the Christmas weekend in Oxelösund and Nyköping where he spent time with his father, sister and her sons.
15.38 I have arrived at Arlanda airport. Burgers and beer are ordered from O'Learys, one of the few sensible restaurants at the airport. So far, it is the same as last year.
21.13 It is a quiet evening here in our room. We cover the Junior World Championships in ice hockey, which is broadcast on SVT. After two periods, Sweden leads against Austria with 8-0. Austria has fewer shots on goal than Sweden has shots on goal. We eat the buns and drink our evening coffee.
Tuesday 27th of December
Peter is having dinner at O'Leary's at Arlanda.
Christer has boarded the Arlanda Express train in Stockholm.
Peter in the room at Best Western Arlanda Hotellby.
View from room 144.
06.40 The new travel day has begun. The USA eventually won the hockey game 5-2. The same figures were obtained in the match Czech Republic vs Canada. We will now mostly get ready to travel.
07.25 Now that we have showered, we will leave our room for a while. It's time to reacquaint ourselves with the breakfast room upstairs at the reception. 08.05 It was a good reunion. It wasn't a fantastic breakfast buffet, but after the summer's British accommodations when there was no breakfast or only English breakfast, this feels a bit luxurious. Now we have to prepare ourselves and our stuff before check-out. As soon as that is done, we will get on the shuttle bus to Terminal 2. 08.21 The bus has stopped outside the reception. Now we have the chance. The driver got out. It's just Christer and I on the bus. Should we take the opportunity to drive away ourselves? 08.51 The driver returned and we went with him to terminal 4. From there we got off and walked on to terminal 2. Here we prepare ourselves and the luggage for check-in.
Early in the morning the world is a blur.
The Christmas goat guards Arlanda Hotellby.
Best Western Arlanda Hotellby.
We have arrived at our gate.
A Christer with a cold at Starbucks.
On our way into the plane that will take us abroad.
09.55 Without major problems we made it through check-in and security and we are now at our gate. It is always practical to travel from Terminal 2. It is always calmer and easier to check in there.
10.28 While waiting to get on board, we enjoy Starbucks coffee. I like to take the opportunity to visit Starbucks if the opportunity presents itself. On previous visits to this terminal, it was closed here. It was a pleasant surprise to see that they had reopened. 11.20 Via gate 66 we boarded KLM's Cityhopper from Arlanda to Schiphol Amsterdam. The summer trip ended with a KLM trip via Schiphol, now the New Year's trip begins with a flight to the same airport. 12.05 Goodbye to the motherland! Below us is now Denmark which we visited during Easter. KLM offers a snack. Juice has been drunk and a sandwich has been eaten.THE NETHERLANDS
13.15 It's time for the first stop today. We have landed and are back at Schiphol Airport just south of Amsterdam.
13.46 We have walked to Schiphol Plaza, an area with cafes, restaurants, shopping and connection to the railway that takes passengers to and from the airport. Here there are plenty of people and a beautiful Christmas tree. Christer, who still has a cold, has basically lost his hearing after the flight. However, we can communicate with each other without sign language. 14.09 In anticipation of the next Olympics and mainly the next flight, we have bought a return ticket from Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal. After we booked our trip, KLM changed its timetable. Therefore, we have received a seven-hour break here in the Netherlands instead of the two hours that applied when we booked. Now is the time to make something good out of that situation. 14.29 Getting to the Amsterdam Centraal railway station was easy. Now we will find our way out of it and set out to see Amsterdam again. The last time we were here was June 30th, 2009. It's been a while. Then we were here on a day trip from our accommodation in Utrecht. 14.42 There is a lot of activity outside the central station. Various tour boats go around in the water and trams pass behind us. Unfortunately, it is cold here in Amsterdam. After all, we have clothes adapted for slightly more southern regions. 14.56 I am sitting on a bench and writing this. Salvation Army soldier Alida Bosshardt sits on the same bench. However, she is a statue and the bench is cold. In the 1930s, she worked at an orphanage in Amsterdam. During the Second World War she helped Jewish children in Amsterdam and after the war she concentrated on helping prostitutes in the De Wallen area, the city's largest "Red Light District". The year before she died in 2007, an award was established in her name, an award that goes to a person who has done something for society.
We have landed at Schiphol, the Netherlands.
Schiphol Plaza.
Beautiful Christmas tree at Schiphol.
While waiting for the next flight, we will go by train.
Christer has arrived in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam Centraal.
15.17 We move along the canals on the edge of De Wallen. Here there is a museum for erotica, prostitution and hashish/marijuana. There are also places here that offer defibrillators. In a doorway we saw a woman in a black negligee. Others saw her too, including a young man in a wheelchair.
15.23 It's a bit comical how quickly all preconceived notions about Amerdam have been revealed. Tulips are sold here, there are lots of bicycles everywhere and we have seen museums dedicated to prostitution and marijuana. We have also walked along canals and felt the smell of the just mentioned smoke. 15.32 Now we, people and pigeons, are in the middle of the crowd on the city's main square, Dam. The former town hall and the current palace (Koninklijk Paleis) are located here. It is built on 13,659 wooden posts. 15.51 Our clothes do not match and fix the city's current weather and temperature. We made the decision to return to the railway station. Heat is mainly sought here, but also coffee. 16.24 There was a shortage of both heat and coffee. Coffee is certainly offered, but there must be seating as well. In any case, there were no vacant seats at Starbucks. Instead, we return to Schiphol to be able to take our coffee break there instead. 16.35 We are back at the airport. What are we going to do here? Will there be food, drinks or maybe just coffee?
Basiliek van de HH Nicolaas (Basilica of Saint Nicholas), Amsterdam.
A view towards the Amsterdam railway station.
A summer-adorned bike in the middle of winter.
Swimming swans in the canals of Amsterdam.
This area is known as Amsterdam's Red Light District.
There are museums about most things in Amsterdam.
17.14 After a while of wandering and thinking, we sat down at the second Starbucks Coffee of the day. It was coffee together with a cheese and ham sandwich. Christer has just read on Facebook that a colleague he worked with just passed here at Schiphol and is going on to France just like us. Wondering which flight she came on and which plane she will travel on?
18.05 We are now in place beyond the security checkpoint. Next, we will mostly have to wait. There will be a lot of it on a day like this. 18.34 We need to charge our mobile phones. We had intended to do this in a cafe in Amsterdam, but it didn't happen. After a while looking for seats near electrical outlets here at the airport, we gave up. Of course, there are both seats and sockets at them, but it seems totally powerless 18.49 Christer was able to charge his phone a little at an outlet near the floor by a pillar, but it wasn't much fun to stand there for a long time. We move on. 19.29 The meal at Café Comunal cannot be classified as culinary. There was a little replenishment for the digestive systems in all of them. More precisely, we ordered soft drinks and sandwiches.
A car from the hashish museum has parked.
Royal Palace (Koninklijk Paleis), Amsterdam.
Dam Square, Amsterdam.
Coffee break at Starbucks Coffee, Schiphol.
Our bus stopped at Gare Saint-Jean.
Restaurants outside the Saint-Jean train station.
20.17 Soon it is time for the second flight of the day. The former from Sweden already feels far away. We fly again with KLM. Now we will get from the Netherlands to France. We will stay there until the beginning of next year.
21.27 Another sandwich from KLM is consumed. I want to go down. I want to get down on the ground, get to the hotel and actually get to a bed.FRANCE
22.27 The flight was comfortable. Now we are down on the ground and at Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport (Aéroport de Bordeaux). We are waiting to get off the plane and then make our way into Bordeaux.
23.01 The backpacks with its contents arrived on the baggage belt and we exited the terminal. It's pretty desolate here at this time of day. We went to the bus and just as quickly went back to buy tickets for 1,70 euros each in a machine. Now we are on our way in the bus. Line 1 will take us to the Gare Saint-Jean train station. 23.13 We have checked where we are on Google Maps and have seen on a display in the bus that this bus journey is taking considerably longer than we had thought. You just have to be patient. Bordeaux is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwestern France. The Bordeaux wines take their name from the name of the city and have been produced here since the 18th century. Bordeaux is considered the wine capital of the world. There are 241,287 inhabitants living here in the city. 23.40 At the last stop, Gare Saint-Jean, we got off our bus. It's time to walk to our hotel in town. It should be in a block between the station and the river. 23.59 Meininger Hotel Bordeaux Gare Saint-Jean is the name of our first French hotel this time. We have been given a nice fresh room with a large window that goes all the way down to floor level. Behind the beds are various Bordeaux-themed decorations. Now the pen, the travel journal and ourselves will have a rest. A breakfast for tomorrow morning is ordered.
Wednesday 28th of December
08.16 After being embraced by the French darkness, we slept really well in our room. I think this is around the tenth city in France that we slept in. It all depends on how you think and count. What is France and not really France? When all the room-related morning chores are done, we'll go downstairs and eat our prepaid petit déjeuner, breakfast.
09.47 We have made our way down to the hotel's reception and from there went on into a large breakfast room which was absolutely packed with people. Does the hotel really have this many guests? Does everyone eat at the same time? It was difficult to find a free table and there are queues for most things, for the coffee, for the juice, for the bread, etc. 10.41 There was a lack of space and a bit of a meager selection, but what we got and took gave us some satisfaction. Now we will try to be a little more efficient. A French city is waiting to show itself to us. 11.40 The French December sun is just right in its brightness and temperature. There is currently a bench break in the Parc des Sports Saint-Michel. Life is pretty good right now. 12.03 So we sit here on our bench and curse our idiocy again. Why didn't we buy bus tickets yesterday? Did we learn nothing from last summer? Now the tickets to Toulouse have become significantly more expensive. Maybe we should have pre-purchased them already at home in Sweden? Now, in any case, there will be a bus trip that starts tomorrow at 1 p.m. This means that we get an extra morning here in Bordeaux before departure. 12.21 With the River Garonne on our right we now walk along the relatively new Promenade Michel Corajoud. Our goal (oh a cyclist!), is more central and more beautiful parts of the city.
Peter has slept the first night in Bordeaux.
Christmas atmosphere at the Meininger Hotel.
Lots of people in the breakfast room.
La Méca, cultural center in Bordeaux.
A winter's day in Bordeaux.
Pont de Pierre.
12.43 One of the beautiful parts we intended to see, the Miroir d'eau, the water mirror, the world's largest reflecting pool in front of the Place de la Bourse, appears to be dormant. Where we expected a 3450 square meter water table, it is only a dry, submerged part of a square. A Kurdish demonstration is taking place nearby. We think we have seen the PKK flag and pictures of the imprisoned Abdullah Öcalan. Music is also played. We are in a park that could be part of the Jardins des Lumières.
13.17 Our sightseeing in Bordeaux continues. Now we are not only looking for sights, but also something, somewhere to have a simple lunch. We have left the riverside promenade and have now set our sights on a park that seems to have been visited by a circus. 13.38 We have visited an ATM to withdraw some cash. It is good to have if we are going to buy a simple lunch during our city walk. Nearby we also saw La Maison du Vin de Bordeaux. This winery reminds us that we are in the absolute center of wine in the world. 13.56 At Le Chalet du Sapins, Spruce Cottage, we have bought panini and Vin Chaud, hot wine. We are at the square Place des Quinconces. Here there is a monument of the Girondists. They were a moderate (republican) political faction during the French Revolution. The Girondists opposed the Jacobins. The name comes from the fact that some of the group's representatives came from the department of Gironde where Bordeaux is located. The Girondists had opposed the execution of the deposed king, and as the revolution entered a more radical stage, they were unable to defend their positions. Charlotte Corday was in this party, and she was also the one who murdered Jean Paul Marat on July 13, 1793. 14.32 It was tasty, yes downright good with warm wine and a good sandwich. Today's small lunch can be followed by something similar in the coming travel days if we find something similar. We drank mulled wine when we were in Normandy five years ago, after all.
River Garonne.
Demonstration at the Place de la Bourse.
Monument aux Girondins and a Ferris wheel.
Le Chalet du Sapins (The Spruce Cottage).
Vin chaud is a delicacy.
Bordeaux is the capital of wine.
14.43 Our city tour continues. We now direct the steps towards the city centre. We have passed the opera and the Grand Hotel and now have a long, crowded pedestrian street in front of us. It's called Rue Sainte-Catherine.
14.55 It was getting crowded on the pedestrian street and we turned off on smaller streets to save time. 15.07 In our collection of cathedrals we have seen on our travels, we have now come to Saint André Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-André) here in Bordeaux. It is, as usual, with cathedrals, big, gray and majestic. It has been here since the 11th century and is the base for the bishop of Bordeaux. 15.41 A hunt for a toilet took us to Place de la République. Here we are now sitting on a bench and planning what else we should have time to see in the city. 15.53 We have just passed a building where a car (a jaguar) is sticking out of the wall. It's the Victor Hugo car park. The car is not the result of an accident but a public work of art. 15.58 Today's sightseeing continues. We are now at the clock tower/portal Grosse Cloche on Rue Saint-James. It is a beautiful building with a long history. The large bell in the tower weighs almost 8 tons and only rings six times each year. 16.16 Now we have seen the name of the city written in vertical letters, a small triumphal arch (Porte d'Aquitaine) and two stone turtles. We found all this at Place de la Victoire near the university. What else is needed? Now we´ll go home. 17.14 After a stop at the Saint-Jean train station to drink coffee and make some purchases, we are home without having drunk coffee but we have bought sweets and drinks. 19.17 Resting in the room is good, but as with wine, too much of a good thing is more of a bad thing. We need to arrange dinner, evening drinks and breakfast. Tomorrow we will have breakfast here in the room. The breakfast was simply not worth the price.
Le Grand Hotel, Bordeaux.
Rue Sainte-Catherine is a popular street.
Cathédrale Saint-André, Bordeaux.
Victor Hugo parking garage.
Grosse Cloche.
Porte d'Aquitaine at Place de la Victoire.
20.29 At the grocery store SPAR Supermarché on Cours de la Marne, we have, after some wishful thinking, put together some edibles for tonight, for breakfast and other things. We went to the till where there were two staff members. However, they were not on duty but were able to call a third party who took care of our purchases.
20.47 At La Taverne du Midi, it will be the first proper restaurant meal of the trip, at least the first one cooked from scratch. Alpha and Omega when traveling is not to skimp on food and sleep. We have ordered good beer and will consume pizzas soon but we will wait for sleeping until later. 20.59 Now the pizzas have reached our table. This is going to be good! 21.42 After sharpening my rough French and saying, l'addition, bonsoir and au revoir, we went home to the hotel. Now the debt must be balanced and future tickets purchased. 22.12 The debt restructuring went just fine. Arranging tickets went worse. There are canceled departures or expensive trips. Should we choose train or bus? 22.47 After some tinkering and modification, Christer got the trip on New Year's Day. We have to sacrifice a planned stop in Béziers during the journey, but we will get there. 23.45 The former Pope, Benedict XVI is seriously ill. We are feeling better, although Christer still feels the hearing problems after the flying. We are trying something new for us, a new tradition with evening wine.
A popular turtle at Place de la Victoire.
No doubt where we are.
Christer on Place de la Victoire.
Christer visits La Taverne du Midi.
Finally a cold good beer.
Tonight's pizzas at La Taverne du Midi.
Thursday 29th of December
08.34 Our TV started by itself just now here in our room. Why did it do that? Well, anyway, it's almost time to get up anyway.
09.54 Yesterday's plans for tomorrow, i.e. what we now call today, fall apart. The weather is against us. There will be no consumption of baguettes outdoors. it won't be a nice reading time in the sun as we imagined. In any case, there will be a breakfast here in the room shortly. 10.26 After a late bedside breakfast, we will now make plans for what we will do before the bus leaves. 11.15 After leaving the backpacks in the baggage room at the hotel, we walked out into the rain to the nearby Gare Saint-Jean train station. Here we have invested in an Americano coffee each. They are served in rimless glass cups. Everything happens at a chain we have also visited in other countries, Caffè Ritazza 11.55 We drank and went out into the rain again. Time before travel must be made to go. The rain continues while we are sheltered under a bridge. We have gone here to investigate where the bus will depart from more precisely. That's good to know in unsettled weather. 12.18 For a moment we are back at the hotel. The backpacks are collected and we dry off before going out again. 12.37 We walked out again and actually escaped the rain. Another thing we missed was waiting for the bus. It was in place. Soon we will again be transported between cities with Flixbus. 13.01 It's time for us to get out of Bordeaux. The next stop for us will be losing in English. Toulouse here we come!
A rainy morning in Bordeaux.
Coffee break at Caffè Ritazza.
Inside the Gare Saint-Jean train station.
In the bus on the way to Toulouse. Note the passenger who has a potted plant as company.
We got off the bus in Toulouse.
Hotel ibis budget Toulouse Center Gare.
14.02 The sky above us is starting to look nicer. We have left the rain behind in Bordeaux. We travel along road A62 also known as E72.
14.32 Our journey's only stop is in the town of Agen. I have never been here before. Who knows when we'll be back. I do know, however, that it was the A62/E72 we rode on and will continue to ride for a while longer. 15.24 The journey continues under calm conditions. The two travelers read a detective novel each. 15.49 We have reached Toulouse and are now rolling into the city centre. Soon the bus falls silent and we get off. We are about to pass the next hotel. There it is! 16.18 On the way from the bus station (Gare Routière) we passed a gas station that wants 1,749 euros for a liter of diesel. We are now checked in at the ibis budget Toulouse Centre Gare and have moved into room 303. The door does not open with card or key. Instead, a numeric code must be entered. I'm not going to reveal which one it is. Toulouse is the regional capital of Occitanie (Occitanie) and has 471,941 inhabitants. 17.56 After consuming what we intended to eat on this morning's excursion, the one that was canceled due to rain, we have mostly been lying low here in the room. In the Junior World Championships in ice hockey, Finland is not low. They lead 1-0 over Latvia. 19.31 Now it has happened. Mikaela Shiffrin has just won her 50th World Cup victory in slalom for the first time ever. It is her 80th World Cup victory in all alpine disciplines. She is now only six wins away from touching Swedish Ingemar Stenmark's record. The slalom competition took place in Semmering, Austria.
The view from the hotel room.
Peter in room 303.
Winter evening in Toulouse.
Beautiful Christmas tree at Place Arnaud Bernard.
Tonight we ended up at KFC Toulouse Center Ville.
Peter has shopped at Carrefour City.
20.17 We have left the hotel and are out for an evening walk. It's hard to find somewhere to eat. Either it's closed or it's just some small place without sensible seating. We had planned to visit an Indian restaurant on Avenue des Minimes but there it was completely closed.
20.52 We turned around and headed towards more central parts of the city but had difficulty finding a restaurant that felt right. It had to be like so many times this summer. It had to be a visit to KFC. This branch is located at a large roundabout. 21.17 Today's dinner was hardly culinary or satisfying. We got significantly less food than we got on our KFC visits in the UK. During the evening, Östersund (ÖIK) beat Modo in ice hockey and football legend Pelé has passed away. We haven't done much dramatic work but we have been shopping at Carrefour City at Place Arnaud Bernard. 21.54 We took a quiet walk back towards the hotel. We finished by crossing the Passerelle des Negreneys bridge over the Canal du Midi. 23.00 Tomorrow we will explore the city of Toulouse more closely. In detail we will look at sacred buildings, squares and the café world. There will certainly be other things as well. 23.24 Christer has tuned into the Karlavagnen radio program from Sweden's Radio P4 on his mobile phone. The program talks about New Year's resolutions. People promise to knit and send to the poor. They should be kind to themselves, start yoga and stop smoking. We ourselves will enjoy evening beer and chocolate cookies before we fall asleep.
You can see 8 photos from December 26 in this photoalbum.
You can see 59 photos from December 27 in this photoalbum.
You can see 72 photos from December 28 in this photoalbum.
You can see 25 photos from December 29 in this photoalbum.