Peter

It’s a play on words, innit? Järvzoo in Järvsö. I guess you have to be Swedish.

The Zoo – and it is worth a visit – is an interesting one. The animals are Nordic species that are kept in outdoor “pens” that emulate their natural habitat. To see them one walks up one side of a mountain valley and down the other side, all on a wooden boardwalk. It had snowed not long before we went, but that’s not a problem for the critters. The reindeer sausage sandwich at the midway point was, sadly, overpriced and underwhelming.

Our first stop in Spain: Cordoba. Hot and a bit dusty, tourists abounded. We didn’t mind. The scent of orange (or was it mock orange?) was in the air, and La Mezquita is a magnificent place no matter what. Our first night found us supping on olives and sipping Montilla wine in a narrow alleyway.

The photos already in place for Falun look more like Falun Gong protests than Falun, Sweden, but perhaps I was in Falun on the wrong day.

The massive heritage site featuring the old copper mine was one of our main stops, of course. Ever noted all the red houses in Sweden? Here’s the place that’s responsible.

The cobblestone market place/plaza was another historic thing that drove home the point that we were in Europe. Capping the day? Dalahästen, of course!

We set out one day from Granada with the intention of seeing the Mediterranean coast just an hour south. En route, we noted a turn off to Las Alpujarras, the villages of the Sierra Nevada. It looked like a relatively short drive on the map, so we detoured.

Well…

...it’s not a short distance. The road winds something fierce up and down and back again. Yet you will see snow capped mountains in the south of Spain and little gleaming white villages. In Pampaneira we had lunch in the town square: rabbit cooked with garlic for me along with cuajada (clotted cream and honey) for dessert. In Trevelez we saw many ham shops. Eventually we made it down to the coast, dipped out feet in the water, and turned around to go back to Granada, having had a better day for our detour, we agreed.

Despite the incredible downpour, the traffic snarl near the national motorcycle grand prix, and the closure of half the city businesses or more because it was Sunday, I’m glad we went. Food and beverage rule our lives, and so we took advantage of staying in Ronda to drive over and get a tour of the Gonzalez-Byass bodega. And to have kidneys cooked in sherry. And have hevanely bacon (tocino del cielo) for dessert….

Sorry, bad joke. A recommendation, though: stop in at Cow Bay Cafe, have lunch or dinner, watch the fishermen (if you’re lucky, they’ll be peeing off the boats in full view of the restaurant), and tell Adrienne hello….

I like the slowly renewing shabby downtown core of this Vancouver suburb. Worth investigating more, I think….

The campus core, sorry to report to anyone heartily sick of California or LA or UCLA itself, is a handsome set of cream stone and brick buildings. Stunning.

A suggestion: run the four miles around campus at about 6:30 in the morning. Relatively little traffic, beautiful homes, the occasional other runner out.

I had to attend a conference in Minneapolis earlier this year. Boy did I underestimate this place. Perhaps the fine spring weather coloured my thinking while there, but I found it to be a friendly and walkable city with a good downtown and a terrific Institute of the Arts. I am grateful to the Minnesota ICE members who let me with with them at their IMMACULATE pool. I also offer kudos to Solera for being the best Spanish restaurant I’ve visited in the Midwest!

I got to spend a night there en route from Bristol to the Welsh coast. Lovely little town with that near-loop in the river. Yes, it’s the setting for the Cadfael mysteries, but it’s enderaing in its own right.