Heated Sidewalks and Other Swedish Surprises

Random thoughts on Sweden: One cool thing I saw here were heated sidewalks, that eliminate the need for snow shoveling. And when we went into the cafes (there are almost 700 in Goteborg), no one was working on laptops except us. Our friend Bo told us that people never bring computers into cafes, here they want to talk, or read a book, but never, ever go on line. So that's why the one cafe called Condeco we did find that offered WiFi didn't have any sign out front, and there was no one except me using it. I admire that sort of euroblase-ness they have here about not working while in a relaxing cafe. Work is for the office, I guess.

Bikes are all weather, all year vehicles. Like in NYC, in December those bike lanes next to the sidewalk are constantly in use, and most bikes are of the utilitarian variety, not the mountain bikes or 'ten speeds' we see at home. The postmen have nice bikes with big panniers on either side...and there was more than one 'military bike,' with olive drab paint and the same utilitarian look of a jeep.

So far the coffee has been first rate, no matter where we found it. This is the world's top per capita coffee drinking population, and no matter what time we popped into a cafe, the place was almost always buzzing busy and full of chatty coffee drinkers.