fersman pettersson

Midnight run Stockholm 2011

2011-08-14T17:39:00.002+02:00

Very nice midnight run yesterday. Paul ran on 50:35min and Elena on 59:34min.

Munich, Herrenchiemsee, and Hintertux

2011-07-24T22:09:00.001+02:00

St Petersburg, Roshino, Zelenogorsk, and Novgorod

2011-06-19T22:08:00.001+02:00

Munich, Germany

2011-06-06T22:08:00.001+02:00

Kolobok Graduation

2011-05-15T22:08:00.000+02:00

Las Vegas, USA

2011-05-02T22:07:00.001+02:00

Chamonix, France

2011-04-22T22:07:00.001+02:00

MC ride to Ulriksdal castle

2011-04-14T22:06:00.000+02:00

St Petersburg

2011-03-14T22:05:00.001+01:00

Group day: Formal Modeling and Analysis of Embedded Systems, Mälardalen university

2011-03-08T22:02:00.001+01:00

New Year's celebration in Romme

2011-01-02T12:05:00.001+01:00

Celebrated the weekend in Romme with family Krehlas. Two very nice days of skiing and nice New Years dinner with family and friends!

Xmas in Linköping

2010-12-30T12:09:00.000+01:00

Celebrated Christmas in Linköping!

Rena julafton på rysk nyårsfest - Barn & Föräldrar - UNT.se

2010-12-23T19:56:00.000+01:00

Rena julafton på rysk nyårsfest - Barn & Föräldrar - UNT.se

Antalya, Turkey

2010-11-06T06:56:00.001+01:00

Vacation in Antalya, Turkey with Irisha and Gesha at the very nice Kremlin Palace.

Phoenix, USA

2010-10-25T06:53:00.002+02:00

A quick work trip to Phoenix. Paul gave an invited talk at a workshop there.

Palma de Mallorca and Marathon

2010-10-17T06:50:00.001+02:00

A week in Palma de Mallorca filled with mostly work and running. Paul raced 10km and completed his first marathon.

Degin party in Göteborg

2010-09-25T06:46:00.002+02:00

This weekend we spent with friends in Göteborg - the annual party with Svenska tipsakademien Degin.

Elin 3 and Alexander 2

2010-09-18T06:40:00.000+02:00

Celibration of birthdays: Elin 3 years and Sasha 2 years.

Bilbao

2010-09-14T06:38:00.000+02:00

A nice work trip to Bilabo!

Midnattsloppet 2010

2010-08-15T12:09:00.003+02:00

Yesterday we ran Midnattsloppet - a 10km running race - at Södermalm in Stockholm in warm (24 degrees) and humid conditions, togheter with over 20 000 other runners. We finnished at 52:05 and 59:52min.

Fotball: Sweden 3 - Skottland 0

2010-08-11T12:56:00.004+02:00

Tonight, Elena first ran iForm-loppet - a 10km running race - in 58min, then we went to see Swedens national fotball team beat Skottland with 3-0. A very dense and nice evening :)

Dundertåget in Stockholm

2010-08-09T13:13:00.001+02:00

Tonight we watched Sophie Zelamani, Laleh, and Lars Winnerbäck in Långholmsparken in Stockholm. Especially Winnerbäck was very good!

DrDist in Dalsland

2010-08-08T13:17:00.000+02:00

DrDist - the pop, rock, soul, blues band in which Paul is playing/singing - gave its first concert in Dalsland, on a private 50-year-anneversary party. It was a very nice trip and party, and successful concert with lots of positive reviews.

Linköping

2010-08-05T12:52:00.001+02:00

Spent a few nice days with Brith and Göran in Linköping, where we went to "allsång" in Landeryd, Skänning marknad, and to see Ronny.

Roshino, Russia and Helsinki, Finland

2010-07-30T12:40:00.004+02:00

We arrived to Saint Petersburg from Pärnu via Narva. We spent many nice days in Roshino and Zelenogorsk on the beach. In Saint Petersburg we did lots of nice shopping and went to see Zenit beat Sibir with 2-0. After two wounderful weeks in Russia, we went by car to Helsinki where we had a very nice evening and day.

Pärnu, Estonia

2010-07-15T12:21:00.004+02:00

We spent a very nice week in Pärnu with Anders, Anna, Galina and Alexander, and Irish and Gesha. Weather was fantastic and we spent time on the beach, in restaurants, bbq'ing, playing tennis, running, etc. From Pärnu, we continued to St Petersburg via Narva.

Prague

2010-06-28T09:59:00.002+02:00

This week, Paul has been on a nice conference in Software Engineering (CompArch) in Prague. On the Friday, Elena, Elin and Alexander joined to spend the midsummer weekend (until Monday) in Prague. We had a big appartment in central Prage. From there we made excursions to the castle, old town square, zoo, etc.

Pictures here.

Göteborgsvarvet

2010-05-23T12:34:00.002+02:00

This weekend, we went to Linöping, and then to Gothenburg, on the Swedish west coast, to run the world's biggest half marathon. It turned out to be a very difficult race this year. The weather switched from Swedish spring to high summer - 25 degres and very sunny, which resulted in many exhausted runners dropping out of the race. Both Elena and Paul run out of forces after 13km and had to run the final 8km on pure will-power. Dispite this, we both completed the race. Paul in 2:00h and Elena in 2:25h.

Tallin

2010-05-16T12:32:00.000+02:00

The pictures say it all...

BMW F800R - a new bike in town :-)

2010-04-28T06:14:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, our new motorcycle was delivered. A BMW F800R 2010. Elena - who is the only one in the family with driver license for MC - did the driving from Skärholmen to Uppsala. In the evening we went for a short test drive together. It seems to be a very, very nice bike! :-)

Academic Ceremony

2010-04-23T06:03:00.000+02:00

This Friday we celebrated academic ceremony at Mälardalen university. It was a very nice and well organized event. The actual ceremony took place at Västerås Dome. Before the ceremony there were interesting talks give by the new Professors. After the ceremony, there was a nice banquet at Mälardalen university facilities in Västerås.

Wedding in Munchen, Germany

2010-03-21T21:40:00.000+01:00

This weekend we spent in Munchen to witness Lena Kolodizki and Wolfgang Hommel's wedding. It was a very nice cermony and dinner party on Friday. In the weekend we went to HB, the technical museum, Mariaplatz, ran in the English garden, visited Lena dn Wolfgang in Ismanin, and did many, many other things. We lived in a small hotel at Sendlinger Tor.

Val Thorens, France

2010-01-07T22:07:00.000+01:00

Jan 2, 2010: We traveled with Norwegian Air from Stockholm Arlanda at 05:45h, and continued from Geneva airport at 10:00h with bus to Val Thorens. The trip went smooth, but the early departure from Uppsala kept reminding us during the day. Upon arrival in Val Thorens, we check in at Hotel Chamois d'Or and went for lunch across the street. We also did some shoppning until we got access to our room/appartment at 16:00h. We spent the evening by resting and did some more shopping.

Jan 3, 2010: The day started with buying skipass in Val Thorens at 10:00h. The skiing conditions were quite good: -10C, no wind, and cloudy. We first went to Glacier de Peclet and then moved towards the highest peak, Pointe de Bouchet (3230m). Everything went as planned except for minor problems with Paul's skipass (it stoped working so we had to talk ourself into every lift except the first two). On the way down from Pointe de Bouchet, we experienced how the skiing conditions got worse. The biggest problem was the bad sight which made it difficult to see the snow surface. That we accidentally ended up in a non-prepared and difficult piste did not make things better. We then had a very nice lunch at Plan Bouchet and decided to move back towards Val Thorens where we exchanged the broken skipass and decided to go back to the hotel to rest. In the evening we had dinner at a nice restuaruant in Val Thorens.

Jan 4, 2010: The conditions were just a few minus, cloudy, no wind, lots of new snow, and snowing. We started by skiing in Plaein Sud in Val Thorens, then moved on to Col de la Chambre (2850m), and further to Meribel, including Mont du Vallon (2952m). The skiing was very, very nice due to all the new snow and many of the pistes were not prepared, leaving lots of nice new snow to ski in. We had lunch in Meribel and then moved back towards Val Thorens. In a slope near Val Thorens we found a very nice afterski where we stoped for some time, before going back to the hotel. In the early evening we went to Centre de sportif to swim and have sauna and hamam. We then did some shopping and cooked dinner in the appartment.

Jan 5, 2010: The weather was absolutely perfect! Sun, -10C, and no wind. We skiied on Caron before noon, then moved on to the sunny side of Val Thorens and Menuires. There were still lots of good opportunities for offpiste skiing which we enjoyed. We also very much enjoyed the pistes that had perfect snow and were faster than yesterday. We had lunch on the top of Col de la Chambre (2850m) and then skiied on intensively until 16:00. We then went back to have a short rest in the appartment before going on a snow mobile tour at 17:30h. It was a very, very nice experience that last for an hour. We took turns in driving and both had lots of fun! We drove slow, very fast, and in deep show. Both uphill and downhill. After the tour, we did some shopping and had dinner in the appartment.

Jan 6, 2010: Yet another day with excellent skiing conditions: -5C and not a cloud in the sky. We decided to ski in all three valleys, i.e., from Val Thorens to Courchevel and back. It worked out really well, and we had lots and lots of nice skiing in the sun. We stopped to have a late lunch on one of the tops and made it back to Val Thorens just in time before the lift stopped (at 16:30h). In the evening we packed our suitcase and cleaned the apartment. We also went to have beer at the local bowling place and had a nice raclette (with lots of cheese) in a restaurant near by our hotel.

Jan 7, 2010: The bus left from Val Thorens at 07:20h and reached Geneva airport at 10:30h. In the airport we had brunch and tried to do some shopping, but ended up at a gate, resting and writing this text.

In summary, our experiences from Val Thorens are very positive. The skiing is absolutely excellent, regardless if you prefer on or off-piste skiing. Val Thorens is a 100% tourist resort. On the negative side this means there is no old or genuine city centre. On the positive side, the whole resort is optimized for skiing and winter sports. It is basically a village located around a slope in which more or less every hotel has direct access to the pistes, which in turn means you never have to bother about ski buses or car parking. The ski system is also very well developed with a high capacity. During our four days of skiing we stayed in line less than 15mins in total(!).

Click here to see pictures and videos.

New Year's celebration

2010-01-01T22:26:00.001+01:00

We celebrated the end of the old, and start of the new year in Uppsala. See the pictures (click the title).

Xmas in Linköping

2009-12-26T22:33:00.001+01:00

This year we went to visit Paul's parents in Linköping to celebrate Christmas. As usual (2nd time) we had pizza the 23rd. Peaked the celebration the 24th with tranditional Swedish xmas smorgasbord. The 25th we relaxed and went to the cinema to see Avatar (2D) which turned out to be a really nice experience.

Elka

2009-12-13T23:01:00.005+01:00

We celebrated Elka today! See the pictures (click the title) for more info.

Paul in media :-)

2009-11-06T09:33:00.003+01:00

A group of reserachers at Mälardalen university, including Paul, was recently awarded a 12 milj SEK grant for research in adaptive embedded systems.

See e.g. VLT, Eskilstunakuriren, Sveriges Radio, or Elektroniktidningen.

Split

2009-10-28T19:16:00.006+01:00

Last week we spend in Split in Croatia. Paul was working the first few days. Wednesday to Saturday we spend together. We had a lovely flat on the heights of Split with a spectacular view of the they city. From there we could walk to the city center or the beach in just a few minutes. We also visited Supetar and Bol. During the stay we also ran a 10km race with Paul's colleagues.

Hässleybloppet 2009

2009-10-11T20:04:00.002+02:00

Today Paul ran the Hässelbyloppet race in Stockholm. It was a very nice running event with around 4000 runners. Paul passed 5km after 24:41mins and finished the 10km in personal best time 49:34 mins.

Data from the race is available at Garmin Connect.

Kung Björn-loppet

2009-09-20T12:37:00.003+02:00

Today Paul ran the Kung Björn race in Hågadalen - a very genuine running event organized by Uppsala running club. The race had around 350 participants, the weather was fantastic, and Paul finished the 10km in 51:30 mins.

Elena's motorcycle drivning license

2009-09-09T11:25:00.001+02:00

Today, Elena passed the motorcycle driving license test. Congratulations!!!

Scener ur ett äktenskap

2009-09-03T00:30:00.003+02:00

Tonight we saw the play "Scener ur ett äktenskap" by Ingmar Bergman at Dramaten in Stockholm. Before the play we had a nice, quick dinner at Rice Asian Restaurant & Bar with Anders and Anna. The performance was very, very nice!

We rank the play 5 (on a scale from 1 to 5)!

Tjejmilen

2009-08-30T19:25:00.005+02:00

Today Elena ran the 10km race Tjejmilen in Stockholm. She completed in 63:47 mins. You can see the data from her run at Garmin Connect. Pictures are at
Picasa Web Albums.

Thanks to Anders and Anna for hosting us before and after the race!

Midnattsloppet 2009

2009-08-17T19:49:00.009+02:00

August 15 we ran the race Midnattsloppet in Stockholm. It was only 15 C and raining at the start, but the race was still very pleasant. The first 5 km were quite flat, but the 2nd half was much tougher, starting with 700m uphill on the 6th kilometer (up to Sofia church). We finished the 10 km at 53:49 and 65:46 min.

The track with Paul's timing can be found here
The official timing: Elena and Paul.

Strands in Uppsala

2009-08-05T20:19:00.005+02:00

The last few days, we had Ronny, Emelie, and Erika Strandh visiting from Linköping. It was some intensive days with sightseeing in Uppsala and Stockholm, including Old Uppsala, Wiiks castle, Gröna lund, and (allsång på) Skansen. We hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Our photos.
Ronny's photos.

Bellevue, Seattle, WA, USA

2009-07-27T17:25:00.004+02:00

The last week (July 18 to 26), we have spent in Seattle, WA, USA where
Paul attended a computer science conference and Elena was (mostly) on
vacation. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency at Bellevue since it hosted
the conference. Bellevue is a small suburb/part of Seattle which seems
to be populated mostly with rich and successful people (e.g. Bill
Gates ;-)), and the surroundings is quiet with expensive stores and
restaurants.

On Sunday the 19th we went with Cristina, Tibi, and Johan to the
Olympic National Park. The drive there included a ferry trip to
Bainbride Island and a stop at the Discovery Bay Railroad Park. In the
park, we experienced the scenery at Hurricane Ridge. On the way home
we stop in Port Angeles for dinner and experienced some congestion on
the way to the ferry.

The next day, we went to do some shopping. We visited Best Buy in
Bellevue and the Tulalip outlet. In the evening the conference started
with Welcome reception where we met with more friends.

The next days (to Friday) we interleaved with working during office
hours, some running, and going to Seattle in the later
afternoons/evenings. We visited the Pike Place market, the dock area,
the conference dinner at a boat tip with Royal Argosy, many other nice
restaurants and shops, the Olympic Sculpture Park, and the Space
needle (at least its base).

On the Friday evening, we went with Johan to the Seattle underground
tour -- a very nice guided trip in Seattle underground (what used to
be the sidewalk level just after the big fire), some nice pubs in the
Pioneer square area, and later to China town. On the Saturday, we went
with Cristina, Tibi and Johan to the Qwest Field stadium to see
Seattle Sounders vs. Chicago Fire. We first had some problems to find
tickets, but some minutes after the game started the street prices
leveled with the original prices and we managed to find tickets and
enter the sold-out game. Unfortunately, in the 2nd half, Fredrik
Ljungberg (Seattle Sounders) received a red card and the game quality
degraded substantially. After the game we made a short stop in China
town (from where our three companions left to the hotel and airport)
and we continued to Pioneer square and further to Pike street. Here we
shopped at Ross (for the 3rd time) and then went to see the Torchlight
parade, which started with a running race, then the crowning of a
parade queen.

To summarize, Seattle and its surrounding areas are well worth a
visit. We heard that we were extremely lucky with the weather. We also
heard that all Seattlers say so to foreigners since the population of
Seattle has grown by 100% in the last 20 years - judge for
yourself. Anyway, when the weather is nice Seattle is a very nice
place!

Photos!

Artist Elin

2009-07-12T15:15:00.003+02:00

Today, Elin has shown to be quite a good painting artist - on our beddings :-) Click the photo for a better view (it is a bit cropped to hide the fact that Elena was in bed, reading, while the act took place ;-)).

Parken Zoo

2009-07-12T15:04:00.004+02:00

Visited Parken Zoo in Eskilstuna yesterday. It was a nice park with some nice animals. Compared to the zoo in St Petersburg the animal density was very sparse though. Co-located with the zoo is a amusement park and a pool area, so the place can be a very nice full day event in better weather (we had very little rain, which we considered good given the weather conditions in the previous days). Pictures are here.

Costa Brava, Spain

2009-07-05T14:43:00.004+02:00

We have been to a very hot week in Spain. We traveled with Ryanair from Västerås to Gerona, then continued 40km by car to Cala GoGo camping in Platja D'oro, where we had a Mobile home waiting. It turned out to be a very convenient and nice way to live. The mobile home was very well equipped (booked from Eurocamp) with three separate bed rooms WC, shower, kitchen and living room with a sofa convertible to double bed. Close to the mobile home was a pool complex situated, also a sports area and the beach was very close. At the pool there was restaurant, shop, bakery, etc. Especially the shop was very nice since it had really good prices and it was allowed to drink beverages from the shop at the pool. Some of the days we spent at the beach, one day we went to Barcelona, another to Palamos. The pictures explains pretty well the week. They can be found at Google pictures.

We really enjoyed this type of travelling (too ;-)).

Roshchino and Soundtrack

2009-06-27T17:27:00.004+02:00

Spent the end of the week in Roshchino with Irisha, Gesha, and many other. As usual we went to the market and the beach in Roshchino. We also had a very nice midnight party with Olga and Masha, and visited the Music Hall in St Petersburg to see the very nice show Soundtrack, co-performed and co-organized by Dima.

Midsummer in Linköping

2009-06-21T17:21:00.005+02:00

Celebrated midsummer in Linköping this year. It was a traditional nice celebration with raw herring, snaps, etc. We also met Niklas and Anna and had a very nice dinner party on Järnåldersgatan.

John Håkansson's defense

2009-06-14T00:48:00.003+02:00

Yesterday, John Håkansson defended his Ph.D. thesis "Design and Verification of Component-Based Real-Time Systems" at Uppsala university. It was a long but nice defense, and a well organized party at Norrlands nations. Thank you John!

Wonderful Saint Petersburg

2009-05-26T10:26:00.001+02:00

Have been in wonderful St Petersburg and Roschino for almost a week. It was great as usual. St Petersburg stoke us with its beauty! See pictures by clicking title.

Göteborg half marathon

2009-05-17T15:09:00.006+02:00

This weekend we went to visit family Sjöblom in Göteborg. The main event of the weekend was the Göteborg half marathon (Göteborgsvarvet) that Tomas and Paul ran. Tomas, who has run the race before, started from group 13 and completed at new personal best time 1:46h. Paul, who ran for the first time, started in group 19 and completed the race in 1:59h. The rest of the weekend was spent on recovery activites, such as beer driking, good food eating, etc.

Paul's race in details is avalable at Garmin Connect.

Markscheider Kunst

2009-04-19T10:11:00.005+02:00

Yesterday we saw the Markscheider Kunst's concert at Södra teatern in Stockholm. It was a very intense and nice show and evening. It was also very nice to see Vanja again, and to have some (many?) drinks with friends!

Skiing in Stöten

2009-04-13T08:08:00.000+02:00

Spent the Eastern weekend skiing, together with Leo, in Stöten. We stayed in a flat at Stöten mitt and enjoyed the skiing there very much. One of the days we went to Tandådalen (20km from Stöten) where we meet the Sjöbloms and enjoyed nice weather and company.

We conclude that the skiing in much better in Stöten than Tandådalen. Stöten probably has the best skiing in the whole Sälen area, however, other ingrediences of a skiing weekend might better at other places, e.g., after-ski, activites for kids, etc.

Pictures!

Skiing in St Anton, Austria

2009-03-17T18:45:00.007+01:00

We just came home from three days of skiing in the St Anton am Arlberg area. We flew with Niki from Arlanda in the afternoon to Vienna and further to Innsbruck, and took a Herz rented car to St Jakob in St Anton (a one hour drive). Arrived to House Gonda in the evening the 13th (Friday) and had dinner at the nearby Gander Wirt.

March 14:Took a ski bus (5 mins) to Nasserein in St Anton and the cabin up to the skiing. Before that we realized that Herz had made a reservation of 1000 EUR on our credit card even though the car was fully insured and prepaid - they can actually still do such things! Anyway, the weather was very nice with sunshine and a few days old snow. Very nice skiing conditions. We skied on Gampen, Galzig, Albonagrat, Schindler, and Kapall. We had lunch in Stuben, and around 1600 returned to Nasserein where we did a proper afterski with Bombardino and ubåt. In the evening we went to have dinner at Gander
Wirt in St Jakob.

March 15:Took the ski bus to St Anton West and went up to Galzig. On the top we realized the wind was really strong, snow was "falling" horizontally, and that the clouds were so low that we could see only 10 to 25 meters. To make things worse, some runs were closed so the only way down was a black run. It was not a totally peasant experience. On the way down the conditions gradually got better, and half way down we could see again. However, since skiing was only possible in the very lowest parts of the hills, we did not ski much this day. Instead, we drove around a little with the car (to St
Christoph) and explored the shopping in St Anton. We bought ski pants for Elena and a jacket for Paul. The selection was very nice indeed! When we walked to Gander Wirt in the evening, the snow was falling heavily and we were starting to hope for very good skiing the following day.

March 16:We decided to drive early to Lech, however, on the way we stoped at Zürs, which is connected to the same ski area as Lech. We followed the "Weisser ring" which lead us to from Zürs to Zug, Oberlech, Lech, Stubenbach, and back to Zürs. The conditions were absolutely 100% perfect: sunshine, blue sky, no wind, and lots of new powder snow! We totally jumped into the snow and surfed lots and lots
of powder. The skiing that day, particularily before noon, was probably the best skiing we ever experinced (so far ;-)) in our lives. In Oberlech we stoped for lunch, and then continued towards Zürs. In the afternoon we were the last to leave the slopes of Zürs.

At Gander Wirt that evening, we concluded that St Anton is probably ranked the number 1 ski resort in Europe (by many web sites) due to the fantastic possibilities to ski off-pist. In the Lech area, almost every hill gives excellent opportunities for off-pist skiing, either in parallel with the prepared slope, inbetween slopes, or simply alternative ways down to the valley from the top lift station.

For pics see this page.

Ice skating in Fjällnora

2009-02-14T19:11:00.005+01:00

Today we have been ice skating in Fjällnora. It was typical Swedish winter weather and we made some typical photos ;-)

(click title to see photos)

Skiing in Trysil, Norway

2009-01-08T11:47:00.005+01:00

In the beginning of the new year, we went to Trysil in Norway to do three days of alpine skiing. We stayed at Högfjällscenter, in a small flat just next to the run (we could ski to the front door of the flat). We found the skiing in Trysil very very nice!

Photos!

X-mas in Linköping

2008-12-27T12:04:00.003+01:00

We celibrated X-mas in Linköping with Paul's parents. The 23rd we first celibrated that it was exactly 40 years since the first pizza was served in Sweden. The 24th we had traditional X-mas dinner (smorgasbord, Shvedski stol) with Brith and Göran. On the 25th we visited Sjöbloms in Tannerfors and had again very nice smorgasbord.

Pics (also - as usual - in the title).

Degin party, Linköping

2008-11-22T09:41:00.001+01:00

This weekend was Degin party in Linköing, very nicely organised by Fredda.

ESC rejected song

2008-10-29T11:47:00.004+01:00

Paul's contribution to the Swedish version of the Eurovision Song Contest was unfortunately totaly rejected this year :-). The song is now publically available here Paul@Mixcraftlive. Enjoy :-)

Alicante, Spain

2008-10-27T23:14:00.006+01:00

Last week, Tue to Fri, Paul spent at a project meeting in Alicante in Spain. It turned out to be a very nice town and a perfect place to have meetings off-season. Hotel cost and airfare are low, and the town is still very much alive. A high light of the week was a 10km running event.

Zorro

2008-10-15T07:34:00.001+02:00

Tonight we saw the play Zorro at Uppsala city theatre. It was an interesting story about the freedom fighters of Mexicans. Quite far from Hollyowood versions of the story, but in some senses even more of a comedy. We liked it!

Alexander was born...

2008-09-22T18:46:00.003+02:00

...today in Uppsala at 08.38 in the morning. He is 52cm and 3960g. He and his parents feel great!

Rochino and St Petersburg

2008-08-09T19:43:00.006+02:00

We just came back from a trip to Rochino and St Petersburg August 1 to 8 to see Elena's parents and to celibrate Elena's birthday. The party was very nice, and we had a nice time during the whole stay as usual.

To see some pictures, click the title "Rochino and St Petersburg" above.

Sopot and Gdansk

2008-07-31T14:35:00.002+02:00

We visited Sopot and Gdansk on a nice five days trip to Poland. Took the boat from Nynäshamn to Gdansk where we stayed three nights in a small hostel in the old town of Gdansk. In the days we went to Sopot to enjoy the very nice beach in the sunny weather. In the evenings, we walked the old town of Gdansk, where they had big market. One of the days, we went to see the extremely nice castle in Malbork. On the ferry back to Sweden we celibrated Elena's 30 year birthday :-)

Pärnu, Estonia with Hessels

2008-07-25T10:41:00.004+02:00

Yesterday, we returned home from three very nice days in very nice Pärnu, Estonia, where we visited Anders and Anna Hessel. Pärnu is a small city with a long sandy beach. We enjoyed the company, the beach, the small city center, dinners, drinks, etc, etc.

New York and Niagara Falls

2008-07-02T13:18:00.016+02:00

We just came home from ten very nice days in New York and Niagara Falls. Here is what happened (pictures can be found here):

Jun 20 - ARN, Heathrow, JFK, Madison Hotel: We landed at JFK at 10 in the evening and took a taxi to our hotel on 62 Madsion Avenue on Manhattan (xing with 27th street). It turned out the hotel was out of double rooms - even though we had one pre-booked - but they generously offered us a larger room for double room price, or a cheaper and smaller double room. After inspecting booth alternatives we decided to take the latter. We later found that the hotel is very good if you want a very affordable hotel located in central Manhattan (most other affordable hotels are on the upper east Manhattan and more expensive). It is of course very simple, but with friendly staff, daily cleaning, and clean.

Jun 21 - TImes Square, Rockefeller Centre, Mid Manhattan: Today we did mid Manhattan. We started with breakfast at a diner, then walked to Broadway (which is very close from our hotel), through Korea town, and further up north to Times Square. On they way, on 6th Ave (Ave of the Americas) there was a big parade with representatives from all nationalities with immigrants in New York. We did not see any Swedes or Russians in the parade though. On Times Square we decided to not enter a sports bar to see Russia vs Netherlands in Euro 2008, which of course alter turned out to be a big mistake. In Rockefeller center, we went up to the observatory deck - Top of the Rock, from where the view is spectacular (see the typical Manhattan pictures in the album). The building is famous for many other reasons, including the concept "a city in the city", hosting NBC studios, etc. We walked home on Madison and 5th Ave, and had a nice salad in a Deli on the way back to our hotel.

Jun 22 - Sightseeing bus, Downtown Manhattan, Battery Park, Shopping, Kevin and Tipanee: Today we did lower Manhattan. We first walked to the Madison Square (very close to our hotel) where the famous triangular house is located (see the pictures). Then continued towards Union Square, but jumped on a sightseeing bus - a typical open double decked with only open air seats on the 2nd level. It took us to Greenwich Village, Little Italy, China town, Wall Street, to finally end up on the very southern tip of Manhattan. From there we walked to the Battery park, from which we viewed the statue of Liberty. We then continued to Ground zero and the outlet Century 21, where Elena found some bargains. From there we continued to J&R Music and Computer World, and then to the Brooklyn Bridge, from where we grabbed a taxi to Union Square, where we wanted to stop to shop some gifts. However, an short but intense rain changed our plans, so instead we got stuck for a while. We then had to hurry back to our hotel, and then by taxi again to the 59th street, just next to the Queens bridge, to meet Kevin, Tipanee, Kevins mother Tamara, and Jasmine. When it was bedtime for Jasmine, we went to have a very nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant on York Ave.

Jun 23 - Bryant Part, Broadway, Avenue Q: We again started the day at our local diner. At breakfast - which was late at 11 - we decided to go to Bryant Park, to relax and to surf the free wireless internet there to make reservations. Said and done, we went there by subway, had ice coffee, and booked a two days trip to Niagara falls and bought tickets to the Broadway musical Avenue Q. We then had lunch at Pax and returned to our hotel. In the evening we subwayed to Golden Theater in the theater district close to Times Square and saw Avenue Q - a very entertaining musical where some of the main characters are played by puppets. Sounds strange? Yes it is, but it really works!

Jun 24 - Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, Times Square, Guitar Center: We decided to spend the day in Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park, so we took the subway to the museum. Since it is very big, we just saw a small part of it - but enough to get a feeling for the museum. We looked mainly on the Egyptian and Chinese part. Admittance to the museum is free, but visitors are suggested to pay USD 20 each. Unless you go through the process of paying whatever you feel like paying, you do not get a ticket, and cannot enter. So, if you do not feel like paying much, you have to admit it in the counter to get the ticket. After the museum we walked through a part of Central Park - starting from the museum and walking direction downtown. We stopped to see some remote controlled sailing boats sailing in Conservatory Water. We also saw some amateur teams playing baseball in Heckscher Playground. From Central Park we walked on Americas Ave and further to TGI Friday on Times Square where we had a very American dinner. We then took the sub to Union Square and went to Guitar Center on 14th street - a very nice store for guitars and other musical instruments. However, we decided to come back another day to shop.

Jun 25 - Subway fire, Little Italy, Chinatown, Shopping: This day started with a bit of action. We decided to see Little Italy, Chinatown, and then go downtown Manhattan. However, as we went on the subway train, we smell smoke and fire. As our fellow passengers left the train, and the driver of the train ran to checkout the source of the smoke, we realized that we had to grab a taxi instead. As we left the subway station on 28th and Park Ave. the fire department was already on place and busy blocking all entries to the station. Anyway, in Little Italy we realized the area is very small. We earlier learned that Little Italy is shrinking as the Asian population and Chinatown is growing. In Little Italy there are many nice Italian restaurants and we enjoyed a very nice lunch. We then walked through Chinatown down to Downtown Manhattan where we again did some shopping at Century 21. In the evening, we had a very nice lunch at restaurant Les Halles (Park Ave, 28th Str).

Jun 26 - Downtown, Shopping, Euro 2008, Union Square, Standup New York: We decided that we were not done with shopping so we went downtown to Century 21 and J&R Music and Computer World. After some hours of shopping, we went to a pub and watched the Euro 2008 semifinal, Russia vs Spain that ended 0-3. We then continued to Union Square and Guitar Center to do some more shopping (and guitar playing). In the evening we went Uptown to 89th Str to see standup comedy at the club Standup New York. The show was nice and varied with Jay Oakerson as headliner and a group of comedians from Comedy Central.

Jun 27 - Corning Glass Centre, Niagara Falls, Cave of the Winds, Denis and Ira: We started the two-day bus trip to Niagara Falls at 8:10 from Chinatown. The first stop the bus made was Corning Glass Centre - a museum with both very old glass items from Egypt and Venice, and modern things such as "black egg" where two people sitting on a long distance from each other can hear each others whispering. Two hours later we reached the main point of our trip - Niagara falls. We got rain coats and shoes and went down to the Cave of the Winds to get close to the lower part of the American falls. It was a great experience to see and feel the water falling down. The dinner was at China Buffet and including the food, soda, coffee, tax and tips it was only $12 per person. After the dinner we arrived at Fallside hotel where we met Denis and Ira who came from Toronto to meet us. A local wino advised us where to go to get a drink and after some searching for pubs we returned to the one that was closest to the hotel and had some beers there. We then continued the evening drinking wine that Denis brought with him at the hotel room and discussing everything in life.

Jun 28 - Niagara Falls, Maid of the Mist, Chinatown, Little Italy shopping: After just some few hours of sleep we stepped up of bed and directly into the bus. It drove us to the falls and we again got rain coats and took an elevator down to the water level at the bottom of the falls. After some short time waiting, the Made of the Mist IV took off and drove us as close at one can get to the falls - both the Americans and the Canadian horse shoe fall. It was a very wet boat trip and the rain coats were soaking wet when we got of the boat - a pity we did not use the disposable shoes from the day before. After recycling the rain coats we went to the Made of the Mist store to buy new coats. We then saw a 40 min movie telling the myth of the falls and some documentary clips of the falls history. Then we enjoyed the seven hour bus trip back to NYC with some short stops on the way. Apart from us and two Russians, the bus was full of Chinese and Indian people. It was a bit difficult to sleep. When the bus came back to NYC we had a very nice dinner in Chinatown and then walked to Little Italy. We learned that Saturdays and Sundays are special in Little Italy. The streets were full of people and salesmen selling fake watches, handbags, perfume, etc. Elena could not resist making some bargains.

Jun 29 - NY Mets vs. NY Yankees at Shea Stadium: At 11 in the morning we took subway to the Shea Stadium in Flushing. It was very easy to find the way – there were so many supporters on their way to see the game so we could just follow the crowd. The stadium is huge (takes 53000 spectators) and though we had the cheapest tickets ($35 each) and had seats high up we could see everything very well. There were mostly Mets’ supporters at the stadium, but the Yankee fans were not few either. We learned the rules of baseball but just enough to understand the game (not the details that makes the game interesting). We also learned that the US supporters are more focused on showing their disrespect for the opponent team than cheering for their own team, which we found a bit strange. Mets won with 3 to 1 and we saw some very nice home runs. After the game we went back to our hotel and relaxed until the late evening when we walked 5th Ave to Empire State Building. Up on the 86th floor the view was spectacular!

Jun 30 – Helicopter ride, JFK: We decided that we should try to make the most out of our last day in NY so we booked a helicopter ride over Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty Island. The helicopters take of form Pire 6 downtown. It was a very nice experience! The ride started with a short turn around downtown Manhattan and then continued up west of Manhattan – over water - on the border of NY and NJ. North of Central Park it u-turned and went back, this time with a more extensive view of the Statue of Liberty. It took only 15 minutes but was a truly amazing experience. The helicopter felt very stable so we could just sit back and relax – however, we were extremely busy making videos and photos! On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at the American Indian Museum, which turned out to be rather empty, and J&R again. From the hotel we caught a cab to JFK. Our flight was a 20 pm local time.

Jul 1 - Heathrow, ARN: After a five hours transfer at Heathrow we arrived to Arlanda around 18.00 local time.

Sweden - Ukraine: 0 - 1

2008-06-01T22:34:00.004+02:00

Today, we watched Sweden losing to Ukranie with 0 - 1 in fotball at the Swedish national areana in Råsunda. Even if the result was not very good, it was fun to see all the national players live.

Anders' promotion dinner

2008-05-31T22:56:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, we had a very nice evening at 2008 years edition of the Uppsala university promotion dinner at Uppsala castle. The dinner was the end of the long promotion ceremony day. One of the many ph.d. that was promoted was Anders Hessel (Paul's former ph.d. student) who defended his thesis in 2007. At the castle we had a three course dinner, many nice speeches, and dancing.

Stockholm with Hessels

2008-05-25T12:18:00.005+02:00

Yesterday, we had a very nice time with Hessels in Stockholm. We walked Strandvägen to Djurgården, to end up on Gröna Lund.

Saint Petersburg

2008-05-12T23:27:00.003+02:00

This weekend we visited Saint Petersburg and did many nice things, some are documented in the pictures available by clicking the title "Saint Petersburg".

Honda FR-V :-)

2008-04-26T12:03:00.007+02:00

Yesterday, we bought a new Honda FR-V Executive. The one on the picture to the right. It is with six seats, 140 hp engine, etc, etc. Checkout the link to Honda above, for more info.

Deginträff i Örebro

2008-04-14T12:28:00.004+02:00

This weekend we visited Örebro to meet Degin colleagues from Linköping. We visited the castle, had dinner and party, and spent time in the city center. It was a very nice time with friends!

With Cristina and Tibi in Åbo

2008-04-07T13:35:00.005+02:00

This weekend, we visited Cristina and Tibi in their house in Åbo (Turku) in Finland. They took extremely good care of us, and showed us the Åbo archipelago, Åbo castle and dome, and much more. Thanks a lot!

Some pics are at Google Photos.

Bandy Final

2008-03-15T17:48:00.005+01:00

Today, we watched the Swedish bandy champinonship final, which takes places yearly in Uppsala. As usual, it was a big party with entertining bandy and over 15 goals. As usual, Edsbyn won the final!

Svenska Flicka!

2008-03-13T20:13:00.004+01:00

Today Elena received information from Migrationsverket that she (from the 5th of March) is also a Swedish citizen! Grattis!!!

Cortina d´Ampezzo

2008-02-23T11:44:00.016+01:00

Cortina d´Ampezzo is part of Dolomiti which is a very large ski area with 1200 km (!!!) of runs in 12 connected ski resorts. We decided to go there since it is supposed to offer one of the best skiing in the world. Another reason was that we have made shorter visits to Italian ski resorts before (Courmayeur/Monte Blanc and Cervino/Matterhorn), and we always liked skiing there.

February 17: Took off from Skavsta airport to Venice Terviso airport where we arrived 40 minutes early thanks to Ryan air. Picked up a pre-booked Nissan Note and drove 2h to Cortina. Arrived to Hotel Larin around 22.

February 18: We were skiing in the Cortina Tofana (3245 meters) area all day. We started out from Socrepes. The weather conditions were perfect - a few degrees plus and sun all day. The area is famous for hosting the Olympic games in 1956 and we skied in many of the Olympic runs. The system is typical old ski-resorts style in the sense that some runs are quite technical and even red runs can be very demanding.

February 19: Again perfect weather conditions. We drowe to Corvara/Alta Badia - a very interesting 50 minutes drive on serpentine roads from Cortina. At the peak, we drove at 2105 meters at Passo Falzarego. The skiing was spent on completing the Sella ronda (counter clockwise direction). It goes around the Sella mountain group (3150 meters) and took us to many very nice runs from the four areas Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Val Di Fassa, and Arabba. These areas have typical Italian runs that are very wide and well prepared - perfect for laid-back skiing in Ray Bans :-). The round is mostly on red runs. The views from many of the peaks were absolutely spectacular!

February 20: Yet Another day with very nice weather. We decided to ski in Passo Tre Croci (Cortina), which is a short drive from our hotel. We first skiied in the runs of Cristallo (2930 meters). In the afternoon we moved over to Faloria (2362 meters). The whole Passo Tre Croci area is not very big but offers some very nice runs (typical Italian style). Some are Olympic runs from 1956. However most of the area is modern. Several nice restaurants and ski bars are available. At the tops of both sides the views are breath taking.

February 21: We drove some 45 km to ski in Valdaora, Plan de Corones/Kronplatz. The locals told us "it is just a hill - no mountain", but with its 2275 meters it is certainly a very high hill. We found some nice runs, including a 4950 meters long black run with 1296 difference in altitude. We also skied the runs of St Vigil. When we agreed to ski from the top of Kronplatz to the first edge, Elena questioned if there are any edges on a hill. Later we agreed that there are no edges on a perfect hill.

February 22: We decided to spend the last day in Venice, which is located some 30 km from Treviso airport (so a 60 km detour for us). Unfortunately we lost an hour in traffic jam, but finally arrived to Mestre, where we parked the car and took a train to Venice St Lucia train station. From there we walked to St Marco's square and spent time in the surrounding quarters. Took off back to the airport at 17. Simply a very nice and relaxing day as tourists.

Sitting at the airport writing these lines, we conclude that it has been a very nice trip. Dolomiti is certainly an impressive ski area that we could visit again. Then we would try one of the other resorts, probably one on the Sella ronda, which was the most interesting day of the week.

Click the title "Cortina d´Ampezzo" to see more pictures from the trip.

Tre Kronor på Dramaten

2008-02-17T10:41:00.007+01:00

Yesterday we were at Dramaten and saw Tre Kronor, a performance consisting of three Strindberg's plays - Gustav Wasa, Kristina and Gustav III. The plays were directed by different producers and had different sets of actors. The three regents were played by Torkel Petersson, Elin Klinga and Michael Nyqvist. The duration of the performance was 4,5 hours, and it was pretty messy and difficult to understand, but however crystal clear to be produced by Strindberg.

Göran's 70 years anniversary

2008-02-12T16:05:00.002+01:00

Febrary 9, Paul's father Göran celebrated his 70 years anniversary on the Baltic see, with dinner and dancing.

Weekend in Romme

2008-02-03T20:22:00.002+01:00

This weekend we have been skiing in Romme with Anders and Anna Hessel. It was snowing a lot and the skiing was great!

New Year in Romme

2008-01-01T21:29:00.002+01:00

We celebrated the New Year with Krehla's, Brith and Göran with skiing in the days and dinners/parties in the evenings in Romme. This time we started with snowboard - a very painfull activity.

Saint-Petersburg

2007-12-27T21:13:00.003+01:00

Today, we returned from two (Elena and Elin) or one (Paul) week(s) in Saint-Petersburg. We had very fun with many friends, party at Jambala (reaggae club), dinner at Mokrushins, concert at Polytechnical university's white hall, xmas party at Fersmans, shopping, etc.

(For pictures, click the title "Saint-Petersburg".)

Ronny + Tomas = 80år

2007-12-09T23:57:00.002+01:00

Saturday this weekend we celebrated the 40 years anneversary of Ronny and Tomas with lots of friends in Linköping. It was a very fun party with Asian food and rock'n'roll entertainment...

Helsinki

2007-11-26T21:11:00.003+01:00

Today we returned from a two day Viking Line cruise to Helsinki. We had a luxury cabin and spend our time on the boat relaxing, shopping and enjoing good food and wines at BBQ house. During the day in Helsinki we visited Anna & Monty, which was fun as usual.

About Elena

2007-10-21T15:55:00.002+02:00

During Elena's trip to Shanghai, she gave an interveiw to a journalist for the Ericsson magazine Kontakten about the development of a recent product. The interview resulted in a few lines in a recently published article (click the image to see a larger version).

Progress trip to Viareggio

2007-10-19T17:31:00.003+02:00

I (Paul) have been to Viareggio (Pisa) in Italy this week to visit a research group in Pisa and make plans together with the rest of Progress. For pictures, click the title of this post.

Vilgot's Baptism

2007-10-07T23:16:00.000+02:00

Today, Vilgot got his baptismal names Vilgot Johannes Alexander Hessel in Kungsholms kyrkan in Stockholm. Later Anders and Anna invited everyone to a nice cafe. It was a really nice event for us!

A baby girl!

2007-09-16T08:51:00.000+02:00

The 13th September 2007 at 11.08, a baby girl was born!!! She was 3.33kg and 49cm. Her name shall be Elin. Everything went precisely as planed. We are all feeling very well, and returned home after two days at the hospital.

Some pictures can be seen in this photo album.

Rush Hour 3

2007-08-10T10:49:00.000+02:00

According to Expressen, everybody wanted to see Rush Hour 3. Anyway, we saw it on a pre-show-event organized by Expressen and ended up on this photo. The movie was ok.

DN-galan

2007-08-07T15:30:00.000+02:00

Tonight, we saw the Super Grand Prix and IAAF World Athletic Tour track and field meet DN-galan at Stockholm Stadion. The weather was fantastic!

Paragliding

2007-08-04T20:26:00.000+02:00

Today, I went paragliding! It was given to me as a birthday present from Elena. The actual paragliding, only took a few minutes but it was really great!!!

St Petersburg, summer 2007

2007-07-31T16:43:00.000+02:00

Took the car with Brith and Göran Pettersson from Uppsala via ferry to Finland to arrive in Roshchino, Russia July 21. Here we spent a few days bathing (Roshino beach is very nice!), water skiing, shashlick eating, sightseeing, and shopping with Irisha, Gesha, Vadja and Lena. We also went to see Lintula larch forest.

In St Petersburg we did more shopping and sightseeing. We went to see the Electric market, Putin's recidense in Strelna, on a night boat trip on river Neva to see how the bridges open, to Money Honey with Leo and Sveta, and to the Palace square to see a fantastic live concert with The Rolling Stones.

Late on the 28th we returned to Roshino to have a party with 20 guests the 29th to celibrate Elena's birthday. It was a very memorable evening with shashlick, many speaches, and many vodkas.

Some pictures and videos are available here.

Prices: (1 kr=3.9 rub)
• Big Mac 52 rub
• Jeans 800-1150 rub
• Boss 100ml after shave 950 rub
• Boss deo stick 390 rub
• Shirt from 200 rub
• 1liter premium vodka 150 rub
• 1liter car gas 20 rub

Riga, Latvia

2007-07-19T09:04:00.001+02:00

Just came home from a trip to Riga in Latvia. In Riga we visited Jurmala (i.e. Riga beach), the old town, the city center, and Lido. The weather was very warm and sunny!

Golden Sands, Bulgaria

2007-07-14T17:14:00.000+02:00

We just came home from a nice charter vacation week in Golden sands, Bulgaria. Traveled from Arlanda to Varna airport 6th of July. We arrived in Golden sands at 2300. Turn out that our hotel (Hotel Aphrodite) was on the party street so we took a quick look around midnight - which turned out to be too early. Later we learned that the action starts at 0100 and ends around 0600 (the street is silent 0700-1100).

Golden sands is a resort city with no local Bulgarian inhabitants. It has lots of hotels, restaurants, and fake shopping (jeans, wrist watches, bags, sun glasses, clothes, perfume, etc). It is not easy to find anything authentic. Golden sands also has a lovely long beach which offers the usual stuff including banana riding, para-sailing, massage, beer, fresh fruits, and Mc Donald's.

On the 9th we took a bus tour (0900-1500) to the city Varna (20km away, 28 lv pp). We visited the gypsy market, the city center, and a shopping center. It was not so much to see, but a nice break from the sun bathing.

The 11th we went on a full day trip (1000-1900) to see Nessebar at the resort Sunny beach (110km away, 33 lv pp). It was a very nice trip. Nessebar is a small island/city ranked as UNESCO World heritage site. It has a long and interesting history and many sights to see - mostly old and small churches, and picturesque streets. The shopping was also more varied and cheaper than in Golden sands. We enjoyed this trip very much.

The weather in Golden sands was usually sunny and 30°C. However, one of the days (12th) was cloudy, cold (16°C), and rainy.

Some pictures.

Prices (1 lv = 5 kr)
• Big Mac 4.69 lv
• Kebab 5 lv
• Pizza 6 lv
• Beer 2-3 lv
• Cocktail 5-7 lv
• 1.5 l water 1.5 lv
• Hair cut 15 lv
• Manicure 12 lv
• Pedicure 15 lv
• Ray Bans 15 lv
• Omega automatic watch 78 lv
• Ceramic bottle w. 6 glasses 10 lv
• Towel 10 lv

Tallinn

2007-06-29T17:45:00.000+02:00

I have been in Tallinn this week to attend the conferences Testcom/Fates+Forte 2007. It was a bit rainy but ohterwise nice.

Elena at GMC in Shanghai

2007-06-17T00:33:00.000+02:00

Today, Elena finally got back from a one week trip to Shanghai. It was mainly work, but she also had a one full day of sightseeing, and a day with Mats Åhman and family.

SAVE-IT trip to Grenoble

2007-06-09T13:17:00.000+02:00

I (Paul) have been in Grenoble in France this week to visit a number of research groups together with SAVE-IT. Some picutures can be found here (or click the title "SAVE-IT trip to Grenoble").

Paul 40 year anniversary

2007-05-26T23:00:00.000+02:00

Tonight we celebrated Paul's 40 year anniversary with a party. Thank you everybody who came and made this night very memorable for us, and thank you for all the gifts. We hope you had as fun as we had!