there's no such thing as a utopia, even here in Sweden

so there aren't any pictures to go along with this post, it is simply an observation that I think means something for all of us, regardless of whether we are designing or building or investing or creating.  this is about the fundamentals of being human, of sharing a space on this earth together, and about breathing the same air.  I have, and always will, abide by the "we're all in this together" philosophy about pretty much everything from sports to work to politics.  I think everyone on this planet should live with a little or a lot of that philosophy...


I was performing my evening "ride around and look for pickup soccer games" routine the other night when I arrived to a neighborhood park (the neighborhood is not important here, but I can say that I had been there before and the people were hospitable and that the area is generally perceived, according to local residents, as a less desirable and certainly less affluent location in the city).

I was on the edge of the park, mostly out of the mainstream sight from the kids on the soccer field.  there was a ball sitting about 15 meters off of the field in the sand and there were about 8 kids, ages 6-12 or so sitting in the middle of the field talking.  the kids looked to be persian in descent and seemed to be speaking swedish.  two young black kids, probably about 6-10 years old slowly approached the field from my left as I watched.

the oldest and tallest of the group of kids in the middle of the field jumped up and started yelling loudly at the two boys, who slowly continued approaching the field.  immediately the rest of the kids stood up and began yelling as well.  there were hand motions and more yelling and the group in the middle of the field started to advance toward the boys who were approaching from the side.  the two boys approaching the field slowed drastically, to the point where it was clear as an outside observer that they were no longer going to enter the field itself.  they turned onto an altered course and paralleled the field, aiming to go around it or at least not onto the soccer pitch.

wheels were turning in my head as I started to pedal off.  I got about 50 meters before I slowed, turned a 180, and went back to the field.
"hey kid, can I ask you a question" I said to the tallest boy, who was still near the edge of the field.  "yeah"
what were you all yelling to those two boys?"
"nothing"
"it didn't sound like nothing"
"it was nothing"
"what did you say to them?"
"I told them that my cousin was getting the ball and they didn't need to get it"
"oh"

I could tell by the look on his face that his story was adjusted to suit my needs and he was hoping I would go away.  I asked again for a third time in a slightly different tack to see if he would tell me what was really going on.  his story evolved a final time, but he never admitted to what I think was happening.  if it weren't for the "hand in the cookie jar" look on his face and the exuberance of he and his friends' yelling, I might have believed him, but I didn't.

at that point I felt that there was little progress to be made, so I simply said to the kid, "I think everyone should be allowed to play in the park and on the soccer field, no matter where they come from"

I pedaled off toward home, feeling slightly better but mostly worse.

pickup soccer in Malmo

for an evening delight I decided to roll around on my new (used) scott bicycle in search of a pickup soccer game.  I need some exercise and I have been spending too much time emailing and sitting in front of the computer.  So... I set out to where I had seen some fields along Ribersborgsstranden on the western coast of the city below Vastra Hamnen.  even though there were several beach soccer courts and even more regular soccer fields in the area, there was not one single pickup game.  time was passing by.  I picked up the pace on the bike and flew through the city, up and down random streets looking for something.  after nearly an hour, I was getting frantic.  yes I was exercising by riding the bike, but I wanted a game.

finally, as things were starting to look grim, I came across an artificial turf field that turned out to be a city soccer field called Malmo Idrottsplats.  there was a small group of guys playing so I rode over and asked to play.  they invited me into the game and I had a great time.  after an hour or so the sun started to go down and the game ended.  they decided to play a penalty shooting game that I had never played before.

the rules were (sort of) simple and the game reminded me of a soccer version of "horse".  each player gets three strikes and takes turns in order shooting and then being goalie and then getting back in line.  when you are in goal and someone scores, you get a strike.  three strikes and you are out.  last person left with less than three strikes wins (you'll see what winning means in the last video below).  if you shoot and miss the net/ goalie completely, you have to run and touch three goalposts (one twice) before you can save the next shot.  if you hit the goal or the goalie you just go to the net and its your turn to be goalie.

my mission was not to be the first one out.  I succeeded and was the second one out.  it takes a little getting used to with the rules but I think if I play again I will do better.  it seems losing in this game involves potential pain (although I think it's more pride than actual pain).

these guys play every tuesday night so hopefully I will get in another game with them, maybe next week...

Hyllie neighborhood: traveling further abroad

today I had the opportunity to ride around the city for awhile in between sending emails, making contacts, and setting up meetings.  I made it a mission to get to at least a couple of neighborhoods that I hadn't seen yet.  I decided to ride southwest along the coast to check out a couple of places and neighborhoods along the way.

leaving Vastra Hamnen behind along the coast along the Ribersborg "beach"

the first official stop was Linhamn.  Limhamn is a sleepy outskirt of Malmo about halfway between the city center and the Oresund Bridge.  it saw some growth about 50 years ago with some new apartments but sat quietly for some time after.  recently there have been some upgrades including several new apartment buildings.  one piece of Limhamn sticks out into the ocean as an island and it was there that I found some neat places such as this constructed water inlet amphitheater.

water "amphitheater" on the Or of Limhamn

for a little fishing village so close to Malmo city center, it was surprising how empty the place felt, but it was a weekday during business hours.  I saw an older man being pushed in a wheelchair and said hej.  he said hej hej.  I saw some older european village style houses and ran into a woman with a stroller picking wild blackberries.  besides the houses, I also liked this gabion wall set in front of the one cafe on the island.

gabion wall on the Or of Limhamn with cafe and new apartment building in the background

after Limhamn I went through Bellevue on my way toward Hyllie, one of the neighborhoods of Malmo that has seen immense change in the last ten years.  Bellevue is basically like a suburb.  single family houses with winding side streets and main boulevards connecting major areas.  one point of interest to me has been the schools here.  in this case I stopped to snap a quick picture because I was impressed at how many kids bike to school.  I have noticed in the morning and in the afternoon a lot of parents ride with their kids to school and then continue on to work or elsewhere.  even little kids.

elementary school in Bellevue with plenty of bike parking for the kids

after Bellevue I headed toward Hyllie.  on the way I had to stop and take a picture of this poured in place concrete bridge.  for some reason this kind of construction always makes me happy.  this specific bridge creates an underpass for the bike path to continue south from Bellevue to Hyllie.

underpass for the bike path made of cast in place concrete

after the underpass I made quick progress to the heart of the new center of Hyllie.  Hyllie is southwest of the city center and was once mostly farmland but has recently gained prominence as a development area for Malmo due to the newly constructed Hyllie station (built as part of the major Malmo City Tunnel project), which is just two stops from Copenhagen and two from Malmo center.

before the Oresund Bridge was constructed linking Sweden to Denmark (Malmo to Copenhagen) one needed to take a ferry for the 6 mile crossing.  In 1999 the bridge was completed linking the two countries and creating opportunity for growth in Malmo and job access across the Oresund Strait, which serves as both the physical border between the two countries and a psychological divide due to the time and effort it took to get from one side to the other.  now a commute from Malmo to Copenhagen is a mere 25 minutes and about $15.

view from Vastra Hamnen toward Oresund Bridge

Hyllie's new station has made the pasture into a soon to be bustling city connecting point.  in fact, the largest mall in Scandanavia is about to open within 100 meters of the station.  besides the mall, there are office buildings and several restaurants, a new museum of Malmo, and the Malmo Arena, which must be important because Lady Gaga played there last year.  my major interest in Hyllie is the new residential complexes that are just breaking ground.  they are going to be in the same ballpark of sustainable excellence as Augustenborg and Vastra Hamnen in terms of energy use reduction, sustainable strategies, water conservation, land use, waste management, and energy efficiency.  there's nothing really to see yet except architectural renderings.

I talk to a local construction worker about the happenings in Malmo and Hyllie and then set off back north on a fantastic bike path toward the city center.  when I pass the soccer stadium (where Malmo FF plays) I stop dead in my tracks.  the bike parking at the stadium is like nothing I've ever seen.  I count 2000 bike parking spaces just on my side of the stadium along the bike path.  I repeat.  2000 bike parking spaces at an international soccer stadium.

Malmo stadium

stadium bike parking.  2000 spots on one side of the stadium alone

I leave the stadium and continue north, stopping at the city bibliotek to get a library card.  the library is awesome, a new giant glass box juxtaposed against an historic brick building.  the most intriguing thing to me about the space inside is that the first thing you see when you enter is stairs.  no sign of an elevator anywhere.  oh, you want to go to the second level, there are the stairs.  nuff said.

entry to the Malmo city library 

main stacks of the library from the second floor 

the other notable about the library is the help/ info desk (right when you enter the building).  they give out tickets like Americans get at the deli counter.  now serving... 

main entry to library serves as a helpdesk, information center, and meeting place.  cafe in background.

oh.  did I mention the bicycle routes that are mainly closed to through traffic of cars?  and what about the street signs that aim bike travelers from one area of the city to the next?  and of course, the bicycle roundabout...

street is open for cars to park but through traffic is for bikes only.  a couple of simple bollards deter cars.

the bicycle roundabout.  a fan favorite.  note the signs directing to different neighborhoods and landmarks in the city.

malmö train station: a trifecta of goodness (& free wifi)!

woke up on norwegian air flight somewhere over the alps.  first thing I saw out the window of the plane was a wind farm with at least 20 turbines just sitting in a wheat field.  within about 10 minutes I must have seen over a thousand turbines, mostly in fields that looked to be farmland.  it looks like these people know something.  

40 wind turbines in Danish farmland.  It seems even during a bad year with the crops the wind still blows.

paid 25 danish kroner for a 33cl coke.  free internet on a plane.  norwegian is the first company in europe to do it.  tried to log onto the internet with limited success.  downloaded pictures off the camera.  emailed anne but couldn’t email tamara because the connection was too weak for gmail.  evil 1, good 0.  

another array of wind turbines.  saw these on the descent into Copenhagen.  They are probably in the Oresund Strait.

still need to read that email from tamara but need internet.  saw a wifi hotspot sign.  followed the instructions but did not receive the email activation quickly.  got impatient.  followed signs for the bathroom.  airport seems very crowded.  found the signs and went down three flights of stairs.  secret underground lair bathroom.  each stall had tiled walls.  privacy.  but no sign of ventilation except a crack of light coming under the door.  sounds carry almost the same as hung partitions but maybe its better.  dual flush toilets must be standard here.  they had a little symbol on the top with a half full circle and a full circle.  even their signage is thoughtful.  

went to the exchange place looking to get rid of some traveler's checks.  turns out traveler's checks are pretty much useless in italy or maybe anywhere.  exchange place seemed to be working until I mentioned travellers checks.  she told me to go to amex to exchange them.  waited in an unnecessarily long line at amex.  there were three people on computers right in front of us.  each of the first two had a sign on the counter that said “the agent in the next window will be happy to help you.  nice.  why don’t they just say 'I am busy doing something that makes my company more money than exchanging your weak dollar for our strong danish kroner.  plus I am better looking than you.'?

when it was finally my turn she got three phone calls in a row. two of which she handed to her buddy who was magically taking human customers all of the sudden.  she took the travellers checks and had to make another phone call supposedly to verify something.  then she entered a whole bunch of numbers into the phone.  standard procedure?  standard.  for the record, danish kroner and swedish kroner look almost identical. she tells me to look carefully because at the bottom of danish kroner it says "danish" and at the bottom of the swedish kroner it says nothing.

Danish kroner, swedish kroner, and swedish coins.  exchange rate for swedish is about 6.5 sek to $1.

eventually I had danish kroner and swedish kroner in my hands and moved back to finding the internet.  turns out you have to actually wait a few minutes for the email to come through.  no patience because I needed to get my bag off the conveyor.  followed signs to baggage.  mine was on a conveyor belt that was empty and not moving.  no surprise.  wifi plus bathroom plus amex could have been 45 minutes.

next mission: buy a ticket to malmo.  line was obviously long and a guy at the front was hassling the woman speaking into the microphone about his invalid ticket.  she tells him to see the station master and that there’s nothing she can do.  steff’s place, the hot dog stand sells beer too... plus I have danish money.  gotta stop there... gotta get to malmo...  I like her british accent.

train arrives almost instantaneously.  smooth as silk.  yes this is the train to malmo.  once on the train the first person I see has a celeste blue bianchi, circa 1995.  his is not made of Reynolds and the badge is a sticker not a metal emblem.  we talk for a few minutes about biking.  I ask him for a good shop in town.  he recommends fridhem near riversborg beach.  gotta check that place out.  I ask a young woman which stop to get off at to get to vastra hamnen.  she doesn’t know but three other helpful people know and one even tells me bus #2 gets me from the train station to vastra hamnen.  she’s speaking spanish to her son and another man.

train stops are smooth and quick.  people are orderly and polite.  2 minutes, four minutes, twelve minutes to Lund from Malmo Center.  fast.  arriving at Malmo Center another helpful person tells me the buses are straight ahead.  maybe people want to practice their english?  entering the train station I notice the beautiful shape of the roof.  timbers painted red and bent to a perfect arch.  bolted together.  must be fifty feet high.  

I pass by the swedish hot dog spot and the american food place with hamburgers and french fries.  I see the sushi place and several different versions of a cafe and a coffee shop as well as a smoothie store.  I get to a shop that looks like heaven.  a young blond woman is pulling little open faced sandwiches from under a glass counter and adjusting them onto a little rectangular plate that fits three perfectly.  she makes a plate of pickled herring, salmon, and pate.  the world’s most perfect plate.  each more delectable than the last.  she serves it to two older folks at bar stools who order two carlsbergs as liquid compliment.  it is here that I decide to ask about internet in malmo.  the girl does not quite understand but the other woman working at the shop who looks like she could be the mother of the younger waitress tells me in perfect english that there is free wireless in the train station.  tack.  

the trifecta of swedish goodness (I came to find out later that these little delectable sandies are actually Danish in origin.  still delicious though

I move away from the counter to test the internet.  within minutes I am signed up on the free cloud and ready for lunch.  The trifecta of swedish goodness is mine along with a swedish beer.  I set up shop at the corner of the counter and click through an email to tamara explaining that I have arrived a day early and asking to add one night to my reservation of three weeks at her apartment in Vastra Hamnen, the western harbor.

while I await a response I charge my iphone, which is also on the internet thanks to the wifi.  no charges as long as I keep it on airplane mode and do not activate the phone portion which would allow calls and texts.  I google tipping practices in sweden and find out that food and drinks are usually tipped by rounding up and everything else including services receives no extra compensation.  when I pay I round up from 95 to 100 swedish kroner, about $16 I think.  not the cheapest but certainly the best meal I have ever had in a train station.

still no response from tamara so I guess I need to go to the bar in the train station to watch Man U versus South Hampton.  drinking a falcon on tap for a whopping 80 kroner I watch Man U getting picked apart by a clearly inferior South Hampton squad.  the game goes up and down and I become friends with a local guy from malmo sitting next to me.  he’s clearly rooting for Man U so I do the same.  after an obvious foul in the box, newly acquired Van Persie needs only to slide a penalty past the outclassed South Hampton goalkeeper to tie the game at two, but he tries the old slight chip and in a twist the goalie pops up his outstretched hand for an amazing save.  they’re still in the game with a one goal lead and only 20 minutes left.  you know your team is amazing when Nani is a bench player.  he comes on and eventually Van Persie scores two more for the hat trick and the win, the clincher 3.45 into 4 minutes of extra time.

of course the first bar I come to in Malmo is Boston themed.  even has a young Menino autograph on the wall.

now that the game is over, I have another beer with my new friend, Robin.  he’s studying to be a teacher at the local university.  he laughs when I call it that.  everyone here calls it the college.  we talk about sustainability, the growth and evolution of malmo as a city, and how education plays a role in development of children's views on sustainable living.  quite an interesting conversation for a couple of sports nuts at a bar drinking falcons on tap.

Tamara sends me a text and tells me to come over after 8pm when she gets home, so I finish my beer and look around for a ticket booth.  I see a machine and a guy feeding money into it.  he explains that I need to buy a jojo card (their version of a charlie card).  the bus stops in this town are state of the art, complete with digital signs that announce the next bus.  mine is the number 2 and goes to what was once the shipbuilding capitol of Europe.

bus station outside train station.  digital announcement for bus arrival times.

I get off the bus and walk a couple hundred meters in the direction I think I need to go and arrive at what seems like the end of the earth in terms of urbanity.  the wind is blowing fiercely and the street abruptly ends by turning from pavement into gravel.  there are no more street lights.  ahead of me and on both sides there are construction vehicles parked for the night and several pretty solid configurations of shipping container job site "trailers".  I'm standing in front of a building on Riggaregatan in Vastra Hamnen.  maybe I am at the end... or maybe its just the beginning...

looking back toward the turning torso in Vastra Hamnen from the end of my street.