[StarVegabond]

Now moving to the object of desire which is in every BHPian's heart and mind.

you guessed it right, Cars, Cars and More Cars

I took some snaps of the cars during the 4 days of stay. i am attaching them here, most of them are self explanatory, i have no comments to offer except that i would like to own some of them

[StarVegabond]

While being on Automobiles, i felt a dedicated post to be made for the Taxi and the servcie they provide

A typical Taxi looks like this


It is mandetory to display the rate car and it is mandetory to charge as per rate card.


Cars also have Automatic Toll payment tokens, it gets automatically added to the bill that gets generated.


Every car has a CarPC like equipment which shows the maps, does the billing, keeps logs etc.


There are larger 7 seater taxi, they charge the same as the normal taxi.


Most of the drivers speak English, very much polite, always panctual/on time, courtious.

I have already shared some individual experiences in earlier posts e.g. Taxi ride from Copenhagen to Lund, Taxi ride from Malo to Lund etc.

[SmartCat]

Woaah, Ford Ka has an ugly butt!

Looking at the car pics, it looks like hatchbacks are not very popular in Sweden (unlike UK or France).

[aargee]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

There are larger 7 seater taxi, they charge the same as the normal taxi.

I noticed the same even in US too; I don't know how much profit would they make; also the taxi's were operated mostly on Ford & Chevrolet than any other makes. Makes me wonder why Japanese cars weren't considered or may be I didn't notice, but for sure, most of them were Ford & Chevy. How about there Starvegabond? Did you witness any Japanese cars used as Taxis?

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

always panctual/on time, courtious.

In India, except a hand pick of tourist operators, most of them are

[anekho]

Great travellogue, Star - I enjoyed it a lot!

Another thing these cabbies must do (you can see in the pics) is display they're taxi license on the dash!

Originally Posted by smartcat

Woaah, Ford Ka has an ugly butt!

Looking at the car pics, it looks like hatchbacks are not very popular in Sweden (unlike UK or France).

In the larger cities (gothenburg/stockholm) you'll find a decent number of hatchbacks, but generally the station wagon rules the roost here.

Originally Posted by aargee

Makes me wonder why Japanese cars weren't considered or may be I didn't notice, but for sure, most of them were Ford & Chevy. How about there Starvegabond? Did you witness any Japanese cars used as Taxis?

Almost every taxi you see will be a volvo v70 or a saab 9-5! Besides these two swedes, mercedes e-class and vw passat (both also stationwagon, ofcourse!) are pretty popular.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by anekho

Almost every taxi you see will be a volvo v70 or a saab 9-5! Besides these two swedes, mercedes e-class and vw passat (both also stationwagon, ofcourse!) are pretty popular.

I guess every country would be using their home grown product as taxi; for instance, Indica in India. Assuming that Honda & Toyota's are used in Japan, Merc & BMW in Germany.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by anekho

Great travellogue, Star - I enjoyed it a lot!

Another thing these cabbies must do (you can see in the pics) is display they're taxi license on the dash!

In the larger cities (gothenburg/stockholm) you'll find a decent number of hatchbacks, but generally the station wagon rules the roost here.

Almost every taxi you see will be a volvo v70 or a saab 9-5! Besides these two swedes, mercedes e-class and vw passat (both also stationwagon, ofcourse!) are pretty popular.

Thanks anekho for chipping in,

several of my colleagues use small hatchback e.g. VW Polo for the office commute and huge SUV/MUV for the Family commute.

Originally Posted by aargee

I guess every country would be using their home grown product as taxi; for instance, Indica in India. Assuming that Honda & Toyota's are used in Japan, Merc & BMW in Germany.

Pride in the homegrown product is one thing, Taxi segment needs reliability along with low cost of ownership/spare parts, because any breakdown means loss of income.

Hence in my view generally taxi fleets go for the following

1. Availability of the showroom, servcie senter, repairs in the local town along with few backups.
2. lowest cost for a bulk order
3. lowest cost of ownership (running costs, service, repairs etc)
4. minimum 3/4 seater, could be more as well
5. Good brand value as customer would like to travel in style, with comfort and good recall after the travel is over.


Before we checkout from the hotel i thought, i should share more details about the hotel were we were put up. I had already posted pictures of my room. Here are few more..

View of the Hotel Lobby from the entry


The couch on the right hand side


The decorations on the left hand side


A closer look at the decorations




View of the resturant from the Couch


A closer look at loung/resturant


A Bar right next to the reception, utilization of space


The lit up fire place in the evening


A free internet cafe


Outside (warm/sunny) sit out area of the resturant


My mother always asks me once i returned from a foreign trip... What did you eat there for so many days ?, do you get vegetarian food for breakfast ?..here is the answer, a typical breakfast


with a cheerful coffee


Sweden seems to be famous for its coffee brewing machines, they make much better coffee than Star Bucks (trust me)


A typical lounge chair, notice the interesting design..similar to the easychair available in south India


More to follow

* Bidding Goodbye to City of Ideas
* Photographs of Copenhagen airport
* Sandwitch war
* some more interesting converations with my co-passenger

[aargee]

What's that dosai type looking dish in the breakfast picture? Don't tell it was Oothappam

[Iluvcars]

Your way of narration is superb! Pictures are great too.
By the way, I remember reading somewhere that there is no bail system in Sweden. Do you know if it's true?
PS: Don't try it to find it out yourself, if you know what I mean

[laluks]

Finally made it.
Nice pictures and beautiful narration.

Are you back in Banagalore?

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by aargee

What's that dosai type looking dish in the breakfast picture? Don't tell it was Oothappam

It is rice pancake, it is simlar to a dosa/Oothappam, but lacks the right salt/taste combination. but when eater hot and with tomato sauce, tastes closer to the dosa.

Originally Posted by Iluvcars

Your way of narration is superb! Pictures are great too.
By the way, I remember reading somewhere that there is no bail system in Sweden. Do you know if it's true?
PS: Don't try it to find it out yourself, if you know what I mean

Yes, it seems you are right, for more info on Travel Advisory about Sweden, visit the below page from US Government, Department of State.

Sweden

Originally Posted by laluks

Finally made it.
Nice pictures and beautiful narration.

Are you back in Banagalore?

Thanks Laluks for your appreciation, In fact i returned from Sweden on March 20th itself, I was in Bangalore for one week, then i had to travel on a emergency to Mumbai, I actually drove my car to Mumbai and returned on Monday morning. One of my relative was hospitalized, she was fighting blood cancer from last 3-4 years, She passed away on tuesday evening, i had already returned to Bangalore due to work, but family is still in Mumbai.

Again i am travelling this week end out of the country for one week, this time heading east
.
I think it is time for a quick meet either today/tomorrow ?? Can you check with our Italy returned friend ? I will check with the Luke who walks in the sky

[aargee]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

It is rice pancake, it is simlar to a dosa/Oothappam, but lacks the right salt/taste combination. but when eater hot and with tomato sauce, tastes closer to the dosa.

Oh!!! So it doesn't taste sweet I guess. Did they serve you maple or just the tomato sauce? To me pancake, maple, scrambled egg, hash browns & coffee is like WOW!!! My one & only favourite menu that I can eat from ihop.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

She passed away on tuesday evening, i had already returned to Bangalore due to work, but family is still in Mumbai.

Sorry to hear; May her soul rest in peace.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Again i am travelling this week end out of the country for one week, this time heading east

WOW, another travelogue when this one is complete.

[advaitlele]

Wow. Nice photo and log from the place not much talked about. And thanks for making how to pronounce it clear in the beginning. Waiting for the last instalment; to be precise "Sandwich war".

Originally Posted by StarVegabond
Again i am travelling this week end out of the country for one week, this time heading east

Wow, another travelog and fantastic photos to wait for.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by aargee

Oh!!! So it doesn't taste sweet I guess. Did they serve you maple or just the tomato sauce? To me pancake, maple, scrambled egg, hash browns & coffee is like WOW!!! My one & only favourite menu that I can eat from ihop.

in fact they did provide maple sauce, i have never developed a taste for maple sauce even after repeated attempts.

Originally Posted by aargee

Sorry to hear; May her soul rest in peace.

Thanks for your prayer.

Originally Posted by advaitlele

Wow. Nice photo and log from the place not much talked about. And thanks for making how to pronounce it clear in the beginning. Waiting for the last instalment; to be precise "Sandwich war".

thanks advait, i am happy that this thread WoWed you. stay tuned for the last chapter.

Originally Posted by aargee

WOW, another travelogue when this one is complete.

Originally Posted by advaitlele

Wow, another travelog and fantastic photos to wait for.

i have no plans of writing a travalogue of next week's trip, if i do you will only get the sales numbers and business plans


now bidding goodbye to the city of ideas...

Woke up at 4 AM, got ready with the packed bag by 4:45AM. The breakfast servcie was not yet started, but the cheff was already arranging the breakfast counters. He offered us some fresh bread, cookies and coffee. It was good enough for us. Cofffe knocked all the remaining sleep out of the system and we were eventually ready to say good bye.

We had already paid the bills, the Taxi arrived at 4.58 AM sharp, we jumped into the warm car and started cruising towards the airport. We again had to cross Malmo, Oresund bridge and tunnel. It was still pitch dark outside, highway was mostly deserted except for occational cars/trucks. Weather outside was chilling sub zero degree C.

My mind started rewinding the last 4 days of happenings. But one question struck to mind i.e. this town is called City of Ideas.. why ?

i took the help of the book published by the local government. I repeat few of the quotes from the book for the reference

The fact that Lund is known as the City of Ideas is naturally due to the knowledge and creativity found here, with more than 35000 students leaving their special mark on the city both inside and outside their class rooms.

Lund student Spex shows, student Choirs, student nations and bicycles are a few key words that conjure up student life and the sprit of Lund.

This is where many well known Swedes studied and would later rise to prominence in their field, whether as bishops, prime ministers, authors, researchers or entreprenuers. For these students Nothing is Impossible.

University enjoys an excellent reputation in international research in fields such as biotechnology, medical technology and IT.

The mental and physical proximity to the university has made Lund into a strong business center. IDEON is a research park and business incubator that was opened in 1983, and so far has generated more than 500 companies.

Lund is the home for well known companies such as Sony Ericsson, Astra Zeneca, Gamro, ST-Ericsson, etc.

* 4 days had simply ticked away with precision, helped us to find few new friends.
* 5 great evenings filled with lots of learnings, sight seeing, great food, greater conversations, walk on the deserted streets on a chilling (-5 degC) weather reconfirmed my belief in enjoying simple pleasures of life and in playing the hard game of business life with pleasure

Till we come back again Good bye.. town of Lund
45 minutes drive had ended, we were at the entry of Copenhagen airport.

[StarVegabond]

I am uploading some pictures of copenhagen airport

Our arrival time at airport and entry/exit points



We are not the first one to come, it is already buzzing with passengers


and flights have been scheduled


Most of the people use self check counter, we did too. it is a simple process, one has to swipe the machine readable zone (MRZ) of the passport cover and the counter will load the info, we need to select the seat number and voila (aila for marathi speaking brothers), the boarding card gets printed.


After depositing the checkin luggage, we need to go upstairs for immigration counters


Overview of checkin area from the top


It is a long walk after the immigration



Now back home, many near and dear ones as well as friends wait for me to bring them something back, but due to down turn last year, i only decide to bring them Nethra Sukh (=pleasure for the eyes).. here are some things which i wanted to buy for my friends/family

this one is for my male colleagues/friends, men who love thier sprits


Three ladies showcasing the brand


this is for the ladies


Bunnies filled with chocolates for the kids


Ultra facial cream for anyone who want to look like this guy/gal.


These ones are for my boss at home


This one is a special gift for the boss at home


this one too..


Then we met some nude figures..


famous among them.. the venus


some more flavours


these ones are for my friends from Team BHP


I would like to be here next time,



After lot of windowshopping, we eventually reached the boarding gate