Tyvärr = unfortunately

Kritianstad was sadly a bore. What made it most exhausting was a combination of the rainy cold weather and the lack of "business." Who ever thought that town needed a 9 day festival was out of their minds! Those weekdays were outright painful at times.

Music did have a variety, but some afternoons were just out of tune voices singing cover songs or a DJ, some were pretty good, some not... and then bands in the night... again, some were good, some weren't. Pop band from Denmark, a Frank Sinatra cover guy with a big band jazz night, country music another night, and the finale night was something out of the oldies era... was a little out-dated, but whatever, tons of people were there for the last night.

So, I did my best to just take it easy when I could since sleep is never good for me at these festivals. Wandered through their 1600's Renaissance cathedral, practised my latte art, and even made a couple of new friends. It's funny, while my sister-in-law, Sarah, was talking about heat and sun in her blog, I get to share the very opposite of shady clouds and seemingly incessant rain!

None the less though, Cristina and I made the best of our trip there. Met new people, kept each other in check for sleep, breaks, food, energy, even inspiring moments, whether it be latte art, hearty oatmeal breakfasts, or funny faces.

I must say, there was a truly fine gentleman to come our way. He requested a heart on the latte to give to his girlfriend with a biscotti for a special treat. I happened to just come back from a break in time because Cristina can make the most beautiful leaves and rosettas, but I've got a better knack for hearts. Well, we made this guy's and his gal's night! It was too too sweet, ya know? What girl wouldn't like or appreciate that gesture. Sure enough, they came round to say thanks again and danced to the live music near our moped for a little bit. Too sweet!

Since I'm proud of my new success, here's the pictures I got a chance to take. Cool, huh??! I can't wait to see if I can get my machine in the States to perform this well at the after party after the wedding reception. Wouldn't that just be too cool? If it doesn't work, I have a back up idea, but it is less artistic. Cute anyways, just not as impressive. Cristina has also said she'd give me a few tins of whole bean espresso for the party! How sweet is that? Too cool. I know that my family and friends will love this espresso. 100% arabica beans and from 5 countries in South America, roasted in northern Italy. Really sweet tasting coffee, excellent blend.

Please go to my flickr page to see the rest of the photos from this trip... I sadly do not have the power to go into a story for all the pics, but I did try to put captions in most of them. So, you can see a little of my thoughts. Gorgeous cathedral pictures, funny odd pictures, cute kids picking out balloons... lots of fun pics.

There's even a few pictures that show this here close encounter! That's a mobile stage that got within 3 inches of out 'little' moped that a lot of burly men surrounding the moped couldn't even lift, what a funny sight. (more than meets the eyes) Kinda scary too though, didn't know if they'd take it out or scratch it up or something! One light bulb did end up busting, so they bought us 4. That was kind of them.

Well, tonight, I'm off to Västervik, which is about 4-5 hours drive north east on the east coast, and more than half way to Stockholm. I thought I'd be in another place, but they've switched me! Sebastian and I'll be running a moped there for the next 4 days. We'll return on Sunday sometime. What's cool, is that it's a boat show related festival. That's pretty cool... not hard rock or bad cover artists...

Well folks, see you with a review of yet another town/city in Sweden next time!