One for the Road: The Palace of the Snow Queen

by Kelly Amabile on

I’ve had a copy of this book for awhile, but unfortunately have not had a chance to read it yet. However, I want to let you know about Barbara Sjoholm’s new book now, because she’s got an event coming up this week. The Palace of the Snow Queen is a travel narrative that follows the author through Sweden, Finland and other parts of Lapland. Sjoholm visits the Ice Hotel in Kiruna, takes part in traditional activities like reindeer racing and dog sledding, and adjusts to the ever-darkening days of the Far North. Bookslut recently posted a positive review.

If you live anywhere near Bellingham, WA, you can meet the author and view a slideshow of photos from her travels in Lapland at an event at Village Books this Thursday night. She’ll read from her book, and also discuss the culture of the indigenous Sami, who are currently in a struggle to maintain their traditional reindeer grazing lands and migration routes.

Gadling’s European Guide to Drunken Street Hot Dogs

by Grant Martin on

If there is one consistency among the bar scenes in every country I’ve been to it has got to be post drinking pilgrimage for late night food. Whether this is the 24 hour pizza place over on Broadway or the gyro stand under the bridge, nothing hits the spot after a hard night of drinkin’ like three hot dogs, four plates of poutine and a bottle of Powerade.

Over the past year or so I’ve had the opportunity to sample some of the international post-bar hot dog scene. All in the name of Gadling research, my friends. No, I haven’t sampled every street hot dog outside of every bar in every country, but I’d say I’ve had enough ground pig insides to list a few favorites.

  • Third Place: Prague. The standard. The Czech version of late night eats comes from the numerous permanent stands they have scattered between New and Old Town. The dogs are huge, condiments are-a-plenty and the price is a steal.
  • Second Place: Paris (above). The gastronomique. Quality grilled onions and peppers plus delectable core materials knocks this Parisian snack up an order of magnitude on the delicious chart.
  • First Place: Stockholm. The thunderhaus.Three words, ladies and gentlemen, deep fried onions. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier, but the addition if cronions to hot dogs rockets them off the delicious spectrum. I could eat these puppies for breakfast lunch and dinner.

For the record, do not try the late night food in Moscow. You’ll be sorry.

Cliff Barnes: Stockholm’s Nightlife Done Right

by Grant Martin on

Next time you find yourself in Stockholm, consider visiting one of my favorite bars in the world: Cliff Barnes.

Now, I’ve been to a lot of bars in my day and I’m generally a person who’s fonder of the the quieter, lounge types of establishments. Sure, I’ve been dragged to a few clubs, but dancing really isn’t my forte.

Cliff Barnes is set up as a ski-lodge-esque sort of of drinking hall, with large dark tables, wooden trim and exotic wallpaper. When we got there at about 10:30, the line had just started and we could see the happy Swedes dining about their business within. Declining to check our coats on the way in, we were told by the bouncers “No, really. It’ll get hot in there.”

And hot it got. Milling about and enjoying the landscape at 11PM, the lights suddenly dropped and Also Sprach Zarathustra came on over the speakers. Followed by a five second pause. Followed by In The Navy. You get the picture. Not your average dance music by far, and therefore, outstanding. As you can probably guess, it didn’t take long for the happy Swedes and Americans alike to get on the tables and start swinging things around.

We later learned that Cliff Barnes was a recurring member of the telly show Dallas. A perfect name for a perfect bar.

Norrtullsgatan 45, 11345 Stockholm.

The World’s Best Places to Live

by Willy Volk on

Finland was recently named the best place in the world to live, thanks largely to great air and water quality, low rates of infant diseases, and protection from water pollution and natural disasters. What else is great about Finland? Well, for starters, Finland …

Plus, it’s gorgeous.
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Iceland also made the list of the world’s best places to live. Despite it’s name, Iceland is not made entirely of ice. In fact, Iceland offers:

Iceland has all this, plus … it’s stunningly beautiful.
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Norway made the cut, too. Despite it’s reputation as being expensive, Norway has:

Don’t believe us? Check out this amazing gallery.
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Ahhhh … Sweden. There are so many reasons to love this nation:

Yup … it wouldn’t be hard to live here.
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Austria rounds out the list of the five most liveable countries. However, just because it came in at number five — and just because it has controversial urinals — don’t dismiss this nation. Austria is the proud home of:

Of course, the nation is lovely to look at, too.
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Don’t feel like living outside the U.S.? Be sure to check out Money’s list of the best places to live in America!

Short and Sweet Travel Advice for the World’s Top Tech Cities

by Neil Woodburn on

If you’re in the tech industry these days, your travel has become increasingly more widespread in the last five years as international competition has started challenging Silicon Valley as the sole place to do business.

With this in mind, Business 2.0 has published a handy little guide in this month’s issue: The Road Warrior’s Guide to Travel.

The guide, which is available online here, or as a pull-out in the print edition, breaks out the travel basics for the planet’s hottest tech cities: Bangalore, Barcelona, Helsinki, Hong Kong, London, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo.

Each city section addresses the same six questions; How to get around, where to find free Wi-Fi, where to get a trim, best place to get down to business, best place to celebrate closing the deal, and what you might not know.

Better get a print copy soon, however. I just learned that Business 2.0 (one of my favorite magazines) is going belly-up–perhaps yet another sign that the tech world is migrating out of America?