On the Bus to New York. Again.

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Åsa Giertz under My Travels

I’m on the bus to New York again. It’s like an addiction! I don’t seem to get enough of this wonderful city, no matter how many times I come here. Unfortunately, my two close New Yorker friends that I new from Rome left over the past year, but I still have one friend here. Lucky me! Or even more lucky him who gets to live here! We’re heading down into the Lincoln Tunnel now (between New Jersey and Manhattan) so am about to get cut off. I’ll try to get around to post more while here. But first, a fun night in Williamsburg!

A Snowy Philadelphia

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Åsa Giertz under My Travels

I stayed an extra day in Philadelphia after the Feeding Cities Conference last week. I had never been to Philadelphia before and for a history nerd like myself, it was really exciting to just walk around and see all the places that put a mark in American History. (For you who are not familiar with American history, the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution were signed in Philadelphia, and the city functioned as the U.S. capital for a few years after independence, before Washington DC was ready to hold the government administrations.) Or it was exciting until it started to snow. After having walked around for over 4 hours in freezing cold, I gave up and jumped on a sightseeing bus. Ironically (given the conference I had just attended), it was wrapped in a Tropicana Juice ad and only allowed limited sight through the window, but at least I got a guided tour. Not sure who comes up with the idea of covering the windows of a sightseeing bus, though….

Selected sites in a very grey and cold Philadelphia: Independence Hall, the First National Bank, the Customs Bourse, the Irish Monument, Philadelphia’s harbor area, and the Signer. When I saw the man on the bench, I couldn’t help wondering if this was the America that the Founding Fathers had in mind when they dreamed of their new country.

Getting Ready for Sightseeing

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Åsa Giertz under My Travels, On Agriculture and Food

I’m at a cafe on Walnut Street waiting for my breakfast. Like I wrote in my last post, I picked up a guidebook yesterday and now I’ve circled everything that I want to see over the next five hours. I guess one good thing with traveling as much for work as I do is that you get good at getting an impression of a place and taking in the atmosphere in a very short amount of time. It obveously doesn’t mean that you get to know a place, but you become pretty good at efficient tourism.

What I didn’t have time o do was to look for a good local cafe. The furst places that I passed by reaked of high-processed sugar intense food, so i ended up at Le Pain Q. A little borning but I’ll see Philly soon enough.

In Philadelphia

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Åsa Giertz under My Travels, On Agriculture and Food

I’m in Philadelphia since yesterday morning, attending the conference Feeding Cities: Food Security in a Rapidly Urbanizing World at the University of Pennsylvania. The conference just ended but it’s been two amazingly interesting days and my head is filled with impressions from the over 50 speakers that I’ve listened to. I have also met incredibly interesting people from academia, international organizations, and the local farming community. The focus has been glocal. Or not expressively so, but while most of the initiatives and thinking around urban food systems have been locally driven, the global food markets have been part of the discussion. And the examples have come from all over the world, with everyone learning from each other. It has been truly inspiring and as always after attending these kinds of events, I’m full if energy and ideas.

Since this is my first visit to Philadelphia, I’m staying an extra night and am dedicating tomorrow to sightseeing.

Dreaming of Summer

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Åsa Giertz under My life, My Travels

I’m dreaming of the summer! Always, as you know. When I was younger, on sunny winter days in cold, cold Sweden, I used to stay a little longer in bed in the mornings, feeling the sunlight shining in through my window, and for a few minutes pretend that it was actually summer. That I would get up, put on a dress, and then walk out into a sunny summer day. At some point I told this to my neighbor in my dorm and a few months later, he told me that he had started doing the same but that he just got depressed when he finally had to get up and face the fact that it was still winter. (It can be added that he grew up in Africa and is possibly the one person that I know that detest cold weather more than I do.) Fortunately, it is almost like spring right now here in DC, but I still long for the summer. And for the ocean! It’s not so easy for a maritime person like me to be so far away from the sea. Am thinking a week or two in the Dominican Republic – what do you think?

From Zanzibar a few years ago.

Leaving New York

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Åsa Giertz under My life, My Travels

For this time anyway. I am on my way back to DC now, on a Washington Delux bus as alway (I can really recommend them!) My New York stay was way too short this time. It was very cold and there always seems to be more logistics involved in the winter, so it seemed like the days went very fast. My stay ended however with a very nice reunion with four of my friends from high-school. I hadn’t seen them for over three years and it was so nice catching up. We had lunch in the Central Park Boathouse, which was lovely on a cold but clear winter day like this.

For me, I think the winter holiday is over now and it’s time to go back to work and other projects. Luckily, I’m filled up with that New York energy and ready for 2013!

From A Freezing New York

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Åsa Giertz under My life, My Travels

Today wasn’t as inspiring as I had hoped, as I spent the entire day writing a job application. Since Jenny’s internet was down, I went to the Midtown Library to work on it, and even though it is one of my favorite places to sit and write in New York, it was a little depressing that the sun was already setting when I exited on East 40th Street at 4:30 pm. The day ended on a good note, though, as I had a coffee at Think Coffee with a friend, and then dinner with a Nordic group at Freeman’s. I can really recommend both places for more health and environmentally conscious eaters. (Freeman’s when it comes to sustainability – didn’t see anything posted at Think Coffee.) Here is a pic of Grand Central Station at dusk:

My Last Days in Montenegro

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Åsa Giertz under My Travels

My last days in Montenegro were intense but nice. We worked a lot but I work with a great team there, and we also had time for coffee breaks and dinner. Montenegro has with its long crop season and proximity to the ocean wonderful, locally produced food. My personal favorite is their seafood risotto – I ended up having it for dinner three times this trip! But any seafood, prosciutto, local cheeses, and local wine can be recommended. Next time I go to Montenegro will be late in the spring or early summer, and I already look forward to it!

Long work days

Coffee break with my Montenegrin colleagues, who agreed to be in a picture here.

My favorite seafood risotto at Restaurant Dali

Pics from Podgorica

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Åsa Giertz under My Travels

My schedule is quite hectic and there is unfortunately not much time for tourism this time in Montenegro. A few of my colleagues got to go to the coast today to visit a couple of sites but I spent the day in front of the computer. The sun came out today, though, so I took a few rain-free pics on my way to the office.

Top: The Moraca River the Millenium Bridge, and then a statue in front of a local art gallery. I have to add that the coffee is great here (as all across the Western Balkans). Café style even in our office!

A Very Creative Menu

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Åsa Giertz under My Travels, On Agriculture and Food

I don’t write as much as I should about the variety of food that I come across when I’m out traveling. I will try to better! (Food culture is after all one of my main interests!) In the meantime, I came across this very creative children’s menu at one of our regular dinner places (Restaurant Dali) here in Podgorica. It has dishes like “I’m not hungry”, “I don’t want anything”, “I don’t like”, “I can’t”, and “I ate”. Seems like Montenegrin kids can be as picky about food as kids in Sweden and the U.S.!

Food and the World

by Åsa Giertz

Category Archives: My Travels