Empty fortress on Aspö island

Fortress on Aspö island

Church on Ven island

Bicycles on Ven island

Kalmar castle

My brother’s new cafeteria

A good friend and not a NY fan

Another good friend

Red hands

Red bicycle

UFO in Landskrona city

Another UFO

Öland bridge connecting Sweden to Öland island

Ven Island in the Nordic Sea

Field on Ven island in front of the Tycho Brahe museum

My new boat

My new postman

My new t-shirt

My new ride

My new bodyguard

My new friends, not just reminds me of a similar picture with my Dad from mid ’70s

1954 Ockelbo car, based on Volvo P1900 parts.

Aston Martin DB2-4 Mark

Mercedes SL

De Tomaso Panthera GR4

Mercedes 600 Pullman

More pictures are available here.

One of the most important natural ports in the archipelago with easy access to the Swedish capital, Sandhamn has been popular for pleasure boating since the late 19th century. It is known for its tavern, its clubhouse, and, not the least, its harbour.

While the settlement only has a hundred permanent inhabitants, the number of residents increases to 2-3,000 during the summer. Sandhamn receives an additional 100,000 visitors annually.

May 2009

May 2010

Officially the ugliest tuning co. on the market

brat2

Source: AnaPopenco

I know it is disappointing, but for sure 2010 will be a more optimistic and tremendous year ( I think I heard the same thing about 2009 )

Nevertheless I hope my personal performance bonus will be enough to cover the expenses for the below semlarwhich I just bought and served my colleagues today :

via Chonsa

…and it ended up like this…

…instead of this…

Some details:
- It is a replica build in Poland during 2 years of daily hard work
- It’s all custom, it was used to be a Mercedes 500 SEC from 1988, the car is not aluminum, but some parts are.
- The proportions are the same to the centimeter of the original. The owner was at the showing of the car and measured everything. It only looks smaller on some of the pictures.
- The lights in the original are white also, they turn red when the handbrake is applied. The car is metal with a reinforced floor. During testing someone mentioned that it’s better and stiffer than an original benz.
- The door handles are from a Barchetta and the engine cover form a S400 CDI
- The windows were also custom made, it was hard to make the back and side windows
- They have spent 75.000 euro into this car.

Surprise:

Source: Blabla

The only problem at the Polish customs was that they couldn’t scan my front registration plate:

I suggested them to bring a hair dryer or to use their brains and have a look at the back registration plate – which is usually in Moldova similar to the front one.

It was already 2 AM after passing the Ukrainian-Polish border and I was driving for more than 20 hours with no breaks. Red Bull is perhaps a good energy drink, but the Recaro seats from the Mergedes are definitely not a comfortable bed, so I have decided to spend the night at the closest hotel on my way to Lublin (Poland) – which was a nice hotel at a Shell petrol station – 15 EUR per night including breakfast – what can you expect more after the Ukrainian comedy;)

3. Stage three: Poland-Latvia

I am looking for a famous word, used by Jeremy Clarkson and which would best describe the road from Poland to Latvia…hmm.. astonishing - no way :)… boring – oh yeahh:) !

I was pleasant surprised by very smooth roads in Poland (of course in comparison with the Ukrainian roads), it looks that some of the EU (real EU) funds reached the final destination and passed through the Czech and Polish tunnels (google is full of definitions for the Czech expression of “tunneling”).

Why boring ? because the road maintaining services (whatever you call them po polski) were so fast in cleaning the road and respectively pouring the salt on the road, that I couldn’t even check the dancing skills of the Mercedes in the curves.

Nevertheless driving on icy roads in Poland and seeing so many accidents was quite stressful. Maximum speed around 70 km/h, accident after accident – really difficult to drive.

The first impression about Lithuania is ….empty :). With the Eastern EU enlargement of course the customs between Poland and Lithuania was removed, but when you enter Lithuania you have those empty customs buildings and almost ruined over the past years, which creates the impression that you have arrived in Chernobyl.
Speaking of nuclear power plants, Lithuania agreed to close its only nuclear plant as part of its accession agreement to the European Union. The nuclear plant accounted for 25% of Lithuania’s electricity generating capacity and supplied about 70% of Lithuania’s electrical demand it was closed on 31 December 2009. Now guess what happened?! You don’t need to have two Master’s degrees to figure out which country will have to pay a higher price for electricity. For this reason I support Moldova’s full independence and no rush for EU integration. Go Moldova, become a second Switzerland in Europe ;).

Weather conditions in Lithuania were slightly better, which allowed to increase the speed and reach Riga in a very short period of time.
Riga is as usually is a lovely place to be. I will not refer to too many details, since I have already dedicated several articles to this Swedish metropolis, ohh sorry, Latvian capital city on my blog;).

4. Stage four: Riga – Stockholm

13th of January, 17:30 sharp
Riga – Stockholm
Route operated by Tallink
Ferry name: Romantika

Parking and leaving the car on the deck was not an option for me, but it was the only choice – they don’t allow passengers to take their cars in their cabins ;). I was little bit anxious, since it is a route in the Baltic Sea and I thought the cars may scratch each other during the trip. However the people working on the deck took care of everything – putting some bubble gums in front of each tyre and make sure that the cars don’t make a single move. I was feeling even more comfortable when I saw in front of my car a Mercedes E420 and on the left side a Mercedes CLS 55 AMG :). The only problem was the Golf Mark III from the right side – but I am not racist, so I left it as it is ;).

Taking a ferry over the Baltic Sea to Sweden I would strongly recommend. Especially I would recommend the ferry Romantika, which is the newest ferry on this route. The tickets are not very expensive, considering the distance, money you save on petrol and in which comfort you are traveling: 50 EUR for the car place and 30 EUR for a bed in a 2 place cabin.

The problem is that the tickets for the cars are completely oversold, so it is difficult to find a spare place for the car during a short period of time.

The ferry reached Stockholm just in time – 9:30, sometimes you are really impressed by this Swiss exactness, oh sorry Swedish :).

The only last complication was when the Swedish customs stopped me for a short admiring of the car:
“Wau, first Moldovan car in Sweden”

Officer:
Did you drink on the ferry, Sir ?

Ion:
I wish, No, Sir

Officer:
Please breathe in the pipe.

Ion:
But, I said No (sometimes Swedes are not so naive as you expect

Officer:
Welcome and have a nice vacation in Sweden!

Ion:
I wish again Sir, since my vacation ended 1 day before coming back to Stockholm

Happy End!

Route: Moldova > EU (to be read in the whole post as Eroded Ukraine) > Pooland > Lithiumania > Latvia > Baltic sea > Swengland.

3 means of transportation :
1. Car (if you can call a Mergedes E220 a car).
2. Homo sapient (Ion during navigation problems in Lvov (EU) and the customs between EU and Pooland)
3. Romantika ferry between Riga and Stockholm.

3 types of fuel:
1. ‘95-’98 year petrol for the Mergedes.
2. 3 Red bulls for the Homo sapient.
3. 40% Alchohol preferably for all the cruisers on Romantika ferry.

Leaving all the jokes on a side I would never recommend this route to anybody, especially during the winter and more dangerously driving alone. But when you were born in the United Kingdom of Moldova, where the only flights organized by the local rural state-owned international transglobal air company is to Pyongyang and Havana, then of course the only way going to Sweden is by car (bicycle was not an option).

First difficult decision – shall a take a viking ship or a Swiss knife:

However considering unnecessary ice-skating capabilities of the XC90 I opted for the Swiss knife:

1. Stage one: Moldova – Ukraine

Besides all the criticism, the roads in Moldova were in really good conditions and if you are not satisfied with their quality have a look at your lovely neighbour. I mean driving in the Western Ukraine it is a suicide for your car. You cannot even call it “driving” – it is just a game of picking and selecting the small wholes out of the big ones.

Traffic signs are missing, or I believe somebody stolen them and build him/herself a fence at home.

Entering EU (sort of) [EU=Eroded Ukraine]:

Average speed in EU (not the real EU) [ignore the hidden advertisement of Lukoil]:

Building a new highway according to the EU standards:

Ukrainian understanding of cleaning the roads during the winter:

Besides all the bad road conditions, it is a country of nice sights…

…and hospitable people: like the ones which helped with the navigation in Lvov (my igo 8 has a map of Lvov from 18th century) or like the ones in the stage two:

2. Stage two: Ukraine-Poland

I was approaching the border between Ukraine and Poland, more exactly the Rava-Ruska customs – one of the busiest customs in Europe – make sure you avoid this customs or you risk to stay in the queue for 2-3 days unless you have some shiny papers or a comprehensive reason! The colour of your passport or the number of stars on the front cover will not provide you any priority!

Stepped out the car and tried to exchange a word in Russian-Ukrainian-Czech-Polish with the poor people which were staying in the cars in front of me. I guess poor was not the appropriate word for this case. I mean how can you stay so calm and live with the idea, that it is normal to stay in the queue for 2-3 days?! And this doesn’t have any connection with the fact that Ukraine will have elections on Sunday or with the fact that Ukrainian custom authorities want to retain some foreigners in the country in order to increase the diversity and number of different nationalities in the country.

Tried to fall asleep for 30 minutes in the car and hoping that the queue of several km will be a queue of several meters. Was too cold to fall asleep so I have decided to go for a short walk to the nearest custom officer. Put my glasses on and prepared a comprehensive speech in order to pass the customs asap.

Ion:
Dear Colleague, I am studying duty law in Sweden and if you let me to pass the customs without waiting in the queue I can manage to catch the ferry from Riga to Stockholm on 13th of January, be in time on the exam which I have on 14th of January and by passing the exam I will finish successfully the university and I will serve with honour the customs authorities in Sweden like you.

Custom officer:
oh really ?! yes, no problems. Let’s go to your car and let’s try driving the opposite lane of the highway

Driving on the opposite way is the only solution to avoid the queue, however is a little bit dangerous, because those who passed the Polish-Ukrainian customs are driving very fast towards you. OK, I turned on the beam of the car and trying to scary out all the others on the highway with the fact that a nerd from Moldova is a kamikaze. I have no words how to describe what I was seeing on the right side – an immense queue, it was so *********** long, that it took me at least several minutes to drive at the speed of 100km/h the entire queue.
With the help of the Ukrainian custom officer I have passed the entire Ukrainian bureaucracy very quickly. I was even a little bit embarrassed for passing so fast and that everybody was treating me like a diplomat. I still have voice of the office in my head: “Please allow this student to pass asap, he is in a hurry to catch the ferry” :).

Polish check was somewhere more demanding and I had to respect the queue of some 50 cars and 2 hours of waiting – Welcome to EU (real EU):

Continue to part II.

This post is dedicated to the Facebook groups Every time I go to IKEA I steal the little wooden pencils! and Vrem IKEA la Durlesti

The article is written after my first purchase at IKEA Stockholm, Kugens Kurva (biggest IKEA store in the world, kind of…they haven’t seen yet the Stejaurul factory outlet in Chişinău ).

IKEA is seen by many as the happiest place on Earth. I have even applied for a happy job in Älmhult (living room of Mr. Ingvar Kamprad). After being recruited as a supply planner and seeing my happy salary I have decided to leave immediately – I guess I am not mature enough to understand that happiness is not only about salary

IKEA is said to have been derived from I-Kill-Y(e)A due to the furniture’s ability to cause heart arrest in people who like popcorn. IKEA makes and sell flat-pack furniture but due to restrictions in the law in many nations are unable to deliver. Many people get around this by driving Volvo station wagons to IKEA and filling them to the brim with gaudy plastic tat made by Lars Larsson and Per Persson and as well Fredrick Fredricksson.

Three geeks getting excited over an IKEA catalog

Nevertheless what better way to spend Saturdays then by carrying a wardrobe through a car park or enjoying a meal of meatballs. IKEA is also a great place to spot the elusive argumentative couple, who can usually be found arguing over lamp shades and the right to bear arms. It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the reason for 50% of modern marriages ending in divorce is because those people try to go to IKEA together for a relaxing afternoon.

IKEA self-assembly furniture is made of balsa wood and comes with a small metal key. Instructions are usually of the standard “insert flange A into sprocket ZB-5001C” type. Unfortunately, the instructions are written in Japanese (not English or Swedish, contrary to popular belief), translated to Bulgarian, THEN Swedish, then German, Portuguese and finally Esperanto before being translated into English eaten by a grue. Fun stuff :).

Many Swedes have been banned from IKEA and taken to court for not returning the pencils that are given at the start to help fill in order forms. This created a new sport, which has not been officially named yet, where the participants run into IKEA and attempt to escape without either being caught or purchasing the popular KRAPP piece of furniture.

All of the items featured in IKEA are made with product specifications such as: they are 5 cm too big to fit into a car boot, they are missing at least one vital construction piece, the person who wrote the instructions thought it would be funny to include pictures of other instruction manuals.

IKEA was founded by the Swede Ingvar Kamprad, despite the chronic lack of style in design so typical of the Swedes. The only thing that mattered was supply chain management, namely persuading people to buy stuff directly from a warehouse.

Some tips about your shopping at IKEA:

# Having decided on which of the billions of items sold by IKEA it is that you wish to buy, you will need to visit your local store, which is probably at least 80 Swedish miles away -~800KM.

# Take a pair of binoculars with you, because your item will be on the top shelf of a 70 meters high metal rack.

# Once you have located it, spend another hour attempting to locate a member of staff. They will tell you that, very shortly, a man will come with a ladder and get it down for you. The man will never come :).

Some importants facts about IKEA:

# The royal residence of the Swedish king has only furniture from IKEA.

# Where else can you get meals for 15 SEK in Sweden (25 MLD)? At least at IKEA Korvkiosk.

# IKEA names the furniture after the child labourer who designed and constructed it.

# Apple is suing IKEA over the Apple iKea

Now I guess you are curious, what item I bought from IKEA :

p.s. I have some official videos from IKEA: