Trip to Sweden

I was a bit busy these days hence I could not blog for some time.

I visited our Sweden offices to participate in few knowledge transfer sessions and one meeting. This was my second time in Sweden and this time I felt more comfortable than the previous visit in 2004.

According to my travel schedule, I had to go to the Stockhom city by flight and then by train to Linkoping. Unfortunately due to the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) strike, I had to change my connecting flight during the last moment. My flight destination was changed to Goteborg with a different carrier, 'Air France'. It was late night when I arrived Goteborg so I stayed at the Hotel Landvetter. Next day morning, Jens came and picked me up from the hotel and we travelled together to Linkoping in his car. It had been a nice journey where the average speed of the car was above 100 km/h. After the knowledge transfer sessions, I took over the responsibility of 3 systems from a person in Sweden. These software systems will be developed further under my supervision in Sri Lanka.

Paris Airport

While I was in Linkoping, I was able to try several dishes for my lunch including the typical swedish menu with dear meat, potatoes and cucumber salad. I should thank Henrik and Mats for taking me to different restaurants everyday. Once we went for a dinner to the 'Texas Longhorn steakhouse' and I ordered the medium cooked meat for me and others ordered medium rare. Initially I was a bit scared to have a dish with the blood and pink meat. But, it tasted good.

Linkoping

Then I had to go to Goteborg to participate in a meeting with the Area Manager (Jens) and our Development Manager (Graziela). I had to go by train and the X2000 journey was a bit disturbing. I got travel sick. On the same day I went for the Birthday celebrations of Graziela and Eva as I was invited by Graziela. This was really a wonderful event where I could meet a lot of different people in Sweden. There were few who left IFS and working for some other companies. We talked a lot; about software companies, Opera software (one Project Manager from Opera was there), visiting Sri Lanka, current situation in Sri Lanka etc.

Goteborg

The next day I travelled to Stockholm and stayed there for a day before my departure. It was really a nice place with more people on the road and many sites to see. I enjoyed that day walking along the streets of Stockholm. I had to return to the hotel early as I had to travel back the next day morning.

Stockholm

Frakfurt Airport

On my return, I travelled through Frankfurt airport and reached Colombo on 4th morning. I was thinking whether my little one would identify me as this was first time I was away from her for a week. She was a bit scared initially but later she realised that its her father.

I have shared some of the photoes which I took during the trip.