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Greece and motorbikes

Last day for our visitors and we chose to go to Tarpon Spring. It’s a piece of Greece in Tampa where the streets have their names in both English and Greek, the stores are like the stores in any store on the Greek islands. We did a walk and looked at the sponge boats and […]

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Margaritas & alligators

As we needed to get out of the house and move around compensating for one day sitting in a car and one day of eating and drinking. We headed to Lettuce Lake Park and walked around. As it being spring break there were more people than usual and a lot of kids. But we saw […]

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Local beer

As we sat in a car all day there were no beer yesterday so today was a brew day. We started with Tampa Bay Brewing Company and had lunch there as well. Afterwords we continued to Trouble Waters Brewery in Safety Harbour.

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Leaving NOLA

Early morning as we decided late yesterday to drive straight home. Well it was not extremely early but early being a Sunday. Decided to cross the worlds longest bridge over water. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge is 38 km and is even mentioned in Guinness book of record. It’s a bridge and not much happens […]

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New Orleans

We took it slowly this morning and decided yesterday that we would meet at 9 am to go for breakfast. First place we went to had a line and we decided to continue. We walked down Chartres Street and found a small place. After breakfast we looked for the bar that is in NCIS New […]

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Alabama to Louisiana via Mississippi

When we woke up today we took a walk from the hotel to a place we were recommended for breakfast. Bob’s Downtown Restaurant had nice breakfast and was busy so I guess it is popular. We then left the hotel and Alabama and drove to New Orleans in Louisiana but went through a part of […]

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Mobile, Alabama

Yesterday our friends from Sweden arrived and this morning we headed to Mobile in Alabama. The men were in interested in visiting the USS Alabama. They went inside and me and J stayed outside and looked at the things they had on display there. Afterwards we went to our hotel in Mobile – Malaga Inn […]

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Strawberry festival

At their time of the year Plant City (about 50 min from us) holds a strawberry festival. Last year we didn’t go but did this year and it was their 88th time holding this festival. We went early and that was a good choice as the traffic and amount of people increased significantly during our […]

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Hard Rock Casino & Hotel

Our lunch outing today went to Hard Rock Café but we had to walk through the entire casino to get there. The complex looks big from the outside but it was humongous inside. And people… there were people of all ages but the majority was using a walker 😉 The food is good and the […]

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Oldsmar

Today we decided to go slightly north to Oldsmar for lunch. The only thing I knew up there is a gigantic flea market. We started by going to the water and the park R.E Oldsmar Park, it had a nice amphitheater, a big playground and a small pier but that was it. We walked around […]

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Pinellas county history

Today we went to a place I had read about. It’s called Heritage Village and is at place where they have saved old houses from around Pinellas County which is the county on the peninsula where Clearwater and St Petersburg are. The houses were from between 1850 and about 1930. By each house there was […]

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Safety Harbour

After we had been to Heritage Village we needed lunch and drove north east in Pinellas County to Safety Harbour. It’s a small “town” by the water and was established in 1917. A very nice Main Street with small stores and restaurants along it. We did some walking there, visited a brewing company and had […]

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Meet & greet

Peter had a work thing tonight that we were invited to. We were about 30 minutes north of us in a private house, sorry mansion that was incredible. The art just in the entrance must have been worth more than our apartment in Sweden 🤪 But we had a nice evening and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

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Nordic Coffee morning 2023

It’s a year ago since last time we had our Nordic coffee morning. Time really flies. I made sandwich cake (smörgåstårta) and cinnamon buns. But there was so many delicious things that needed to be eaten. Normally I have just a few bites and mostly savoury things at a coffee morning. But today I had […]

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Super Bowl LVII

Today it is Super Bowl and we are invited over to some friends to watch the game and have some food. Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles and none of them where teams I have been following. To be frank I haven’t followed any team but you hear about the local team, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, […]

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Boca Grande

Today we took a longer day trip and went south of Tampa to Boca Grande. It’s just north of Fort Meyers which was badly hit by hurrican Ian. Boca Grande had been hit as well but either they have recovered quickly or they were lucky. We saw damage but it didn’t seem to extensive. I […]

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Bruce Springsteen concert

Yesterday I was invited to go to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Band Street by our friends Rich & Pat. Rich is a big fan of Bruce Springsteen and as he grew up in New Jersey also saw him playing in clubs before he became the star he is today. When Rich bought the […]

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Imagine Museum

With only 6 more months in Tampa I need to get around to see everything I’ve marked “want to do”. So today I went with friends to visit Imagine Museum in St Pete. It opened in 2018 by a local glass artist who wanted to show glass art by contemporary artists. Parts of the museum […]

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Live comedy club

I’ve never been to a comedy club but do follow some comedians on IG. One of them had his tour dates on his IG and I saw Tampa on it. I went online to get tickets for Peter as a Christmas gift. Surprised by the prize as it’s not that more expensive than going to […]

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Coffee morning by Japan & Singapore

Today the Japanese and Singaporean ladies invited us for coffee morning. It started with a Kahoot with a mix of questions about both countries. It’s always nice doing those as you do learn a lot about the countries that you might not have known before. During the coffee morning we could also sign up for […]

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Apollo Beach & Sun City

Today’s outing was lunch in Sun City at Old Castle Restaurant, a German restaurant. We had Wiener Schnitzel and apfelstrudel. I’m sure you can get even better in Germany but we are in Florida and it was close enough. I had potato salad with my schnitzel and the potatoes were to mushy but that’s how […]

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Birthday celebration

Yesterday it was my birthday 25th anniversary of turning 29 🤪 Before Peter left for work he and Emelie sang to me. She over FaceTime and he IRL and then he left for work. During the day I talked with Felicia, my parents and friends before P got back home. I had got the instructions […]

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New Years Eve 2022

Today we had no plans except going to the Tampa Bay Lightning game. We were invited to one of the boxes by the Australian SNR. The seats were good as well as the appetisers. While being at the game one of neighbours asked if we wanted to join them for some drinks to celebrate the […]

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Last day & finally some sun

We decided to be outside as much as possible today as it was Emelie last full day in Tampa. We were going to Emerson Point Reserve and decided to go past Apollo Beach so we could also see some manatees outside the power station in Apollo beach. The manatees like to go there when it’s […]

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Shopping & Margaritas

As the weather was still a bit cold we did shopping today so we could be outside once the sun returned. We went to Westfield Brandon and Emelie found a few things. Going home we went to Lettuce Lake Park to see if we could spot some alligators. We saw one at least. We had […]

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Oaklawn Cemetery & St Pete

Emelie saw in our book 100 things to see in Tampa that there were an old cemetery in downtown Tampa that had some history to it. We decided to go and check it out. Oaklawn Cemetary opened in 1850 and was a place for “white and slave, rich and poor”. There are government figures, businessmen, […]

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Christmas Eve

Food, food and some more food was today’s activity. We started the day by having brunch at Datz. Their portions are huge and we couldn’t finish our food. Emelie and I shared two dishes – Waffles & Chicken Benedict and something called Cheezy Todd. The Cheesy Todd was a burger with “buns” made of fried […]

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Some of the murals in Tampa

We had a long lunch at Sparkman Wharf and enjoyed the sun as it’s going to be really cold this weekend. Afterwards we took a walk in the Channel District of Tampa. We also drove by Postcard of Tampa.

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Sunken Garden with Emelie

Emelie wanted to visit the Sunken Garden in St Pete. It’s a lovely place that has been around for a very long time. It started by a family loving plants and then it just grew into an attraction. The children of the first owner took over but when they wanted to retire it was to […]

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Emelie is here

Yesterday evening Emelie arrived in Tampa and we picked her up at the airport. Today she and I did go for lunch in St Pete at The Library. It’s not a library nor have it ever been but it’s decorated as a library. I’ve been told that the food might not be the best but […]

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4th Sunday of Advent

We decided to invite some of our neighbours for some advent’s “fika”. Two of them already had other plans but the other four could make it. I had baked “lussekatter” (saffron buns), a saffron sponge cake as well as ginger snaps and some chocolate. We had some Swedish ”glögg” (mulled wine) from last years special […]

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2022 Tampa Holiday Lighted Boat Parade

Tonight we went to see the Holiday lighted boat parade that takes place every year. It starts at the south tip of Harbour Island, passes Convention Center, turns up by Armature Works, goes back down to Convention Centre, south tip of Harbour Island and ends at Sparkman’s Warf. This year it started in time and […]

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The French Coffee morning

Today the French ladies invited us to their coffees morning. We had a quiz, cheese, charcuterie, champagne, quiche and a lot of pastries. A lovely morning as always.

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Lucia coming up

On Tuesday Lucia is celebrated in Sweden and on Thursday Peter has a big meeting. So yesterday and today we have been baking 120 Lucia buns. We had to start by getting everything we needed and then by dinner time we took a break and finished today instead. Now we are just being cozy and […]

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International Night in Florida

Thursday was the International Night at MacDill Air Force Base. It’s the first one in three years due to Covid. Last year the base closed again due to rise in people getting sick and it had to be cancelled. Last week I got 9 kg (20 lb) shrimps delivered and on Tuesday Peter’s assistant and […]

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Thanksgiving in Illionois

Today it was Thanksgiving and we celebrated with Colleen and Daryl and their extended family. The turkey was to go in the oven by 5 am and Jake and Nicole were in charge they were the only ones that needed to get out of bed that early. They did go back to bed once it […]

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Sibiria & Santa Claus

We left Louisville and headed west to do some more sightseeing along the way to Collinsville. We left a sunny and cold Louisville, Kentucky and crossed the Ohio River into Indiana. Siberia was just a fun thing that we saw on the map after we ran into Stockholm the other day. Slightly bigger than Stockholm […]

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Fort Knox & Louisville

We woke up to a lovely day and left Bardstown after breakfast. We were heading to Fort Knox but stopped at Boundary Oak distillery as we passed it. They had a lot of cool bottles and we tried some that tasted very little bourbon. The prices for doing a tour is not expensive but their […]

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Maker’s Mark

After breakfast we put in Marker’s Make in Loretto. While driving there we saw a sign for Mammoth Cave. Decided to make a detour going to Loretto. The roads were narrow through rural land and nice landscapes. We drove through Stockholm (about 10 houses). Finally we reached the park but still had a few miles […]

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Baby shower in Illinois

Yesterday we left a cool Florida with around 13C / 55F and flew to St Louis and was met by more winter temperatures 0C / 32F. It was cold!! It took forever to get our luggage and when we got to the rental car office they couldn’t find our car and we had to find […]

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Beach & OCC Roadhouse

We spent a couple of hours at the beach today. It was warm but with the wind it didn’t make you sweat. The Mexican Gulf was cold – a lot colder than 2 weeks ago. Dinner did we have at OCC Roadhouse & Museum in St Pete/Clearwater.

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Tampa

We went to Ybor by streetcar and walked along E 7th Ave. a lot of places hadn’t opened yet and it was really slow. Then we took the streetcar back to downtown, got the car and went to Tampa Postcard Mural for a selfie. We had lunch at Armature Works and walked a bit on […]

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Lettuce Lake Park & Outlet

We went to Lettuce Lake park to see some alligators. The water was quite low and the sun hid behind the clouds so not much activity. We started by seeing an alligator in the lake but nothing else. We continued walking and then saw two more laying on land. The slowest ever there.

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Salvador Dalí & Sunken Garden

I haven’t been to the Salvador Dalí museum or the Sunken Garden yet. So with visitors it was time. We started the day by going to the Dalí museum and even if it’s not a big exhibition it’s still a lot to see. After that we had lunch at a Red Mesa Mercado a Mexican […]

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Halloween

Today it’s Halloween and we took a walk after dinner in our neighbourhood to see all the decorations. A lot of kids out Trick or Treating with their parents. There was even a place that had adult treats such as beer, hard seltzer and wine 😊 There are no children coming to our street as […]

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St Augustine

It was colder in Savannah then we anticipated and today it was even supposed to rain. We decided to head south and leave Georgia and hopefully find some sun. When we drove into St Augustine the sun came out and we had 27 C again. We started our visit by going to the distillery and […]

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Savannah

Early this morning we headed to Savannah in Georgia. It’s about 6 hours drive and by lunch we arrived. We started with a stop at Wormsloe historic site which is where Noble Jones settled in 1733 after arriving with the ship Anne. Next to it there is the old Wormsloe plantation but it’s a private […]

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Camilla & Pål in Tampa

Yesterday Camilla & Pål arrived in Tampa. For Pål it’s first time in US and it’s first time in Florida. Today we had to run some errands in the morning before we could enjoy the pool. We walked to Ballast Point pier to get some lunch and see the neighbourhood. By the time we got […]

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Davis Island & Salt Shack

Last full day in Tampa and the girls wanted to do the beach and then drinks and dinner in the evening. We didn’t want to drive long but wanted to try a new beach. We went to Davis Island but the water wasn’t nice but sitting on the beach worked fine. Now we have tried […]

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Homosassa

The girls have seen a lot of native animals of Florida, alligators, dolphins, raccoons, turtles and a lot of birds, as well as manatees but from a distance. But today we went to Homosassa to see them up close. When we arrived we parked at the main road and took the boat down to the […]

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Canadian Coffee morning

Today the Canadians had their coffee morning and it was really nice. They started by presenting Canada and gave a bit of facts that I must have learnt in school but nolonger remembered. After that we were put together in groups and they had a quiz about Canada. My group won and we got a […]

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Ybor & Brandon

Today we went to Ybor for the girls to see it at daylight. They went here on a Saturday to see the nightlife in Tampa and enjoyed it. But it was a bit different during the day as there as way less people and not all places are open as well as some stores are […]

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Everglades

Leaving Miami we headed towards Tamiami Trail and then took a left into Loop Road. In the beginning it was slow but then the alligators started to show. After the Loop Road we went to Wooten’s Everglades Airboat Tours to see if we could go with one of their tours. They had one leaving 20 […]

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Key West & Islomorada

As we were staying at a hotel in Miami we had breakfast fairly early and then headed towards Key West. As it was a federal holiday we choose to stay in Miami as the prices in Key West are always high but get even higher at times like this. It’s a 2,5 hour drive but […]

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Miami

We were supposed to go to Miami last weekend but as we needed to go back home after the evacuation we postponed it for this weekend instead. We left early Saturday morning to be able to see as much as possible. We drove over the small ”town” Yeeahaw former know as Jackass. We just wanted […]

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OCC in St Pete/Clearwater

Tonight we went for dinner at OCC (Orange County Chopper) Roadhouse where they have nice food, live music and motorbikes. The food was nice and we even tried one of their live action cocktails as well as beer. We moved closer to the scene after dinner and listened a bit to the band Symmetry.

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Lettuce Lake Park

As we couldn’t go to Circle B Bar, which is our to go to when you want to see alligators, due to heavy flooding we went to Lettuce Lake park which is also great to see some alligators. We could walk most of the trail, just a small part that was flooded, and saw both […]

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Shooting range & movie

Peter took the girls to the shooting range and they could try to shoot different weapons. They tried a Glock, a 357 Magnum and a Scar assault riffle. In the evening we went to see a movie at Ciné Bistro in Hyde Park. We saw Amsterdam which was a bit weird but funny at the […]

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Green Lemon & Picnic Island

Since Felicia was here last time she has been wanting to go back to Green Lemon for their tacos which she finds to be the best in Tampa. She also wanted to introduce Cajsa to Margarona – the bastard sibling to Margarita. As it’s a very popular place we went there early to get a […]

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St Pete and St Pete beach

I wanted to show the girls St Pete and they wanted to go to the beach. We started by going to downtown St Pete and walk the on the pier. Before leaving the pier we had some lunch there and it was a very nice pizza. We then continued to St Pete beach were we […]