Malmo

Well, Sweden gets an A, even with the lack of English speakers. In fact, after my brief need to talk to other humans yesterday, I'm back to being glad I can so easily tune out everyone around me.

If Goteborg is Sweden's Seaside Heights, New Jersey, then Malmo is its Vancouver, Washington. This is a reluctant suburb of Copenhagen, mainly drawing tourists because it's half the price of its neighbor across the water.

However, that's where the similiarities end. Malmo has a sort of untouched, old-world charm. Sure, it has more than its share of modern businesses and chain restaurants, but even the Radisson and the Burger King live in old brick buildings of times gone by.

It's a small town, so small that I can walk in any direction and still find myself back where I started. Should I get lost, I can simply follow the canal and I'll soon have made a circle of the city. I think we need more canals in American cities; let's start digging, shall we?

For now, I'm just taking a break from the hot afternoon sun in my air-conditioned hotel room, which looks out at a 12th century church. Could anything be better? Tonight I'll be savoring my last taste of small-town Sweden, then tomorrow I'm off to Copenhagen.