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Lund
Staying in the Swedish university town of Lund I had the feeling I was living the dream of many American small cities. The morning after I arrived I walked to the center of town to buy groceries and linens. A farmers market occupied one of the squares, which also included a medieval house, a striking modernist art gallery, some nineteenth century buildings, a permanent market hall and a large supermarket. A department store sold me some not very effective towels. There were several pedestrian shopping streets leading to another square with a small park, a grand hotel, and more shops across from a busy railroad station. On the side streets behind the university I found lovely historic houses in the warm September sun. Over the following weeks I walked around the town and explored a network of bicycle paths. I found one path that went straight into the countryside on an old railroad bed, amid gently rolling land. The surrounding landscape was by American standards a fertile and gentle Midwestern variety. Many people were biking or jogging; the path led to a small village.