Thomas Stig Wikman – Page 2

One Week in Paris

One week in Paris and the world’s your oyster.

I’ve been missing in action for a bit more than a week because of a family trip to Paris, France. We visited my wife’s eldest sister and her family, and we celebrated our nephew’s 40^th birthday, my wife’s sister’s husband’s birthday, and we got too meet our nephew’s and his wife’s 16-month-old daughter for the first time. We also spent time with an ex-pat friend of my wife and our niece and a friend of hers. She lives in Berlin, but she came to Paris to see us. Naturally we also visited several tourist attractions including several museums, Notre Dame, Montmartre, Sacré Coeur, the Eiffel Tower, and we took a river cruise with dinner and a few of Paris’ 44,000 restaurants. We also went to an opera.

Four people standing in front of a mirror in Palais Opéra Garnier. My daughter is taking a photo with her iPhone. — From left to right, my wife’s sister, my wife, me (in the back), and my daughter. This photo was taken in an opera house called Palais Opéra Garnier. I should mention that this was not opera where we saw a performance.

Paris is a fascinating city with so much to offer and so much life. Paris proper/inner-city is 40+ square miles featuring large several hundred years old beautiful buildings, gorgeous esplanades and narrow streets, thousands of restaurants, cafés, bakeries, pastry shops, small stores, thousands of statues, and hundreds of museums, monuments, tourist attractions and parks. Paris is the city in the world with the most restaurants, and the food is great. Italy has been voted to have the best food in the world. I must disagree; it is France. There is culture everywhere and the streets are filled with people long after midnight, and the restaurants are open long after midnight. Paris never sleeps.

The city of Paris (Paris proper) only has 2 million people, but you must add the millions of people working there but living in the suburbs. Paris metropolitan has 13 million people, and the region of Paris called Île-de-France has 12 million people. The city I live in, Dallas, Texas, also has 2 million people (8 million people in the metro) but it has almost nothing to offer in comparison. Dallas has some tourist attractions and offers some culture, it is not bad at all, but Paris has about a hundred times more of that. In Dallas almost all restaurants close before 10PM, which is when Paris really wakes up. That is not to put down Dallas, but to point out that Paris is indeed one of the greatest cities in the world to visit.

Paris cityscape centered around Île de la Cité in the Seine River. — Aerial view of the Seine River in Paris. The island Île de la Cité is in the center of the picture and Notre Dame can be seen in the back.

I’ve been to Paris several times before, in 1986 after my Swedish army service, then in 2003 and in 2018. This time was different because I could converse in French with waiters and taxi drivers, read signs and instructions, and newspapers. However, unlike in 1986 and 2003 a lot of French now speak English, at least the younger generation, and they want to speak English. In 1986 even the French who knew how to speak English were kind of offended when you could not speak French. Now they want to practice speaking English, and I want to practice speaking French. The problem I had in 1986 has been reversed. I was so happy when I started talking to a taxi driver in English and he said “Je suis désolé, je ne parle pas anglais. Anglais non. Anglais non.”

I heard a lot of different languages spoken, in addition to French, English, German, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish, Swedish, Danish and many other languages, and it was all welcome. When I visited Italy in 1986 someone angrily shouted at us that this is Italy and we speak Italian, not English. In 1986 the same thing almost happened in Paris, but I don’t think that is likely to happen in Paris now. The current US government is not popular for understandable reasons. However, there were signs reminding people that the US government is different from US visitors, and I felt that people treated us in a friendly manner.

Anyway, below is an overview of what we did this time with the focus on my photos. In the past we’ve visited Moulin Rouge, Versailles and Le Louvre, which is the world’s largest museum. I highly recommend those attractions but since we have seen them a few times already we did not visit them on this trip.

The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel tower is one of the main attractions in Paris. We’ve visited the Eiffel tower before. We’ve eaten at the restaurant on the first floor, and we’ve visited the second floor (halfway up), but I’ve been to the third floor (the top) only once before, in 1986. Unfortunately, it has become difficult to visit the Eiffel Tower top. You must buy the tickets beforehand in good time. My wife’s sister was able to get us all tickets from Paris City Vision (guided tours).

Establishing Aerial view of Paris Cityscape with Eiffel Tower and Seine River on sunrise, France. Landmark Monument as Famous Touristic Destination. Romantic Travel and Urban Skyline Panorama. — Aerial view of Paris featuring the Eiffel Tower and the Seine River. Stock photo (not my photos). Asset id: 2281050257 by Open Films.

The view features a huge green garden and beautiful buildings. Champ de Mars is located next to the Eiffel Tower. — Scenery from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. The garden you see is called Champ de Mars and there’s a dog park.

The skyscrapers in the distance are part of La Défense de Paris. The sun is setting, making it a beautiful photo. — This is another view from the third floor (the top) of the Eiffel Tower. In the distance (zoomed in) you can see some skyscrapers. That is NOT “downtown” Paris. It is La Défense de Paris, a business area in a suburb of Paris and it is not considered a tourist attraction. However, the first time I visited Paris in 1986 we visited La Défense de Paris because being from the north Swedish countryside we had never seen a skyscraper before.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame is a very large cathedral located on the island Île de la Cité. The construction of it began in 1163 and it was completed in 1260, 865 years ago. It was severely damaged by a fire in 2019. We’ve visited Notre Dame many times before, but this was the first time we visited Notre Dame since the fire. It looked the same except the big, beautiful pipe organs were missing, and Notre Dame was still being renovated on the outside. We bought tickets beforehand, but you can buy tickets there, but the line is long.

The left side of the inside of the Notre Dame cathedral. There are seats, chandeliers and a very tall ceiling. — Inside the Notre Dame cathedral, on the left side.

Inside the Notre Dame cathedral, across, with a large circular window in view. — Inside the Notre Dame cathedral, the perpendicular view.

River Cruise on the Seine

We also took a dinner cruise on the Seine. The boat / cruise was called La Seine Ducasse. I started right across from the Eiffel Tower and went a few miles up, passing by the island Île de la Cité and Notre Dame and then turning around. The cruise was a couple of hours long and the sun set during the cruise. The food was amazing (see the menu below). Unfortunately, the beer options weren’t that great, so I had wine.

The photo shows the River Seine. There is a bridge across the river. — A photo of the river Seine.

The menu featured a lot of items written in both English and French. — The menu at La Seine Ducasse. I had Marinated raw gilt-head bream, Kristal caviar, and delicate gelée. I also had Warm Guinea fowl and foie gras paté and curled endive. After that I had Roasted Culoiseau chicken, girolles and confit lemon, cooking jus. For dessert I had Strawberries in their natural way, purple shiso and marble sorbet.

Four silver plates on a table with a white cloth situated in a dining room on a boat. — Our table as when we arrived.

Photo of the Eiffel Tower at night. It is lit up by 20,000 LED lights. — The Eiffel Tower as seen from the cruise boat at night.

Opera Rigoletto

One evening we went to see an Opera at Opera National de Paris located nearby the Bastille. The opera was Rigoletto by Cristiano Grimaldi. It was sung in Italian but above the scene there were subtitles in French and English.

Photo of the scene at Opera at Opera National, Paris, France. There are a few people in the isles and in the seats. — You were not allowed to take pictures, but I snapped this quick photo before of the scene, before the performance started.

Hallway at Opera at Opera National, Paris, France. There are a few people standing in front of the counters. — Hallway outside the theater where you bought snacks and drinks.

This is two minute and 50 second video of La Donna È Mobile sung by Luciano Pavarotti. La Donna È Mobile is a song in Rigoletto. You may recognize it. I should add, it was not Pavarotti who sang it in our performance (he is no longer alive).

Montmartre and Sacré Coeur

Montmartre is a neighborhood, and a hill located in Paris. It is known for its old picturesque buildings, the plaza, the small stores, cafes and restaurants, and the art. At the top of the hills sits one of Paris most famous cathedrals Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. It is open to visitors, but you may have to stand in line to go inside. The view from the top of the hill is spectacular.

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre is bright white with large roundish cupolas. — This is the front view of Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals that I have ever seen.

A row of stands where vendors are selling goods, art and other things. — This market in Montmartre is located nearby Sacré-Cœur.

A row of stands where vendors are selling art. There are a lot of people in the photo. — This market in Montmartre is located nearby Sacré-Cœur.

Sights and Shopping in Paris

Nobody walks in LA but in Paris everyone walks. There is so much to see everywhere, everything is close, and there are several restaurants and shops in every block. So, why not walk a few miles every day. It is healthy too. Below are a lot of photos that I took of things we visited as we walked around Paris.

Street sign with the text Avenue des Champs Élysées. — Avenue des Champs Élysées is a long wide street with lots of stores and things to see.

The photo feature a sign saying Louis Vuitton, but it is partially cut off at the ends. — My wife found this purse store called Louis Vuitton. I took the photo as I walked into the store. Husbands sat in comfortable sofa chairs and where served coffee, tea and juice while their wives were shopping. When someone made a purchase, they served you champagne and cocktails. My wife did not buy a purse, but my daughter bought one later. The purses were expensive but cheaper than in the states according to my wife.

The photo shows Arc de Triomphe and the circulation place around it. — Arc de Triomphe is located on Avenue des Champs Élysées. You can walk up to the top. We did not do that this time.

The photo shows Palais Opéra Garnier from the outside. — Palais Opéra Garnier was an opera that we toured. However, it was not the opera where we saw Rigoletto, that was Opera National de Paris. However, Palais Opéra Garnier was without doubt a very impressive building.

The photos show a large auditorium with red chairs inside Palais Opéra Garnier. — The auditorium of the Palais Opéra Garnier.

The back of the auditorium of Palais Opéra Garnier. There are five levels. — Another view of the auditorium of Palais Opéra Garnier.

The photo shows a very large room featuring columns, stairs and balconies. It is the second largest room in Palais Opéra Garnier and close to the entrance. — One of the large rooms in Palais Opéra Garnier.

A very long and large hallway with dozens of chandeliers, golden columns, and enormous paintings. The most beautiful room in Palais Opéra Garnier. — An artistically decorated hallway in Palais Opéra Garnier.

The paintings in the ceiling at Palais Opéra Garnier are astounding. — The ceiling of the hallway in Palais Opéra Garnier.

The back of Palais Opéra Garnier — I took this photo from the terrace of an eight-story shopping mall called Gallery Lafayette located nearby Palais Opéra Garnier. The photo shows the back of Palais Opéra Garnier. My wife and daughter spend a lot of time shopping here.

Photo shows the front and middle of Hôtel des Invalides. — Photo of Hôtel des Invalides / Les Invalides, where Napoleons tomb is located. Hôtel des Invalides is very large, and this photo only shows a small portion of it.

The photo shows some nice looking large buildings. — One of the corners of place de la Concorde.

The photo shows an obelix that has a gold-plated pyramid on top. — The obelix at Place de la Concorde.

The inside of Saint Sulpice is large, with white columns and a tall, rounded ceiling. — Inside a church / cathedral called Saint Sulpice.

The sidewalk is covered by a decorated ceiling and enclosed by columns. — A sidewalk in Paris

Museums and Gardens in Paris

We visited several museums and gardens in Paris. One of the museums we visited was Musée de l’Orangerie which exhibit all kinds of art from ancient times to modern times but especially paintings including several famous painters such as, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Henri Rousseau, Walter-Guillaume, Amedeo Modigliano, Marie Laurencine, Maurice Utrillo, Eva Nielsen. Some special exhibits were Monet’s gigantic water lily paintings and “flou” art, intentionally blurry paintings and art because life is blurry. We also visited the Auguste Rodin Museum. The museum had hundreds of Rodin sculptures in the museum building as well as in the surrounding gardens. There were also paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.

The main building of Jardin Du Luxembourg is a gorgeous building with statues. — Jardin Du Luxembourg feature several buildings including this one. The garden is huge and difficult to show in a photo, but you can get an idea by looking at the fourth photo (aerial view from the Eiffel Tower) in the Eiffel Tower section above.

The photo shows a painting which covers an entire wall. — Musée de l’Orangerie featured many large paintings of water lilies by Claude Monte.

The photo shows four ancient wooden statues on display in the Musée de l'Orangerie. — Ancient African statues in the Musée de l’Orangerie.

A blurry painting of a woman in a blue dress at the Musée de l'Orangerie. — An intentionally blurry painting. As mentioned above, this style is referred to as Flou. The paintings are blurry because life is blurry.

The photo shows the Auguste Rodin Museum in the distance and a large garden in the front. — The Auguste Rodin Museum featured one relatively small museum buildings surrounded by a huge garden. Both the garden and the building contained hundreds of statues, mostly by Auguste Rodin as well as paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.

The statue is of a naked man sitting and thinking. — The famous Rodin bronze statue the thinker, located in the garden.

Inside the Rodin Museum; a naked woman and gnome with a tall hat riding a deer. — Two of the statues inside the building.

Dessert Places in Paris

There are thousands of Cafes, bakeries and pastry shops in Paris and the cakes, pastries, desserts, tarts and other baked goods are probably the best in the world. We visited a number of these stores and creperies and we had desserts at various restaurants. You can find wonderful baked goods in Italy and in the Scandinavian countries, but I have to say that France, and Paris, takes the cake (pun intended). At Angelina’s I had delicious coffee and I had some of their thick and creamy hot chocolate with whipped cream as well as two incredible cakes. At Berthilon I had amazing rhubarb and wild strawberry ice cream.

The photo shows rhubarb and wild strawberry ice cream with a big wafer in a silver goblet. There is also a coffee cup and a teapot. — Rhubarb and wild strawberry ice cream with a wafer at Berthilon.

Glass counter featuring colorful pastries at Angelina, Paris, France. — Small section of the to go counter at Angelina (a sit-down pastry shop).

Violin d’Ingres Michelin Star Restaurant

We celebrated a couple of birthdays at a Michelin star restaurant called Violin d’Ingres. In terms of eating that was probably the highlight of the trip. Out of Paris’ 44,000 restaurants only 123 are Michelin star restaurants (10 three-star restaurants, 17 two-star restaurants, and 96 one-star restaurants). I ordered Pigeon, something I’ve never had before. It does not sound appetizing. I joked that you had to go out in the street and kill the Pigeon yourself. However, it was probably the best meal I’ve had so far this year. It was truly delicious.

The Violin d’Ingres menu features Entrées, which is starters, then Plats which is the main course and finally desserts. — The menu at Violin d’Ingres. Notice that Entrées means starters or appetizers, just like the word implies. Somehow this got mistranslated into the English language to mean main course.

The shape of the Pigeon on my plate at Violin d’Ingres is like that of small whole chicken. It is garnished with arugula and other greens. — This is my main course, Pigeon in lightly fried bread. It was delicious.

Traffic in Paris

Traffic in Paris is horrendous. Paris has successfully promoted the use of bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, buses and the metro. As a result, the air is much cleaner than it used to be, but the traffic is still bad. One of the reasons is that it has become quite popular to disturb the traffic in various sorts of protests. When we were there the taxi drivers were on strike. You may think that you could just take an Uber instead, but the taxi drivers were blocking other traffic as well, including blocking the entrance to train stations. We were afraid they might block the entrance to the airport on our return day. I have a hard time understanding this since this kind of behavior is obstruction and is illegal in the United States as well as in Sweden.

However, the striking tax drivers were not the only problem. One day when I was accompanying my wife and daughter shopping, I got bored and decided to walk back to the hotel. It was two miles, and it took me one hour. Since the sidewalks are of such high quality and there is so much to see along the way and so many opportunities to stop if you need, this is easy to do.

Along the way I saw two large demonstrations. One was “dépénaliser cannabis” and there were hundreds of people, many with green hair and weird clothes, carrying flags with green leaves on them, marching down the street and playing music. There were also hundreds of police and the entire street, Rue Voltaire, which is a major street, was blocked. Then came the bicycle demonstration. Hundreds of bicycles blocking traffic and lots of police. Well at least it was not a boring walk. Oh, what I saw on Rue Voltaire!

Have you ever been to Paris?

Good News Highlight

Today’s post is a highlight of Good News from my super fact blog, which I call Superfactful. I am listing eight posts, seven of which are what I call super facts. A super fact is a fact that is important, not trivia, and that is known to be true and yet are either disputed by large segments of the public or highly surprising or misunderstood by many. The super facts included with this post are what you can call Good News. Surprising news, perhaps shocking news, but still good news.

Peace Is Boring News

The first and my most recent post is not a super fact but my musings on the fact that good news tends to be boring news and therefore forgotten.

To visit the Peace is Boring News page click here

Black and white photo showing a young girl crossing the street as an armed soldier is hunkered down behind her. There is big wall with text written on it saying, “Dangerous Wall keep Clear.” — West Belfast, Northern Ireland,UK; February, 1994; Girl running with plate of chips past wall where two IRA Volunteers were killed by British soldiers Shutterstock Asset id: 1951602385, Editorial credit: RORY NUGENT.com

Emissions of ozone-depleting gases have fallen by 99 Percent

Super fact 41 : Largely thanks to the Montreal Protocol in 1987 the emissions of ozone-depleting gases have fallen by more than 99%, 99.7% to be exact, according to Our World in Data. This has resulted in halting the expansion of the ozone holes and the reduction in emissions of ozone-depleting gases is saving millions of lives every year.

To visit the page for Emissions of ozone-depleting gases have fallen by 99 Percent click here.

Gases visualized in the diagram are CFCs, Halons, HCFCs, Carbon Tetrachloride, Methyl Bromide, Methyl Chloroform. The diagram shows a peak around the end of 1980’s. — The phase out of six ozone depleting gases. Data source UN Environment Program (2023).

Natural Disasters Kill Less People Now Than 100 Years Ago

Super fact 35: Natural disasters kill a lot less people now compared to 100 years ago. That is despite a larger population and despite the fact that climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of many types of natural disasters.

The explanation for this is that we have become much better at warning people, preventing deaths and rescue people.

To visit the page for Natural Disasters, Kill Less People Now Than 100 Years Ago click here

The graph shows 300 to 400 thousand annual deaths at the beginning of the 20th century, then 971 thousand annual deaths in the 1930’s, then it continuously gets lower until the annual deaths in the 2010 to 2016 period is 72 thousand deaths per year. — This graph from the Gap Minder article shows the annual deaths from natural disasters in ten-year intervals starting with 1930. The trend is down.

EV Cars Indeed Emit Less Carbon Pollution

Super fact 29: EV Cars emit less pollution than Internal Combustion Engine, even considering manufacturing, disposal and EV Cars being charged by dirty grids.

To visit the page for EV Cars Indeed Emit Less Carbon Pollution click here

The histogram graph shows that if you consider construction of facilities, manufacturing of vehicle and battery, production of fuel, vehicle operation as well as disposal the total average greenhouse gas emissions from EV cars is 52% less. — Lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions comparison of average gasoline car and 300-mile range EV.

Smallpox Killed 300 million People in the Last Century Before Eradication

Superfact 24: Smallpox killed 300 million people in the 20^th century. However, there have been no naturally occurring cases of smallpox since 1977, and the world was declared free of smallpox on May 8, 1980, by the 33rd World Health Assembly.

To visit the page for Smallpox Killed 300 million People in the Last Century Before Eradication click here

The picture is a world map showing countries in different colors. The colors indicated when smallpox was eradicated in that country. Dark blue indicates that it was before 1900 and that is Sweden and Norway. Light beige indicates it was eradicated in the 1940’s, which is true for the United States. Dark brown indicates that it was eradicated in the 1970’s and that represents, for example, India, Brazil and many African countries. — This world map shows when smallpox was eradicated from different countries. The source is Our World in Data , originally Fenner et al. at CDC.

We are living in relatively peaceful times

Superfact 9 : Despite all the wars going on, the world was filled with a lot more war and violence in the past. Despite the grim news reports we are living in relatively peaceful times.

To visit the page for We are living in relatively peaceful times click here

The graph is in histogram format with the biggest bins 1946 to 1952, then a couple of more upticks with smaller bins in more recent times. — Death rate from wars since 1946. The uptick in 2022 is largely due to the Ethiopian Tigray war with 162,000–600,000 killed and the invasion of Ukraine, which US and BBC estimates at more than 200,000 deaths (but estimates from most other sources are less).

US Violent Crime Nearly Cut in Half Since 1990

Superfact 8 : Despite all the news reports about rampant crime, the US violent crime rate has fallen to half of what it was in the early 1990’s.

To visit the page for US Violent Crime Nearly Cut in Half Since 1990 click here

The first graph shows that violent crime per 100,000 people (FBI) has gone from 747.1 in 1990 to 380.7 in 2022. The next three graphs show the same trends. — The four graphs show that both violent crime and property crime have declined since 1990. Visit the post to see the Pew Research article it is taken from.

Poverty and child mortality has been sharply reduced worldwide

Superfact 7 : Extreme poverty as well as child mortality has been sharply reduced the world over. The countries that are the worst-off today are still better off than the countries that were doing the best at the beginning of the 19^th century. Over the last 50 years extreme poverty and child mortality has continued to decline sharply.

To visit the page for Poverty and child mortality has been sharply reduced worldwide click here

The graph shows share living in extreme poverty in brown and share not living in extreme poverty in purple. The graph begins in 1820 at ends in 2018. — This graph from Our World In Data shows a steep decline in extreme poverty over time. Click on the picture to visit the original article.

If you have not subscribed to my super fact blog you are certainly welcome to.

Dog Humor 8

It is time for another Dog Humor post. To see the previous ones see the list below. All the dog comics are Facebook pictures that are being passed around. The original creator is typically noted on the cartoon.

Physical and Mental Health of Dogs

Today’s post has the theme of the physical and mental health of dogs. I chose this theme today because we took our dog Rollo to the veterinary emergency room a couple of days ago because he threw up three times within six hours. He had been chewing on a lot of rawhide which is a bit risky, so we were worried. He got an X-ray and various blood tests. Everything was normal. It was probably just a stomach flu or upset stomach. He received anti-nausea medication, and he is taking anti-diarrhea medication. However, everything is otherwise fine with him. The cartoons below speak for themselves.

Big Events In 2024

This post is about big events that happened to me or my family during 2024 and that I blogged about. I selected six events that stood out to me. They are sort of my 2024 blogging summary. Our pug Daisy died at the age of 15 ½ and we still miss her a lot. On April 8, 2024, we experienced the event of the year, the total solar eclipse. Dallas (where we live) was in the path of totality and the weather was clear. It was spectacular. Then the largest newspaper trade association in the United States the National Newspaper Association (NNA, 2,300 newspapers) awarded a Dallas magazine that had written a review for my book “Le Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle” an honorable mention for best book review of the year. That was fourth place out of thousands of newspapers and magazines.

In August I launched a new blog, superfactful (please feel free to follow) and in September my oldest son and his wife and me traveled to Sweden and Norway where we saw a lot and encountered magical creatures. On October 21^st, 2024, NBC news interviewed me about a tornado that ravaged our neighborhood five years ago.

We miss our Pug Daisy

On April 5th, 2024, our beloved pug Daisy took her last breath. She was 15 ½ years old. She had an enlarged heart, her back legs were giving out, and she had breathing problems. She took lots of different medications. Yet, the breathing crisis she had that morning came unexpectedly. Our veterinary told us it was time. It was a dark day for us, and we still miss her dearly. Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo also seems to miss her and now he is alone. To read the tribute post I made for her click here.

Our pug is leaning on vent located close to our wood floor. — Daisy liked to sit in front of the vent when it was cold or alternatively too hot.

Total Solar Eclipse in Dallas

On April 8^th, 2024, there was a total solar eclipse and Dallas, where we live, was in the path of totality, and we were lucky with the weather. A total solar eclipse is a totally different experience from a partial solar eclipse. Despite knowing this beforehand, and having seen a partial solar eclipse, I was amazed. As you approach totality you will have a partial solar eclipse, so you’ll experience both. The partial solar eclipse portion lasted for a few hours and totality lasted only four minutes, but during those four minutes the sun and the moon put on a spectacular show. For the event we had prepared a little party on our backyard patio.

A partial solar eclipse is interesting too. The shadows change during a partial solar eclipse. The shadows of the tree leaves look like moon crescents, but it is not dark, it is still daylight. The sun will look like a bright crescent if you are wearing solar eclipse glasses, but the light is too strong for you to see anything without glasses, and trying to look at the sun during a partial eclipse is dangerous.

When the total solar eclipse happened it suddenly got dark, but not midnight dark, more like late twilight. The stars came out, the birds and the crickets got quiet, Rollo hid under the table, it felt colder, and straight above us Venus came out bright and shining. You usually see Venus in the west soon after sunset or in the east before sun dawn, not above your head in the middle of the day. You could take off your solar eclipse glasses and look straight at the sun, because it was no longer very bright. What you saw was a big black circle surrounded by wispy foggy lights about as bright as the full moon, maybe a little brighter. That was the sun’s corona, which is only visible to the naked eye during a total solar eclipse. To read more about this event click here.

Black circle surrounded by a wispy white fog like light. That’s the sun’s corona. — We took many pictures (see below) but this is a good stock photo. Solar Eclipse Stock Photo ID: 2344355767 by aeonWAVE

Preston Hollow People Magazine receives a National Award for a Book Review of my Leonberger Book

In September 2023 a Dallas journalist wrote a half page positive book review for my book “Le Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. In 2024 her and the newspaper/magazine received an honorable mention for Best Book Review (that’s 4^th place) at the annual National Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest organized by The National Newspaper Association (NNA). NNA has 2,300 members (newspapers and magazines). I can add that Preston Hollow is an area in north Dallas. To read more about this, click here.

The book review of “The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle”. Including photos and text. — This is a photo of the page of Preston Hollow People Magazine where the review appeared. If you click on the picture (or click here you can see the online version of the book review in Preston Hollow People Magazine.

Launch of the Super Facts Blog

On August 5, 2024, I launched my new blog superfactful url https://superfactful.com. The goal of this blog is to create a long list of facts that are important, not trivia, and that are known to be true and yet are either disputed by large segments of the public or highly surprising or misunderstood by many. These kinds of facts are special because they are important and at the same time there is a lot of confusion around them, or they are shocking. Therefore, I call these facts super facts. I should say that in addition to super fact posts I am also posting about other interesting and fun information. My first post “Bamboozlement Misunderstandings, Big Surprises and My Journey” was not a super fact post. To read more click here .

Image showing a disintegrating brain — Smashing our old beliefs with new surprising facts, super facts. Expand your mind and teach me some unexpected truths. Shutterstock ID: 1685660680 by MattL_Images.

I can add that this site certainly needs more followers so feel free to subscribe. The subscribe button is on the right on a PC and at the bottom on a mobile device.

Scandinavian Adventure

In September 2024 I visited my native country Sweden and Norway with my oldest son and his new wife. We visited Stockholm, Uppsala, Oslo and Norwegian fjords. We saw palaces and castles, the old city in Stockholm (800 years old city on an island), we saw many museums including the Vasa Museum featuring an extremely well-preserved Swedish war ship that sank in 1628. We encountered a Huldra, a female magical creature, in the Norwegian mountains (OK this was a tourist ploy, but a fun one). To read more about our adventures click here, or here, or here.

Three people standing on a boat on the fjord. Left to right, me Thomas Wikman, my son Jacob and his wife Ashley. — From a cruise in Sognefjord, Norway. Left to right, me, my oldest son and his wife. Click on the image to visit my post titled : “Tourism in Scandinavia on World Tourism Day”.

An image AI-illustration of a Huldra — Imagining how a Huldra would look like. Stock AI-generated image ID: 2400845203 by Shutterstock AI Generator. Click on the image to visit my post titled : “Scandinavian Folklore”.

A Tomte wearing a red hat in a snowy winter forest | Scandinavian Folklore — An illustration of a Tomte another Scandinavian mythical creature. Shutterstock ID: 2060057882 by PLIMPLUM.

The NBC Interview with me about Dallas Tornado

October 19 and October 20, 2024, I got phone calls from NBC Universal. NBC Universal is a large media company that is a merger between NBC news and Universal Studios. I ignored the phone calls, because why would NBC call me. I thought it must be spam or a scam. Then I listened to the message they left, and I realized it was not spam. The NBC journalists had been reading my Leonberger blog, specifically a post I had made about the tornado that hit Dallas and ravaged our neighborhood on October 20, 2019. They wanted some of my photos and they wanted to interview me. You can read more here and you can listen and see the interview here. It is at one minute and ten seconds.

A photo of my TV above the fireplace. I am on the TV screen. — Seeing myself on the TV was a bit surreal. Click on the image to see the interview. My interview starts at 1 minute and 11 seconds.

A neighbor’s house with the roof ripped off. — NBC used this photo. A neighbor’s house the morning of October 21st, 2019. Again, click on the image to see the interview.

Below are some additional photos in from these events in the form of a photo collage.

I wish everyone a peaceful and wonderful 2025

Proof version of the book

Here is the second proof version of the book. This one might be it!

I received the second proof for my book The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle. All the content looks good, the front and back covers seem to be ready. This might be the final version. Even if we go (me and my editor) with this version, we have already decided that the book will be released on July 3^rd, 2022, which would have been Bronco’s 15^th birthday. The book will be available on Amazon, including many international Amazon websites, Barnes and Noble, as well as many other bookstores.

The ISBN number for the print edition is 978-0-9980849-5-4

The ISBN number for the e-book edition is 978-0-9980849-6-1

These are endorsements for the book The Life and Times of Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle by Thomas Wikman.

“A wonderful tribute to the author’s beloved Bronco. The stories are heartwarming as well as
informative—a true glimpse into life with a Leonberger.”
—D’Nae Wilson, President, Leonberger Health Foundation International

“A lovely tribute to Bronco, with lots of resources for general Leonberger information.”
—Julie Schaffert, LCA breeder since 1992 — Endorsements for the book

I will add more detailed information about the book and the links to places to purchase the book at this location. Which is the same as clicking “The Book” menu item at the top.

Finally, seven selected book spreads