Copenhagen

Copenhagen was the last stop on my Scandinavian sojourn and for me definitely the most fun. I made a conscious decision to skip most museums, mainly from museum burnout. Art is important to me and modern art in particular, but when you start seeing the works of the same group of artists in museums around the world, you just want to see something different. I think in the future I'm going to start aiming to check out more live performances in the places I visit in order to get a better sense of what's going on there. If I go for visual art, I'll aim for very contemporary or galleries.

Most of my time was just spent walking around the city, which reminded me of a slightly larger version of Amsterdam, only without (or without as many) canals and with more colorful buildings. While Stockholm and Gothenburg offered great design in terms of furniture, the designware in Copenhagen for sale ranged all across the board from every kind of decoration, lightingware, furniture also, and every sort of gadget, really fun stuff to gaze at and play with in the shops. I ended up buying a pair of jeans and sunglasses!

I met up with a friend, MH who I was in school with in the Hague and we caught up about life after graduation. It always seems like people who consider themselves creative artists (she and I) experience a bit of a shock getting out of school. School ends up being a fairly strong support network in these situations, but ultimately of course it IS for the best to leave the nest behind.

A little architectural surprise for me was just on my way home at the Copenhagen Kastrup Airport. The building looked new and fresh, but when I actually got into the branch of the terminal for my departing flight, suddenly it became really spectacular architecturally. The rest of the airport gave no hint of this! I put my bags down and actually started walking backwards on the people-mover just to get a couple shots with my camera. One of the shots is included above.

Gothenburg

After Stockholm, I left for Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden, via train. The trip was 5 hours. A high speed train would have gotten me there in half the time, but also for twice the price, so I decided to relax and just watch the countryside go by. I think when comparing train, plane, bus or car, train is definitely my preferred way to travel. You're not confined, you can at least to a reasonable extent get up and walk around, and Swedish trains are beautiful.

Once again I was lucky that I coincidentally arrived in the middle the city's cultural week. So lots of outdoor performances and free museum entry. A friend of mine from the Hague, MS is from Gothenburg and has moved back there. He complained a bit about it being a sleepy city with not too much to do. This was not the impression I got in my short time, but I also think I caught the city at a good moment. I was surprised to notice more than a few restaurants and bars closed on a saturday night! But in comparison with Stockholm, somehow I felt like I came across design and furniture stores much more easily in Gothenburg. Maybe it's just because I was on foot much more.

I was surprised to learn Gothenburg is population-wise the same size as the Hague. But it feels so much more spread out. Contributing to the "size" element, the city has some large hills in it, which provide for good lookouts and add some contrast. I was also glad to discover that the city public transportation network extends to the boat and ferry service that reaches the islands off the coast of Gothenburg. I got on one boat, whose travel time was 50 minutes one way to a tiny island called Vargö. I don't think there were more than 5 houses on this island and the rest was a nature reserve. I walked myself across the island and parked myself on top of a rocky hill and just sat and watched the water for a while. Really gorgeous stuff! The sense of solitude and quiet there was just so striking, the first word that came to mind to describe it was actually "holy," but I don't want to accrue any spiritual associations of the ridiculous sort. Spirituality YES, absurd obsessions to be forced on others, NO!

Gothenburg was the last stop in the Swedish part of my Scandinavia excursion. What to conclude? One friend of mine, upon hearing that I was in Sweden, said "Ah, Sweden, I've heard they've been making the world look ugly for the last 400 years!" What was this comment about? The state of the country itself? It struck me as remarkably clean, well kept, and cared for. The people? I think something foreign or different always looks attractive to the eye.

I have some more thoughts on traveling in general, but I'll save those for a post dedicated to that topic.

Stockholm Metro

These are photos I took in the Stockholm metro, all along the Blue Line while there on holiday. I think the photos speak for themselves! I was so impressed, I couldn't stop taking pictures. I've seen the metros/subways of London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and very little comes close.

Although with a bit of pride for the city one lives in, I have to confess that the metro in the Hague is a worthy competitor, designed by Rem Koolhaas. But it actually is not so much a metro, and more just 3 stops underground for the tram network.

Stockholm

Thanks to some cheap flights found on the internet and an itch to see some of Scandinavia, where I had never been, I spent a few days in Stockholm this month! The city itself sits on several islands where a lake meets the back-waters of the Baltic Sea. I stayed in a hostel that was a former prison and spent most of my time just ambling about the city looking at museums and trying to take in the ambiance. The city offers a "Stockholm-card" which allows almost unlimited public transportation and museum entrance. And my arrival coincided with the annual culture week which included a lot of outdoor performances, so the city seemed to have more than enough to offer for the 3 days I was there.

I live in a fairly urban place but Stockholm somehow seemed to be a city that includes or does not deny the natural surroundings. Of course the city consisting of islands helps with that, but also the variations in local topography, with craggy cliffs and stony precipices certainly contributed to the atmosphere.

Right by the hostel where I stayed, there was a park with a little café that had live performances almost every night. The café seemed more like an extension of someone's house with the outdoor seating really feeling like it's just out there on the lawn. I got an introduction to some Swedish cider, one of which the bartender recommended to me. I tried 3 of my 5 words of the Swedish language and thanked him, and I think it was my attempt at their language that resulted in them offering me a cinnamon roll on the house! I felt welcomed!

Further, I saw the Modern Museum, the Vasa Museum, the Thielska Gallery, and the Millesgården (more about these later). Another highlight was checking out the individual stops of the Blue Line of the Metro, but that will be covered in another blog entry with photos because it was so spectacular! From Stockholm I left via train for Gothenburg to continue my Scandinavian exploration. Copenhagen was the end point a few days after that.