Last one, everyone! Thanks for reading, or at least for skimming through or clicking "mark as read". This one is partly about Stockholm, and partly about everywhere else, including the internet, specifically where travel photographs are located. Well, where they will be. They're 70% uploaded at present.
Journalliness!
7/28/07 (oh, goody! sixteen years and one month!) Stockholm
We spent the day at Skansen, a lovely open air museum with building types from all over Sweden and some from Norway and Finland, including the Sami sod tepees and Northern houses on stilts. In some of the buildings, actors in historical costume spun wool, and answered touristy questions, and posed for pictures. I, as usual, looked costumey, so some guy took a picture of me, which I found amusing, especially his confused expression as I rejoined my Ryan and Eileen and walked off. (No, I don't believe that was quite grammatical, but I'm laughing inside, and therefore will overlook it.)
Further along in Skansen was a zoo, where we watched young bears wrestle in and out of the water, pet a moose's horn as it lay by the fence (it's fuzzy! Also, it was warm and felt alive, all the way to the tip. Ryan says that if you squeezed, it was nasty and oily. I didn't.), watched a peacock escape and be followed by children (and, okay, us), longed to stroke the elusive mink, and stared at an owl, which stared back when Ryan made crow sounds (owls don't like crows. Crows mob them.). My favorite part was the red squirrel that approached and walked over Eileen's foot, nosed under my hand, and jumped onto Ryan's pants.
Dinner was traditional Swedish meatballs, potatoes, and lingomberry jam (how do you spell that?).
7/29/07 Stockholm
A metro (I have a very high opinion of this metro- we've always been able to find seats, together even, and they are clean and efficient) brought us to the Historiskamuseet (translation: you could probably guess that this was a history museum), where we learned all about Vikings (pretty gold... pretty silver...), Sweden in the Middle Ages (it was religious. blah.), and strangely, an ethical dilemma (for those of you who don't speak Montessori, that's a problem that comes up in reality that doesn't really have a right answer) relating to the Mayas (some kind of murder mystery set up as some sort of an RPG (for those of you who don't speak geek, that's Role Playing Game) through which you could walk and understand different sides of the issue).
Back out in the streets, we saw a parade line up, and went to watch it. It turned out to be the Tall Ships Races opening ceremonies, with several countries represented (though it was hard to tell which). Across the street, we watched an elderly band perform oldies songs. One of the ladies did a strangely accurate Marilyn Monroe impression, at least vocally. Following a sign, we found a Wooden Horse Museum and perused the history of these toys. They had a collection, in the museum's one room, of horses from the 1800s to the present. Originally, they were used as religious votives, then became children's toys, carved from carpenters' leftovers. It wasn't until the NYC World's Fair (late 1800s) that they became representative of Sweden. So there you go. Now you know more than you will ever need to about Dala horses.
Across the square from the little museum, Ryan went into the Nobel Prize Museum. Did you know that Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and then spent the rest of his life trying to make people forget that? Did you know that someone declined the prize by personal choice, because he felt that awards were fetters to freedom? Do you care? It was a bit pricey,and I wasn't interested enough to actually want to go in, so Eileen and I sat on the steps, facing the square, in which a father and daughter were playing music on violin and accordion. I juggled (well, of course. It's not like I didn't carry them around with me every day), which attracted the attention of some elementary-age kids, with whom I then played catch. One little girl, maybe two and a half years old, wandered over, fascinated, and sat almost on my lap, reaching for a ball. When I handed it to her, she took it and walked away across the square. Her mother had to make her give it back. She kept watching and reaching her hand out for a ball for a while. It rained briefly, and I had to stop juggling, because it's really frustrating to juggle when you keep hitting the domed roof of an umbrella. When the sun came back out, some costumed actors entered the square to rehearse what appeared to be Mercutio and Tybalt's duel scene (Romeo and Juliet, if you didn't catch on). They weren't very convincing at first, but they got better. I particularly enjoyed when the man costumed as the friar took one of the rapiers and demonstrated a more dramatic lunge.
Finally, Ryan came out of the museum and we returned to the hostel for the night.
7/30/07 Stockholm - U.S.A
Thanks to modern transportation (and no thanks to several-hour stopovers and delays), one can travel nearly halfway around the world in twenty-five or so hours. Afoot to Zinkensdamm metro station, metro (or T-bana, as one might actually say here) to the bus station (T-centralen), and from there we took a bus to the airport. We had a seven-or-so-hour layover in the Philadelphia airport, but now, at after 3 AM tomorrow in Stockholm but only 6 PM Seattle time (I'm going to be so jet-lagged) we fly home into the sunset, where shall be chauffered by car from Sea-Tac (yes, of course I mean we'll be chauffered into the sunset. Ambiguity in language is never present).
So, yeah. We got home. For a whole three and a half days. No wait, actually two and mostly. Just enough time to unpack, shower, run a laundry, repack, pet the cats, make caviar (of salmon eggs! On the first day back!), and get sick of smoked salmon (we now have our very own smokehouse, and came home to find the fridge's lower half and vegetable drawers (no, there were no vegetables in them- that's Eileen who puts them there) full of freshly smoked Alaskan salmon from Rick's sisters). Oh yeah, and catch up on email. And download and edit pictures. :P
So, after all that relaxation, I here present photos. They can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/ifoundthemeaningoflife/Europe2007ItalyFranceDenmarkSweden but first read the Handy Dandy Guide to Photographs.
Handy Dandy Guide to Photographs
-The photographs may contain Art, which means we did go to Italy, where they have lots of famous statues of naked people. Also, disclaimer: When they're pictures of mushy sculptures or of buildings, it's usually Eileen who had the camera. I take pictures of people and weird stuff. (All right, Eileen, you can have a little credit for cultural photos. Everyone, she took pictures of the lady making crepes.)
-So, to view a slideshow, click on the little button that says "slideshow". I know you can find it. It's up near the top (sorta). You probably want to view them for one second each, as there is one heck of a lot of them (seriously, one full heck. I checked.).
-There are pictures of people some of you probably don't know and don't care about. You can gloss right over them. They're there for the people who do know them and may or may not care.
-You will notice a little yellow thing in some of the pictures, or in some of them, a larger yellow thing where it's closer to the camera and you can tell that it's a stuffed duck. His name is Peeps. He travels. He was lent to Ryan for this trip by his third grade teacher. Deal with the fact that there is a stuffed duck in the picture. It will be okay. I particularly like his picture with Rodin's Thinker. It's almost as good as the one I put as the (digital) album cover.
-Before viewing the slideshow, check out the map. It shows where we went. I put the first picture (and occasionally a few more) from each new place in its correct position on the map.
-If you're lost, look at the title, if you can figure out how to get it to display those. I may or may not have named it. If you're still lost, look back at my emails. Maybe you just won't get it, though, and that's a risk we'll have to take. Just remember this basic itinerary: Stockholm (briefly), Florence, Venice, Folgaria (orienteering), Paris (briefly- Eiffel and such as we passed through), French coast by Bordeaux (orienteering), Paris (for real), Copenhagen, Mjolby (orienteering), Stockholm. Semi-basic itinerary.
Okay, go forth and view. Fly free, my fledglings. I'm off to Colorado in 45 mins, and no, I won't write.
PS look at the website in my signature. It's ever so exciting.
--
Kelsey BresemanñÑ¿?¡!ªº
http://northwestforestfrenzy.googlepages.com/
Friday, August 3, 2007
O-Ringen is special. Although I don't believe it to provide much insight on Sweden and Swedes in general, given the multinational nature of the people competing, I do think it says something about Scandinavians and about orienteers. See the Remarkable and Interesting Facts and Observations.
In the meantime...
7/21/07 Copenhagen-Mjolby
Around one in the morning, Ryan and I arose as quietly as possible (which was not very, given the creaky beds made of broken particle board with a thin foam slice atop) and walked downtown past the many very loud nightclubs to the bookstore, where we purchased the new Harry Potter book (not because we were planning to read it at that hour, but because in the morning, when the store reopened, we would be on a train to small-town Sweden, where we were dubious of our English-language books options (this turned out to be unnecessary; we found the book in Mjolby's one bookstore on the first day as we walked by)). Upon our return to the hostel, we discovered Eileen, waiting at the foot of the stairs for us. She hadn't gotten any more sleep than we had. As she led us downstairs to our newly assigned room, to which she had moved all of our belongings, she told us about the people who came into our dorm room, turned the lights on, and tried to convince one of our roommates to come out clubbing. The roommate in question promptly threw up as Eileen left the room to see if we couldn't be assigned to someplace more likely to be somnolent. Our new room was a windowless non-bed room, with extra mattresses on the floor and some rather creepy murals on the walls. It was much more comfortable than our previous rooms, and we fell asleep immediately.
Our train left at ten in the morning, and we crossed the bridge from Denmark to Sweden and then passed through a few cities, marveling at the flatness of the terrain.
Upon arrival in Mjolby's train station, we walked (without the benefit of a map- they had mailed us a packet of very useful information (to our house) around the time we were in Italy) into town, eventually locating the O-Ringen Event Center, which was really big and covered in official white tents and surrounded by camping tents and RVs. We checked in, a process involving far too much standing around with packs on, received our packets, and were informed of our accommodations, which we had apparently walked past on our way in. These, when we arrived, were army cots in an empty elementary school classroom, to be shared with seven or so other orienteers, two of whom were giggly twenty-something-year-old girls, two more their same-aged male friends, and the other three, old men from either Sweden, Norway, or Finland.
7/22/07
After a cold night on the uncomfortable cots, we went and bought training maps to the only training event close enough to walk to (as this was the only mode of travel available to us). The bushes were thick, but well-perforated with elephant tracks (for those of you who are unfamiliar with such a term, you can probably imagine its origin: it means a brand-new trail caused by a lot of people crossing the terrain in the same path). For the night, we moved into the room next door, which had no other people, only soft (though short) couches on which we slept. The only issue was the lack of door, which let in all the giggles from the group of young Finnish girls in the third room. Ryan says the shortness of the couches was also an issue, but I guess that's the problem with height.
7/23/07
The first day of competition- it rained. You know that sort of rain that looks wimpy, but if you actually go out in it, it soaks you rather thoroughly? It was that sort of rain. As we have no mode of transportation here other than our feet, we walked (without umbrellas or rain gear or anything sensible like that) the lovely long (3-4km) walk (which will be the same tomorrow and the next day) to the finish area, then followed the signs relating to our categories' start (these are named for sponsors, so we got to follow the smiling orange gumby and matching spiral to the Östcraft start) for 2.4 km, the second shortest of our walks to the start. By the time I arrived, every fiber of clothing and hair were saturated by the rain, and every pore of skin infiltrated as well. The wind picked up about the time I arrived at the start, so I had a good half hour of warm-up in order to prevent hypothermia. On the (wet, swamp-filled) course, I fell only twice (all the way under) in the water that was already over my waist. The mud was also just delightfully sticky. After running, finishing, and walking the long walk back to our lodgings, I couldn't stop my teeth chattering until after a very hot communal shower and bowl of soup.
7/24/07
A much drier race, but all the swamps are nice and full, and there's still plenty of mud to go around, so no worries there. Also, the finish chute was the same as yesterday, and therefore almost as muddy as the walk to the start. I anticipate what the very same churned up ground will look like tomorrow with ever-increasing alacrity. I do love mud, especially the kind you can't even get off with your fingernails, and especially here, where we have no way to wash our clothes (same race clothes every day, and the shoes are the best part, putting them on wet and slimy in the morning!).
7/25/07
One might call it hot today, but one would nevertheless be soaked and muddy from running.
7/26/07
We had a different meet site today, closer by about a kilometer to our lodgings. An earlier start meant I got on the list of results (they only post the first 56 in my category of 205) for a while, but it didn't mean that the walk to the start or the finish chute were fresh and clean, so of course I was grateful for the sticky, heavy, oozing mud.
7/27/07
Last race, a chase start. I was awful. After running, we cleaned up, packed, and took a train to Stockholm. We're now staying in a very nice youth hostel.
Remarkable and Interesting Experiences, Facts, and Observations from O-Ringen
-Rain+several thousand people+grassy field or finish chute or walk to start=absolute mudpit!
-O-Ringen is big- more than 11,000 people here (though the biggest ever meet was O-Ringen a few years ago, with more than 25,000. Just look it up in the Guiness book.)
-Because this many people tears up the woods more than a little, spikes on O shoes are not permitted. Also, this map won't be used again for about ten years, by which time it might have healed.
-They don't want blood on the bushes, either. Minimum dress code is a short sleeved shirt and full leg coverage. No ripped clothing allowed, either.
-On the (2.4-3.5 km- just about as long as some of the courses) walk to the start, there are several stations, always in this order: the Duct Tape Station, where they tape anything that defies the dress code into submission. Ryan says he saw an old lady get chased down and taped for showing two inches of leg. I saw a guy, as soon as he was out of sight of them, rip the duct tape right back off again. Next is the Sport Ident Clear Station. Those of you who orienteer will find it interesting that they don't have you check the SI's until you start, just clear. The rest of you don't know what I'm talking about, and probably don't care. Next are the improvised toilets, which is to say the area of the woods with a big piece of paper in front and between the women's and men's side. Inside are buckets with seats on them. Not for the squeamish, not for the modest- I really pity the lady who hauls the full buckets. Definitely an Experience, and apologies to those of you who are Delicate of Composition. Finally, the Water Station, where meet officials with watering cans are constantly filling little plastic yogurt cups with water. The used ones go on top of stakes put out just for that purpose so the officials can pick them up all stacked, nice and neat, without having to dredge garbage from the mud. Then, the usual graduated start where you pick up control descriptions, maps, and go off, as is generally done.
-The finish is sorted just like the start, separate chutes by sponsor; find the slightly creepy smiling orange gumby thing and run towards it. It's really long, and also muddy, though not as much as might be expected. A large video screen presides over the finish, with a stage for the announcer beneath and various cameramen on stands by the finish chute. The announcer gets very excited about things and starts yelling. Sometimes it's even in English, so we can figure out what he's yelling about. Other times, not so much. Winners are presented with wreaths as they run in (unless they're, like, actually racing someone at the time, at which point that would be a little awkward).
-The event center (which is not the same as a meet site) is a large barn surrounded by tents. There are vendors from different countries, people selling food; a grocery store in near entirety (I hear it's sub-par in the bread department) relocated and set up for the use of orienteers under a really big tent canopy; a sporting goods store, much like the grocery; live music; a five-day Catching Features (if you don't know what it is, look it up on Google and download and play the free demo. Yay virtual orienteering! It's like reality, only the thorns don't hurt and you don't end up covered in mud!) on-site tournament, with an elite class and a standard division playing different courses; one of those bungee jump things like at the fair.... the list goes on.
-Surrounding the barn and official-type tents, there's a ton of camping tents (actually, in a more literal sense, probably a couple of tons), organized by club, each with their club banner, symbol, or suit flying above. One we passed had its own plasticized board outside displaying members' start times and daily results.
-Mud is sticky, wet, and everywhere.
-Showers are rather- by which I mean very- communal. All modesty save gender separation is obliterated in the face of the twenty or so people per gender who need to get clean in the one small room provided (there are three spigots in this one room) at any one time. Those of you Delicate in Constitution probably ought to be over yourselves at this point, as this would also have to be called an Experience.
See? O-Ringen is special.
I'm going to try to write the final email and send out pictures in the two and partly hours before I leave for Colorado. More orienteering. Yeah, life is tough, isn't it? Wish me luck. If I don't get to it, I'll do it when I get back in two weeks.
--
Kelsey BresemanñÑ¿?¡!ªº
www.northwestforestfrenzy.googlepages.com
PS You all know that I'm kidding about how much I love mud, right? It's delightful in that I'll-never-be-really-clean-again way...
In the meantime...
7/21/07 Copenhagen-Mjolby
Around one in the morning, Ryan and I arose as quietly as possible (which was not very, given the creaky beds made of broken particle board with a thin foam slice atop) and walked downtown past the many very loud nightclubs to the bookstore, where we purchased the new Harry Potter book (not because we were planning to read it at that hour, but because in the morning, when the store reopened, we would be on a train to small-town Sweden, where we were dubious of our English-language books options (this turned out to be unnecessary; we found the book in Mjolby's one bookstore on the first day as we walked by)). Upon our return to the hostel, we discovered Eileen, waiting at the foot of the stairs for us. She hadn't gotten any more sleep than we had. As she led us downstairs to our newly assigned room, to which she had moved all of our belongings, she told us about the people who came into our dorm room, turned the lights on, and tried to convince one of our roommates to come out clubbing. The roommate in question promptly threw up as Eileen left the room to see if we couldn't be assigned to someplace more likely to be somnolent. Our new room was a windowless non-bed room, with extra mattresses on the floor and some rather creepy murals on the walls. It was much more comfortable than our previous rooms, and we fell asleep immediately.
Our train left at ten in the morning, and we crossed the bridge from Denmark to Sweden and then passed through a few cities, marveling at the flatness of the terrain.
Upon arrival in Mjolby's train station, we walked (without the benefit of a map- they had mailed us a packet of very useful information (to our house) around the time we were in Italy) into town, eventually locating the O-Ringen Event Center, which was really big and covered in official white tents and surrounded by camping tents and RVs. We checked in, a process involving far too much standing around with packs on, received our packets, and were informed of our accommodations, which we had apparently walked past on our way in. These, when we arrived, were army cots in an empty elementary school classroom, to be shared with seven or so other orienteers, two of whom were giggly twenty-something-year-old girls, two more their same-aged male friends, and the other three, old men from either Sweden, Norway, or Finland.
7/22/07
After a cold night on the uncomfortable cots, we went and bought training maps to the only training event close enough to walk to (as this was the only mode of travel available to us). The bushes were thick, but well-perforated with elephant tracks (for those of you who are unfamiliar with such a term, you can probably imagine its origin: it means a brand-new trail caused by a lot of people crossing the terrain in the same path). For the night, we moved into the room next door, which had no other people, only soft (though short) couches on which we slept. The only issue was the lack of door, which let in all the giggles from the group of young Finnish girls in the third room. Ryan says the shortness of the couches was also an issue, but I guess that's the problem with height.
7/23/07
The first day of competition- it rained. You know that sort of rain that looks wimpy, but if you actually go out in it, it soaks you rather thoroughly? It was that sort of rain. As we have no mode of transportation here other than our feet, we walked (without umbrellas or rain gear or anything sensible like that) the lovely long (3-4km) walk (which will be the same tomorrow and the next day) to the finish area, then followed the signs relating to our categories' start (these are named for sponsors, so we got to follow the smiling orange gumby and matching spiral to the Östcraft start) for 2.4 km, the second shortest of our walks to the start. By the time I arrived, every fiber of clothing and hair were saturated by the rain, and every pore of skin infiltrated as well. The wind picked up about the time I arrived at the start, so I had a good half hour of warm-up in order to prevent hypothermia. On the (wet, swamp-filled) course, I fell only twice (all the way under) in the water that was already over my waist. The mud was also just delightfully sticky. After running, finishing, and walking the long walk back to our lodgings, I couldn't stop my teeth chattering until after a very hot communal shower and bowl of soup.
7/24/07
A much drier race, but all the swamps are nice and full, and there's still plenty of mud to go around, so no worries there. Also, the finish chute was the same as yesterday, and therefore almost as muddy as the walk to the start. I anticipate what the very same churned up ground will look like tomorrow with ever-increasing alacrity. I do love mud, especially the kind you can't even get off with your fingernails, and especially here, where we have no way to wash our clothes (same race clothes every day, and the shoes are the best part, putting them on wet and slimy in the morning!).
7/25/07
One might call it hot today, but one would nevertheless be soaked and muddy from running.
7/26/07
We had a different meet site today, closer by about a kilometer to our lodgings. An earlier start meant I got on the list of results (they only post the first 56 in my category of 205) for a while, but it didn't mean that the walk to the start or the finish chute were fresh and clean, so of course I was grateful for the sticky, heavy, oozing mud.
7/27/07
Last race, a chase start. I was awful. After running, we cleaned up, packed, and took a train to Stockholm. We're now staying in a very nice youth hostel.
Remarkable and Interesting Experiences, Facts, and Observations from O-Ringen
-Rain+several thousand people+grassy field or finish chute or walk to start=absolute mudpit!
-O-Ringen is big- more than 11,000 people here (though the biggest ever meet was O-Ringen a few years ago, with more than 25,000. Just look it up in the Guiness book.)
-Because this many people tears up the woods more than a little, spikes on O shoes are not permitted. Also, this map won't be used again for about ten years, by which time it might have healed.
-They don't want blood on the bushes, either. Minimum dress code is a short sleeved shirt and full leg coverage. No ripped clothing allowed, either.
-On the (2.4-3.5 km- just about as long as some of the courses) walk to the start, there are several stations, always in this order: the Duct Tape Station, where they tape anything that defies the dress code into submission. Ryan says he saw an old lady get chased down and taped for showing two inches of leg. I saw a guy, as soon as he was out of sight of them, rip the duct tape right back off again. Next is the Sport Ident Clear Station. Those of you who orienteer will find it interesting that they don't have you check the SI's until you start, just clear. The rest of you don't know what I'm talking about, and probably don't care. Next are the improvised toilets, which is to say the area of the woods with a big piece of paper in front and between the women's and men's side. Inside are buckets with seats on them. Not for the squeamish, not for the modest- I really pity the lady who hauls the full buckets. Definitely an Experience, and apologies to those of you who are Delicate of Composition. Finally, the Water Station, where meet officials with watering cans are constantly filling little plastic yogurt cups with water. The used ones go on top of stakes put out just for that purpose so the officials can pick them up all stacked, nice and neat, without having to dredge garbage from the mud. Then, the usual graduated start where you pick up control descriptions, maps, and go off, as is generally done.
-The finish is sorted just like the start, separate chutes by sponsor; find the slightly creepy smiling orange gumby thing and run towards it. It's really long, and also muddy, though not as much as might be expected. A large video screen presides over the finish, with a stage for the announcer beneath and various cameramen on stands by the finish chute. The announcer gets very excited about things and starts yelling. Sometimes it's even in English, so we can figure out what he's yelling about. Other times, not so much. Winners are presented with wreaths as they run in (unless they're, like, actually racing someone at the time, at which point that would be a little awkward).
-The event center (which is not the same as a meet site) is a large barn surrounded by tents. There are vendors from different countries, people selling food; a grocery store in near entirety (I hear it's sub-par in the bread department) relocated and set up for the use of orienteers under a really big tent canopy; a sporting goods store, much like the grocery; live music; a five-day Catching Features (if you don't know what it is, look it up on Google and download and play the free demo. Yay virtual orienteering! It's like reality, only the thorns don't hurt and you don't end up covered in mud!) on-site tournament, with an elite class and a standard division playing different courses; one of those bungee jump things like at the fair.... the list goes on.
-Surrounding the barn and official-type tents, there's a ton of camping tents (actually, in a more literal sense, probably a couple of tons), organized by club, each with their club banner, symbol, or suit flying above. One we passed had its own plasticized board outside displaying members' start times and daily results.
-Mud is sticky, wet, and everywhere.
-Showers are rather- by which I mean very- communal. All modesty save gender separation is obliterated in the face of the twenty or so people per gender who need to get clean in the one small room provided (there are three spigots in this one room) at any one time. Those of you Delicate in Constitution probably ought to be over yourselves at this point, as this would also have to be called an Experience.
See? O-Ringen is special.
I'm going to try to write the final email and send out pictures in the two and partly hours before I leave for Colorado. More orienteering. Yeah, life is tough, isn't it? Wish me luck. If I don't get to it, I'll do it when I get back in two weeks.
--
Kelsey BresemanñÑ¿?¡!ªº
www.northwestforestfrenzy.googlepages.com
PS You all know that I'm kidding about how much I love mud, right? It's delightful in that I'll-never-be-really-clean-again way...
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Now I'm in Sweden (Mjölby) writing about Copenhagen. No, that's not confusing. I've by now developed lovely gigantic blisters on the backs of both of my heels (which popped as they rubbed against my wet socks and shoes while I ran through the swamps) and have a slight limp on rather general principles.
Anyhow, Copenhagen: our stay was short, and so likewise will be this email, though not lacking in oddities to include at the end.
7/18/07
In the morning, we took a cheap Sterling Air flight to Copenhagen. The plane was about an hour late, though displayed as on time, which caused some panic by certain adults traveling in our party of three. The plane was only half an hour late when it landed, which was a source of great displeasure in the area of my Eustacian tubes (you know, those ones in your ears that hurt a lot on planes).
We took a bus downtown from the airport to the train station, and walked the few blocks from there to our homely hostel to drop our packs. Lunch was at a Turkish buffet we'd passed on the way in. It was deicious, and allowed us to observe the very Interesting people on the street (for examples, see the section at the end of this email)
In the evening, we met a man to whom I am apparently related (second cousin once removed, I believe) and his Asian-Danish wife. We all went to Tivoli (a rather cozy, well-gardened version of an amusement park, only with nice restaurants, and a pleasant atmosphere), where we takled, walked, and were treated to dinner at a Japanese fast-food place (which I am told was a British idea, but was nevertheless delicious, even though they put wasabi in their chocolate cake) called Wagamama (I hear this means "selfish").
7/19/07
Today was a nice (long) walking tour of the city, in which we explored the pedestrian streets (the longest in the world, the guidebook said), saw the Opera from across the water, got close the the Little Mermaid statue in the harbor, despite the crowd of tourists (she is, by the way, actually little, smaller than postcards or iconic significance suggests), and crossed a fortification on a man-made (abstractly) star-shaped island.
Most illustrative of native Copenhagener reality was the park we passed through, with sculpture and a playground for the many children to climb and yell and play on and very large lawns for everyone else and the kids not playing to picnic on.
7/20/07
After a late start, we set out to see the areas of Chistianshaven. After crossing a little canal and walking along it, we found a delightful, large, very busy bakery. Ryan and Eileen ordered fruit tarts and I, curious to see what was inside what appeared to be a mound of coconut-covered chocolate, ordered that. Unfortunately, it was filled with marshmallow cream, but with enough unsweetened strong tea, even that was tasty. As we sat and ate our treats, a small parade passed by, largely unnoticed but fully costumed and replete with jugglers. Shortly after, a small boat of three relaxing pirates floated down the canal, also largely unremarked upon (this was, after all, Christianshaven, the most unique part of unique Copenhagen)
In from the canal was a very pretty, very tall tower on a church, which we climbed. About halfway up, there was an outside viewing platform, then there were stairs that spiraled all the way up around the outside. I climbed all the way to the top and was rewarded by the cheap thrill of being a very long way up (if I spit, which of course I would never do, it might hypothetically take 27 seconds to reach the ground) and by a beautiful view of Copenhagen.
Back on the ground, we located and entered Christiania, a hippie commune declared a Free City and legally outside of the European Union. No photographs were allowed, but much there was photo-worthy in how different it was.
In the afternoon, we walked back to the hostel and boiled our remaining food (an onion and a head of broccoli- delicious, ne?) for dinner.
Remarkable and Interesting Facts and Observations
-Bicycles are never seen with bike shorts and rarely with helmets. It is much more common to see a fashion-conscious lady bicyclist biking in a skirt and heels, or people carrying packs or musical instruments on their backs, or many with child seats, or other interesting things which one is unlikely to find in the States.
-On most roads, there is a separate level of sidewalk for bicycles, about the width of a car lane.
-I definitely saw a balding man walk by in a frilly yellow dress and bright purple tights on the street.
-We noticed a pea vendor by the side of the road, with their little cart like a hot dog stand.
-Boys' fashionable hairstyle: gelled and styled into an extreme case of bedhead.
-In the youth hostel courtyard, a group of guys sits down at a table to drink and talk from around 5 pm until after bedtime. The bottles accumulate on the table.
Oh, what adventures!
By the way, I'm home now, typing from my laptop. I just have a bit of this to catch up, like a week and a half's worth.
Anyhow, Copenhagen: our stay was short, and so likewise will be this email, though not lacking in oddities to include at the end.
7/18/07
In the morning, we took a cheap Sterling Air flight to Copenhagen. The plane was about an hour late, though displayed as on time, which caused some panic by certain adults traveling in our party of three. The plane was only half an hour late when it landed, which was a source of great displeasure in the area of my Eustacian tubes (you know, those ones in your ears that hurt a lot on planes).
We took a bus downtown from the airport to the train station, and walked the few blocks from there to our homely hostel to drop our packs. Lunch was at a Turkish buffet we'd passed on the way in. It was deicious, and allowed us to observe the very Interesting people on the street (for examples, see the section at the end of this email)
In the evening, we met a man to whom I am apparently related (second cousin once removed, I believe) and his Asian-Danish wife. We all went to Tivoli (a rather cozy, well-gardened version of an amusement park, only with nice restaurants, and a pleasant atmosphere), where we takled, walked, and were treated to dinner at a Japanese fast-food place (which I am told was a British idea, but was nevertheless delicious, even though they put wasabi in their chocolate cake) called Wagamama (I hear this means "selfish").
7/19/07
Today was a nice (long) walking tour of the city, in which we explored the pedestrian streets (the longest in the world, the guidebook said), saw the Opera from across the water, got close the the Little Mermaid statue in the harbor, despite the crowd of tourists (she is, by the way, actually little, smaller than postcards or iconic significance suggests), and crossed a fortification on a man-made (abstractly) star-shaped island.
Most illustrative of native Copenhagener reality was the park we passed through, with sculpture and a playground for the many children to climb and yell and play on and very large lawns for everyone else and the kids not playing to picnic on.
7/20/07
After a late start, we set out to see the areas of Chistianshaven. After crossing a little canal and walking along it, we found a delightful, large, very busy bakery. Ryan and Eileen ordered fruit tarts and I, curious to see what was inside what appeared to be a mound of coconut-covered chocolate, ordered that. Unfortunately, it was filled with marshmallow cream, but with enough unsweetened strong tea, even that was tasty. As we sat and ate our treats, a small parade passed by, largely unnoticed but fully costumed and replete with jugglers. Shortly after, a small boat of three relaxing pirates floated down the canal, also largely unremarked upon (this was, after all, Christianshaven, the most unique part of unique Copenhagen)
In from the canal was a very pretty, very tall tower on a church, which we climbed. About halfway up, there was an outside viewing platform, then there were stairs that spiraled all the way up around the outside. I climbed all the way to the top and was rewarded by the cheap thrill of being a very long way up (if I spit, which of course I would never do, it might hypothetically take 27 seconds to reach the ground) and by a beautiful view of Copenhagen.
Back on the ground, we located and entered Christiania, a hippie commune declared a Free City and legally outside of the European Union. No photographs were allowed, but much there was photo-worthy in how different it was.
In the afternoon, we walked back to the hostel and boiled our remaining food (an onion and a head of broccoli- delicious, ne?) for dinner.
Remarkable and Interesting Facts and Observations
-Bicycles are never seen with bike shorts and rarely with helmets. It is much more common to see a fashion-conscious lady bicyclist biking in a skirt and heels, or people carrying packs or musical instruments on their backs, or many with child seats, or other interesting things which one is unlikely to find in the States.
-On most roads, there is a separate level of sidewalk for bicycles, about the width of a car lane.
-I definitely saw a balding man walk by in a frilly yellow dress and bright purple tights on the street.
-We noticed a pea vendor by the side of the road, with their little cart like a hot dog stand.
-Boys' fashionable hairstyle: gelled and styled into an extreme case of bedhead.
-In the youth hostel courtyard, a group of guys sits down at a table to drink and talk from around 5 pm until after bedtime. The bottles accumulate on the table.
Oh, what adventures!
By the way, I'm home now, typing from my laptop. I just have a bit of this to catch up, like a week and a half's worth.
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