Good Bye and Good Night

I'm back in Kansas...

Well actually it's more like Victoria, British Columbia.

This will be the last posting for this blogsite. I felt that I needed to have a final concluding word to just sum up my Scandinavian adventures. Destinations in chronological order beginning 29th of August 2009 and ending 7th October 2009:

Tonsberg, Norway
Oslo, Norway
Bergen, Norway
Balestrand, Norway
Fjaerland, Norway
Alesund, Norway
Trondheim, Norway
Sundsvall, Sweden
Umea, Sweden
Vaasa, Finland
Jyvaskyla, Finland
Pori, Finland
Helsinki, Finland
Tallinn, Estonia
Turku, Finland
Stockholm, Sweden
Helsingborg, Sweden
Helsingor, Denmark
Humlebaek, Denmark
Copenhagen, Denmark

A brief visit to Glasgow again to send some boxes home, kiss my boyfriend and pick up my cat before heading home to Canada.

Packing List:

hiking boots ( useful for the first week on the farm, gave them away in Helsinki because I got tired of carrying them, plus they started to hurt my feet)
1 pair of waterproof pants ( gave these away in Jyvaskyla)
walking shoes
fast drying top ( I lived in this shirt, super comfortable and breathable)
3 extra long sleeve cotton tops ( 1 too many. I think I would have been better off with 1 extra fasting drying top)
PJ top
PJ bottom
5 pairs of socks
5 pairs of underwear
2 bras
1 swimsuit
1 hat
1 pair of gloves
contacts/solution
hair brush
deodorant
toothbrush
toothpaste
shampoo
body soap
small bottle of laundry soap
nail clipper
mobile phone
phone charger
digital camera
digital camera battery charger
USB card reader to transfer photo files
1 hooded base layer jacket/doubled as jumper
1 3/4 length rain jacket
1 umbrella
Combination Lock (I didn't use this)
1 pair of flip flops
Head torch
Spork
Travel Guides
Sketch book
Diary
Pens

Wish I had brought:
sink stopper for washing clothes
personal music player of some sort

10 things I learned along the way:

1. From Linda, Marianne, the family and their students, I learned that a happy life can be found in the garden.
2. I'm allergic to Norwegian midges
3. Scandinavia has many good qualities, coffee quality isn't one of them I'm afraid.
4. Couchsurfing has forever changed my independent travel adventures. I'm glad I took the time to go search for fellow couchsurfers who shared my age and my interests. I was able to meet contacts that I will endeavour to keep in touch with. Seeing a place through the eyes of a local has to be one of the best experiences ever.
5. As Marja, my lovely Swedish friend put it - Amongst the Scandinavian countries - " The Swedes are like the English of Scandinavia, nobody likes us "
6. There seems to be a mutual respect between the Scandinavians and the Japanese when it comes to design aesthetic and the Moomintrolls. I'm still contemplating this one.
7. Being able to experience and visit Alvar Aalto's masterpieces completely inspired me again. Learning about his buildings through books is nothing compared to actually seeing them in person. He just has this innate understanding of light, nature and landscape that seamlessly resolves itself in architecture that is sensitive to human scale, form and materials.
8. Try to avoid train travel during the day. There were a few beautiful afternoons that I could have spent sight-seeing, but because of my tight itinerary I had to spend them on a train.
9. Norway has some really good alternative music. Thanks again Annette for introducing me to Kings of Convenience
10. There is sauna etiquette in Finland. Note to foreigner - you might want to do some research before participating in Finnish sauna. Thanks to Kevin, Tero and Emmi for enlightening me.

Thanks to all my followers who were just so bored at work that they had resorted to following me on my blogsite. Mincing About is going to take an extended hiatus while I get settled on the west coast of Canada, but may resurrect itself on my next travel adventure! Also, I've added some more photos to previous postings, if interested. To future travellers who will be visiting Scandinavia, I hope my blogs have been helpful in planning your itinerary.

I am working on my next blogsite which is called: http://dugnadcollective.blogspot.com/. It's still being fleshed out but I hope to use the site to explore and document my post graduate research and next career path...so watch this space.

Safe journeys
xoxo

Copenhagen in the wind and rain

I managed to arrive at the Louisiana Museum on Saturday morning just before they opened the doors. It was raining and I was drenched by the time I arrived. It was about a 15min walk from the train station. The museum is busy on a Saturday. I'd hate to see it on a beautiful sunny day as I would have imagined it would have been twice as busy. Out of all the museums I have seen over the course of my travels - this one was by far the best. The building blends in seamlessly with the landscape, framing views of the Oresund and surrounding forest. I was in heaven. The exhibitions are of high quality and engaging. I could have spent the whole day there but there was just too many people and I was happy to leave after a few hours. Got back on the train and headed to Copenhagen. A relatively short trip - it only took about 30min.

I had booked a private room and decided to treat myself before catching up with Marja, a friend and ex-colleague. She was away the weekend I arrived and we had arranged to meet up on Monday. The private room was on the 6th floor of the Danhostel (City) with views of the canal and one of Plot Architects early projects - the Harbour Bath on Islands Brygge. It was comfortable except for the annoying magnetic card keys that were difficult to use and the fact that I wasn't able to leave my luggage at the hotel on Monday morning because they were expecting 800 school children that day and I was told that the luggage room would be full. Would I stay there again?...probably not.

I was a tourist for the first couple of days in Copenhagen. I didn't have a couchsurfer host and only had my Lonely Planet guide. I did all the touristy sites including the Little Mermaid. I found it quite strange that this statue was such an attraction. It reminded me of the statue of the Greyfriar's Bobby in Edinburgh. Monday afternoon came quickly and I was looking forward to seeing Marja. I ended up having to leave my luggage at the train station storage lockers and we ended up meeting there before going back to her place in trendy Vesterbro to drop of my bags at her flat. Headed out for drinks at a local pub and then some Thai food, followed by more drinking and hanging out back at her place...It was nice to see a familiar face and someone whom I could just relax and enjoy my last few days of my travels.

Marja and her flatmate share a two room flat with kitchen and toilet - the shower room was downstairs on the ground floor - her flat located on the 5th floor. One shower is shared by all the tenants in the building... I was still trying to get over this concept as we headed to the pub. I was left to my own devices that night as Marja was kind enough to let me have her room whilst she stayed at her boyfriends place.

Next morning Marja showed up with Danish for breakfast and we had a leisurely morning with coffee and delicious pastry. She had taken the day off from work to show me around the city and the sun was out. I was starting to warm up. First stop was the Arne Jacobsen's SAS Radisson Hotel. Marja tried to use her Swedish charm on the concierge at the front desk to let us go up to the restaurant/bar to have a drink in Jacobsen designed lounge chairs and soak up the view. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful and were told that you needed to make a reservation for a table and perhaps we should try coming back around 6pm at which time they "may" allow us to go up and have a look.

We left and headed to the shopping district to pick up some souvenirs. As Copenhagen is my last destination before heading back to Glasgow I decided it was time to pick up some gifts without having to worry about carrying it around with me whilst I travelled. Shopping was followed by lunch at a strange American western styled pub which served traditional Danish lunch. We had a bit of pickled herring with capers and onions on rye bread. Fried fish with mustard sauce and more rye bread followed by a fillet of beef with another small salad. Washed down with a Tuborg lager. It was lovely even though the atmosphere was questionable.

After lunch we decided to hit a museum and chose the Danish Museum of Decorative Art. The one museum I didn't get to during the first couple of days on my own in Copenhagen. Beautiful building with a lovely courtyard in the middle. We zipped around the exhibitions which were quite good. Highlight for me was the Arne Jacobsen chairs and the poster exhibition - they had everything from Communist Propaganda posters from the mid 1900's to Toulouse Lautrec posters of Paris theatre. We then ended up sitting in the courtyard garden having a Carlsberg and soaking up the last of the days sun.

Headed back to the flat to pick up my things. On the way we passed by an interesting housing development. Marja thought it would be easier if I stayed at Jacob's place as it was easier for me to get to the airport the next day. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back. We decided to go shopping for food to make a big feast for dinner. Food, wine and friends on my last night in Copenhagen - the perfect end to an amazing trip!

On the Road to Copenhagen

I left Amy in Stockholm. She had another night and booked accommodation in the Ice Hotel... The last few days in Stockholm were cold. Amy and I struggled to get around to all of the museums. I have been here once before so I by-passed the Lewerentz and Asplund architecture because I didn't think Amy would be up for it and I felt I didn't need to see them again. We hit the Museum of Modern Art, Nobel Museum and Nordic Museum instead. I would highly recommend all. Especially the restaurant in the Museum of Modern Art, really good food and reasonably priced. Other time was spent just hanging out in cafes and an afternoon shopping in Södermalm. It was nice to catch up with Amy again. I took a great picture of her eating a bratwurst covered in mashed potato and rolled up in a flat bread with ketchup and onions. Yum-yum...

We had both gone to bed early as I had an 8am train to catch in the morning. At around midnight the hotel fire alarms went off. I've never seen so many pissed off people as we trundled down the stairs and into the lobby only to find out that it was set off by a couple of French Belgians who were smoking in their rooms. Suffice it to say that people were fairly grumpy at breakfast this morning.

I made it into Helsingborg around 2pm. Left my bag at the hostel and went off to find the Dunker's Museum designed by Kim Utzon and opened in 2002. The building houses a concert hall, a shop, a reading room, a restaurant/bar and exhibition spaces all arranged around a central hall with views out towards the harbour and Öresund. I'll have to post photos of it later. Had lunch in the cafe. It was well worth the 114 swedish crowns.



Tomorrow I think I will try to have a leisurely morning before catching the ferry to Helsingor in Denmark. I'll be going to see the Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek before catching another train to Copenhagen.

The Louisiana Museum designed by Jørgen Bo and Wilhelm Wohlert and opened in 1958 is known as "a masterpiece of Danish modern architecture" according to their website.












I was blown away by this museum. The calibur of the exhibitions were exceptional. Well designed, thought provoking and engaging were my first impressions. The setting of the museum was another story. I found myself constantly trying to find a good perspective or angle to take in and look at the building itself to get the big idea. I soon gave up as the museum is completely nestled into the surrounding forest - that's when I realized how dumb I was being. The building was about glazed corridors and passageways, cafe and galleries with framed views of the Oresund. The building was designed from the inside out, a vehicle that would enable people to experience the landscape and forest.