A change of pace

A friend, who I met a few years back through mutual acquaintances, is living back in Stockholm. We made plans to catch up at lunch time today. In addition to that I wanted to go to the top of the city hall tower. The rest of the day was fluid.

I organised myself to get to city hall by 9:00am. They only sell tickets to the tower on the day and there is a strict limit of 30 people per tour. My intention was to get on the earliest tour possible, but while walking to city hall I noticed the sun was still quite low in the east. It would have made it very difficult to photograph the part of the city I most wanted to. I decided to buy a ticket for later in the day instead.  

Ticket purchased, I had some time to spare before heading off to meet Adam. I wandered a bit around Gamla Stan looking for souvenirs. Which reminds me, I hope people aren't expecting any post cards from me. With this blog they seem a bit redundant. For morning tea I purchased a delicious almond bun from a bakery in Gamla Stan.  From Gamla Stan I had a good view of city hall.

i wanted to make sure I was on time to meet Adam so I headed to the central station to catch the metro. While I was there I checked out where I would need to go tomorrow when I catch the train to Oslo. I caught the metro to Telefonplan. It's further out than I had previously been and it was interesting to see the difference. 

It was great to be able to chat with the delightful Adam and hear about everything he's up to. He's a co-founder/co-organiser of the Stockholm Fringe. But time flies and before I knew it, it was time to let Adam get back to work and me back into the city. 

I made it to city hall in plenty of time before my tour so I took some photos of the building. Until today I had only seen it from a distance and it seemed a bit monolithic and harsh. Up close I saw another side.

There were just over 300 steps to the top of the tower. It was definitely a work out. But the steps were much easier to navigate than the tower in Copenhagen. The view was worth it. 

By the time the tour was over I decided to head back. I was going to see something at 6:00pm that Adam had suggested and I wanted some time to regroup. By the time I got on the metro it was packed. At each stop I was getting squeezed closer and closer to the centre. I could see it was going to be difficult to get off at my stop. When we arrived I could have pushed through but, as I wasn't in any hurry, I decided to stay on the train until it thinned out a bit. I got to see some more of the outer areas of Stockholm. I ended up getting off only a few stops past mine and a return train came soon after. 

The event Adam suggested is difficult to describe. Read this link if you're interested. http://www.darkmountain.se/en/the-village-the-forest-may/ It was certainly thought provoking and I'm glad I went. Climate change was the theme and some of the discussion actually connected with thoughts I'd had at the Other Worlds exhibition in London. What is nature? Does it exist on the other planets of the solar system? Are we destroying nature or are we just destroying our particular vision of nature? Will nature rebalance and go on without us? Would nature still exist in a lifeless earth?

It wasn't a late night though. I'm just sitting in bed now writing this. Tomorrow I catch the train to Oslo. 

Thursday part 3: Danish design

My last destination for the day was the Danish Design Museum. On the way I came across an old part of town where all the buildings were the same design and ochre render. 

There were some other interesting sights too. 

The design museum had a couple of exhibitions as well as their standard collections. An interesting exhibition was one that explored Japanese influences on Danish design.

I wandered around the museum, at one stage getting stuck in a guided tour bottleneck.  Here are some pictures of my favourite things.

This was the most beautiful thing I saw. It was in an exhibition of Danish design today. I couldn't work out whether it was glass or acrylic, but I think it's stunning. 

By the time I got to the end of the museum it was raining. It was still only mid afternoon, but I decided I'd done well fitting all that in and it was time to relax and head back to the apartment. I bought some more supplies as well as a delicious snack from a bakery nearby. Could this be why my waist is expanding? 

Tomorrow it's on to Stockholm.  

Thursday part 2: Royal bling

Yesterday I visited Rosenborg Slot (castle) but was too late to look around. So today's plan was to go back. As well as walking around the various state rooms you can see the Crown Jewels. 

This tree in the castle grounds reminded me of an old man looking out for danger. 

In the castle they had a very civilised attitude to photography, so I was able to take pictures everywhere.  It was a really impressive collection of rooms with some amazing art works and tapestries.

Last stop for the day would be the Danish Design Museum. 

Thursday part 1: dizzying heights

When I was writing yesterday's blog post I nearly had a technological meltdown because after an hour of writing, my post wouldn't save. Luckily everything came good in the end, but I've decided it might be smart to break some of these posts into smaller pieces. So here's part 1 of today. 

I was exhausted yesterday so had an early night. I still had a restless sleep but managed to force myself to stay in bed until almost 7:00am this morning. Outside the weather was looking promising; a bit brighter than yesterday. However, the weather report looked grim with chance of storm. I decided to believe my eyes and head out. Today I remembered my gloves so I was toasty warm. 

My first destination was the tower of the Church of the Savior. We saw it on our canal cruise yesterday and I discovered it opens at 10:00am.

On the way I wondered through some new streets and the area known as Christianshavn. 

My plan was to be at the head of the queue for the tower, and I was! From the moment I started climbing I had flashbacks from when Emily and I climbed the cathedral in Florence. It was a long way, though I'm not sure exactly how many steps. 2/3 of the climbing is inside the brick part. The stairs get narrower and steeper as you go up past the bells.

I didn't notice until the way down, but there was a bed on a landing half way up. I have no idea why. 

Eventually I got to the top of the brick structure. There is a platform almost all the way around with spectacular views.

Then I climbed the outside stairs, which were actually easier, until I got to the very top. The view was not that much different, but at least I had made it. It was a long way down.

Back on the ground I looked up to see where I had been. 

Next stop was Rosenborg Slot (castle).  

I asked for cold

I didn't sleep all that well last night. The bed was really comfortable but the room temperature was too warm for my liking. I ended up putting the aircon on for a bit to try and cool it down! It rained throughout the night and when I got out of bed at 5:30am (my body, or mind, must still be in work wake up mode)  it was very grey and wintery outside. 

Undetered, I wrote my blog from yesterday while having my breakfast and eventually got ready to brave outside. My weather report said 4 degrees but I had 4 layers on and felt OK.  

Yesterday I took a photo of a dragon light pole. There are also dragons in a different style around where the hotel is. I did research last night and the originals were designed by Vilhelm Dahlerup and installed in 1892. The new ones are cubist reinterpretations of that original design. Other than that there appears to be no particular significance. 

I headed off along the harbour front near the hotel. Along the wharves are various buildings but this one attracted my attention because of the colour and the unusual window layout. 

From there I headed towards the city centre which took me past The Little Mermaid. Not something I'd make a trip to see, but since I was passing... 

I noticed a variety of building styles but the fresco pained at the top of this building was quite unique.  It had a slightly Egyptian feel to it.

And this was another striking building. 

The entire facade was covered in an extremely detailed mesh. 

​Some bees were keeping guard on this building.

And someone must have thought that this box needed some extra colour or warmth. 

Amalienborg Slot is the official royal residence. It's a set of 4 buildings around a circular courtyard. I was surprised that the public could walk right into the courtyard. As I discovered later, this building is the queen's residence but she wasn't home at the time. 

Near these palaces is a park with some great sculpture. As soon as I saw them their style seemed familiar. Later I did some research and they were created by Arnaldo Pomodoro. And he also created a work I had seen in the sculpture park in Washington DC. The sculptures are four columns. This picture only shows you part of one, but it should give an idea of the style and detail.

So far the weather had behaved but soon it began to rain. And then I noticed tiny pellets of sleet. Well, not quite the snow I had hoped for, but close. But it ended quickly. 

Before long I made it to Nyhavn, a very picturesque and famous part of Copenhagen. When I first arrived it was very grey but I still managed to get some good pictures. Later the sun came out briefly and I took some more. 

As it looked like the weather had broken for a little while I decided it was good timing to go on a canal cruise. These leave regularly from Nyhavn. The tour went for just over an hour and took us out into the harbour (brrr), through many of the canals and under quite a few bridges.

We went past the opera house. 

In the distance we could see a tower. Our guide explained that it was part of a church and you can walk to the top. Weather permitting, I will try to do that tomorrow. 

These boxes were on one of the poles along the canal. I assume they are for birds. 

This structure on the side of one of the bridges reminded me of a submarine conning tower. But it also reminded me a little of one of the towers I saw at the Berlin Wall.

The tour took us past Christiansborg Palace. I believe this is now the parliament building. I couldn't see much of the building but this tower/spire was impressive. 

The most modern bridge we went under opens by each half retracting. You could see the massive wheel on one half as we went under. 

By the time the tour had finished I was frozen. It's easy for me to keep warm while walking but sitting outside (to take photos) on the boat was bitterly cold and my hands in particular had lost their feeling. I had forgotten to take my gloves with me this morning. It was also starting to rain again. I decided I needed some food and to warm up. After many indecisive moments perusing the menus along Nyhavn I settled on one small place that looked cosy and friendly. And it was. Once again, super friendly staff quite happy to speak in perfect English. I ordered a smorrebrod (Danish open sandwich) with roast beef and horseradish and a beer. The beer came in this enormous glass!

Once the rain had subsided, I emerged full, warmed and re-energised. I made my way to another castle I wanted to see. On the way I passed this shop window selling only lamps.

Rosenberg Castle was originally built as a summerhouse for King Christian IV. I was hoping to go inside but it closes at 2:00pm and it was already 1:30pm. I decided to leave it until tomorrow. 

My last planned destination was to check out some lakes further north in the city. I walked through the botanic gardens and came across this little guy. Much more ginger than those I've seen in England or America. 

The lakes were a little underwhelming so I wandered back in the general direction of the hotel discovering a few interesting things on the way and picking up some supplies for dinner. 

By the time I got to my apartment I was feeling exhausted. I sat on the couch and dozed off. When I awoke it was still light and the weather was holding. My mind was telling me that I should head out again to take advantage of the conditions. But my body wouldn't let me do it.  

There's one last thing I want to share though. This building is near the hotel. I think it typifies the architecture around here and it's completely clad in slate shingles. 

PS, I can't remember if I've written this already but I can feel I have put on weight already on this trip! 

Leaving London (for now)

Today I leave London for my little Scandinavian adventure. The sky in London is beautiful and blue this morning. Would have been great for photos. Oh well.  I'll be back. I got myself organised fairly quickly. My plan was to get a taxi to St Pancras station then the train to Luton Airport for my flight.

Once again, the taxi driver was very amiable and talkative. Such a nice experience. My primary reason for catching he train was for the scenery. If I took a taxi all the way I figured I'd probably only see motorway. Once at the station it took a bit of figuring out but I got to the platform and boarded my train. At first the view was just the usual inner city landscape, but then it opened up to wide fields and small towns. 

At Luton Airport Parkway we needed to change to a shuttle bus to get to the airport. Trying to get my back onto the luggage rack in the bus was a challenge but I got there with a little help. At the bag drop counter I discovered my bag was just on 20kg which is my limit for these short flights. The books I've bought already have really added to the weight.  

I was at the airport early so had just about an hour to wait. I'd rather be at the airport early than have to worry about missing a flight. But it did remind me that flying in the middle of the day wastes so much of the day. If I had flown later I would have been able to do something in London in the morning.  While waiting for my flight I reflected on how I was about to immerse myself in non-English speaking lands again. I haven't done that for an extended period since my trip in 2013.

The flight up was a bit bumpy. The plane was an A319 and its noises were unfamiliar to me. I have to confess it was a bit unnerving. But eventually it settled down and I got a good view of some rain in the distance then some English countryside.

Somewhere around the North Sea or Denmark we crossed these islands. 

Before crossing the island where Copenhagen is. 

The airport is huge and I took ages just to walk to the exit and through passport check. As with leaving Australia and entering the UK I seemed to draw some extra attention that warranted a little "interrogation". Just specific questions about what I was planning to do and why I was there. Not everyone appeared to get these questions. I guess a middle aged man travelling all that way on his own on holiday might not be common?

Eventually I was reunited with my bag and any lingering concerns about flying with easyJet were dispelled. Despite some bad ratings I've had a great experience with them both times.

As with London, I decided to catch the train into central Copenhagen and then a taxi to the apartment hotel. Of course this time was trickier due to language but I made it without hitch. The trains seem much roomier than the English trains and very new. It only took about 15 minutes and before long I was in a taxi. I managed to communicate the address to the driver successfully only to discover his English was as good as mine.  Another very amiable and talkative driver too. I had been told that most people here speak English well and that certainly seems to be the case so far.

I'm staying in an apartment hotel which means I've got a bit more space and facilities to make my own breakfast and meals if I want. But there's also a restaurant and bar too. 

The weather in Copenhagen was grey, about 6 degrees and damp. By this time it was around 4:30 so after checking in I rushed to get some warmer clothes on and head out to explore.

Right next to the hotel is Kastallet which appears to have been an old fortification but is now mainly a public space with barracks in the centre. 

As in London, I came across trees in blossom. 

After exploring the grounds I walked towards some docks and came across this incredibly intricate sculpture.  

Nearby I noticed dragons at the top of the light poles. Later, at dinner, I would notice dragons in a different design on other light poles. Must have some significance. I will investigate.

By now it was nearly 6:30pm and I was starting to get hungry. So I headed back. On the way, I came across this family. 

There's a supermarket on the corner of the hotel's block so I popped in for breakfast supplies. With a little guesswork I (hopefully) managed to work out the fat and sugar content labels in order to make some healthy choices (and I successfully resisted the muesli with chocolate pieces)

Dinner in the hotel restaurant was in order before a relatively early night.