Dala Husby, Sweden

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Our last few days were spent seeing friends in their summer home in the small town of Dala Husby, about 2 hours north of Stockholm. Vera, her parents, Leandro and a family friend from Switzerland and a couple of dogs, good wine, cheese and gooey yogurt, a tranquil boat ride, a lovely dinner and good cheer made for a great finale to our trip. Thank you Vera and family for your kindness and hospitality. We enjoyed everything!

Stockholm's Nordic Museum

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I love a good museum, and this was one of the best I've seen. So, what is there to see at the Nordic Museum?
* Fashion and garments from the mid 18th century until the present day.
* Table settings from the 16th century to circa 1950.
* Photographs of Swedish life in the past.
* An exhibition of Sami life.
* household objects of all kinds, including toys.
* an exhibition about traditions and festivals.
* shoes from the 17th century to the present day.
* examples of Swedish interiors and interior design from 1870 to 2000.
* a gallery with textiles.

Stockholm's Vasa Museum

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Vasa Museum houses the world famous 17th Century warship which sank on her maiden voyage in 1628. It was found and raised in 1961 after 333 years lying at the bottom of the sea under severe weather conditions. The ship set sail with 150 sailors aboard and as many as 50 sailors perished together with the ship. The ship was decorated with hundreds of beautiful carved sculptures and most of them are still intact. Incredibly more than 95% of the ship is original. It is the only 17th Century ship known to have been salvaged by mankind. The ship has three masts and is 69 metres long, 52 metres tall and weighs 1,200 tons. A visitor can walk around the ship and view the whole ship from many angles. This 'must-see' museum is the most visited museum in Scandinavia.

Stockholm, Sweden

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Stockholm's Nobel Prize Sites: Concert & City Hall

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This completed our whirlwind tour of Nobel Prize sites in Scandinavia that started in Oslo, Norway, two weeks earlier. In Oslo we toured their Nobel Museum and City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year. The five other prizes are awarded in Stockholm at the Concert Hall. The celebration continues at City Hall with a fancy banquet and party, with dancing to Abba!

Copenhagen 2:The Little Mermaid, Icebar, World Cup & Sightseeing

These photos and captions speak for themselves.


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Copenhagen: Christiania, Harbor cruise, Tivoli, Diana Krall concert, Sailing

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What a great city! We arrived around 10pm from our short flight from Bergen. Kirsten took a cab to her cousin's home to stay with their family for a few days. Mitch and I took the metro to our hotel near Nyhavn, the colorful 17th century waterfront. The next day we met up with Kirsten and her family on their sailboat for coffee. It was very sunny and warm and the forecast for the week was good. Rasmus is a swashbucklin sailor who lived on a boat for two years while attending theater school in Copenhagen. He has two adorable daughtes and a pretty Danish girlfriend who was born in Christiania. They recently traveled to Bali and live in a converted church at the edge of the city.

After coffee we explored Christiania, which is a free community established in 1971 when hippies took over abandoned military bararks. It is both a controversial social experiment and a thriving community. We had a picnic with some smoked salmon we bought in Norway, and some Tuborg beer we bought at a friendly bar in Christiania. Photos are not allowed, but we walked around for a bit to explore. Cannabis grows everywhere, and there are restaurants, a famous bike shop, stores and art galleries. People were doing their own thing and seemed to be happy. *See excerpt below from a Rick Steves article, or read the chapter from his book Travel as a Political Act. I find it fascinating.

Later we took a 90 minute harbor cruise which was a great way to sightsee from the water. That night Mitch and I explored the Stroget, the longest pedestrianized street in Europe full of shops, street musicians, cafes and food vendors. Every block had ice cream, waffles or crepe stands so the air was saturated in sweetness.

Jazzfest is going on all week, there are bandstands set up throughout the city. Outdoor venues are free, and there are some top names at the larger indoor venues. We thought we'd try to get tickets to see Diana Krall at Tivoli Tues. night. We got lucky and got seats in row 30, center of the orchestra. Tivoli itelf was amazing, but to see one of our favorite singers was beyond belief. Tivoli is an amusement park built in 1843 long before Disneyland. Its charming and full of rides, restaurants, lakes and gardens. At night everything is lit up, giving it a magical glow. We had a very nice dinner at a Danish restaurant, and explored Tivoli more after the concert. Elvis Costello performed the night before and we were hoping he'd come out and perform an encore song with Diana (they are married with kids), but that didn't happen. She did sing a song he wrote the lyrics to. Our favorites that night were I'll String Along with You, Dancing Cheek to Cheek and a soulful Tom Waits song. Diana with her 3 piece band was amazing live.

The next day Kirsten and I went sailing with Rasmus, Liev, Lil (5 yrs), Coco (1 yr) and Pearl, who they were dog sitting. It was a great day, and the girls and dog were so cute. We sailed out beyond the huge windmills and could see the bridge to Sweden. It was very calm on the way out but the wind picked up as we came back in. Rasmus is a skilled sailor and quite amazing. At one point he had his baby asleep on his lap while navigating into the harbor and pointing out interesting sites to Kirsten and I. He's one cool Dane!

That night we watched the Spain-Germany world cup game. There is a huge screen on the pier that was packed with fans which we could see from our hotel window. At one point I had Danish TV on mute and the espn audio feed in English streaming on my laptop, but the audio was about 1 minute behind real time so I cut the audio and listened to the Danish commentary. I'm so happy Spain won and look forward to watching the final against Holland on Sun. Go Espana!


* "In 1971, the original 700 Christianians established squatters' rights in an abandoned military barracks, just a 10-minute walk from the Danish parliament building. A generation later, this "free city" still stands — an ultra-human mishmash of idealists, hippies, potheads, non-materialists and happy children (600 adults, 200 kids, 200 cats, 200 dogs, 17 horses and 2 parrots). There are even a handful of Willie Nelson–type seniors among the 180 remaining here from the original takeover. And an amazing thing has happened: The place has become the third-most-visited sight among tourists in Copenhagen. Move over, Little Mermaid." -- Rick Steves

CPH Museums: Danish Design Center, Carlsberg Brewery & National Museum

During our eight days in Copenhagen we visited a few great museums. The Danish Design Center, National Museum and the Carlsberg Brewery.



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Martha Wainright Sings Piaf at Jazz Festival

We just saw this concert at the Copenhagen's Royal Theater:
http://jazz.dk/en/copenhagen-jazz-festival/event?eventId=2489

Martha captured Piaf's beautiful & haunting sound and we really felt the emotion despite not understanding all the French lyrics. She also played guitar for one of of her own songs and sang few her late mother wrote. She came out for 2 encores after a standing ovation. We really didn't know much about Martha, but I really like her style, range and complex powerful voice. She's got chops!

She has a new album of a selction of Edith Piaf songs - see video below for a taste.

Martha Wainwright's Piaf Record promo video from Martha Wainwright on Vimeo.

Days 6-9: Bergen

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We arrived in Bergen around noon on the ferry from Balestrand. Mitch found us a great deal on a hotel - another hard to pronounce Clarion - the Havnekontoret, located next to Bryggen the old German wharf. We were lucky because the Tourist Info office said all rooms were booked due to high season and a John Fogerty concert that night. Doh! Anyway, we had an incredible time in Bergen. Highlights:

• Funicular to Mt. Floyen with incredible views of Bergen and surrounding fjords
• Bergen walking tour and museums
• Incredibly warm weather - 70s but very cool in the shade
• Great nightlife with almost midnight sun
• Picnicing and getting food from the Fish market
• Getting really goofy in a tacky souvenir shop (see photos)
• Meeting some nice locals and a sweet family from Spain
• *Private tour of the Oleana factory and saving 50% on our purchases in their outlet
• **Private tour of the Salhus historic knitwear industry factory & museum

We decided to change our itinerary to get to Denmark as the 17 hour overnight ferry from Stavenger had no sleeping cabins available. So, we got a cheap flight on Norwegian Airlines direct from Bergen to Copenhagen, saving us lots of time and kroners.



* Inspired by Norwegian folk costume tradition, the Oleana garments have their place in the long history of Nordic knitting traditions.

From the originally simple sweaters in black or in white made in the 18th century, more intricate patterns evolved over time, resulting in today's contemporary design, such as the richly patterned knitwear of the Norwegian company Oleana.

Designer Solveig Hisdal joined Oleana in 1992, and is responsible for many prize-winning designs. For her recent collection, she has found inspiration in Chinese ornamentation traditions, illustrating how patterns and materials know no borders.

Traditionally, knitting was an important task for young girls to know, and was also linked to love. The romantic aspect of knitting is still present today. Oleana is a company that has built it's creation on the belief that women need less, but more beautiful clothes, made in a sustainable way.



**The Salhus Knitwear Factory was established near Bergen in 1859 by a young entrepreneur from Slesvig. Knitted textiles were a product of the modern times, and Salhus was Norway’s first fully mechanised knitwear factory. Underwear, swimwear and socks bearing the Krone-Makko brand name were some of the products that were shipped out from the small fjord-side harbour. Salhus quickly grew to become a small commercial town, where the director’s residence had a prominent place. The owners exercised patriarchal authority over the small community, meting out equal measures of fear and care, and there were few labour conflicts. The factory withstood several crises, but by 1989 it had become unprofitable due to international competition. The Norwegian Knitting Industry Museum opened in 2001.