Highlights from Iceland

Iceland is the twenty-first country I've visited, and probably the weirdest. I would totally go back there, though. The flight is short (direct from MSP); the package deals include airfare and hotel and breakfasts; the people are friendly and speak great English; the water is safe to drink; the weather is surprisingly mild. The thing about Iceland that shocked me is that it has an 800 year history (settled by Norwegians) but there are only 300,000 people in the entire country, and 2/3 of them live in the capital city, Reykjavik. As I understand, the reason for the small population is that this is the number of people who have managed to survive living on volcanic rock. There is no topsoil on Iceland. The only things they could eat (until the recent harvesting of geothermal power) are fish, sheep, and moss. Now they grow food in greenhouses, so the health of the people has improved significantly. Still, most everything on the island is imported via ship.

Signs advise you not to drive your tractor in downtown during rush hour.
The trees on Iceland (in Iceland? I can't get over the feeling that this is a marooned island forlornly floating in the middle of the cold Atlantic)... Most trees in Iceland are no taller than me, probably due to the poor topsoil and harsh winds. Seriously, HOW do people survive here? They must be incredibly resourceful and sturdy. Many of the houses were sided with corrugated iron, which I imagine to really stand up to the biting Atlantic wind. Yet Icelanders do it with style -- look at the cute frame of this window.

You'll notice that you won't see any people in our pics of Iceland, because we saw very few. On our first night in the capital city, we saw not a soul walking the streets; we found a few in a restaurant. We were the only guests in the bar. The Icelanders were friendly, fluent in English, and seemed incredibly grateful for our presence. Every dollar I spent there (with a rather expensive exchange rate, I must say) felt to me like a donation for the benefit of a remarkable nation teetering on the brink of...I don't know. Let's just say that tourism is an important industry.

And it's really true, what they say about the midnight sun. Here's midnight in Reykjavik in July.

Another example of great Icelandic design. This church in Reykjavik is built to mirror the volcanoes that make up the power and substance of this land.

One day we made arrangements with a family farm to go horseback riding. Icelandic horses are small and sturdy, but don't call them ponies! They're famous because they have five gaits, as compared to most horses' typical three (walk, trot, cantor/gallop). We drove a few minutes outside of town and rode among these breathtaking views.

They outfitted with horses similar to our personalities. Nick's horse was gentle and sweet, contentedly hung toward the back of the group watching the others, not wanting to compete. My horse was feisty, always vying for the #2 or #3 position in the caravan. I was pretty sore by the end of the day, but loved it. (Gratitude to my Uncle Larry for teaching me to ride!)

The coolest thing to see in Iceland is definitely the Blue Lagoon. If I haven't yet conveyed to you how strange this island is, these photos might give you a clue. If you ever fly to Europe via Icelandic Air and have anything more than a two-hour layover, I implore you to get the 20-minute bus to the Blue Lagoon to have a dip. The water is milky blue-green, with white silica mud and smooth lava rock at the bottom of the pools. You know how I love spas and hot springs, but really, anyone would enjoy this place. Do go.

Iceland: Otherworldly, yet not so far away...

Highlights from Denmark

Our adventures in Denmark were limited to two places: the historical town of Roskilde and the lovely capital, Copenhagen. First and most importantly, I should tell you that danishes are delicious. The pastry, not the people. We didn't taste the people.

Secondly, I would recommend that you buy the Copenhagen tourist card that gives you 24 hours of free public transport and museum admission, which is TOTALLY worth it. In some cities it's not a great deal, but there is so much great stuff to see here, and the public transport is so efficient. One of our favorite stops was a tour of the Danish royal palace. There weren't a ton of people on the tour, so we were able to get some great shots of these incredibly ornate rooms. Here's Nick's favorite room, the library.

Isn't this dining room amazing?

I don't even know what this room was - something pink - but while on our trip in Scandinavia we made a habit of posing next to the statues.

Here's Nick keeping guard at the palace.

And did I mention that Copenhagen is awesome!? They say it's a blend of cultures of mainland Europe and Scandinavia. Look at this safe bike lane for the commuters!

Here's a pic from the wonderful amusement park in downtown Copenhagen, Tivoli. The remarkable thing about this park was the design, that somehow managed to be a pleasant place for both adults and children, without being kitschy.

And check out these gorgeous canals that were dug out to copy the livability and beauty of Venice. Included in the Copenhagen Card was a free canal tour - totally the best thing we did in the country.

Freetown Christiania is a famous self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood (nation?) in Copenhagen. It has a hippie vibe and I'd heard great things about the murals and the cool people. Sadly, we found that the place was full of rubbish and not the successful self-governed community we expected. The murals were great, though.

We visited the town of Roskilde via a short train ride from Copenhagen. Roskilde has a famous and rather incredible church that houses all of the tombs of Danish royalty for many centuries. The town also has a Viking ship museum. Considering the vikings are THE famous thing about Scandinavia, we thought we should educate ourselves. Or at least, dress up in viking costumes and sit in a fabricated boat.

Here's a real Viking ship in the swanky museum in Roskilde, Denmark.

Highlights from Norway

This summer Nick took the wonderful opportunity to study abroad in Norway as part of his studies at Hamline Law School. (I had the chance to study abroad in South Africa in 1999 and India in 2010, so I thought he should certainly take this opportunity as he finishes up his education!) Nick was in Norway for four weeks (while I worked, gardened, and took a grantwriting course). After he finished exams at the University of Oslo I flew out to meet him for a wonderful adventure together in Scandinavia. He posted some nice photos of each of the four countries we visited, on his blog (see the link on the right: Nick's Extended Adventure). Here's me, fresh off the plane, with Norwegian trolls and reindeer skins.

Nick got to see quite a bit of the country of Norway, but I only visited Oslo. Probably the most famous thing in Oslo is the sculpture park designed by Gustav Viegeland. The sculpture park is gorgeous and FREE, which is unusual and wonderful in the incredibly expensive country of Norway. (Or, maybe it's just that the USD is so weak right now...)

I loved these iron gates and their use of space.

Many of the gates and doorways of Oslo's buildings depicted snowflakes.

A folk village in Oslo, called Norsk Folkemuseum, was probably the coolest thing Nick took me to. We took a ferry to get there, and enjoyed miles of walking paths through the forest to different salvaged Norwegian rural and urban buildings. This stave church (1200 CE) looks a lot like the wooden temples we saw in northern Thailand around Chang Mai, don't you think?

Nick has lots more great stories to share from his month in Norway, but I would say that it's too expensive to enjoy for long (at least, on our budget). I can to report to my Minnesotan friends that people in Norway really do say "uff da", much to my delight. Norwegians tend to look as I imagined: tall and blonde with sharp cheekbones. Crossing the border to Sweden, the hair colors and heights of the native Swedish varied quite a bit more. I'd be curious to learn more about that, but didn't have much time on this trip. On to Sweden!

Highlights from Sweden

The timing of our trip to Sweden was based on the Summer Solstice (June 21), which in Sweden is called Midsommar. Summer solstice is the longest day of the year, and in Northern Europe, that's cause for a real party. The Midsommar pole is the national symbol for the holiday. You might notice, if you look closely at the flowers below, that the Midsommar pole looks kinda phallic. That's not a mistake; more to say about that later.

Here's a pic of a full-sized Midsommar pole in Uppsala, Sweden, just to give you an idea:

I did a little research on Midsommar celebrations and made connections, via Couchsurfing.org, with some hosts in the area of Sweden known for the most traditional holiday festivities. Lena and Ralf (along with their four children and Lena's generous mother) were our hosts. In exchange for four days of free food and lodging, Nick and I helped Lena and Ralf dig up (from a friend's farm) and then plant lots of gorgeous perrenials. Lena and Ralf's yard had been recently torn up when they installed geothermal heat, so between the apple trees and vegetable plots there was a lot of opportunity for us to get creative with perrenials.

Their town, Hedemora, is in central Sweden, known for the painted horses, and is generally adorable. There are many lake homes in the area as an escape for the people of Stockholm. We love traveling around small towns, to get the real flavor of a country.

Iconic Swedish homes are painted rust-red (with paint made from iron ore and copper, which preserves the wood) with white or green trim.

The iron and copper comes from a deep mine in Falun, Sweden, which we visited. It has been mined since at least the 1200s, and some historians believe the Falun Mine has been in existence for 1000 years. That's remarkable; that was before Europe was even civilized enough to form into towns or municipalities. It's open for tours and we went in, against my better judgement. In this photo below, the support walls are made of timber felled in the 1600's -- and yes, sections of the mine have collapsed a few times. We made it out alive, covered in red dust. Nick thought the tour was great. I learned that my safe University job is great, and that I'm incredibly happy not to be a miner.

The highlight of our time in Sweden, and probably the entire trip to Scandinavia, was the Midsommar festival in Borlange. Midsommar is a celebration of fertility since Neolithic times, and it's advised to conceive children on this day because babies born 9 months later will arrive in the spring, after the harsh northern winters are over. (More about that later.) Hundreds of Swedish people gathered for the celebration in an area known as the "Swedish Alps", high on a green hill. We were probably the only tourists there. Many people wore their village folk costumes. Those participating in the raising of the Midsommar pole wore matching costumes and played music. Women and girls carried garlands to wrap around the pole, or hoops to put on it. (Yes, seriously.) Men carried the massive mast.

The shaft - er, pole - was decorated, blessed by a Christian minister (hey, it's a Christian nation now) and then manually hoisted up, with lots of heave-ho cheers from the crowd. Here's the giant rod for all of us to dance around.

And dance we did! Hundreds of us, young and old, formed circles around the Midsommar pole, held hands, and followed the leader for hours of traditional dances on the high hill. We had such fun as part of the crowd, many of us figuring out the dances together. It's one thing to observe a cultural event, but it's something entirely different to participate. I felt that this was my favorite day as a tourist, ever.

Here's a picture of our lovely, generous host family after the dances.

Then we went home famished, to eat a Swedish Smorgasbord! I was surprised to learn that I enjoy herring in all of its forms. This plate contained two types of salmon and four types of herring, with American au gratin potatoes as my humble contribution.

And then! After hours of eating, Grandma mentioned that she still had Lena's violin up in the attic somewhere. Lena hadn't played it in 40-some years, but they found it, Nick tuned it up, and we enjoyed traditional Swedish tunes played by an American violinist trained in the Suzuki method. Best holiday abroad, ever.

The next day we gave a fond farewell to our host family on our way to the old university town of Uppsala.

Our hosts in this town, Erica and Cris, are friends-of-friends. Erica is a Buddhist-Unitarian who does research on complementary medicine, so we got along really well. They took us to some amazing sites in Gamla (old) Uppsala, including this 12th Century church which has some pre-Christian rune stones in the church yard.

We visited Carl Linnaeus' botanical gardens in Uppsala (you know, the botanist/zoologist who created the binomial nomenclature for plants and animals, so like, named us Homo sapiens).

Uppsala was pretty, but it wasn't really set up for tourists. They don't have a usable bus system and it's really hard to get around without a car, so I'm glad we only set aside one day there.

On to Stockholm! A folk village on an island in Stockholm gave us insights into traditional dwellings and costumes of the Swedish people. This peasant home had low doors, stone and rough-hewn walls, and a thatched roof. Many homes in Sweden have grass roofs, even today. Green, and surprisingly insulated. Maybe we should try this in Minnesota?

And traveling around the country, we saw other fun stuff, of course. This sign is common throughout Sweden, and means Exit.

This sign is common on roads, and basically means that the street is going to get more narrow.

Stockholm is a gorgeous, modern city on the water.

Summer Glory

Summer is always sweet in Minnesota. We try to fill these beautiful sunny days with picnics, hikes, road trips, fruit-picking, barbeques, camping, food preservation, and productivity. The goal of a Minnesotan is to have as much fun as possible before Labor Day. Memories of summer give us reason for reflection in long dark November, and reason for anticipation as February light leads to April snowmelt.

And this summer was glorious. Nick and I filled the light with:

• 5 grad/law classes: Intro to Financial Analysis, Grantwriting, Comparative Law of US-Norway, Negotiation, Intro to the EU and International Business Transactions
• 2 full-time jobs: N is still at Thompson-Reuters, and I'm still at the University of Minnesota
• travel in 4 foreign countries: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland
• dancing around a Midsommar pole on Summer Solstice in Sweden
• homestays: Dalarna Sweden, Madison Wisconsin and Golden Valley Minnesota
• fruit picking: strawberries, blueberries, currants, gooseberries, apples
• boating: canoe, motorboat, kayak
• hikes: Itasca State Park (the headwaters of the Mississippi River!) and Afton State Park (along the St. Croix River)
• festivals: Highland Fest and the Minnesota State Fair
• home improvement: re-seeding the lawn and replacing 11 windows
• harvesting from the garden, in order of production: cucumbers, tomatoes, basil, zucchini, peppers, green beans, rhubarb, cilantro (with much more to come)

How was your summer?