Favorite Things:
- City: Balestrand or Copenhagen, very different settings. Balestrand was small, little to do, but great to just relax and recuperate. Copenhagen was a big city, but kept it's European ambiance.
- View: Absolutely the fjords. I love waterfalls, and they were everywhere.
- Museum: Copenhagen's National Museum - the whole museum was great, but the prehistoric and "Stories of Denmark" wings stood out as the best for learning about Scandinavia. (Stockholm's Vasa Museum does come in a close second.)
Memorable Experiences:
- Bicycles in Copenhagen - bikes were in all the cities, but the Danes were unique in the volume, type (mostly 1 speed that looked like they were left over from WWII), way they left them (they were never locked, you just trusted it would be there when you returned), bike lots instead of car parking lots, and best of all, their multi-tasking (carrying packages, talking on cell phones, etc).
- Hiking in Levi - the weather was great, the view was wonderful, but the best was finding our own unique way down from the mountain. Of course I could have done without the foot in the mud and the sliding down the toboggan run, but that just made the memory more interesting.
- The glaciers - it was great to see the glaciers. The efforts I went to find a path closer to the glacier, when all I had to do was walk up the shore still makes me laugh, but the best part was the people we met and the laughs we had together. It's amazing to think that on that day, only Americans took the tour, and we got along so well.
Notable trends and happenings in Scandinavia:
- leggings are back - at first I put it down to the biking (leggings under skirts makes perfect sense), but we saw it in younger people going out (leggings with longer shirts over the top), and people just walking around. Reminded me of the 80's.
- ski poles - I never knew these would make good walking sticks until this trip. In every city, we saw people (usually older) walking around with ski poles as walking sticks. Once or twice, I the person was younger (probably 50's), and didn't appear to need them, but still carried them around just in case.
- cobblestones - these are a pain to walk on after a few hours. Every city had at least one area of cobblestones, and in some cities, you could not escape them. I really prefer our concrete sidewalks and streets.
- Parks - Scandinavians do love their parks. The portable BBQ grill business, which is booming here plays perfectly to this. This is their social arena and opportunity to enjoy the days of sun. We need more of this at home.
Alright, time is running out, so this is it. No more emails. Thanks for joining me on this trip around Scandinavia. See you all soon.
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