Thanksgiving Day the Expat Way!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It has all sorts of fantastic food, you don't have to worry about distributing gifts for everyone, and it starts off a month of listening to Christmas carols, rather than the ending it. Christmas is a large part of Danish culture and Halloween is slowly starting to become popular, so out of my three favorite holidays Thanksgiving is the one that still remains pretty much exclusive to the United States. So I made it my personal mission to have Thanksgiving dinner, without being a gung-ho American.

Armed with information from the internet, emails home, and half-remembered memories of what Thanksgiving at home is like, I went off to find ingredients. It actually was not that difficult: I had to get chicken instead of a turkey, and fresh pumpkin instead of canned, but everything else was available. But I don't even want to think about how much I paid for the cranberries. But it all turned out really well! I cooked with a friend from class, and we ate with a few Danish friends from my kollegium.

The famous pie I've been bragging about. It wasn't that difficult to make; the only thing I wish I had was a pastry cutter. I also realize that I may have just involuntary volunteered to do pie for Christmastime... 

I had to take a picture of everything. We moved one of the tables from downstairs into my 52 square foot  kollegium room. It just barely fit, but it was nice and cozy. 

Because my study abroad program is designed for American students, we had no class on Friday. So a friend and I went to Tivoli, the amusement park that is in the middle of Copenhagen. It's the second oldest amusement park in the world, and has rides and lake in the middle. Right now it is decorated for Christmas, and it is lovely at night in the snow. 

Tivoli is literally in the middle of Copenhagen, about a 10 minute walk from my classes. You can see the taller buildings of Copenhagen when you are inside - it is very surreal to look up over the cute decorated Christmas cabins to see the SAS building or City Hall towering overhead.

A children's playground in Tivoli. I think they're demolishing a building near City Hall, hence the cranes. 

Quality Street candies are my favorite European candy, after Kinder Surprises, but I thought they were only sold in the United Kingdom. Tivoli proved me wrong, and the other day I found a 2 kilogram tin for sale in the grocery store. Unfortunately, it was way to big for me to justify purchasing it to bring home. 

Tivoli is covered in snow. It has been snowing almost non stop since Tuesday evening, so today I went for a walk around my neighborhood. It makes my neighborhood look much nicer than usual, and the nearby beach looks almost ghostly. I've never seen snow at the beach before! 

From the roof of my building. 

Amager Strand. It is a lovely beach, and is a part of the redevelopment of Amager. 

I have one last picture for a very picture heavy post. The Little Mermaid Statue is back from Shanghai! So I had to go out and see her, just so I could say that I have. It's a very small statue, and it is surprisingly close to the shore. But since the statue is a cultural symbol of the city, one can't visit Copenhagen without seeing it in person. 

Den lille havfrue. 

All Roads Lead to Strøget...

This is Strøget.

Strøget is the main shopping street in central Copenhagen. It is composed of four streets, Frederiksberggade, Nygade, Vimmelskaftet and Østergade, and one square, Amagertorv, meandering its way between the City Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen) and Kongens Nytorv Square. 

It is about one kilometer long, and is incredibly popular. At pretty much any time of day, there are 600 people standing or sitting around the shops and benches, and on a summer day the street can attract up to 80,000 pedestrians¹. There are even people on it late at night – I have only seen it totally deserted once, and it was a very strange sight.

Strøget also happens to be where three-fourths of my classes are located.

My building has two entrances on two different streets, but the Strøget entrance is more convenient because you only have to use one staircase (as opposed to the other side, where the main staircase only goes up four floors). So I spend quite a lot of time dodging Copenhageners, students, shoppers, tourists, and the people waiting in line for schwarma and 30 kroner Chinese take-away to get to my classes. 

There are people even when it's raining. 

Strøget is Copenhagen’s oldest main street. In 1962, amidst much skepticism, Strøget was turned into a pedestrian street – on November 17, in fact, making it 48 years old today! Despite the debate and the arguments that the Nordic countries don’t do public spaces², the new pedestrian space was an instant hit. Since then, the inner core of Copenhagen has been slowly pedestrianized, moving from 15,800 m² in 1962 to 99,770 m² in 2005. That’s a change from about 10 square miles to 62!³

This image, which I obtained from New City Spaces, shows the development of Copenhagen's pedestrian areas from 1962 to 2005. 

However, it is the human activity that makes the space appealing. The shops are interspersed with crepe and shawarma sellers (shawarma is a big thing in Copenhagen), and there are always people walking around with food, or in search of food. There are other vendors out on the street as well – I’ve seen everything from hair braiding to bird whistles* for sale. The guys standing out on the street with giant posters advertising cheap food or tattoo parlors (there seem to be a surprisingly high number) always look really bored, but are there like clockwork. Then there are the street performers. I’ve heard my fair share of violins, accordions, clarinets, flutes, gituars, and saxophones, from the very good to the extremely bad. The living statues don’t make sound, but the people passing by do once they realize that that gold man standing on the corner moves. My favorite one is the guy who rigged up a water feature, so he looked like a fountain. If you gave him money, he would pose for a picture or squirt water on the person of your choice. He’s not there anymore, though, which makes me think that he only works in the summer.

At first I thought that Strøget was a tourist trap. While everything there is a bit more expensive than normal (with "normal" prices being really high to start with), it really isn't just for tourists. It is the core of Copenhagen's pedestrian network, and is a successful return to a city-scape that isn't dominated by cars. 

*The bird whistle guy is rather distracting because every time I pass him, I think for a second that there are extremely loud birds in the city center.

¹Gehl, Gemzøe, Kirknæs and Søndergaard. New City Life.

² New City Life again. Page 20. Let me know if you would like a proper citation. It is actually a really neat book.

³Numbers and image are from page 21. 

From Copenhagen to Dublin and Back Again

The Spire, O'Connell Street

This past weekend I left the cold, soggy shores of Denmark and embarked for the even colder, soggier shores of Ireland. I was meeting a friend who is also studying in Europe, and we decided that we both really wanted to go to Ireland. We got rooms in a hostel near Trinity College, and spent four days or so bumming around Dublin trying to see as many sites as we could without becoming frantic American sightseers. (If you try to see everything it ends up being exhausting, not fun. Also, if you don't see everything the first time, you have a very legitimate excuse to going back!)

Yes, we did go and see the Book of Kells. It is a fantastic document, an intricately decorated copy of the four gospels in Latin that dates from the 9th century. The Book of Kells The accompanying exhibit contained the Book of Durrow and the Book of Armagh, as well as a fairly detailed description of the purpose and creation of illuminated manuscripts. Unfortunately, the book itself wasn't open to the Chi Rho page, but it was lovely to see anyway. 

The other highlight of the trip was our visit to Howth Head. A peninsula northeast of Dublin, the area has a small town and many, many square kilometers of natural area. There are a series of paths that go along the edge of this area, along the cliffs that line the bay. If you walk to the top, you have fantastic views of the ocean, and the land, and Dublin itself... 

Unfortunately, the lighthouse you can see in the distance there is private property and is closed off to visitors.

We tried to get as close as possible anyway. 

There was an incredibly dramatic sky, which totally compensated for the fact that it was raining half the time. We also got to see a rainbow, but the camera couldn't capture it. 

The area was dramatically beautiful, and incredibly muddy. I don't think that my sneakers will ever regain their proper color. 

In short, Dublin was lovely. It is a wonderful city to explore, and I would have loved to have more time there! But I like being back in Copenhagen, especially since I just realized that I only have five more weeks of study abroad left. 

The Louisiana Museum: An Event for Which I Could Not Think Up a Snazzy Title*

If you ask someone about things to do in Copenhagen, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art will probably take a top spot on the list. I know this from experience: several people told me I should go. I was rather hesitant at first - it's about 35 kilometers from central Copenhagen, and is rather expensive, even with the student price. But I'm on vacation, and vacation is the time for cultural extravagances, so I went.

I'm very happy that I did. The grounds are all that they are made out to be.

View of the Øresund. You can't see it in the photo, but the faint line on the horizon is Sweden.

Steps leading down from the cafe to the Sculpture Park.

Although it has a fairly decent collection of modern art, the museum is renowned for it's architecture. The museum is located on the edge of the Øresund, the sound that separates Denmark from Sweden, and  takes full advantage of the view. Instead of moving up, the museum moves out and down, with two long glass "arms" that connect the galleries and surround a sculpture garden. The loop is completed underground, with a gallery that doesn't interfere with the view.

Glass corridors like these circle most of the Sculpture Park. For most of it, there are solid galleries on the exterior edge, but this section is a glass tunnel through the park. It is very interesting at night (which starts at 4 in the afternoon now) when it seems like a dark reflective tunnel. None of my photos of the interior came out very well. 

My attempt at drawing the interior of the glass corridor, and the portrait gallery. The study tour in Sweden and Finland really ruined my ability to enjoy an art museum. Plus, I need to fill up my hipster notebook. 

Max Ernst sculptures! 

I also went to explore the Lake Garden. It is composed of a series of small houses situated along a stream on the outside edge of the complex. This is a photo of one of the bridges over the stream. It is a giant log that has been cut in half lengthwise, with a path placed between the two halves. It was very beautiful and fun to walk over, particularly when surrounded by all the fall leaves. 

If I lived in Copenhagen year round, I would do my best to buy a year-long pass to the Louisiana. Not because of the exhibits, but because of the grounds. I think they would be wonderful at different times of the year, and I wouldn't mind making short visits to see the gardens at different times of the year. 

*That was grammatically painful to write, and I have a feeling that it was grammatically painful to read. My condolences. 

Some of the Promised Miscellany!

It can be fairly difficult to get a sense of the city, any city, particularly if you are not living there. This is especially true for a city like Copenhagen, which doesn't have an iconic building or skyline to advertise itself. This is not to say that there isn't any interesting architecture in Copenhagen; on the contrary there is enough to warrant field trips every week in my Danish architecture class to different sites. But the city doesn't have a building like the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben or the Opera House* to mark it immediately as Copenhagen. This might change in the future, but for the time being, many people in the United States actually don't realize that Copenhagen is in Denmark. 

Since there aren't any international landmarks, how do you describe Copenhagen? I think of it from the ground level, in materials and layout. I think in terms of brick and yellow stucco, and streets that change names when you don't expect it, in beautiful canals that prevent you from getting to the library in a timely manner, cobblestones that can trip you up if you are silly enough to wear Danskos on the day you're late for class, and the contrast between the city above and the Metro below.

How about a couple of photos to back up that poetic description?

This is the inside of my Metro Stop, Amagerbo. The Metro is incredibly new, with my line finished as recently as 2002. I like it because during rush hour, a train arrives every three minutes. 

This is the street I walk down to catch the Metro, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you the name. I have difficulty remembering street names in Copenhagen, so I look for landmarks instead. My street has two fruit stands, a bank, and a Salvation Army shop. And lots of brick. 

This is a photo from August that I haven't had the chance to post. It's a view of the canal that goes by Christianborg Slot, in the middle of Copenhagen. Copenhagen isn't famous for it's canals like Amsterdam is, but there are quite a few, and the core of the city is surrounded by bodies of water. 

The ad on this building, which faces Rådhuspladsen (City Hall Square) is for Carlsberg beer, and reads "Probably the best beer in town." I wish advertising in the United States was that entertaining. 

Of course, not all of Copenhagen is old and picturesque. There's a new area of development southwest of the inner city, which is the site of the Gemini Towers. Walking through is a stark contrast to the center, which is less than 2 kilometers away. 

There really is not much of a point to this post. I just wanted to post images of Copenhagen that I haven't yet, because I realized last week that I've been here for two months already. The semester is half way over! It is very difficult to believe. I think I'm going to miss going to school in an urban environment. You see so many different things every day when you have to commute to class, rather than just stumbling to and from the dining hall. 

*This is a test for you. Which Opera House am I referring to? It isn't in Denmark, but it has a Danish connection. First person to let me know will get something random from Denmark. 

The Part With Very Few People and Lots of Aalto

As cool as Stockholm, Helsinki and Turku are, nothing really beats the sheer beauty of the natural parts of Sweden and Finland. Because the countries are so large and the tour had limited time, we did not go that far north. But I did get to see some things that were off the beaten track, so to speak, in Finland!

Lake Vitträsk, near Hvitträsk. The most beautiful lake I have ever seen, apart from Olive Lake in Eastern Oregon. 

One of the "cultural activities" my tour group got to do was to use a Finnish sauna, the kind where you jump in the lake outside once you decide that the sauna has gotten too hot. Yes, I did actually jump into a lake in the middle of Finland in October. In the dark, into a lake where you couldn't reach the bottom. I am so happy that I know how to swim... But if you are Finland, I would definitely recommend it. It is an experience to remember. 

Anyway, Hvitträsk is the home and studio built by Eliel Saarinen, Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren in the early 1900s. It is built in a National Romantic style, and Saarinen's home is full of fantastic Arts and Crafts inspired details. 

The photo is a bit dark, but the the rug covers the bench and the floor and the medieval-style windows are fantastic. I would love to have a space like this. 

It also had nifty details like this hinge. 

I pronounced one of the days on the trip as "Alvar Aalto Day" because every single site we saw that day was an Aalto work. Aalto is a famous Finnish architect and designer who was highly influential in the development of Modernism and Nordic Modernism in the Nordic countries. He also designed fairly famous furniture and textiles, and his stuff is everywhere in Finland.

Yup, the Säynätsalo Town Hall. 

Balcony of the Paimio TB Sanatorium, a very influential medical building for its time, and Aalto's first major work. 

Here's a quick photo, totally unrelated to architecture, to give you a sense of what the light is like in Finland. I took this photo at 12:15 pm in Jyväskylä, Finland, at 62 degrees latitude. It's taller than I am! 

Finally, I have one more neat thing from Sweden. While in Stockholm we visited the Woodland Cemetery, which was designed by Erik Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz in the early 20th century. It is a large complex with multiple chapels, and there is an area where the gravestones can only be a certain size, so they don't interfere with the trees. I think that the cemetery as a whole was my favorite of all the places we visited, even beating Aalto's town hall. Here's my favorite picture. I think it gives an accurate sense of the place. 

Finland Finland Finland, that's the country for me... and a bit of Sweden.

One of the main elements at my academic program in Copenhagen is the  "Study Tours" where they take us to places applicable to our core programs. For me, this meant a Grand Architectural Tour of Sweden and Finland, with main stops in Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki and Turku in Finland, looking at many buildings that I would not otherwise get to see, such as a ton of Alvar Aalto's work.

This is a map of our route (roughly). 

We went by bus to Stockholm, spent a day or two there, took an overnight ferry to Turku, spent time in the Finnish Woods near Jyvaskyla*, traveled to Helsinki for a day, and then booked it back to the ferry and to Copenhagen. 

First of all, proof that I was actually there an am not just making stuff up: 

It's a bunny statue in Stockholm! Of course I had to have my picture taken with it. 

Stockholm is a beautiful city. It is much hillier than Copenhagen (what city isn't?), and uses much more plaster in its construction. We walked around the old city of Gamla Stan, which is your stereotypical windy twisty old city. There are tons of small hidden streets and courtyards! 

I just thought this archway was too cool to not show anyone. 

Stockholm also has this building: 

That has this book inside: 

So it's not that famous, but it is in Swedish. They also had Good Omens. 

Turku and Helsinki are also wonderful cities. We had some free time in each city and I got to explore to my liking. In Turku we only had about two hours, and it spent it all inside the fantastic City Library. In Helsinki I wandered up to the park around Toolo Bay**, and got a fantastic view of the city when I met up with my classmates at a cafe at the top of a hotel at the end of the day.

Both Stockholm and Helsinki were wonderful to explore. Stockholm has a great metro system where each stop is decorated differently. My favorite was the one that had a little waterfall on the platform with an iron gate. No photos, alas - the lighting was too difficult to get one. It is also incredibly difficult to get a good photo on any sort of public transport, as you are just getting in the way of people who need to get somewhere! 

About half of the trip was spent in the city and the other half was spent in the country. I'm not much of a rural person, but the Swedish and Finnish countryside is beautiful, rivaling the cities. The only downside to living up here is that sunlight is incredibly limited in the winter - we were very lucky in that we got cold and clear weather on our trip! 

*There are umlauts over the a's in this name, but I can't figure them out on my keyboard. 

**More umlauts over the o's.