Epic Camping Trip

Friday 10/6- We leave Reykjavik in the evening, pass through Selfoss and arrive at the campsite in Skaftafell late, like midnight.

Saturday 11/6- We take a short hike to the falls at Skaftafell, take some pictures, trespass a little bit (I started it because I wanted to get closer to the falls), the usual. Next we take a ride up the coast to the Glacial lagoon. We see some of the ice from the icebergs fall with a terrifying crash into the ocean lagoon. I definitely jumped and probably yelped. We even saw a few wild seals in the water. The icebergs (what you can see above the water anyway) were this really really blue color, and had ash on the top from the most recent Grimsvolt volcano eruption. We continued on to Skogar, where we would start the Fimmvörðuháls trek the next morning. On the way we made a stop at a mountain cliff that Orri knew had a secret trail up to the top. It was probably the most technical climb I've ever done, and I still think it was more challenging than the hike we were warned about, though it was a much shorter climb. At the top were some ruins of a farm, and we found engravings with someone's name and the date on the rock that looked like it was from 1890. At one point you had to leap over a 2 foot gap and cling to rock to not fall off the cliff. Icelanders (or maybe just Orri) are truly fearless, they will climb whatever, do what they want, not follow the very few signs that limit where you can walk and what you can and can't do. Live and do at your own risk. Dinner at the campsite, no bonfires, just a grill and 300ISK for a 3minute shower. At least the bathrooms were decent and there was a lot of counter space to prepare food.

Sunday 12/6- We eat breakfast, and then pack up for the hike of our lives. Up what seems like over a hundred stairs alongside a waterfall at the foot of the trail just beyond our campsite, and then (generally) gradual ascent to the peak, which still had snow on it. This trek is between two active volcanoes- Eyjafjallajökull the volcano that erupted two years ago and caused all the airport delays, and Katla, one of the biggest volcanos that has been overdue to erupt for over a hundred years. The trek itself was unlike anything I've ever done. The sense of scale is just incredible. You are literally alone in the wilderness, so vulnerable, so aware of your tired legs, your thirst, the heat from the sun on your back, the wind. The landscape is beautiful. The river follows the trail to the left, and has something like a dozen waterfalls along the way. Parts of the trail got pretty technical, there was some narrow paths with a cliff on one side if you didn't cling to the rocks on the other. I'm still surprised we all made it through relatively unscathed. I was definitely thankful that Orri met us at the cabin meeting point to guide us to the bottom into the national reserve of Þórsmörk. Climbing up, ever more up a glacier in a cloud was probably the low point... I just was ready to descend already, and to get out of the slushy snow. Once we cleared the fog we trekked on further to the volcano crater, from Eyjafjallajokull. Orri lit a cigar with the magma, and the boys in the group grilled hot dogs just by digging into the ground with a glacier pick. The smell of sulfur at the top of the lava mountain that formed after the eruption was overwhelming, and the colors of the earth even more shocking. Reds and yellows, porous, light-as-air black rock. It was actually warm to sit on, even as high up as we were. Steam spilled around the crater like weird smoke clouds. Just feet beneath our feet, the earth was a molten magma mess, churning and shifting, violently cooling towards the surface. It was totally an adrenaline rush to be trekking on top of this.

On the decent, a group of us chose to glissade down the mountain on a steep patch of snow, and take the "shortcut" to the campsite, instead of going the long way across the plateau. Turns out it wasn't so much a short cut, but it was an incredible view and incredibly difficult, amazing trail, across cliffs, around streams and mini waterfalls through a gigantic valley, on top of sheets of ice that inches below gave way to sizeable streams which flowed into the river. I even sunk through the ice at one point, fell a few feet but managed to get back up. By the end of the hike down into the town of our campsite, my palms were raw from clinging to rock and catching myself when I lost my footing crossing the steeper gravelly parts of the cliffs.

That night after our hobo dinners, we introduced Orri and some of his friends' kids to s'mores, which was super cute.

Monday, we forded like 7 streams and stopped at a waterfall that you could walk behind. We also stopped at a turf house museum, and the hydropower interactive museum, which was super high tech and really interesting. But maybe just not worth writing about in here. Not compared to the trek of my life!

A bit about the town of Reykjavik

The 24 hour daylight is something you get used to pretty fast. It is kind of great when you can take a picture at 3am and have it look like its noon. Colors here are amazing. The sky is always really light blue, but the pinks and yellows that the sun makes are just so vivid, and there are always at least wispy cirrus clouds in the sky to reflect color. Reykjavik has some of the most longest, most beautiful "sunsets" I've ever seen. I use quotes because the sun is never really all the way down in the summer. Generally, sun here is worshiped. On sunny warm days people sit outside and drink beer outside of restaurants not facing each other, but facing the sun. The hot ground water is responsible for nearly all of the power generated in Iceland. It is maybe the only place in the world where you can take a long hot shower and NOT feel guilty about it, since it is the country's single most abundant and renewable resource thanks to the active volcanos. Most things are more expensive than they are back home (makes sense, most things are imported), especially restaurants.

Some of my favorite places:

Smiðjan pizza- They serve these flavor infused oils with the pizza, so good. One is garlic, the other is tomato/chilli. Brick oven, the real deal. Try cream cheese and jalapenos- an icelandic favorite.

The Delicatessen with a green awning on Skólavörðstígur - It has a small restaurant in the basement with a catch of the day special on weekdays. It was the best cheapest meal I've had in Reykjavik, totally a local secret, I doubt they have a website. When I went, the special was catfish with a wild mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes. I debated licking my plate in public.

Kaffibarinn- There are no pictures allowed at this bar, free hor d'oeuvres on Wednesdays with specials on red wine. It is a chill place to work during the day (free wifi) and a happening bar scene after eleven on the weekends. Brenavin, the Icelandic liquorish schnapps are a must-try. 
Seabaron/Sægreiffin restaurant. Their lobster soup really is freaking fantastic and deserves its fame. 
Sjávargrillið restaurant. Brendan and I had our last real meal in Iceland here. Maybe that is what made part of this place so good, but I'd come there before and really loved the presentation, prices and flavors of everything I ordered. They bring out bread with butter in this lava rock bowl, and they had great fish specials, super fresh, seasoned well, always with some kind of delicious sauce or salsa or both. 

Wifi here is free at every corner, which is so nice. No more paying for internet cafes like in South America. I refuse to try the national dish- putrefied shark fin, though I did try some whale meat and have to admit that it was the best steak I've ever tasted. Somehow the thought of eating anything putrefied just activates my gag reflex. Skyr is Icelandic yogurt, really thick and full of protein, they make for good fruit smoothies/daquiries. My favorites Thai and Indian food is popular here and spices and cooking mixes are readily available at the Bonus supermarkets (their mascot is a pig, and their commercials are hysterical).

In general Iceland veers from the rest of Scandinavia in its density. It is slightly more car-centric and more similar in attitude to America than Sweden, Denmark and Finland. They have a lot of space, and have grown used to that luxury. So much so that a curator at the hydroelectric plant warned us that Icelanders may seem pushy at the bars, but it is only because they are used to having a lot of space to themselves, and do not adjust when the bars become full, and personal space dwindles. Though, they do seem to use the spaces they have in terms of business for the maximum amount of time. I wonder if this is a product of the economic collapse. Restaurants turn to bars and stay open, changing moods and crowds throughout the course of a day. Bookstores with cafes, Deli's with restaurants. Lots of mixed use spaces, but in a different way than what I'd usually associate with that term.

Ancient viking culture is an ever present tourist trap, but I find the symbols and myths really interesting. I'm tempted to buy jewelry with Viking significance, but can't seem to legitimize spending the money on it, especially when it feels a little like a gimmick. The harbor area has a lot of this historic influence, and even a real blacksmith. In general that are has a lot of stores that are also workshops. The hand-knitting association does the knitting in house, which is why the Icelandic wool sweaters are ~200 bucks a pop. They are THE icelandic thing, but I would never wear it, I hate itchy wool. And, I have a sweater that looks like one of them that I was made fun of for wearing in undergrad (thanks 1135) so, I will pass. There is another jeweler on Laugavegur (the main shopping street) that is really good, and also does work in the back of his shop. I would recommend him to anyone that wants some cool Icelandic designed jewlery- he even uses lava rock beads in some of his stuff: Eureka Art by Simon Sverrisson.

Esja, and Golden Circle deluxe

Climbing Mt. Esja was super fun. Most of it varied between windy gravel paths to steep dirt path with grass growing on either side of the trail. The best part is climbing the rocky top to the summit, I think it was just over 800 meters. The water is so clear and clean it is safe to drink, I refilled my water bottle near the top of the mountain. It is actually a complex of mountains, I'm not exactly sure what mountain within the Esja mountain range we climbed to the top of. I am definitely a little bit nervous about the Fimmvorduhals trek we are doing in the South which is more intense, but I think the adrenaline of being between two active volcanoes (Eyjafjallajokull and Katla) will help me keep up with the rest of the group. I'm so pumped.

On 6/2/2011 the Iceland Studio had the most epic day- EVER. We drove up to Thinvallin, walked the continental divide (where the north american tectonic plate meets another one), saw some amazing waterfalls, visited the place where the name geysir comes from there are a few geysers, one that goes off about every 5minutes spewing boiling hot water 20 feet in the air (did you know geysir is an icelandic word?). We stopped to go caving in this really great cave after a little excited persuasion from myself. Climbing through this icy cave where lava once flowed through melting some of the rock and causing others to crash down to the ground was the coolest thing I've done here this far. Maybe the coolest experience for something I've been looking forward to doing for so long. I've heard there are many more tunnel systems and caves to explore and that's all I want to do now! We ended the day by visiting a hot river thta you have to drive on a crazy gravel road for a while from the main road, and then hike for another hour to get to. There is this place where water from the mountain that is freezing cold meets the water from the ground which is boiling hot, and where they mix, people bathe in these natural springs. So fun. It was incredible. Hot springs are a must-do when in Iceland. Especially because bathing and swimming is the favorite pasttime for Icelanders. Reykjavik has many swimming halls, 3 of which we've visited.

Amazing amazing day. We saw and learned a lot, had a great time. I WENT CAVING.

Reykjavik Nightlife

Our introduction into the bar scene here in Reykjavik was a spot called Kaffibarinn. Bjork and members of Sigur ros are known frequenters, and cameras are prohibited. A woman at the bar somewhat gracefully slid out of her seat, and crawled towards the door before a guy she was with tried to help her up, to which she reacted in a sloppily belligerent sort of way. It was 11:30pm and most of the rest of the bar was sober. Partying here starts at midnight the earliest, and goes until bars close on the weekends, 6am. Icelanders are definitely loud and rowdy when they party, which is funny because normally they are pretty quiet and keep to themselves. It was a really good night out, lots of drinking, some dancing, many bars that even now it is hard to keep straight. From the bars we've been to so far we liked Kaffibarinn, Prikid, Bakkus. Olstofa has a special beer and a casual meet up with friends to chat happy hour atmosphere. Vegamot is more of a club, so is Oliver, but we haven't spent much time there. b5 is the big retail windowed dance club where all the college kids hang out (20-25). No covers anywhere makes it one of my favorite cities to go out in. Drinks are sort of expensive, but it's not outrageous.

Kaffibarinn does a promotion on Wednesday nights, where wine is 600ISK, and they have free bread, cheese, spreads and meats. I accidentally ate smoked horse, which was weird, not my favorite.

I'm proud that I've managed to stay out as long as I did, on the nights we've been out it is so bizarre stepping out of these dark bars into the daylight at 5 in the morning. Summers in Reykjavik are amazing. I'm usually pretty good at guessing the time, but the nearly 24 daylight here totally throws me off.

Copenhagen

We arrived at Danhostel in Copenhagen relieved to have a bathroom in our room, with real towels and lots of space. It was deceivingly nice compared to our trainhostel in Lund, but the hostel in Sweden and Finland were cleaner and nicer I think. It was kind of rainy for the first full day we were there, which put a little damper on things but Denmark is very interesting. It wasn't very obvious what was THE Danish thing like it was in Finland with the Aalto vases and marimekko textiles or Sweden with h&m, the craft painted red horses, mooses and funny viking hats.

We visited the Louisiana museum of modern art, which was a great building to see. The best part was the sculpture park in the back. Very interesting, Scandinavian architecture, lots of natural light, wood. They had a David Hackney exhibit "Drawing on Ipad" which was really interesting. It was digital art displayed on the same medium it was made, and there were videos of him working which was cool to see. The building had some nice overlooks into bigger galleries, and had a clear path to walk though and around. Overall a good museum design, especially with how well they integrated the outdoor spaces.

On the way back we visited a little neighborhood that was developed by one developer, and made to look like an old town. It had low rise 2-3 floor gable buildings, most of them shared walls to complete the block. Interior semi private courtyards, public central square, retail ground floor, it had all the elements of a good neighborhood, but it was strange to be such a direct replica of an old town, clearly influenced by places like old town Talin, Estonia. There weren't very many people out on the streets, but the neighborhood was also pretty small. It almost felt like a living museum.

Bankroft- Was the most interesting bar/restaurant in Copenhagen. It had doll heads as lamps over the tables. A lot of weird punky bizarre decor, and an interesting menu. Several of the dishes were super vague like Salad, or Pasta (let the chef's decide what's in it for you). Really fun.

Saturday night in Copenhagen the group managed to make it out, despite being tired from a full day of visiting places and walking a lot. We went to the meat-packing district to an Icelandic owned bar called Jolene's. We first inadvertantly crashed a teen-age theatre party, and saw the tail-end of a burlesque fashion/dance show. Weird. When we finally found Jolenes, it was PACKED to the brim with people, like literally no where to move. It was a good time, lots of attractive dressed up people, it was a good welcoming to the city, though getting there felt like walking through oversized stripmall parking lots. Not so welcoming.

Orri took us to Halifax burger, his favorite burger place in Copenhagen. It was REALLY good, probably the best meal most of us have had in a while. We went to this bar for Stern's birthday that was playing the most bizarre music ever. Lucky by Britney spears, some backstreet boys, and then some crazy pop Danish music that another group in the back was singing along to. No shame. We played Kings- the drinking card game and drank WAY too much beer. Laura and I danced to single ladies like fools, it was great.

So, the main beer here is Carlsberg, they have an awesome brewery right downtown. On the day we rented bikes and biked around the city we rode through the brewery campus. They put up these temporary public play places. They had like a jungle-jim of bars, a skate ramp and then these rusted metal platforms on giant springs that were kind of like trampolines. Really fun. They seem like a great company. Their slogan is "probably the best beer in the world" which I love. However, I prefer Tuborg when it comes to Danish beer (sorry). I'm sure Carlsberg has something I like, but not what they were serving at the bars. Going out here in general is almost prohibitively expensive. I think I paid something like $20 for a mojito. Yikes. There were places that had good deals on beer though, and one of them was the place we went to for Stern's birthday.

I think in general perhaps I expected too much from Copenhagen. The cute painted houses on the waterfront are really only down one street in the city. There was a lot of construction, which influenced my experience of the city too. The pedestrian boulevards are wonderfully crowded, so much so that now there are two north to south arteries which are pedestrian only. It was almost awkward to be a pedestrian at points though, because bike culture was so strong. I nearly made a bicyclist crash. Oops, clearly not from Copenhagen. Sweden was much more stream-lined and neat, even its "bad parts" were really nice. In comparison Copenhagen is messy and hectic.

Tivoli, the crown jewel of the city, is a 4 city block amusement park right in the heart of downtown. Totally made me want to go to Cedar Point, but this place was better, cuter. It didn't take half an hour to get to the next roller coaster, rides at Tivoli were practically intertwining. A peacock theatre, restaurants around the perimeter, shops and cafes, waffles and cotton candy...yum fun.

Lund and Malmo, Sweden

Lund

is the main University city in Sweden. It was described to us as the Harvard of Scandinavia. It was really quiet the night we got there, after our train was delayed. Apparently here, there are these community houses, sort of like the greek system in the states that throw all the parties. As a result the bar scene is not as active. We didn't have trouble finding a dance party at this little bar, though. There is this amazing song they played that got everyone moving, something by Soulwax. I have to find out which song it is. So good.

We got a little intro to the types of programs offered in the progressive natural science department. They had majors like water management, climate change, natural systems etc. All of these programs have become interdisciplinary, which I think is great. Isolated disciplines can only solve pieces of the problems we're faced with today, its when they are able to collaborate and work together when real solutions are discovered and implemented.

The campus is very nice, lots of brick, feels like it was made in the 1920s, lots of gable houses surrounding the campus. Cobblestone roads are the standard. Some of the University buildings were more high tech, clearly newer, with solar panels and glazing and advanced building technologies. Definitely a small town atmosphere.

Hana, who showed us around campus is majoring in sustainable transportation, which is super exciting based on my experience with SMART through the University of Michigan. She will be interning in Germany helping to organize a summit conference in Seoul on Sustainable transportation next year. Definitely a great contact and networking opportunity for both of us.

The train hostel was a cute idea, but terrible to live in. They charged for hot water. And when we asked for a break-down of the charges for the room, the guy behind the desk (presumably the manager?) told us to get lost. 40+ bucks to be stacked three people up in a 2 square meter cabin with no hot water is ridiculous. I don't care if it is a "musuem." I'm glad it was only for one night.

Malmo,

in contrast to Lund was much more of a complete city. It had a metro, an old part and a new part, waterfront developments similar to Stockholm's Hammarby area. The famous Scarpa building "Twisted Torso" is the pivotal piece for the sustainable mixed use and mixed developer housing waterfront redevelopment in Malmo. It is a pretty cool building, definitely the "attractor". The apartment buildings all feature the same kind of allegiance to the interior semi private but still publicly accessible courtyard. Each building is unique and sleek, contemporary designs south facing balconies. Some are of course better than others, but there is a lot of variations in size and style. Its eclectic, but it all feels like its part of a whole. Along the waterfront there is an amazing boardwalk, with wooden steps down to the water. This area has become highly sought after, and housing prices are much higher than normal. Still, housing in Scandinavia is not that expensive, so to live in a place like this people are willing to pay extra. The area felt less populated, though. It is still a work in progress. Hammarby felt more lived in, broken in, vibrant- even on the rainy day we visited. I prefer that kind of atmosphere, but the architecture of Malmo. There were signs of life in the Malmo waterfront redevelopment though. In front of the neighborhood development, there was a really cool skate park where skateboarders practiced their tricks and parents sat around chatting. It is always hard to determine what makes these public places successful, many times they can just as easily be abandoned and never used.

Even outside of the development, Malmo has a great downtown. I found Indian food for like the first time on the trip. Pizza and kebabs are the drunk food, cheap places to eat around Scandinavia. Why they are paired up, I'm not quite sure. Great shopping pedestrian streets, trees lining the middle of the paths, interesting varied facades, low rise, colors. Old buildings mixed with new ones. The subway stations here looked like something out of Star trek. Lights on the escalators, perforated metal panel ceiling with LEDs. Very cool. One of the coolest things was the terrazzo floor pattern. It was a bunch of different street signs arranged in circular designs, the scale is so small you really have to look to catch that detail. That's what I think in general is so great about the cities we're visiting. There is a unrelenting attention to detail, which architects can especially appreciate. I would have liked to spend more time here. But alas, after only an day in Malmo, on to Copenhagen we went.

Stockholm to Lund train debacle

Currently I am stopped in the middle of Swedish countryside, on a broken down train waiting for buses to show up to take us to the next train headed south. The apologetic staff is compensating disgruntled travellers with internet vouchers, free coffee and baked goods. I'm thankful for the internet voucher, it's the best and fastest connection I've had yet.

I really liked Stockholm, despite the bad weather. Though, there is a strange perfection about it, almost like it is too good to be true. The charming old town, helpful people and beautiful harbor. It is an easily navigable city, mostly low rise, and composed of many islands and the archipelago. Though, even in the eco friendly neighborhood development, there was trash collecting in the marshes of the docks, so it's not that perfect. Overall I am most impressed with the transportation system. Absolutely no need for a car, there are street cars, buses, subways, and one card can be used to ride all modes. Brilliant, really. The 7 day full pass cost about $45USD but it was well worth it.

Typical Swedish souvenirs are these wooden horses painted red and decorated sort of like Easter eggs. Viking hats, and moose/reindeer hats were also popular. Mummi cartoons were also at every tourist shop, which Gamla Stan (old town) is full of. It's this hippo looking animal and a little girl with a ponytail that sticks straight up kinda making her look like a samurai. She's usually scheming or grimacing about something. I cracked and decided to buy myself a leather jacket, since I left mine on the Spirit flight to New York. This one is way nicer, and more fitted, I like it a lot. I'll need it if it continues to stay cold and snowy in Iceland, like it was last week.

There were more glass goods from Iitala, the Finnish glass company that makes the famous Aalto design vase. I didn't get one, because they were overpriced and not really my style, no offense to Aalto- he is still pretty B.A. in my book, and all books for that matter.

The Woodlands cemetery, subject of one of Caroline Constant's books was as beautiful as the pictures we've seen in lectures suggest. There's swirly designs of a darker species of grass in the hilly landscape, the place feels more like a forest oasis, with tall, tall trees varying in density in some areas, other times they are perfectly aligned both on a diagonal and orthogonal axis as pedestrian paths weave through. There is a small summit, with stairs that lead to the top. They are supposed to get easier (less rise) as you go up, representing the grieving process and how it gets easier over time. The symbolic cross was added after the project, which has a few chapels strewn about and one central meeting canopy, none of it symbolic as cemeteries before it. Built in 1919-1920, it was a new kind of cemetery for its time. I still don't think I've ever been to one like it.

OOooO... they're now offering free food as we are 2 hours delayed and counting. More on Lund and Malmo (the southern Swedish cities we're visiting), later.

Cramped spaces between buildings

Are my absolute favorite. Old town, or Gamla Stan in Stockholm, Sweden, has plenty of these spaces to satisfy me. There is even one "street" that is barely 3' wide separating two blocks. Its really great. The "new town" is definitely different, and less charming, though still full of people, public squares populated with tent stands and interesting things to eat and look at and buy.

We visited a nearly completely self sustaining neighborhood of Stockholm, Hammarby Sjostad where they use waste to extract energy and use it to power the dwelling units. Every block is structured around a public green courtyard, and diverse living situations are available for families, single people and the elderly. Recycling stations are set up, daycares are available and grocery stores, retail and transportation hubs are nearby, or on the ground levels of main streets. Hammelby, is the ideal place to raise a family. The way people live is clearly considered, as is access to air, light, trees/nature and necessary services. The neighborhood is open, but totally safe, courtyards for kids to play, patches to grow vegetables and recreation areas are abundant. There's a waterfront view, south facing windows, interesting formal characteristics and materials, and on top of all that, it is one of the most sustainable, energy efficient neighborhood that exists to date. It is almost too good to be true, but in Stockholm, it is hard to find anything to critique. Even the outlying suburbs are not slums in any sense of the word. They still have the same basic design principles, public spaces, access to transportation and grocery stores/retail on the ground floors, south facing windows, pedestrian friendly. Perhaps the only difference is the building block's age and aesthetic appearance. The older suburbs are built in the 1960's, slightly date, but still well constructed. Maybe not the most interesting to look at, but still very functional and livable. I was surprised to find a sizable african muslim population living in the outskirts of Stockholm in these older more suburban neighborhoods.

The went to a really cool sky bar to start the night. 360 degree views of the city at night were completely mesmerizing. It was quite a swanky place, so we ended up at a more local and low key bar called Karmen for most of the night, where there were hipster locals and cheap beer.

Booze cruise to Stockholm

High taxes on alcohol + thirsty sweeds/finns who want to party = problem

duty free alcohol on the ferry between Helsinki and Stockholm + dance floor and music= solution to above problem

Cheap booze was a nice perk. It was a crazy night of dancing, booty shaking and pop music. Though, it didn't start out that way. In the beginning it was Eurovision on every screen, everyone transfixed on the over the top performances. For those that may not know, it is the European version of American Idol. Azerbaijan walked away with the title, but we didn't watch until the end, because we discovered where the dance party was, and the group had gotten sufficiently sloshed to be more interested in this. It was really fun, adult behavior was suspended for a few hours while we continued to drink, danced like idiots and sweat our balls off. The wake up call to get off the boat in the morning was rough, but our hangovers were short lived, thankfully. It was raining when we got into Stockholm, and it was really cold, like barely 60F.

That said, the first night in Stockholm was really great. We met up with a friend of Andrew's who is from Sweden, and went to a little coffee shop famous for its cinnamon rolls. The subway system here is really comprehensive and easy to get to nearly any part of the city. Really clean and QUIET. To watch the IHF final between Finland and Sweden, we went to an Irish bar called Dubliner, where the crowd watching the game was mostly Finns. They were chanting "Suomi" which means Finland in Finnish. How you get Finland from Suomi is beyond me. Then again Deutschland and Germany is pretty different too. Finland won 6 to 1. Sorry Sweden, but I won't hold it against you.

Tallin

This city in Estonia was really interesting. It is just a short ferry ride from Helsinki. The old town in it is a medieval walled city and classifies as a UN Heritage protected site. We climbed another tiny spiral staircase up to the top of the cathedral tower, and took a bunch of pictures. The group did a picnic in the park which was a great idea wine and cheese and bread and smoked fish... AWEsome.

The city seemed to cater to tourists, they had a great flea market. The souvenir to get was anything made from juniper wood which smells REALLY good. There were a lot of really nice cars, parked along the cobblestoned streets of old town, which made me suspect that there was a mob influence in the country. This suspicion was confirmed when we met with a Finnish architecture firm and they talked about how Estonia is slightly risky to do business with because of their mob affiliations, but that all the good, cheaper materials and workers come from there.

We visited a new development with my professor, and cut through a back yard from a public path along the water and had to scale a private garage door to get to the street. Then we tried to break into the graffiti'ed-over concrete soviet institutional abandoned music hall where the ferry dropped us off. Fun day of trespassing, it's all in the name of academics. Right? Ha. I'm just glad there is another monkey with no fear of getting caught jumping a fence on the trip.

Helsinki saunas and bar scene

Saunas are THE thing to do here. We went to a public sauna in the Kalio district of the city. It was great; the cedar wood smell, the hot hot air that burned your nostrils at first, the stepped seating, being naked, etc. The Finns go in for like 10-15 minutes at a time, then go outside in their towels and chat, drink beer and then go back in and start the cycle over. Sometimes a cold shower is thrown in, to mix it up. According to Ville, the Michigan M.Arch graduate from Finland who showed us around the Aalto designed University, most single family homes have saunas in them. Really interesting.

Helsinki was also voted the design capital of the world 2012. There is an entire district of the city that sells designer everything, from furniture to shoes to textiles, everything in between. There is this famous textile place called Marimekko that had lots of bright colors and patterns. I actually liked a different textile place called Finlayson better. Artek is the furniture store that Alvar Aalto started, and had a lot of cool stuff. My favorite piece was an end table made of driftwood, that was lacquered over. The city is very clean, the green and yellow trams go everywhere, and buses and a metro are available from the Kampii shopping center, close to the central railway station and man bus station. We stumbled across a museum of the tram, that had some cool stuff, including a history of the ticket size and shape.

For dinner after the sauna I had cold smoked reindeer with "belinis" which were basically savory fried pancakes with sour cream, onions, relish and a cold mushroom/sour cream/vinegar salad. Interesting, but it was good. Reindeer tastes like beef jerky, just slightly gamey. They eat a lot of fish (herring, salmon, perch), and use dill a lot which I love.

Night life is interesting, Finns are shy until approached, and then they are super friendly and helpful. Some are not so shy, like Hannu, a designer type with Corb glasses who took us out to a gay club- about the only other happening place on a Wednesday night. We started at a bar called Llamas, which was a Mexican bar with wooden swings hanging from the rafters for seats all around the bar. It was a group favorite, if not just for the fun name. On our free day we found a little courtyard bar, with the most amazing cocktails (and a price to prove it). I had a vanilla ginger basil vodka cocktail, totally delicious, rivaling my favorite cocktail from Violet Hour in Chicago. There is this liqeuer here called Salmiakki, the Finns love it, and Hannu got us all shots of it. To me it tastes like salty coffee with a licorice aftertaste.

We're about to leave to board the Viking cruise ferry to Stockholm, so that's all for Helsinki, for now.

Day 1 in Helsinki, Finland

It's weird how you find your way through a foreign city. You take notice of familiar words in the signage in front of buildings, even though they may mean very different things. "Apollo theatre," "Forum," (yes, the Romans, everywhere) "Diesel." Some I know from American culture, others from capitalism, but they are the signs I remember telling me where I am along a route to a destination. When you can't pronounce the street names (which are in both Finnish and Swedish the two official languages) it's this kind of mnemonic practice that becomes important. Our hostel is a short walk from the main rail station, and signs for the Metro are all over the city. Cobblestoned everything, bikers, little parks in weird shaped blocks of the city, it is definitely more of a traditional city with tall buildings, densely spaced than Reykjavik. Helsinki was voted the design city of 2012, and has an entire district dedicated to design; fashion, architecture, product design- design is in everything here. It is the home city of two of my favorite Architects, Eliel and his son Eero Saarinen.

Again, the air is fresh with a chill in it, but the day was really nice, 67 degrees. Alternating smells of perfume, cigarette smoke and crispness as you walk through. I think I was the only person in the city wearing sandals, but I'm ok with that. I inadvertently ordered an entire 14" pizza for myself, the remaining half of which is sitting on the table next to me at the hostel as I write this. Passed by at least two karaoke places, out of which I could hear badly sung English songs. Hilario. Everyone speaks English, and they can usually tell you're a tourist and switch over, though sometimes I've had to ask. I came across a market where they were selling make your own dried fruit and nut trail mix with wooden crates full of dried bananas, apricots, cherries, cranberries, just about everything and peanuts, almonds and cashews. They also had a cheese stand, candy stand and soaps, purses, etc. There was a little show set up in the middle of the square in front of the Forum mall, where I stopped to watch four girls do this pseudo Latin dance routine. Though they had a decent audience the applause was weak, people must be used to this kind of thing- performances randomly on a Monday late afternoon, maybe its just not that impressive.

One ingenious thing is the way they put parking lots in the interior courtyards of buildings. There's a drive and arched opening for cars to go through into parking lots beyond the street front. Its a great way to accomodate cars while not sacrificing the cityscape with open parking lots all over the place (think, Detroit, or L.A. no disrespect but, you know what I mean). There's a nice sensibility of keeping the city for the pedestrian, and tucking cars away, underground or behind the street building line, inside building courtyards.

Happy happy happy to be here! Going back out to explore, this time with sneakers and a fleece.

Iceland- first impression

Just before we landed, the terrain looked like what I imagine the moon would, only darker, more earthy colored. The drive from the airport to the city is about 40 minutes, along the way we passed a combination taco-bell and KFC and the grad students laughed, remembering the ridiculous rap we listened to in Theory class in a lecture about non-place.

We stop at a bakery and get some fresh bread. What is it about travelling abroad and me becoming obsessed with bakeries? Maybe because that kind of specialty is kind of rare at home. Needless to say, we found it again when we went exploring later in the day, so we could come back.

The city itself is very charming, low to the ground, the buildings rarely get above 3 or 4 stories. Lots of gabled roofs and house-like buildings. Some of the roofs are painted bright colors, I imagine this helps liven up the place during the winter when its gray and cold. Our first, layover day in Reykjavik was gorgeous, a there was a little chill in the air, but it smelled so fresh and clean, a big change from NYC where I'd spent the previous day. The view from the Cathedral, a modest 8 stories tall was gorgeous, offering a complete 360 view. There is no tipping in Iceland, which I liked- though service is much more laid back, which as an American I unwittingly noticed. The language is mesmerizing, so different from any that I know, but I'm still able to recognize bits and pieces, mostly from English. Its full of hard r, k and ouhh sounds. The suffix -gata follows a lot of the street names.

The city hall building is equally interesting, with its piloti that go into the city pond, the concrete arch roofs, and green algae walls at the front. The spaces are nice inside, backlit staircases are a nice designer touch. The concrete is a bit brutal untamed as it is, dirty looking, but its I think a nice and raw contrast with the sleekness of the glass. The arch throws me off somehow, stylistically it reminds me of tropical buildings in South America. Many people had opinions about this building, and it took a long time to build and a lot of money. Even more controversial is the new music concert hall- HARPA. It is quite the iconic building, no plane of the exterior shell is a ninety degree angle, the glass honeycomb facade was designed in collaboration with an icelandic artist and structural engineers, and remains incomplete even though the building has officially opened to the public. They hope to have the final inauguration and building 100% complete by the end of June. The art designer who worked on the glass facade refused to be part of the opening in May because the facade was not finished, but the symphonic orchestra conductor insisted that it open in May even though it was not finished because it had been so far behind schedule. The conductor won. The building is important because its the first venue designed to meet the acoustical needs of a true concert hall. Music in Iceland is important, and there are some great musicians which the country has birthed; Sigur Ros, The Sugarcubes and Bjork to name a few. The music festival is heralded as a truly great time, annually in October its called Iceland Airwaves. Icelandic and foreign musicians play in Reykjavik's clubs for a week.

Olof, the girl that I'm renting an apartment from is so sweet, and her place is very nice, students live in really great sized studios I'm a fan, and excited I get to stay there for a month after our Scandinavian travels. Tomorrow is Helsinki...