London trip...

How come the women of London have not revolted? As you know I (K) hate to be late, especially going to a business meeting in unfamiliar territory. I gave myself a reasonable hour and 15 minutes to make it to the meeting on time. Dressed in the all appropriate black suit and heels, I embarked on my Tube (Underground) journey. This should have taken less then 20 minutes. Navigating the Tube - taking one train - transferring - then finding the right 2^nd train, only to find by the loud overhead voice that ALL trains have been halted due to security concerns. First thought – get out of the Tube. Second thought – safe and sound, but no idea where I am. Now I find myself on a busy London street, with many locals in the same predicament. Not a cab to be found anywhere… So I rip out my map, identify my location and start hoofing it towards my meeting. 25 mins left to arrive on time, walking briskly admiring my surroundings I am amazed at the uneven pavement and cobblestones. There are women all around me in stiletto heels navigating each step with grace and composure. I have significantly sturdier shoes and can’t seem to make it a step without twisting an ankle. Who is the man who invented the high heel shoe? Why is it that women continue to wear them? A women who wears heels and conquers these heels successfully should receive a medal from the queen (or at least a pair of crutches).

Copenhagen, Denmark

This town was our favorite of this Scandanavian swing. Everything we expected in some of the other cities was to be found in Copenhagen. The city - very manageable, best discovered by bikes (this is the 2nd most biked city in Europe, sitting behind Amsterdam). The people - extremely nice, probably the most friendly of our trip and quite frankly beautiful. The food - while we didn't try all of the traditional fare, we had a good dose of seafood before we hit the Europen mainland again and it was fantastic. The weather - sunny skies both days made the 30s seem more then beareable. Some highlights of the weekend:

• The Bike Tour - according to our brochure, Copenhagen has a bike tour leaving every morning at 10:15. After ripping threw town to make the 10:15 departure, we arrive to a "Rickshaw" stand that explained in a Danish/English dialect that they only do tours for 5 or more people. We were the only 2 standing there. We walked the rest of the day.
  
• The Carlsberg Brewery - this tour gives the Heineken Experience a run for its money. D met a local who had a solid story about walking around the south side of Chicago looking for some "good blues" 25 years ago. After he made it south of Hyde Park (starting in the Loop) he was picked up by a police officer at 10pm. He was happy to still be telling the story. We are now Carlsberg fans.
• Danish Design - we thought we'd see much more of this in Norway and Sweden, but the design and architecture were more impressive here then anywhere else. The Design Museum was a worthwhile stop, but you can get a taste of this specialty in shops, hotels, restaurants and walking around town. Very cool.
• Biking Ride Sunday - this time we went on our own and saw the city as locals do. We ventured across the bridge of Copenhagen into the island known as Christianshavn, which surrounds a small community known as Christiana - the Free Town. This "self governed town" has a hippie feel to it and made for some fantastic people watching. The town claims to be a separate entity and does not consider themselves as a part of the EU. As we cut through town we encountered about 8 police officers (armed with gas masks) and about a dozen locals just watching them. As we peddled by we both realized about 10 of those eyeballs were now on us. We peddled a littler faster and escaped back to the EU.
  

This was a great town and we'd recommend Copenhagen and spending some time in Denmark - a very nice surprise... For some additional shots of Copenhagen, click here!

Aarhus, Denmark

What a great little town! This town sits on the island of Jutland (directly north of Germany). Aarhus is dominated by the University, which somehow has 40,000 students. Denmark labels it the "youngest" town in the country and you certainly get that feel walking around. Live music is big in this town; unfortunately we did not get a chance to experience any. Driving in town from the airport shows the Danish countryside at its best. Plenty of windfarms and lush farms dominate your eyesight for miles. The first thing you'll notice pulling into central Aarhus, is the quantity and size of its ships. Shipping is king and at all hours, the harbor is busy. Not too far from the port is the old town center of Dem Gamle By. This quaint community still keeps the old Danish village style and allow tourists to picture what life was like hundreds of years ago. The town is probably best seen by bike (which we didn't do), but can be very manageable afoot. We were lucky enough to stay right on the water (see pics below), but had some laughs as we were locked out of our hotel (with 10 other guests) as the front desk took a break. Hard to explain, but pretty humorous as we had to scatter into different groups to attempt other entrances. If you are ever in Denmark, make a plan to hit this town for a couple days. For some more random pics of Aarhus click here!

Lulea, Sweden

Having no idea what to expect, we ventured north to Lulea, Sweden. Lulea sets on the Gulf of Bothinia - about an hour from the Arctic Circle, a couple hours from Finland, and on the southern part of the Swedish Lapland. The town had a small town feel that likely has a much bigger feel to it in the summer time. The weather was really chilly and we got another dose of snow. Some highlights: Gammelstad Church Town - dating back to 1339 this area (picture above) was developed into an area known as Lulea. The town was built around the church (Nederlulea) and over time people lived there but also visited for weekend services and to trade goods. Another highlight was the Northern lights (also above). Cloud cover only gave us a few views, but the sights were more amazing than could be expected. A cool surprise in town was the Kulturhaus - picture below. The Kulturhaus seems to be a combination of city center/library/art museum in some of the Swedish towns (Stockholm had one as well). This structure had architecture that you couldn't miss, even if driving through the town of Lulea. The views inside were as cool as the building looked passing by. If you want to see more pictures of the Lapland click here.

Stockholm, Sweden

Stockholm's beautiful boulevards, immense Royal Place, elegant Opera House, windy medieval streets and locals riding horses create the feeling of a wonderland. Each island in the archipaelgo (there are 11) has its own character. From the Museum Island to Old Town each have a distinct feel and personality. Its easy to get lost in the capitivation of it all. Fortunately for a change, we did not. The locals are beautiful, charming and speak English better then us. Communication was never an issue. We fell into one of our first "tourist traps" at the Ice Bar, based on a Travel and Leisure tip. We set foot in our Ice Experience and emerged 45 mins later, several degrees colder, none the wiser, and many kroner lighter. Come to think of it we were hit with another tourist trap, by being charged for an elevator ride on the south side of town. Had we seen another way (or a sign with a fee) we never would have continued. Instead we continued on and contributed to the GDP of Sweden. If you can handle the crowds and plan to save up, save this for a summer trip when this town clearly thrives. For additional pictures of time in Stockholm click here!

Picture Updates

For pictures from recent trips, click on the cities below:

• Berlin
• Oslo
• Tronheim
  

Trondheim, Norway

Located 3 hours NW of Oslo this is Norway’s 3^rd biggest city and allegedly the tech capital of the country. There is a large university here (30,000 students – note the town is only 150,000) which gives this town a younger feel. If you travel to the outskirts of town you’ll see this is a huge shipping and fishing corridor for Norway. There was snow within the first hour of us landing and a constant battle with the weather during the 2 day stint. Snow, rain and sleet dominated but Mother Nature cooperated for a bit to get some blue skies and sunny pictures in throughout the city. The ride to and from the airport (45km) is beautiful. Large snow capped mountains, fjords and farm land. Looks like good living. It'd be great to see this town when it is alive in warmer weather, but we definitely had a taste for what it could be most of the year...