Tour of Hässleholm and Copenhagen

Now for some some tourism:

With a busy day ahead, I got up early to get ready to go to Copenhagen with my parents.  Having fallen asleep last night without cleaning up and packing, I tackled those tasks this morning.  With all of my stuff packed for the trips to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, as well as Icelandia straightened up, I left to meet my parents at Hotel Statt, where they were staying.

From there, I took them on the Hässleholm grand tour.  We walked around the shopping area of downtown, up to the church, to Göingevallen, and back to the square by way of the heritage park.  While not all of Hässleholm, that is the part of town I have become most accustomed to and spent most of my time.  My parents enjoyed seeing where I have been and seemed to like this nice, quiet town.

We collected our things and headed to the train station.  Lucas met us there to take the keys to Icelandia in the event anybody needed access to it while I was away.  And then the traveling began.

We would be staying in Copenhagen one night at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, located between Copenhagen Central Station and Kastrup Airport about a block away from the Ørestad stop, across from the Field's shopping mall (the largest shopping mall in Scandinavia, which we amazingly did not enter!).

The hotel was a large tower that had been open for less than a year.  It was very modern and had a large conference area, apparently hosting an energy company this weekend.  We checked in and headed into Copenhagen to do some sightseeing.

Our first stop was Rosenborg Slot.  A Renaissance style castle in the center of Copenhagen, it served as a summerhouse for Christian IV and now is a museum and holds some crown jewels.

In fact, this fellow and another gentleman were pacing and, I think, keeping guard of the crown jewels.  I'm not sure how safe they are, though.  My dad said hello and the guy above answered "hey" in a pretty resigned tone.  The other guard had tourists walking all around him and through his supposed path of march.  I don't think many tourists were very impressed or intimidated.  Maybe it was his posture.

Looking out over the moat that surrounds Rosenborg, you can see nothing but the vast garden that surrounds it and Copenhagen skyline.  It was nice to imagine being a king and vacationing at such a beautiful place, strolling through the garden and enjoying being rich.  It must've been good to be the king.

Also on the grounds at Rosenborg is a barracks that still houses members of the Royal Life Guards (ie the guy in the previous picture).

We walked through the Rosenborg gardens and made our way to the Danish Resistance Museum.

I had been before, but I really liked it and thought my parents would also find it interesting.  They seem interested enough, here, checking out some information on the Danish resisters and the Gestapo.

After the Resistance Museum we walked along the harbor.  Instead of naval vessels docked like the last time I was here with George, we saw this enormous private yacht, the Skat, that is owned and partly designed by Charles Simonyi, a former Microsoft software engineer.

From the harbor we walked up through Amalienborg Palace, where we learned that royalty was in residence.  We continued to Frederik's Church, a huge, all marble domed church a few blocks from Amalienborg Square that was begun by King Frederik V.

Our tour of Copenhagen continued as we went to Nyhavn next.  It was such a beautiful day and tourists and locals alike were taking advantage as the beautiful harbor was really bustling.

After our stroll along Nyhavn we followed the Strøget, the longest pedestrian shopping are in Europe.  It goes roughly from Nyhavn to the Rådshuspladsen, or town square, where we saw an interesting performance.

I'm not sure if they were Native Americans in Denmark or Native Danes or what, but they were playing some very Native American sounding music and dancing.  As you can see, they also were dressed for the performance.  Unexpected for sure, but interesting nonetheless.

Somewhat blasphemously, we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, Copenhagen.  Our waitress was a very outgoing and energetic Swede who spoke great english, like much of the staff, I noticed.  Also,  I have to admit, I had one of the best hamburgers in my entire life.  It was great to sit down, read a menu in english, and know EXACTLY what I was getting to eat.  It's the little things.

After dinner we headed into Tivoli Gardens, the oldest amusement park in Europe.  Walt Disney got his inspiration for Disneyland after visiting Tivoli.

No rides, but a nice walk around the Gardens.  It is kind of like a scaled down Disneyland, or, rather, Disneyland is like a supersized Tivoli.  Tired, we returned to our hotel after a full day of sightseeing.

Paintball and Parents Arrive

I realized that I couldn't quite remember how to get to Lucas Grip's house.  Luckily, Johan Persson was nice enough to pick me up.  After a few errands we picked up Henrik Andersson and rendezvoused with Lucas, Uffe Palmbrink, Jonas Grip, Clair Brenneman, Marcus Lundqvist, Tim Eriksson, and Oscar Lindkvist and Lucas's house before heading off to the paintball field.

After about 45 minutes on a 30 minute drive and some critical exploration of the same road due to a failure of attention and slightly muddled directions, Johan, Henrik, and I reached the paintball field where Martin Andrä had joined the rest of the group.  We put on our coveralls and went at it!

We played offense vs. defense the entire time we were there, almost 3 hours.  The offense, of which I was apart, started very strong but as the day wore on, and the defense, anchored (positionally) by Uffe and Jonas, showed its age and dug in, helping them to win more later rounds.  We all got some welts; we all had a great time!

Johan dropped me off at Icelandia in the evening and I got cleaned up.  The plan was for my parents to email me (both my dad and I have Blackberries that work in Europe) when they were on their way to Hässleholm so that I could hook up with them at the train station and help them get settled in and get dinner together.

Sometimes thing's don't go to plan.  Somehow some settings got changed in his phone and my dad wasn't able to send out messages and he couldn't read mine.  We finally got together after I left a message at the desk of the Hotel Statt, where they were staying, and they called my Swedish cell.

We went for a short walk around downtown Hässleholm, to the grocery store to pick up something for dinner since it was pretty late by this time, and then to Icelandia.  We made some plans for the next couple of days and called it a night.

First Icelandia Laundry Day

Time for another laundry related blog!

Today was my first day of doing laundry at Icelandia.  Laundry at Icelandia, which I understand is similar to laundry in other Swedish apartment buildings, is sort of a process.  First, you must reserve your time in the laundry room.

Reservations are carried out on the board above.  Your number goes in a slot that will reserve you either the 0700-1400 or 1400-2100 time slot on a given calendar day.  I reserved the morning slot, so I was up early to get started on my laundry.

The facilities are more than adequate.  There is a laundry room with two washers, a dryer, and a mysterious, tricky, clothes spinning machine, as well as an entire drying room with clotheslines and a heater to help accelerate the drying process.

After many trips up and down the stairs, reminiscent of my time living on the third and fourth floors of Stanford Hall at Notre Dame, I was able to complete my laundry after a few hours.  I was also able to grab a time slot for when I return from the Netherlands and Barcelona.

The rest of the day was pretty low key, highlighted by finishing up the excellent HBO miniseries The Pacific.  I don't think it was quite as good as Band of Brothers, but maybe only because I saw Band of Brothers first, and The Pacific is similar.  It's a truly incredible series, despite being difficult to watch sometimes.  The Pacific Theater was so violent and horrific and I don't think the common American knows nearly as much about it as the European Theater.  The Pacific did a great job of delving into the psychological toll that the war in the Pacific had on the marines fighting there (a la Jarhead), which was both very interesting to me and very painful to see.  Tremendous men with tremendous stories who made unfathomable sacrifice.

up early for laundry, finished the pacific

Hurricanes' Youth Practice

After getting back a little late from Malmö last night after the soccer match, I had another late, albeit relaxing start to the day today.

The only thing on the agenda for today was going to the Hurricane's youth practice to help out.

I made my way to Göingevallen in the evening and was happy to see a number of kids and quite a few 'Canes waiting at the field to start the practice session.  The kids were broken up into two groups based on their age.  Jonas Grip, Shawn Cordeiro, and Uffe Palmbrink were working with the U13 group and Johan Persson and Pär Danielsson were working with the older group, whom I also assisted.

This was the second session for the newly started Hurricane's youth program.  These first few sessions are focused on giving the kids a taste of many aspects of American football and getting them used to some of the different skills that are necessary for success.  We worked on some agility drills, throwing and catching, route running, and basic blocking.  Future sessions will be more technical and position specific.

It's exciting to see the Hurricane's club continue to grow.  I've really come to enjoy the players and organization here in Hässleholm and look forward to hearing about continued successes!

Malmö and LdB FC vs. Kristianstad DFF

After being far too lazy for far too long, I decided to take a day trip today.  So, I got out some of the travel guides and maps George had so generously left in Icelandia, collected those related to Malmö and headed to the train station.

Today, no train problems!

I arrived at Malmö as scheduled and headed first toward Malmö Slott.

Only a block or two away from the train station a crew was doing some road work in an intersection.  Yes, those are cars driving through the intersection while the crew works.  A similar thing was going on outside of Icelandia a few days ago.  I love the lack of safety regulations and general concern in what appears to be an OSHA-free and non litigious society.

This nice old building was just before Malmö Slott.  I walked a few more blocks and came upon...

...Malmö Slott.  The Slott has been remoded/reconstructed a number of times in its history, as well as used for a number of purposes, including a prison.  It holds the title for the oldest remaining Renaissance castle in Scandinavia.  It is now used only for the housing of museums.

In the castle courtyard, I found this small exhibit.  It is a representation of the cell that Nelson Mandela lived in for the better part of his imprisonment on Robben Island.  The interior of the "cage" here had plaques with Mandela quotes on justice and equality hung inside.  I'm not sure why it was here, but it was an interesting and sobering surprise.

The Slott tour began with a rather long and, to me, uninteresting anthropological exhibit presumably centering around regional findings and history.  I breezed through this section and continued seeking entrance to the castle.

I was foiled again, but this time with an exhibit on Malmö history.  I took more time through this section, reading about various stages in Malmö's growth.  The gentleman above, for example, was found in Malmö Slott during its preparation to become a museum.  The skeleton was found in chains, face down, and, upon inspection of the remains, it was determined that the person suffered from blunt force trauma to the back of the skull.  He lies face down in the exhibit, similar to how he was found.  Not all history is pleasant.

After the anthropological and historical exhibits, I managed to slip by the incredibly tight security and gain entrance to Malmö Slott!

The King's apartment was well kept and included many pieces of furniture and other artifacts, including an artist and Christian IV's bible.

In honor of George Contreras, as he continues his walk on the Camino de Santiago today: The Turning Torso through a blown glass window in Malmö Slott.

The interior also housed a small art museum with a variety of lesser known artists.  I liked this piece, in particular.

The original castle chapel has been converted into a concert hall, but remains beautiful decorated, despite being much simpler than the original, I'm sure.  It houses a pipe organ originally from St. Peter's Church in Malmö and this gorgeous wall and ceiling painting in the half-domed ceiling above the stage.

Malmö Slott? Check.  Next stop: The Turning Torso.

The Turning Torso is a skyscraper that rotates as it grows towards the clouds.  The entire building turns to the right 90°, as a person looking over his shoulder.  Hence, the Turning Torso.  Upon its completion in 2005 it was the tallest residential building in the European Union.  Some of my pictures make it look like its leaning as well as turning, but I assure you it is a vertical, and very impressive, structure.

After viewing the Turning Torso up close, I stopped by Stapelbäddsparken, the largest and newest skatepark in Malmö.  It's very impressive, especially for a completely public and outdoor skatepark.  Again, something that could never been done in the good ol' litigious U.S. of A.

I headed back toward the train station then continued to the city square, which I found still recovering from the recent festival.  The old city hall was impressive, as usual (seen on the left, above).

I took this opportunity, being so close, to swing by St. Peter's Church again, although construction on the front prevented my entrance.  Its a gorgeous gothic style church.  I'm sure the interior is incredible, as well.

From the square I walked down the walking street through the shopping district.  The modernization of these once medieval towns is interesting to observe, and also somewhat puzzling.  Above you can see one example of the stark contrast between old and new in Malmö in these commercial buildings on the walking street.

On my way to my next destination I stopped to rest on a bench in a nice, lush park.  I overheard some well-spoken English from a group at a nearby bench.  I asked where they were from and it turns out there was only one American in the bunch!  All were graduate students at Malmö University.  The group included design students from Iran and Washington, a conflict and peace studies student from Denmark, and other students from Canada and Norway.  Apparently, Malmö has a very large international population and the entire graduate program is taught in English.  This group of friends claimed that among the dozen or so of them that regularly socialized, there was only one Swede.  Very international!

They were kind enough to help direct me to my last destination for the day:

Malmö Idrottplats used to be the home of both Malmö FF and IFK Malmö.  The choice to put in field turf as well as the building of newer stadiums in Malmö for FIFA qualifying led both clubs to abandon Malmö IP, which is now home to LdB FC, Malmö's Damallsvenskan (the top women's soccer league in Sweden) club.  I'd already seen an Allsvenskan game with Mjällby AIF, so I decided to observe the fairer sex's version while in Malmö.

Also, LdB FC is now home to none other than...

... ok, so its nearly impossible to tell from this terrible picture, but its Nilla Fischer!  Yes, the same Nilla Fischer I met at the Malmö Festival and who plays on the Swedish National team.  She was nice enough to invite me to see her play and even offered a ticket.

Tonight Nilla and first place and undefeated LdB FC were set to face eigth place Kristianstad DFF.  The match began as most soccer matches do, with a lot of passing.  LdB FC began to control possession when, in the 12th minute, Kristianstad scored the first goal on a nice run aided by a defender's stumble that took her out of the play, leaving the attacker 1 on 1 with the keeper for the score.  LdB answered with a lightning quick strike off the ensuing kickoff in the 13th minute.  Not to be outdone, Kristianstad replied in the 15th minute to retake the lead, 2-1.  Kristianstad continued the surprising first half with a goal in the 35th minute.

Trailing 3-1 at halftime, Nilla was unhapy.

Her side continued to dominate possession in the second half, and the pressure finally got to Kristianstad, who were no longer able to hold off the LdB attack or counter effectively.  In the 53rd minute LdB struck, then scored the equalizer in the 60th minute to take firm hold of the momentum.  The go ahead goal came only 5 minutes later:

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The fifth goal came in the 76th minute on a beautiful corner cross and header:

Despite the rough start, LdB totally outplayed Kristianstad and really dominated possession and kept constant pressure on Kristianstad.  It didn't seem like they could possess the ball for more than 30 seconds at a time and the ball was always in their half.

Final score: LdB FC 5, Kristianstad DFF 3.

I passed by the new opera house on my way back to the station for my return trip to Hässleholm.  A very full day of sightseeing and walking.  I was exhausted!  I kept thinking about George walking 15-20 miles each day on the Camino and felt pretty pathetic.  Sitting on the train sure felt nice, though.