Saturday, October 13, 2007

Field trip to Denmark: déjà vu?

This morning, all of the UC kids bundled up (it was 35 degrees!) and hopped on a bus at 8:15AM. We zipped up the coast, drove onto a giant ferry, and sailed (bus and all) from Helsingborg, Sweden to Helsingor, Denmark.

Our first stop was the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art - definitely worth the trip. Not only does the museum sits on a dynamite spot, with a beautiful view of Sweden across the Öresund, but one of their current exhibitions, on the work of photographer Richard Avedon, was stunning. Over two hundred portraits from his career’s work, of all kinds of people: his father, vagrants, and coal miners, the Beatles, Henry Kissinger, Twiggy, Bjork, Marilyn Monroe, and Hilary Clinton. Avedon also did some glam shots for fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar. But perhaps my personal favorite – just because it was such a time warp – were fifty portraits of prominent figures in the 1970s, including some very young, yet familiar faces: Bush Sr., Rumsfeld, Jerry Brown, and Ralph Nader.

Afterwards we drove up the coast to have lunch and then take a tour of Kronborg Castle, famously known as “Hamlet’s Castle.”

Yep, if you’ve been following closely, I’ve done this field trip before. It was a spur-of-the-moment weekend trip back in July. Lots of fun, and you can see some pictures if you click the link.

Still, it is a fun castle, and this time, camera-free, I was able to enjoy an official tour of the grounds, where we learned oodles about the warring nations of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden back in the 1600s, clever taxing gimmicks for trading ships passing through the Öresund, and exactly why the dark and creepy casemates are there (prisons and soldiers’ quarters, apparently).

Also, one of my fellow UC students, the very brave and sassy Izzy, had a go at some sword fighting against a Danish "knight" in the ballroom of the castle: who ever hits the other first wins… go Izzy!



Then it was back on the ferry! And back to Lund. Time for some studying!


Linnea

3 comments:

Carlotosway said...

do you remember those nerf swords we had? sorta reminds me of that. Hang in there.

Atom Salad said...

Seems like folks in Lund have the best of both worlds--Denmark and Sweden! Nice to have a "metropolitan" area with so many cultural offerings.

Have you learned about the Hanseatic League http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanseatic_League
Was that part of the clever taxing gimmick?

The sound on the little Izzy video is great! Did you take that video on your camera?

You've taken so many cool field trips it's going to be hard for me to choose what to do in the little time I will have!

thanks for the update! I'm really looking forward to seeing some of these things (and YOU) in person. :-)

Shoshana said...

UM HELLO FRIEND!

I miss you like whoa. I have an idea - how about on your way home from The Land of the Hip and Minimalist, you stop over in Atlanta? Hartsfield-Jackson airport is breathlessly waiting your arrival.

P.S. Christina and I talk all the time about how awesome your blog is and how jealous we are of your mad skillz.