When last I left you I was planning my first excursion to Sweden. For the Onion readers out there, the Onion commends the country of Sweden for advances in perfect bone structure, slender thighs and IKEA. I purchased my ticket across the Øresund in the central station and caught a 17:03 train to Malmö (recently described to me by a Texan as the 'Mexico of Denmark'), where I switched trains and continued to the beautiful medieval city of Lund. Josefin and Johanna, two Swedish girls I studied and became good friends with in Utrecht, live and study there. Felix, an Austrian I also know well from Utrecht, somehow managed to woo Johanna and is now moving to Lund to take a Master's. The three picked me up a the train station and we walked through the city to Josefin's apartment, buying supplies for dinner on the way. If I've learned one thing (though I probably haven't) it's never turn down a home-cooked meal from a European woman. Or two, in this case. Dinner was great, and it really was a treat to just sit and chat and laugh with these people I saw everyday just a year ago. I spent the night and caught an early train back to Copenhagen.
Sometime early in the week Pete and I were discussing how there was a lack in Danish Viking activity, at least relative to what we were told to expect. So we made some phone calls, sent some emails, and waited two days. Suddenly, it was if Vikings emerged from various caves and fjords and hillside hideaways. It started Wednesday evening, when Mikkel, a Danish Viking who works at Nokia, picked us up and drove us north of Copenhagen to Louisiana, a museum of modern art in Humlebæk. The museum is situated on the Danish coast, looking out on to Sweden from a gradual bluff. The building itself is considered art, and has a Frank Lloyd Wright feel. There was even an exhibit dedicated to global museum design. That's right, a museum museum. We had dinner at the cafe and Mikkel talked about his work, his Viking experience, and his outlook on the future of BVO. We had driven up on the highway, but we took the coastal road back to Copenhagen, which follows the "Danish Riviera", an area littered with $3 million plus homes on the water.
I woke up early Thursday morning for my Entrepreneurship class, in which I presented a case analysis with a small group - an American, Aussie, Bulgarian, and myself - which went surprisingly well. My professor, as I may have mentioned, is a fast and mean Boston native with oodles of experience in what seems to be most fields. The man is not afraid to tell you when you're wrong. He actually seems to quite enjoy it. Thankfully, we covered our asses and he could only pick us apart for ten minutes or so. I walked away unscathed, and met Pete at CBS to head out to the Nokia complex south of the center, where we'd meet Mikkel for lunch.
The Nokia complex is quite impressive, with buildings lining the Synhavn, connected by skyways. Nokia provides a "free" lunch buffet for all employees, and apparently guests of employees (that's us). We ate our fill and had a chat about working at Nokia, the Danish holiday mindset, and how to mix business with travel intelligently. Mikkel is a great guy, and we hope to seem him again before we leave Denmark.
Last night we were invited for dinner at Ilya's home in Copenhagen. Ilya is a Russian-born American, whose family emigrated when he was young. He attended UW-Madison, received the Viking scholarship to Oslo, eventually married a Dane, and now resides in Copenhagen with his beautiful wife Natasha and their children. We arrived at 18:00 on the dot with our dates for the evening, and Ilya welcomed us into his massive second floor flat. The apartment dated back to the late 1800's, and remained true to its original design. I won't go into too much detail, but Natasha prepared a jaw-dropping three course meal, Ilya was generous with the wine and cognac, and we left at 1:00 feeling great. Ilya is easily one of the most inspiring people I've ever had a conversation with, and I'm not sure if I've learned more in six hours. I'm looking forward to a possible visit to his summer home in the coming weeks.
I woke up feeling surprisingly good this morning, and Pete and I made our way to Nørreport to catch a train north to Helsingor. We picked up some flowers to accompany a nice card Pete drew for Lars' wife, who's currently recovering. Lars again met us at the train station, and we went to his apartment to catch up over some bitters. Then we headed down the street to lunch at what turned out to be a great place for the classiest brunch I've ever seen. Of course Lars knew the chef and most of the waitresses.
Now I'm back in Copenhagen, and most Kathrine is on a boat trip to Oslo this weekend, so it'll be pretty quiet around here. Tonight we're headed out on the town with a few Vikings, and this weekend brings a canal tour and a possible visit elsewhere in Denmark.
Before I forget, remember how I dropped some photos to be developed? As I mentioned, they were due to be picked up on Tuesday of this week. I was busy Tuesday, and swung by the place Wednesday, on my way to a group meeting at CBS. I handed the clerk my slip, and he dug through the pile of completed orders, coming up empty. He turned to me and said "Come back in two hours." I said, "Are you kidding?", to which he replied, "No." I stopped back and picked them up after the meeting, and I could only laugh as I flipped through the photos. I ordered two sets of prints, which I received, for 19 of the 20 photos (from 27 total) they chose to develop. Maybe I'll write a letter to the Danish BBB..
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