The Swedish Interlude

We enjoyed a weekend of (mostly) sun by taking in the last days of the Jazz Festival, watching Italiensk for Begyndere, and taking the train to Sweden to explore Lund.

Friday evening we saw the end of a jazz performance by a good group at the Østerbro stage, only a 10 minute walk from our apartment. Saturday had some promising weather, so we went down to the harbor and saw another band featuring a xylophone. It was enjoyable - modern, but not too "out there." Afterwards we took a walk down Strøget before heading home. On the way we picked up Italiensk for Begyndere which is a Danish film from 2002 that won some awards, see here for reviews. We both enjoyed the film - it developed slowly but really drew us in.

Finally, we took the train to Lund. Lund is a university town in Skåne (southern Sweden). Lund was founded by one of the early Danish kings (Knut the Great?) in 990. It remained part of Denmark until 1658 when it was ceded to Sweden, thus beginning "The Swedish Interlude," as described in the museum we visited. The Swedish Interlude continues to this day. Danish flags flew alongside Swedish flags, demonstrating the divided loyalties of the region (it's a long way to Stockholm). We spent most of our time at Kulturen, an open-air museum with about 40 homes mostly from the Skåne region. Like the other museums of this type in Scandinavia, we enjoyed the insight into the history of the region. Since most monuments preserved for posterity were built by the military, the church, or the aristocracy, these museums are a rare chance to see another side and get a feel for how people lived then. You can see a picture of me crawling out of a Småland farmhouse that was home to a family of 9 until the father ran off to America, not to be heard from again. Unfortunately Kulturen didn't have the reenactors like the denizens of Den Gamle By or Skansen, but it did have good written descriptions about the people who inhabited the buildings preserved on the site.

After Kulturen we visited the cathedral. It was compact, as cathedrals go, but impressive and solid. We were treated to a half-hour choir concert by a touring group from Bowling Green University (Ohio). They did several African-American spirituals and some other favorites we knew from our choir days. It was a nice reminder of our own European choir tour 12 summers ago.

Chip away at the stone

As I drove this morning to have the car inspected, I realized that an appropriate analogy for the different layers of bureaucracy we have to go through is that of chipping away at a big wall of stone. If you're persistant you can get through, but it's awful tempting to give up. The car arrived on Monday. It was funny to watch them crack open the shipping container and see the car sitting in there. The last time I saw it was when the tow truck picked it up from the house on May 26. They had completely drained the gas for the trip, so it wouldn't even start. But with me and three other guys supervising, a fourth poured in a few liters of gasoline (benzin) that they had scavanged from the lawnmower shed at the moving site. It started with a little hesitation, but it has run fine since.

So the process is to 1) buy auto insurance 2) get a parking permit, 3) have the car weighed, 4) obtain form from the motor office, 5) have car inspected, 6) get any repairs performed,7) get an official estimate for the value of the car, 8) get bank check, 9) pay the registration tax (180% !!!), then 10) go to the motor office for the license plates (all within two week). Fortunately, someone at work went through this a few weeks ago, so he gave me some tips - hopefully I'm not forgetting anything. If you're wondering, I'm on step 5. The inspection turned up a lack of side turn indicators (useful for bicyclists) and the fact that the front turn signal bulb and parking light are the same bulb. Somehow, millions of Americans are able to survive the treacherous drive to and from work without having separate parking and turn signal bulbs, but it must only be luck or divine providence. Not everything is this involved, and everyone I deal with is helpful and understanding. An added challenge is that half the country is on vacation, so it is difficult to get appointments. Anyway, with any luck, by next week I'll be official.

Last weekend was our trip to Sweden. We were in Falkenberg and Morup, visiting Alexa's relatives. We were there last summer before we knew that we would move to Scandinavia. It's such a nice area along the west coast of Sweden where you can go from the beach to wooded hills in a half hour or so. We enjoyed the hospitality and the beautiful weather including swimming and rowing in/on the lake, eating meals out in the garden, and playing boule (same or similar to bocci ball). We went to church on Sunday and were treated to music by a group from Morup comprising six accordians, four violins, and a mandolin. We're eager to go back at the next opportunity.