A few weeks ago, Lena received a summer train card from a corridormate who was moving away and didn't need it. Seeing that it expired on Saturday, we felt anxious to get as much use of it as we could. So on Thursday, after class got out, we hoped to take the train to the countryside and go blueberry picking. Unfortunately, we just missed blueberry season (but the blackberries are coming soon!), so we randomly decided to go to a town called Helsingborg about 40 minutes away.
The only thing I knew about city is that its sister city in Denmark called Helsingør (they even have almost identical pronunciations too) is a 2 mile ferry ride across the sea is where Shakespeare's Hamlet "lived!" Although we have not visited his castle yet, there is no chance I will miss it--so stay tuned!
Although it is no Kronborg Castle, Helsingborg is a pretty amazing city in its own right. Immediately upon departure of the central station, we saw these beautiful sights:
This building, amazingly enough, is their 100 year-old Town Hall.It almost made me want to get into Swedish local politics!
A view of the city, the Sound (Øresund) which is the body of water that separates Sweden from Denmark,
and the land in the distance is Denmark
And perhaps the most wonderful sight of all:An Traveling International Food Market!
Without even meaning to we stumbled upon a large, multinational culinary experience! There were sausages from Germany, cheese from France, tapas from Spain, jams from England, and McDonald's from America. We tasted samples of meats, olives, and cookies before settling on a delicious strawberry strudel from Germany. It tasted like perfection.
Lena was excited about our studel too!
Just to make you enviousAfter enriching our palates, we decided we should try to enrich our minds as well. So walked up the street to see the fortress of Kärnan. This 600-year-old keep was built when Denmark owned much of Southern Sweden. It is an amazing medieval structure that was finally taken by the Swedes recently in the 1770s-- basically Sweden's last official war (they wanted to end on a high note).
It is a very imposing fortress-- no wonder
Sweden and Denmark fought so much over it!
Who wants to play 'Where's Rachel?'
Us on top of the fortress. It was an amazing view.
It is a very imposing fortress-- no wonderSweden and Denmark fought so much over it!
Who wants to play 'Where's Rachel?'
Us on top of the fortress. It was an amazing view.After that, someone got the crazy idea to walk to the end of the long pier (practically half way to Denmark), which isn't a crazy idea in itself, but the weather changed from partially cloudy to hurricane-force winds and driving rain in a matter of minutes. However, we trudged along and managed not to get blown off the pier somehow. We did end up completely soaked from head to toe and freezing.
The rain was coming in horizontally at my face.
Hence, the gruesome, pained smile.
Shakespeare, Lena, and di Vinci having a good time!
The rain was coming in horizontally at my face.Hence, the gruesome, pained smile.
With no end of the rain in sight, we sought refuge in the nearest building, which turned out to be a nice museum with a great gift shop. We entertained ourselves for a while till the torrential downpour petered out.
Shakespeare, Lena, and di Vinci having a good time!Our last stop of the trip was the 14th century Danish Gothic Mariakyrkan (St. Mary's Cathedral). It was closed, but the building and gardens were very nice to look at.
And the sun came out! Perfect end to a great day.
I've decided you should write a book. Specifically for me. It should be Rachel's travels or the adventure of Vidmar. something like that. Because I love reading your blogs, so a book is clearly the next step here.
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