Stockholm, day 14, Sunday, June 30

Last day after two weeks of intense travel and sight seeing. Now awaits the journals and the research papers on a variety of topics. Tomorrow morning we say goodbye to our hostel-ship af Chapman and Stockholm as we take the Arlanda Express to the airport and catch our various flights back to the US and elsewhere. I am fairly certain that these students have never before experienced such an intense program of museums and guided tours exposing them first-hand to many dimensions of past and contemporary culture. It is up to them to make something of it.

So, we took it easy today. We spent an hour in Medeltidsmuseet, the Medieval Museum, which interactively has recreated medieval settings underground next to Stockholm's original, excavated city walls. Superb museum, professional and pedagogical, and gratis, the best deal east of the Atlantic.

Then we packed and got ready for a 6 p.m. farewell dinner in the Old Town. The sun is still baking down over Stockholm and just a few hours until the alarm clock ring.

Kiera and Rivers admiring a model of Notke's St. George statue.

Micki and Belle in front of the pewterer display.

Hana, Katie, Aiyana and Olivia by the knight talking horses.

Stockholm, day 13, Saturday, June 29

The VASA Ship Museum is Sweden's #1 tourist attraction. The ship is indeed a marvel: full size, 98% original. With two canon decks for 72 canons it would have been the most fearsome weapon on the planet in 1628 when it on the 10th of August left its Old Town Stockholm dock for its first sail downstream towards the Baltic. It was to join the war theater by Poland fulfilling the king of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus' ambitions of world dominance. Except, fortunately for the Poles and for the state account balances of contemporary Sweden, it went down with mice and men and their families on board celebrating the impending reich, as a gentle breeze on the hot summer day caught the sails and exposed its bad design. Too narrow, too tall, too many canons. It leaned 7%, enough to let the water enter through the open canon ports not yet closed following the imperial 64 canon-salute to the hurras of everybody on shore (a tight budget had left them 8 canons short).

Not good. Bad situation. Who's to blame? A lengthy trial ensued but the Dutch master builders in charge were the world's best ship builders but perhaps not familiar with a two gun deck design which Gustavus Adolphus had insisted upon late in the design process. The craftsmen building the warship couldn't be had better, so, the outcome was that no one was to blame. It sat at the bottom of the freshwater stream for 333 years before it was rediscovered and salvaged to the credit of the Swedes. Splendid accompanying exhibitions explores all aspects of life in the 1600s. The students loved it.

The afternoon we visited Historiska Museet, the Historical Museum, whose gold room in the vaults displays a stunning collection of gold and silver treasures since before, during and after the Viking Age discovered in the ground throughout Sweden. Apart from an excellent section on the Middle Ages the museum sports hands-on learning from games to rope pulling and general Viking living.

Hana, Olivia, Madison (hidden) and Aiyana learning how to bake bread and bake it on an open fire.

Stockholm, day 12, Friday, June 28

1st stop Friday morning was Stockholm City Hall. Maria took us through the elaborate preparations for the Nobel banquet, the Hall's finest annual event. The great entrance hall is where all 1500 guests are seated and each is carefully allotted 50 cm (19.68"), otherwise they will not all fit. The prize-recipients and the Swedish royal family get 55 cm (21.65"). The royal family must loathe this evening. Yes, Nobel-prize winner and all but still, there must be limits to equality. Just so you know: if you are awarded a Nobel prize you get 14 tickets to invite friends and family; dancing is in the upstairs ballroom; save some energy for the royal dinner at the palace the following evening. Some tickets are available in a raffle ($300 for a raffle ticket; might be something for the Honors College to consider...)

Like the two other city halls this city hall also excels in myth and need for interpretation. Completed in 1923 Stockholm CH is a mishmash of Italian-inspired renaissance, Viking romanticism, and a hall of gold so out of this world in its selective depictions of Swedish history and quasi-mythological references that you wonder what the heck is going on. And the blue hall isn't blue.

Odd, in a sense, that these three cities/countries so proud of their egalitarian heritage celebrating democracy and creating three city halls dedicated to that virtue, produced such convoluted buildings in need of all kinds of massive academic pomp and circumstance in order to be understood. Come to think about it, shouldn't democracy be entirely transparent? So self-evidently obvious that even a Scandinavian caveman can understand it? With straight-forward buildings to boot? Some simple form of beauty and purpose? Instead, we have Oslo CH whose belated national romanticism (1950!) delivers a kaleidoscope of natural, urban and historical imagery fit for 1st year humanities students. Isn't democracy rather about bare walls and simple algorithms? Culture is for color. Likewise Copenhagen CH (1905) demands our suspension of disbelief (see day 10). All three are imposing, dramatic buildings, yes, definitely worth visits for their value as mental exercises. But do we need to work so hard for democracy? 

The afternoon took us to the Swedish Royal Palace. Never seen so many postcards of a family so neatly presented. As mentioned previously: in Scandinavia we don't need the Disney corporation, we've got royal families. Anna, our guide, seemed near her breaking point probably for the umptiest time going through her selection of the shady deals and rapacious behaviors characterizing the Swedish monarchy, in the past at least. The building itself is an endless sideways stacking of seemingly random rooms sporting extravagant ornamentation, poor art, gaudy furniture what in conclusion leaves us with a strange sense of pumped up irrelevance. Does anyone today, visitor as well as local, walk away from such a tour with a renewed sense of comprehension and purpose? 

After dinner we entered Storkyrkan, Stockholm's grand cathedral, for "Bach I," summer organ concert by Michael Waldenby. Since yours truly consider Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) the greatest artist of all time, it was a pleasure introducing our students to his music albeit in the somewhat uncongenial soundscape of a cathedral organ. Their reviews after the 50 minute concert were politely supportive. Waldenby's final selection, Sinfonia D-dur, was a glorious celebration of upbeat human agency.

Friday morning on deck of af Chapman hostel.

At the Stockholm City Hall.

At the Royal Palace.

Josie, Madison, Olivia and Katelin at Storkyrkan for a Johan Sebastian Bach organ concert posing in front of St.George and the Dragon (Bernt Notke, 1489).

The group ready for Bach.

Stockholm, day 11, Thursday, June 27

The train rides and the ferry ride are part of the journey. Integral to the course experience. A completely different concept of travel than taking an airplane or driving a car. In a train you can close your eyes, read a book, have a conversation, go to the bistro car. On the ferry you can feel the elements on your face as you ponder the purpose of an ocean. You do not go through the hectic security of air travel, humiliating as you know you are innocent but still is subjected to the impersonal scan by machine and unknowns whose metier is suspicion, without shoes, belts or anything in your pockets. Then the humiliating wait to board the plane most likely overbooked as regular threats of being forced to abandon your carry-on free of charge resonate through crackling speakers. Then the boarding circus. Then the hours in the tube's constant barrage of static noise. Toddlers screaming, parents negotiating with the confused child, passengers coughing up the air you will soon breathe in. 

No, in the train from Malmö to Stockholm you board in full control, place your luggage in the overhead fully visible and accessible at all times. Then you stroll to the bistro, chat with the guy there, and return to your ample seat with a coffee and a kanelbulle, a freshly baked cinnamon roll, which seems to be a Swedish staple in addition to the coffee. Most of all you feel connected to the tempo of travel, it doesn't alienate you in the way you in a plane surrender to the powers of 33,000 feet and a speed outside that doesn't make sense. The speed of the train and the ship makes perfect sense.

Few students nowadays seem to master the art of looking out the window. Observing the details of the landscape and wondering how life is in those red farmhouses that dot the forested hills. What it must be like to fish in those lakes that reflect the sunlight. How reaffirming it is to see a cow chewing. Students nap merrily oblivious to the scenery, or, of course, watch movies from home on their phones or pads connected by wires to the speakers in their ears, engrossed, jubilantly. The jury is out on the effects of the digital revolution.

We reached our hostel af Chapman in the afternoon and after dinner in Stockholm's Old Town and some strolling, it's time to hit the bunks.

Waiting for the Stockholm train at Malmö Central.

Copenhagen, day 10, Wednesday, June 26

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We started out the day with the latter at the National Museum of Denmark, no less. I don't mind ripping them this evening writing this blog because it is fundamentally such a lack of professionalism. We are a group of Americans coming for a booked, guided tour of the Viking section but the day before, en route, I receive an email that the museum "hasn't been able to find someone who can do that," so, instead, we are offered an exciting guided tour in English called "Survival!" taking us through pre-history, from the earliest Stone Age through the Bronze Age to the Iron Age all under the guiding light of the amazing human ability to survive. Amazing, indeed.

"Hasn't been able to find someone who can do that" -!? The Vikings!? The freakin' Vikings!? Hire me, guys, I can do that standing on one foot, arms tied behind my back, with a blindfold! The National Museum of Denmark!? Maybe it was the remuneration of DKK 650.00 for a one hour conversation ($100) that was insulting (I didn't set it) for professional staff attached to the Museum; maybe it was just too hot; maybe well-deserved summer vacations were not to be disturbed. To which - all of the above - I recommend some fall workshops involving spades and long trenches to be dug. And, some serious attention to the institutional mission.

The young lady did her best with what she had to work with: a sappy manuscript of technological development: from flint stones to the more refined Bronze Age and I can't recall ever really getting to the Iron Age although we hurried past what seemed to be a collection of Roman artifacts. The scripted, planned route also had her skip past a display cabinet (which she continuously referred to using the Danish (i.e. French) word: "montre" containing two interesting, actual skeletons which had caught the attention of several students causing them to stop in their tracks. I brought her back, she improvised and kindly pointed to a few items that had been placed in the burial but wasn't sure about the time of the burial. The whole thing was concocted under the sappy, sentimental guise that "Look! For thousands of years we, humans, survived by refining stones, then we used bronze, then... doesn't that give us the hope that we will survive the hardships thrown at us in this very day and age!?" Yes, that was it. Whatever contemporary hardships the author (authors?) of this summer's audience-magnet had in mind we were never told. If, for example, in the mind (minds?) of whoever responsible for this sap a parallel should be drawn between scraping the hide of a saber-tooth tiger, freshly killed, and the impending limitations on the use of diesel engines in big cities - it would have been nifty receiving a few pointers. Palpably the young lady's delivery had the chirpy enthusiasm undoubtedly appreciated by 5-year-old's. Her English employed a limited vocabulary and a heavy accent. 

A sappy concoction written by whom!? An intern? Most likely someone high up. We don't need the Disney corporation in Denmark, we've got the National Museum. It leads me to speculate that if the responsible parties for the museum weren't handsomely employed and protected by what we here in the US like to think of as "the Scandinavian socialist model," you wonder, whether such nonchalance towards their public mission - and national, no less! - wouldn't be the cause or should be the cause of some sort of self-induced implosion.

But without doubt it's an institutional success story. And how can you go wrong with all those exquisite treasures garnered through centuries while of course having the historical and sentimental support of the population. As should be for a National Museum. Judging from the lushly stocked museum store (where the only question is where in China their stock is made) the National Museum of Denmark is so successful it must hurt. You just want to avoid the pre-packaged tours. As one of my students said to me: "It would have been better if we could just walk around and read the captions. There are so many interesting things!" Yes, indeed. 0 for 1. And it has happened before there. O tempora o mores. Survival indeed. The whole thing was so depressing that I forgot to take any pictures.

Then we won. Thank goodness. And, boy, did we win. We won so much, it hurt, we almost got tired of winning. In the afternoon, at 1300 hours, we had an appointment at the Copenhagen City Hall. Now, I've been trying to get one of those for years but for whatever the reasons it never materialized: logistics, the city hall is an extremely busy place popular with weddings from all over the world while also being the heart of the significant city administration. It's Copenhagen - we love Bergen but this is Copenhagen, not Bergen. But this time my pre-planning resulted in a touchdown. Not just a guided tour - set for two hours! - but crowned with serving us the world famous COPENHAGEN CITY HALL PANCAKES WITH A GLASS OF WHITE WINE! That's just about as royal it gets in the proud bastion of participatory democracy which is the heart and soul of Copenhagen and of the the Danes.

Kristoffer Ruth Sahlholdt who is a staff member at the city hall and have hosted guided tours of the hall for 17 years, and have written an informative book on the city hall, was our exceptional guide. His main interest is the ingenious ways the architect of the city hall completed in 1905, Martin Nyrop, incorporated references to Nordic mythology, directly so, but often also hidden while integral to a holistic conception of the hall. Kristoffer sees Nyrop as an architectural genius comparable to Gaudi. He pointed out the symbolic function of imagery (e.g. owls, dragons) and how woodcarvings in staircase railings reinforced the building as a people's city hall where its representatives are constantly, consciously and subconsciously, reminded that their job is the welfare of the citizens of Copenhagen if not the nation. 

Kristoffer was born in Sweden to Danish parents and has the advantage of being able to see things with an outsider's sensitivities. He has interesting takes on the peculiarities of the Danes. Compared to the Swedes whose cultural temperament is one of wanting set frameworks for understanding and definition, the Danes just don't really seem to care. For example, he said, they understand and respect hierarchy but the hierarchy at the same time must operate on some some sort of equal basis. Fascinating. After the classy pancakes and the sparkling wine Kristoffer treated us a to a visit in the great hall for celebration on our way to climbing the City Hall Tower, 320 feet tall, once the tallest in Denmark. 

Kristoffer guiding us through Copenhagen City Hall.

Roskilde, day 9, Tuesday, June 25

Continuing the royal theme from yesterday, today took us to Roskilde Cathedral, the burial sight of a good 40 Danish kings and queens (most are authenticated, some are said to be buried there although no evidence has been found in floors, walls, or in sarcophagi). It has been a scorching hot day. Plenty of water around the Danish isles, so, muggy to boot. A hostel room facing south is like a sauna in the afternoon. Not a wind moves and there are a few things Danes have never heard about: decaf coffee or tea, potable water fountains, and air conditioning. Denmark normally is highly air-conditioned but on a day like this...

Anna, our guide did a splendid job (one and a half hour!!) taking us through the history of Roskilde Cathedral. Not only the longest, most detailed and relevant content I have ever experienced by a guide in the cathedral but also with excellent delivery. The cathedral is listed a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its early medieval brick construction. The many side-chapels added during the centuries to hold the royal tombs display the changing architectural fashions.

Afterwards we headed downhill to the Viking Ship Museum by the waterfront. The story of the five ships deliberately sunken in the shallow fjord to block access is a window into turbulent times. Roskilde itself is worth a visit. It moves at a different pace than the capital Copenhagen which is the magnet these years for the young from all over Denmark. They seem to crave the hectic entertainment atmosphere offered by the capital. It s believed to have swelled to a population of close to 2 million. Somewhat disconcerting. 

Anna guiding us in Roskilde Cathedral

The alter piece in Roskilde Cathedral

Copenhagen, day 8, Monday, June 24

Copenhagen harbor was busy this morning, so, we arrived 15 minutes late, at 10 a.m. The DFDS ferry-cruise from Oslo to Copenhagen with PEARL SEAWAYS is a classic in Scandinavia. The weather was brilliant, the vessel sturdy, you'd not know you were sailing if you didn't glance out the sea-view of your cabin or stayed away from the top deck seating with the wind ripping in your sails and the sun baking you into a crispy Danish. There's nothing, absolutely nothing, like a sparkling pilsner on a day like this: the flags whip, the gulls screech their melancholy songs hoping someone will throw a hotdog overboard. 

Otherwise, the ship is a marvel of well-thought out construction, not least it's ability to lure cash away from its patrons. It's not the ticket, the cabins, they make their money from: it's a mysterious mindset among people, mainly Scandinavians, that sailing is a profound existential value that causes you to go: Now, here we are; time stops for the next 18 hours; you float; you might as well purchase the over-prized buffet; you might as well purchase candy you don't need in the duty-free, tax-free supermarket on Deck 7 if you can squeeze in there for all the real tourists; you might as well order a pizza in the Little Italiano restaurant also on Deck 7. The pool will cost you a $5-bracelet. 

Our students are made of tougher stuff. They quickly translate the many kroners into $s and realize the scam going on paired with their excellent sense of how to make their limited funds stretch through the full 15 days. All the power to them!

Copenhagen this morning showed herself from her absolutely most enchanting. Busy streets but the sunshine made it seem as if even the locals were on vacation. We are not on vacation, so, we strolled through the center of town after having deposited all our luggage at the hostel because we had an appointment at 13:00 hours at CHRISTIANSBORG PALACE whose one side hosts Queen Margrethe II's magnificent representation rooms for foreign dignitaries and similar events, and whose other side is the Danish parliament. 

Oscar, our guide, was booked for a 60-minute tour but must have been inspired by the many questions from the students because after 90 minutes he still wasn't done. Oscar gave us splendid insights into the quirks of a constitutional monarchy, amplified by a sober but sensitive overview of the Queen's life. And, with plenty of historical information and interpretive suggestions for in particular the stunning tapestries presented to the Queen in 1990 for her 50th birthday as a gift from the Danish Business Industry. While she was overwhelmed by the nature of the gift of 17 exquisite tapestries detailing Danish history, she presumably wasn't pleased with her particular portrait built into one tapestry. Only her dogs were depicted well, she said. Indeed, odd looking, but when coated in well-meaning, interpretive layers, it was apparently possible to extract some artistic value from the depiction.

By now, we were pretty beat. Had a out-of-this world, authentic, Lebanese Shawarma, went back and checked into our rooms and after some freshening up, strolled back to the Round Tower, Christian 4's wonderful, astronomical observatory tower from 1642 and still going strong. A view of Copenhagen from above as the evening was settling in.

Oscar taking us around Christiansborg Palace.

Kattegat, day 7, Sunday, June 23

Entering the Sound

Mast-crazed gulls streak the blue sky white

their screams a perch for morning distance 

top deck coffee tempers souls striding

the wind my silent partner

Stone-slain Kronborg peers

its canons a chant of endless loss

flag-smitten haunts a reminder

provinces once my kin

Smog-benched Copenhagen pails 

craft-strewn its grind a confession

tourists binge-made of forgotten plates

anthill-buffet my code-planned escape

Cabin-hardened students doom

cell-made rituals their cramped luggage

un-aired corridors their twist-rich repetition

joy-prone my return

Oslo, day 6, Saturday, June 22

So, there we were, 10 to 9, first in line. Still a busy city hall (a constant flow of weddings going on this Saturday morning) Oslo City Hall only offered "15-minute-guided-tours," that is, the guide stationary in the great hall pointing right and left explaining for 15 minutes and then out we go. Now, it was a very good 15 minutes by a professional guide of Oslo City Hall but so sad to have to miss all the great rooms above. We didn't go out, though. We found out that we might get a real guided tour in English later that afternoon but that didn't suit our plans for the day. Then, sink me!, chatting with the guide in Danish, he in Norwegian, I told him I have done these tours before with students, he suddenly said: "Well, why don't you just take your students there yourself and go through the rooms?" I was floored. They let me go though the halls and the city parliament of Oslo City Hall with 18 students, unobserved, uncontrolled, Norway's culturally holiest of holy (next to the Viking ships at Bygdøy), the pride of the nation, its magnificent fresco paintings detailing Norwegian nature and history (see link above) and not least the young nation's heroics during WWII, the City Hall opened in 1950 heralding new and better times!!?! I couldn't believe it. Well, it was the kind of thing we didn't need to hear twice and up we went before someone superior would decide it was a mistake. I did my best from memory interpreting the rooms emphasizing the historical and cultural importance of this magnificent city hall. The Munch Room was closed to the public as happy couples were exchanging their vows in front of his "Life." We spent 50 minutes from one hall to the next talking WWII, immigration, and Scandinavian welfare states in the heart of themselves. What a morning!

Next item on the day's plan was taking the boat-taxi to Bygdøy to first the Viking Ships and then the Norwegian Folk Museum. The Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune ships unearthed a good 100 years ago are stunning remnants of a different life in the 9th and 10th centuries, the first two so splendidly restored that it's as if they would float if their supports were removed. As suggested yesterday, I think, such method is a more forceful link to the past than prudently leaving the past untouched but displayed.

The open air Folk Museum always offers a pleasant walk through architectural gems from across Norway. In particular the Gol stave church is a mind boggling display of log-building competence from the 1200s. Any of those builders back then could go straight into a present day log cabin crew. The Sami museum is another of my favorites. So fascinating with this indigenous culture, so talented and rugged at the top of Scandinavia. Traditional reindeer herders but very much their own contemporary people in conjunction with those other nations who claim their land.

The Bygdøy ferry boat brought us back to the City Hall pier in the late afternoon after a long day on our feet.

Claire, Olivia and Katelin in front of the Oseberg Ship.

At the Norwegian Folk Museum.

Oslo, day 5, Friday, June 21

Being ready to improvise is always a good idea. Unannounced Oslo City Hall was closed for the day due to an official event - it is after all a fully functioning city hall - so, we'll be back at 9 a.m. tomorrow Saturday. For an impression of Norwegian history and national pride, in particular following WWII, Oslo City Hall is second to none.

Instead we visited the Historical Museum for its exhibit of archaeological treasures from the Viking age. Not the most extensive but it provided an opportunity for a concise overview of of the Viking age. Two useful years for framing it is 793 CE and 1066 CE, although, of course, it neither began in 793 nor ended in 1066. But in 793 Lindisfarne monestary by the North Sea close to Scotland, was attacked by Vikings having crossed the Western Sea, as we know it here, in their remarkable vessels. This was the first, at least most significant, such incident ever recorded. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 signaled a more centralized world making it difficult for small bands of Norse to continue their profitable ways. 

Much like Haakon's Hall and Rosenkrantz's Tower in Bergen, Oslo's Akershus Castle protected the city in the early Middle Ages and was since continuously expanded and changed, had its floors moved up or down according to usage and fashion. Our guide, Bjorn, provided context for the various halls and their contemporary usage, from the Royal Mausoleum to the reception rooms and church. The Norwegians make a particular point of giving ancient buildings and artifacts a new life (see also tomorrow's report on the Viking ships). It is a building of living history, sensitively restored to offer a solid, occasionally stark mode seriously reminding a nation of its heritage.

Finally, for the day, we took the excellent tram to Vigeland Park, the out-of-this-world playground for an artist's excessive improvisations celebrating mankind. Over-sized, granite sculptures of humans: men, women, toddlers, babies, all naked and clustered together in unnatural piles, the central pile containing all types reaching 60 feet into the air... Say no more. Except, remarkably we are all sorts of ethic groups there witnessing and curiously enjoying this odd work of art which in its massive assault upon our senses seems to transcend - au naturel - any cultural varnish.

Josie next to a collection of Viking swords.

Micki admiring intricate Viking artwork in gold.

Kiera and Rivers, our WSU Cheerleaders, demonstrating a cheer.

Bjorn guiding us through Akershus Castle.

Katie, Rivers, Kiera, Maya, Aiyana and Belle admiring Vigeland's crazy sculptures.

Oslo, day 4, Thursday, June 20

Today was a logistics day getting from Bergen to Oslo: 6 hours and 45 minutes, one of the most spectacular train journeys on the planet. The train slowly crawls up through rocky terrain, thick forest thinning and eventually giving way to a moonscape of intermittent snow-piles and icy streams cascading down west. From the village Finse at 1222 "m.o.h." - as the digital information screen in the train told us: "1222 meter over havet" = meters above sea level (4,009 ft), the highest point in the entire Norwegian rail system. From there streams cascade down the other direction, towards east. 

The view is constant and overwhelming. Often not a few inches to spare between the rail car and the rock wall from which, or through which, the rail line was carved. It's a good time to jot down thoughts in the journal and to catch up on sleep to the gentle roll of the train. The train stops briefly at small townships whose exotic names: Voss, Hønefoss, Utaoset, Floms, Finse, Myrdal... promises a completely different and starker world than the human buzz at sea level. Upon arrival Oslo Central train station was like an anthill of apparently pointless coming and going. A culture shock after almost 7 hours of contemplation across the mountains. 

Following half an hour's freshen up at the hotel we took in the city. Climbed all the way to the top of Karl Johan Street to the Royal Palace where the young guard in a hot uniform was showered with attention. Tomorrow Oslo City Hall and Akershus castle awaits with guided tours of both. Then we'll hit Vigeland's sculpture park. It'll be interesting to see what they think about his imaginative madness.

The guard in front of Norway's Royal Palace.

Bleak and overcast above the treeline. Pockets of snow left over from winter.

Bergen, day 3, Wednesday, June 19

Fun little things always happen. Last night sitting talking at the hotel a pair of elderly American travelers came over full of joy having recognized a group of Cougars in a foreign land. They had friends and family working and studying at WSU. Gave us that sense of pride we all know. Then this morning as we headed out a group of Norwegian high school students whose class assignment was to interview visitors to Bergen conducted a lengthy, fun interview with our group. They were in luck, of course, as our students know exactly how to handle such an interview. Such happenings, as benign as they are, make our students aware that they come from a special place, that they represent both themselves and our university which is such a great part of who they are now and will become.

We were on our way to do the number one Bergen thing to do: take the funicular to the top of Mount Fløyen and admire the gorgeous view of the busy hub of Bergen between mountains, inlets and fjords. Fishing vessels and cruise ships coming and going. The sun was baking away, the forest on top lush and green as we hiked around, found and petted the six Kashmir goats that Bergen city is keeping there to control the undergrowth. They are wearing GPS collars that'll zap them if they try to wander off into the Norwegian wilderness that starts just a kilometer or two beyond the Mount Fløyen cafe. Quite amazing that we are this close to the Arctic circle. 

It might be an idea to equip Honors students with a similar nifty GPS bracelet which I could track on a pad. Nevertheless, it's a lovely stroll down the mountain along forest paths and finally through old Bergen housing quarters of pretty wooden houses seemingly velcro'd together wherever there's space to squeeze in a couple. A unique architectural atmosphere; windows full of interesting ceramics and flower arrangements. Without tracking everybody made it back to the evening meeting.

Bergen, day 2, Tuesday, June 18

The weather-gods smiled at us today. Blue skies and mixed clouds, a brisk breeze but no rain as we headed to Haakon's Hall and the Rosenkrantz Tower for our 10 a.m. hour-long, guided tour appointment. Before then the breakfast-gods had virtually cheered us. Nobody does buffet-breakfast like decent Norwegian hotels. Beyond numerous kinds of freshly baked breads, the hot sausages, meatballs, warm liver pate, the salmon and smoked mackerel, the marinated herring, the cheese, the cold cuts - - it feels embarrassingly crude to even mention the scrambled eggs, fried eggs topped with crispy bacon, hard and soft boiled eggs, and fried potatoes. Just load it up...

Thus weighed down we crawled to our medieval appointment in the cold and damp fortification built by Haakon Haakonson in the 1200s, expanded and turned castle by the Danish governor of Norway, Rosenkrantz, in the renaissance. Yes, the Guildenstern-sidekick from Hamlet. Julia from Bergen did a splendid job telling us about the history from fortification to regal dwelling with private chapel, guard rooms and endless narrow staircases carved in thick stone. 

Then we toured Bryggen, the business center of the Hansatic League from 1360 to 1775 on our way to some serious art exposure at Bergen Kunsthall and the City Art Museums, KODE 1-2-3-4. The Kunsthall is Bergen's venue for petit-bourgeois celebrations of contemporary abstractions. We thus hurried onwards to KODE 3's exquisite Edvard Munch-collection along with late 19th century Romantic landscapes and interiors. KODE 4's exhibit of portraits and medieval art from 1300-1800, and handsome selection of Cubists including Picasso also served to reconstitute our faith in mankind. Remarkable how such a relatively small town like Bergen can display such a rich, human legacy.

From left: Cora, Grace, Alex, Madison and Belle in front of a cast of the grave stone of the Rosenkrantz's.

Our guide, Julia, taking us through Haakon's Hall and the Rosenkrantz Tower.

Bergen, Norway, day 1, Monday, June 17, 2019

I'll feature a daily travel blog describing
my faculty-led trip with 18 students from the
Washington State University Honors College here. 
We'll be travelling June 17-July 1, 2019, 

from Bergen, Norway, to Copenhagen, Denmark, 

finishing in Stockholm, Sweden.

Enjoy!

KA

===========================

Bergen, Norway, day 1:

Scattered between 9:25 a.m. and 15:25 p.m.
on Monday,June 17, 2019,all 18 participants
in the Honors College faculty-ledtrip to Scandinavia
arrived Flesland airport outside Bergen, Norway.
Here we begin a 15 day travel adventure
through Scandinavia: from Bergen to Copenhagen,
Denmark, finishing in Stockholm, Sweden, on July
1. Much is planned during this time: visits to
castles and museums, to city halls and cathedrals
to get a grasp of those cultures as they are now
and how they were in the past. Not least we will
pursue the Vikings as we will investigate up
close the Viking ships in Oslo and Roskilde and
the exhibits in national museums. Tomorrow
morning we start with a guided tour of Haakan's
Hall and the Rosenkrantz Tower built in the
1100s and stillsitting prominently at the entrance
to Bergen harbor.More on that in tomorrow's
report.

Clinging to the edge below mountain sides Bergen
is famous for its rain and temperamental weather.
The first half of Monday we had beautiful sunshine.
But as the students started arriving Flesland airport
it was as if ancient Norway was sending us a
message: we are not just a pretty tourist destination 
but an an ancient land of trolls and tales, of 
seafarers and hardy Vikings who carved out a
meager living in narrow fjords. No wonder they
also went abroad.

Tired from long journeys across the Atlantic in
narrow tubes everybody was clearly stoked at
the adventure to come. The rain didn't stop us
from a fun walk through the narrow streets of
Bergen where we scoped out the famous stand
for the world's best reindeer-hotdogs and the
always bustling fish market at the pier.

And then we all crashed, finally, in our hotel beds -
to get ready for an active day tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

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