Sweden

On my last day in Scandinavia, I head over to Sweden via the Oresund Bridge.  You can take the train, bus or car.  The train lands you in Malmo, Sweden.  Apparently, this town was ruled by the Danish at one point (have I mentioned there's been a lot of fighting between the two countries?) and their castle was built by the same Danish king who originally constructed Kronborg.  The town is a cute little place with canals and small pedestrian squares filled with old half-timber buildings.  A lot of people are walking around today and there's some kind of demonstration in one of the squares.  At the castle, there is a cafe that serves meatballs, gravy and lingonberry jam!  I really must have a plate and I have to say, it's absolutely delicious.  Much better than what you get at IKEA!  :)  It's also more to my taste than most of the Danish food I was finding.  From the castle, you can see the Turning Torso building by Santiago Calatrava.  It's a private building so you can't go in it, but it's very striking, with that 90 degree twist.

Before heading back to Copenhagen, I hop on one of the canal tours that leaves from in front of the train station.  There are something like 20 bridges that cross the canal at various points and they all tend to be quite low, requiring ducking of heads.  There is a large industrial area of Malmo where it appears the shipping trade was quite prominent.  There is also a large park attached to the castle and a windmill!  The canal is filled with water birds.  Malmo also has quite a few distinct churches visible from the canal.

One last train ride back into town and an afternoon rest.  I've been here about a week now and in the last couple of days, I've had 2 women speak to me in Danish and a group of Italian tourists ask me directions on the Metro!  

The evening is going to be my second ballet performance, this time the women of the Royal Danish Ballet perform.  For dinner, I have probably the cheapest meal of my trip-a hot dog from one of the many carts, and finally ice cream from the Vaffelbageren shop on Nyhavn, which I noticed on my first day.  They serve soft serve dipped in chocolate as well as regular ice cream in thin crispy waffle cones.  You get 2 or more scoops and they offer whip cream on top!

As I eat my ice cream I stroll the few meters to the ferry landing.  As I'm eating, a man rides up in a motorcycle all dressed up from head to toe in protective gear-helmet, jacket, pants.  He looked like he could go skiing.  He hopped on the ferry, and as I got on myself, I noticed that he had taken off the jacket and pants and was wearing a beautifully tailored suit and tie underneath!  What a transformation!  The sun is still out while we are all gathering for the performance and across the way from the Opera House in front of the Amalienborg palace complex, is the biggest yacht I have ever seen.  It was mentioned in my guidebook that a Russian businessman parks his yacht here, and indeed, this is that yacht.

The women's performance includes Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Fokine, Ashton and again the same contemporary choreographer who also did a men's piece.  This night I'm on the other side of the balcony (near where the royal box is) so I have a much better view of right side of the stage (which is always the better view for ballets).  The performances are wonderful, and I particularly enjoyed the Ashton piece, with a single dancer performing to a solo piano.  There is no royal presence today, so the bows take about half the time!  And I'm also pleased that they don't milk the applause like a lot of companies (and particularly the Russians) do. 

What a great way to end my visit in Copenhagen.  Tomorrow is the long trek through airports back home.