Visit to a gallery on a motorised scooter

Karina kindly allowed me to ride her motorised scooter into town.  It is a vehicle for people with a handicap and it allows her to go where cars can't.  The scooter is able to reach a maximum speed of 25 kph.  She still drives a car but the scooter allows her to get about on days that she is not up to driving a heavy vehicle like a car.

Andrew walked beside me as I drove the scooter. I drove between 7-12 kph.  It was a great deal of fun while I was on the road into town and there were few people and other vehicles coming in the opposite direction.  Once we were in town the number of people and vehicles increased.  I then got very nervous and Andrew walked behind me shouting "slow down", "keep right", "left hand down", "don't stop" and "don't put your feet on the ground".  My blood pressure, and his, kept rising.  By the end of the morning I just wanted to go back home.  But I survived and it was tremendous fun overall.

The view along the riverbank.  There are many stately houses to look at.  The small town of Karlstad is very attractive.  We don't know how typical it is of Swedish towns but we are pleased to be able to spend a fortnight here.

We visited the Lars Lerin Gallery. Born in 1954, Lars Lerin is a local son and he has been a painter for over 30 years.  He is a multi-talented man who, as well as a painter, is a well published writer of over 50 books.  In 2014 he won the August Prize for the Best Swedish non-fiction book Naturlara (Lessons of Nature).

For the past 30 years Lerin has sought to capture the Nordic landscape, mainly in his later years as a water-colourist but also pursuing other techniques. These water-colour painted boxes depict various aspects of the environment.

We had to sample the excellent coffee and Swedish cinnamon buns which were being freshly baked in the oven at the gallery cafe with the aroma wafting through the exhibition rooms.

The eclectic collection of antique teacups at the cafe are the result of the collection mania of Lars' partner.  Eat your heart our Arthur (our NZ friend who is an avid collector of espresso coffee cups). When you order coffee here, you can choose in which cup you would like to have it served.

This is a lovely bucolic scene, viewed from Karina's house across the common where some neighbours are having an afternoon party.

Nikki having a relaxing spa bath in the same afternoon.

An interesting afternoon playing bridge in Sweden

We went to one of the two bridge clubs in Karlstad and had a game of duplicate.  They meet in the afternoon on Wednesdays during the summer but during the rest of the year it is three times a week which is actually starting next week.  At the other club they play mainly in the evenings.

We found the whole experience interesting and very different from what we are used to.  We won but it was on handicap.  Everyone at the club has a handicap based on their past performance.  Top players may have had a handicap of 8%.  We were given a handicap as novices of minus 8% to we  ended up with a score something like 67%.

Everybody had to don blue plastic over-shoes.  They explained that they only hire the building and need to keep the premises clean and tidy.

This lady arrived on her electric scooter.

After six rounds we stopped for a coffee break which was more like a lunch break.  People could pay for and order sandwiches which one man had prepared and served.  They were all beautifully presented open sandwiches.

My sandwich was egg and anchovies but the anchovies were white anchovies and sort of sweetish.  Sadly, Swedish herrings all seem to be sort of sweetish instead of the robust salty and sour Dutch and Hungarian herrings we are used to.  It will be interesting to see what the Norwegian ones are like.  In Denmark too they were a sweetish taste.

Shrimps are a great favourite of Swedes and shrimp salad is found everywhere, much as tuna salad in the US.  And the Swedes make great open sandwiches too though the Dames are still ahead in what they pile on a small piece of rye bread.

People were nice and friendly and interested that we were from Australia, the other side of the world. 

Karlstad, Sweden

We have now travelled from Denmark to Sweden and after some expensive and slightly bewildering booking procedures we boarded a train and 6 hours and two changes of trains later, we arrived at Karlstad to be greeted by Karina and Alistair.  Karina is a friend of old whom we last saw in Santa Barbara, US five years ago.  She is a Swede and has moved back to Sweden largely as a result of the relative cost of medical care here (reasonable) and the US (very expensive).   She and Alistair, the tiny 12 year old Yorkie are our hosts for the next fortnight.

Here is Alistair next to his sandbox.  It is difficult to appreciate how very tiny he is unless you see Alistair next to some other object. 

Alsitair is an amazing contrast, I imagine, to Charlie, the Hungarian vizsla, who we are going to look after in Oslo at the next leg of our Scandinavian journey.  We have not yet met Charlie, only his owners, Jane and Ofer, but I am familiar with the size and energy of vizslas.  Alistair is cute and lively but does not have the energy level of a pointer.

Here I am with Karina in her lovely spa on the deck of her house.  We had a spa last night just before going to bed which is a wonderful experience.

The house here is remarkably similar to the Santa Barbara house but this one has a lovely deck overlooking a green common.

The next morning we went for a very nice walk on the shores of Lake Vanern the largest lake in Sweden and also in the European Union.  It is also the third largest lake in the whole of Europe after two lakes in Russia.  The town of Karlstad is located right on the lake.

We spent part of the morning taking a walk along the shore among the beautiful undulating big flat rock formations and easy walking paths near the grassy shoreline.  There were some people swimming but not many.

In the afternoon we had a game of croquet.  Karina has a set.  I have never played the game before, Andrew had tried it once.  I must say, I am hooked.  I can see we are going to be spending a lot of afternoons perfecting our techniques here in Karlstad and once we are back home, I am going to persuade the master of my universe that we should join the local croquet club.  Our friends Denny and Rob in Newcastle/ Bribie Island are devotees.

It was a surprising amount of fun and a game of skill and strategy.  I have played snooker and there are aspects of croquet in strategies that remind me of the table game.  In the set of instructions Karina kindly provided, croquet is described as a wonderful game for parties and family gatherings because it is both extremely competitive and extremely sporting.  It is also apparently, one of the hottest games in the US today.  I had always thought of it as a rather upper class game played in the United Kingdom.

Karina has a surprising amount of lawn in her back yard and it is very flat, hence we could easily play croquet on it.  She has a device which we have never come across, a grass cutting robot, in much the same style as the more familiar cleaning robots back home.  It has its own docking station.

Because the robot is going to be doing its own thing again tomorrow, we could not leave the croquet wickets (the white gate-like metal pegs you stick into the grass) out on the lawn ready for our game tomorrow.






Karlstad has a population of 61,000 and is reputed to be one of the sunniest towns in Sweden.  Certainly, Karina's big south-facing windows (in OZ north-facing is best but we are on the opposite side of the globe) let in the sun all day which is lovely and it reminds me of our own sunny house in Canberra.

Walking down the main pedestrian mall in the town.

View of the houses on the Klaralven, Sweden's longest river which runs into Sweden's largest lake.  The town is built on the river delta.  Klaralven also flows through Norway.

The Stads Hotel, the biggest and most elegant hotel in the town.

This twelve arch 168-metre bridge is the longest stone bridge in Sweden.  It was built between 1761 and 1811.

We are having a relaxing lunch in downtown Karlstad.  Alistair, as a support dog was allowed to join us.

Copenhagen - day two

Throughout this city, old and modern buildings are elegantly intertwined in a way that does not seem to occur in other cities across the world.  Old working class living areas are converted into modern attractive places to live.  We learned about these through the commentary on the Hop-on Hop-off buses.  Everything in the city is clean, vibrant and pleasing to the eye.

The Danish word hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) translates roughly as cosiness but it is much more than that.  In essence, hygge means creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people in nice surroundings.  You can hear the happy sounds people make congregating in the street after working hours and as they gather in cafes and bars.  And you seldom hear the cry of a child.  Perhaps hygge explains why the Danes are, according to the 2018 UN published Happiness Index, some of the happiest people in the world.

The Town Hall.

The Stock Exchange building.

The entrance to the Tivoli Gardens.  Dating from 1843, Tivoli attracts visitors with its whirl of amusement rides, twinkling pavilions, carnival games and open-air shows.  These are by all accounts not tacky like many amusement parks around the world are, but tasteful like most things in Denmark.  But Tivoli is much more than that.  It has lovely gardens and concerts are held in its precinct. We can't judge as we did not venture inside.  Andrew took this photo in the half-light of the early morning in his meanderings along the streets after he gets up early each day.

North Atlantic Contemporary Art Gallery.

A cyclist and pedestrian bridge across Inderhavnen harbour.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek - an art museum.

The statue of one of Denmark's most famous sons - Hans Christian Andersen.  He was apparently made fun of and sneered at during his life.  He only became appreciated and famous after he died.  Echoes of Van Gogh the Dutch painter who did not sell a single work of art during his lifetime.

But this Danish invention, Lego, is and has been appreciated and valued ever since its invention.  The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund who began making wooden toys in 1932.  His company came to be called Lego, derived from the Danish phrase leg godt meaning play well.

The sign at the Danish Centre for Architecture which has room devoted to Lego designs and which has a pit full of Lego pieces for children to play with and build reads: "Lego is not a toy, it is a tool".

Further upstairs at the Centre is an exhibition titled An Architectural Future History from Big Bang to Singularity which is both colourful and interesting.

This is an apartment building somewhere in the US (I can't remember which city) which has an internal courtyard garden which all day captures the sun and where the apartment dwellers can enjoy the outdoors.

It is a beautiful design and sadly I did not take notes and therefore can't recall if the building is still in the conceptual stage or has been built.  Some of the design on display exist and others are at the design stage.

This building is being built here in Copenhagen although we did not see it  close up.  It is a power plant which has an artificial ski field on the roof of the building and incorporates the worlds highest indoor climbing area. This building is ingenious in its conception and execution of the marvelous idea of linking functional and recreational activities.

This a building is a baseball stadium which is available for other public activities when games are not being played. The notion is like the concept of the agora which in ancient Greece was a place used for assemblies and markets.

We went to the vastly over-rated and over-priced Reffen or street food which was one of the stops on the Hop-on Hop-off itinerary.  It was crassly commercial and I would not recommend it to anyone.

We did however find something that appealed to us.  Danish smorrebrod or open sandwich which contains goodies piled high on a foundation of dark rye bread or pumpernickle bread.  At 3 for the price of 100 kroner it was the most appealing food on offer.  In fact, it was delicious.  I am planning to make it a part of my repertoire when I get back home

A large carrying bag or basket attached to a tricycle in which children or goods are transported.  They are not as numerous as the bicycles but they are very popular in this city and there are many on the roads.