Many parts of Scandinavia have an autumn arts festival this weekend…why don’t they stagger these!? Lund also participates in the tradition, and this year things were close to normal, with free museums and galleries, concerts, food trucks and street fair events. The weather wasn’t great for it but the rain stopped, so it wasn’t unpleasant walking around town. There were so many events going on at the same time that it was really hard to decide which ones to try!

The medieval Krognos House, oldest secular building, was open, as was the Lund Konsthall art exhibit. It was fun to get a new perspective on these places that I’ve walked past nearly every day.

We toured the cathedral, a totally different experience after dark! The kids joined us for the crypt where the legend of Fin the Giant and his wife was retold, and to see the astronomical clock again, though we still didn’t get to see its big display of sword fight and organ music. They remarked that it smells like pysanky, so I guess the Domkyrka must use a very large quantity of bees wax candles. Hopefully we can visit for a guided tour at some point. Below you can see Finn (probably Samson) and the giant’s wife (no one knows what was really going on in this column detail of the “wife”)

Lots of good music and food… a fun evening. But we tired out before getting over to the science museum for the English language sessions. I’d hoped to go to the one on astronomy. Also missed a tour of the oldest cemetery due to rain. There was a series of TED style talks that looked intriguing. And a tour of the sustainable housing development on the north side of Lund, which, along with the train platforms will be heated by excess/ recycled heat generated by ESS.

Tram platform at Clemmenstorget, the main square in Lund, and the horoscope section of the clock. You can look up your name day if you zoom in! The current “perpetual calendar” runs until 2123. There was so much we didn’t get to do! But I guess we’ll have to wait for next year’s Culture Night.

Helped the kids pack up for their camping trip on Friday morning, then headed for Malmö with Carole, a friend from the Stadsparken walking group. She invited me to join her for the first post-covid meeting of ICS, which was formed about 20 years by a group of women from the Malmo area. They arrange all sorts of activities for members: family hikes, picnics, book club, cooking, knitting group, museum visits etc. Lots of things I’m looking forward to doing!

It’s been two years since their last in-person meet-up so it was a joyful reunion for them. We ate a delicious lunch together at Smak (Taste) the restaurant at Malmo Konsthall, got to know each other a bit, planned the next meet-up at a garden center/ cafe near Lund, and then Carole and I visited the art gallery, featuring an exhibit of Brazilian artist José Leonilson. Finally, a quick stroll through Kungsparken where the kale yard was at its best, on our way to the station. Carole and I also had a chance to get to know each other better. She’s French & Spanish, lived in Mexico for many years and has 3 kids. Her youngest is 16 but does his diploma program in Malmö rather than Lund. Her grown-up daughters are in Poland and London. We try to alternate English and Spanish so that we both get some practice.

Turns out Carole’s husband is traveling this weekend, too. So she showed me her favorite hiking trail along the beach at Bjärred. Usually she bikes out to the coast, but it has been really windy lately so we’ll try that another time.

Beautiful hiking area and beach. Can’t believe I hadn’t been there yet! Can’t wait to try brunch at the bath house sometime. I think it was good weather for the canoe camping crew. Luckily the big storm passed through on Thursday. I got soaked and had a rash from walking in wet clothes, though I had my extra-long rain coat and boots or it would’ve been much worse. The wind made it really tough to stay dry. Anyway it was probably not as windy inland, and I don’t think it rained on them.

The last few weeks have been so very busy with new activities, more office visits and work travel for Bryant, more clubs and socializing. I even had my first meeting with the women’s birding group in Lund. I am the only non Swedish speaker and it will take time to fit in. They were welcoming and tried to use English as often as they remembered!

I invited a friend and her 2 year old to visit the Elsa Beskow play area at Kulturen with me, and we had a lively morning. She was too busy to try on the apple hat that I knit for her, but I think it will fit.

Kulturen is a pretty good place on a rainy day. It was nice to play tea party again- it’s been a while!

Bry and I went to Helsingborg once last year but only visited Sofiero, the Botanic Garden. We didn’t make it in to the city.

Today it was challenging to decide on an outing for this weekend since we hadn’t really planned ahead. We decided to take the train to Helsingborg for lunch and to see the Old Town and Medieval Tower. But our bank card was not working with Skånetrafiken or something, so we couldn’t buy our tickets on the train like we normally do, and since the train was already en route, we had to get off at Eslöv and use an old fashioned kiosk to buy tickets back to Lund.

It would have been a whole hour to wait for the next train so we returned home to fetch the car. That meant we arrived to the beach for a very late lunch at a waterfront restaurant, Sea and Salt. We were quite hungry by then but the food and views were worth the wait.

The girls didn’t want to take the time for the ferry across to Elsinore Castle on the Danish side. You can just barely see it in the photos…but they agreed to walk back into town to see Kärnan, the tower.

So close to our goal! We had ascended the first set of steps toward the top of the tower, when we heard a chorus of sirens and realized that fire, police and ambulance personnel were rushing up the steps, past us, toward the top of the tower, a steep climb. I couldn’t see what was going on so I waited off to the side, then went up one more level to join B and the kids. Just ahead was a man with a head injury. He probably fell on the stone staircase. We stayed out of the way, not knowing what was best to do since we were kind of trapped in the middle of the action. Finally a police officer came to tell us that we needed to go back down the way we came. It would have been lots faster to just let us take the last staircase up to the top, but they didn’t want us to go that way. And by then the kids wanted to call it quits.

So we still barely saw Helsingborg! I’ve seen more of it on YouTube- some pretty good segments there. The man looked like he was going to be OK and H pointed out that had we been faster up the stairs, we might have been called upon to give first aid and help until police arrived. So good thing I took a rest after the first set of steps- here’s the photo they took after mocking me for stopping, just before the sirens.

A crowd watched us make our way back down the stairs. Awkward! I guess police were stopping them from entering the area, so there was a backlog of curious tourists waiting to climb the steps to Kärnan. I’m sure they wanted to know what was going on. And then we nearly ran into a couple out walking their exotic birds right next to a wedding party outside another medieval landmark, Saint Mary’s Kyrka. Our options for getting out of the area were pretty limited. We were all feeling a bit on edge. The white cockatoo? is perched on the shoulder of the woman in the middle photo. The man had a large green bird. It was a weird day. The public library looks fun though, and it’s right by the train station. If I want to see Helsingborg I will probably have to take the train on my own or with an ICH friend perhaps, because I doubt the kids will want to go again. Maybe I can talk them into the ferry trip to Helsingør?