Norway and Royalty
Topic: Travel
Today was a good day. The weather was perfect. It is now about 10 past midnight here and it isn't completely dark yet. Really wild. Not sure it will get dark but I guess I won't stay up to see, still I am curious. We saw some cool things today. Went to the island of Brygdoy and visited a Viking Ship Museum, finally, some stuff about Vikings. Saw some ships that originated around 900AD. So cool. Also went to Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki Museum and saw the Ra II, the reed ship he took from Africa to America. It was interesting. Then we saw some works by Munch at the National Museum. The coolest was 'The Madonna' and, of course, the remaining copy of 'The Scream'. It definitely seemed like security was low-key but we are finding that to be a common Scandinavian trait. People here have better things to do than steal.

That being said, the prices are crazy. Spent over 40 bucks on a very simple lunch. Hard to keep the prices down. No beer for us. Should get in another update before we leave here. Tomorrow, the in-law day.

Science Day part II
Topic: Travel
Wow, the weather has really turned for the better. We woke up to a day of fantastic sunshine and clear blue skies. The temperature hadn't climbed too high but it was definitely nice to be outside.

Unfortunately (?) I spent the day inside. I use the question mark sincerely because I had a wonderful day visiting the Biochemistry and Biophysics Department at Stockholm University. It turned out to be very beneficial because I was able to learn about their methods for high throughput protein overexpression. They have used some ingenious techniques that I will hopefully be able to use at home. Additionally, I had the chance to talk science with some real experts in my field which is always a pleasurable experience. I learned quite a lot.

This leaves me with a thought for the day. It is common knowledge (?), look up the refs., that GFP does not fold in the periplasm of eubacteria and therefore does not flouresce. The question is, why?

We are off to Oslo tomorrow morning taking the train with a change in Gothenburg. Hopefully the weather will hold. Oslo, according to the news, has been warmer than Stockholm over the past week so we will get to have some T-shirt weather (fingers crossed).

History
Topic: Travel
The highlight of today was a visit to the Vasamuseet which is a museum built around a 17th century warship built by King Gustav Adolphus to fight in the wars against his cousin, deposed king of Sweden, current king of Poland. Unfortunately, this huge and ornately decorated ship sank only about a kilometer after first setting sail. Due to the lack of shipworms (the kind that eat wood under water) in the Baltic, the ship was preserved for almost 330 years before it was resurrected from the mud and restored into the museum. Very cool.

We also took a boat tour which allowed us to view many of the islands which make up the city of Stockholm, all diverse, with different communities physically separated.

Sverige Day
Topic: Travel
Okay, second update for today. Today was great. The weather was warm enough and it was partly cloudy skies all day. A new thing for us. We connected with my Aunt and Cousin and then had a visit around De Gamla stan and toured a bit around the city. Stockholm is huge. We only saw parts of it but in a lot of ways it reminded us of other lively bright european towns such as Prague, Paris and Vienna. We also found out this morning that today was the first celebration of Swedishness as a holiday called Nationaldagan. Evidently this extreme display of patriotism was a bit much for the average Swedish citizen, still, as a holiday, the streets were packed and people were out and about. Of course, the turn in the weather didn't hurt, hope it holds out. Typically the day is remembered as the coronation day of the first true Swedish king, Gustav Vasa, crowned on June 6th, 1523. A true day to be remembered. Of course, the day was marked by the fascists as well:

"We are demonstrating on behalf of all those who still believe in nationhood and race," said Per, a demonstrator who would only give his first name.

Who came out in record numbers (400) on Odenplan square, not far from our hotel. We on the otherhand, were across town and witnessed the Anti-fascists who numbered about twice the others, but, of course they were anti-globalization as well. Mixed messages. Still, interesting.

SWEDEN
Topic: Travel
Made it successfully to Stockholm. Weather is....grey, cold, wet. So, you are missing out on a lot. Actually the town is lovely so far, keep watching.

Last day in Arhus
Topic: Travel
So are last day in Denmark for this leg has come and gone. We spent yesterday in the oldest town in Denmark, Ribe. This town had very beautiful narrow streets with the old style wood framed houses. It was lovely. Very windy however. At the top of the cathedral tower we experienced near gale force winds.

Later we went to the coast on the island of Romo where we walked on the sand through the strong winds and the sea mist. It was lovely.

Finally, today we head to Sweden. Our first experience with the Eurorail Pass system. We'll probably be annoying more Euro's before it is all said and done.

Sunny days
Topic: Travel

Okay, to say that today was sunny would be pushing it; however, it was nice. We spent the day cycling on some free cycles that they have around town here in Arhus and we were able to walk along a beach on the Baltic Sea. It was quite lovely. We spent some time in a park that was overlooked by the Queen's summer palace. All in all, a good day.

In the evening we celebrated with the locals and enjoyed a festival in honor of Hans Christian Andersen. They had a parade with people dressed as characters from his many stories including 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Princess and the Pea'. We then had some beers. Just perfect.

Tomorrow we are off to the town of Ribe in southern Jutland to hopefully get some time with the Vikings. We'll let you know how it goes.

Travelling
Topic: Travel
Hey Droogies, just checking in to let you all know that the missus and I are alive and well. We've made it to the land of the Vikings (evidently they don't call it that here) and we are having a wonderful time. To all you who warned us that it would be cold, and wet, and expensive, and windy, and etc.... Well, you were all right. It is cold, and wet, and expensive, and windy ... Also, not so many people in pointy hats drinking grog. We're are having a blast however. I've gotten to spend the day hearing about some outstanding crystallography and becoming jealous of a structure lab that has a real focus. The wife and I also spent yesterday at Den Gamle By or "The Old Town" where we had a visit through Danish history seeing the architecture and culture past of the last 400 years. Of course, this had no Vikings either. It is funny that they don't focus on their history here. I mean, the Vikings were only 1000 years in the past. Not that long ago. I mean, we Americans still talk about bellbottoms...

In closing, if you want to learn about Vikings I'd advise going to the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, UK. Don't bother with Denmark. Cheers all and we'll keep you posted.

Our Scandinavian tour
Topic: Travel
So the trip is all set and we are nearly ready to walk out the door. Hopefully, as it is Memorial Day, the airport won't be too crazy. The current plans are as follows (to make life easier for Homeland Security):

We leave tonight and should arrive in Copenhagen tomorrow morning. We'll get on a train and should be in ?rhus by tomorrow afternoon. We'll stay with friends, I'll give one talk at the University, and then we'll head to Stockholm on Sunday. I'll give a talk there as well and then we should be on our way to Oslo by that Thursday. We'll stay at a friends place and will meet up with my wife's parents. Then, on Monday/Tuesday we'll be heading back to Copenhagen for 3 days (I get to give a talk at a Brewery) and then the wedding will be in Northern Jutland that Saturday. Finally, we'll be heading back after 3 weeks abroad. Should be interesting.

Preparing to travel
We are packing and packing. This is the least fun part of travelling. The preparation.... Well, it is getting close. Today I head over to a very perplexed Europe.

The French voted 'Non' on the EU constitution. This means that the unification of Europe as a singular unit will have to take a while. Good news for Dumbya of course. He and his cronies won't have to answer to Europe for a long time to come. Our first stop will be Denmark which has previously voted against the Euro so we should get a little bit of insight there. I'll keep you posted.