10. Abandon Ship! Plan S: Scandinavia!

Featuring canceling 3 weeks of carefully designed plans and making it up as we go.

(There are way more pictures below after you hear me rant about the heat wave.)

Today is our scheduled change to the next leg of our trip. Mom flies home from Geneva. Dad and I should train to southeast France to start our tour. Well, I don’t know if you watch the international weather forecast for France — or the entirety of Western Europe — but it was dangerously hot. 

Two days before this scheduled next-leg change, we realized that a horrible, historic “heat dome” was scheduled to arrive in 48 hours in the heart of southeastern France, and pretty much all of France, and pretty much all of Europe. The weather was predicting highs of 104.F. 

Looking back on what actually happened, the heat dome weather was even worse than what I had predicted. The heat dome lasted 16+ days. France repeatedly had daily highs of 99, 100, 101, 102, with as much as a spike at 114 one day. France and most of Western Europe don’t have the infrastructure to handle this. Something like 10% of homes in England (who also got this heat) have air conditioning. Buildings, homes, apartments, residences — they just don’t have A/C. Also, there is warmth-holding and -emitting stone and surfaces everywhere that trap heat. It’s super dangerous for many reasons, one of them being that the night is particularly unsafe with temperatures not dipping below the 80s. That’s not just a comfort thing, but the body needs lower temps at night for healthy sleep, blood circulation, and other functions. 

Same day comparison with no temps, just colors.

So, when things are bad, it’s pretty obvious what we needed to do: abandon ship! We did not want to be in these places for all the reasons. So I threw out all plans for the next 3 weeks and started working on plan B. Well, plan B’s location(s) were too hot also, so I want to plan C. Did a bunch of research, not the right fit. 

Earlier, Dad had said that we could fly to Copenhagen, Denmark. I laughed and dismissed that thinking “it’s too far away” for some reason. Well, um, fun fact, Europe is compact. Copenhagen is like a 2 hour flight from Geneva! 

So…. I arrived a Plan S: Scandinavia! Literally the only place in central Europe with temps below 85.F for the next two weeks.

What I spent weeks, months, and hours researching for France — threw it out the window — and started building Plan S! I knew I had less than 5% of the time to research, plan, and execute, so I locked into hyperfocus mode and started making real quick and dirty itineraries and plans. Kinda stressful, but in those sorts of situations, using the stress/pressure to motivate is more helpful than worry — so that’s what we did! 

I booked two tickets to Copenhagen for 48 hours from then, and said, “Well figure all the rest out!” 

I’ve never, ever traveled with this kind of plan before. And by that I mean, I booked a plane flight to Copenhagen and said we’d figure out the rest. This was the wild feeling and excitement that permeated the rest of these three weeks (which I’m writing now, so we survived) 

General process for making it happen: 

1. Pick first destination (Copenhagen, Denmark) then get the heck outta Dodge. 

2. Isolate the desired major port cities (Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; Bergen, Norway; Tallinn, Estonia; Helsinki, Finland) 

3. Create a logistically sound route: (plane, train, ferry, tram) 

4. Decide the number of days desired in each and make a general schedule. 

5. Keep booking any transportation to the next place at minimum 24 hours before it leaves (😂); book accommodations 24h in advance or during en route transit (😂); research and establish main locations/activities of importance/interest. 

6. Travel and figure it out! 

If it sounds a little zany and crazy and by the seat of your pants, it was!

It’s worth noting that when I was dreaming up what I wanted to do to apply for this Lilly grant. One of the two options I was between was the original plan and Plan S, exploring port cities of Scandinavia. I didn’t actually plan any of that dream because I didn’t get that far and decided to go with Plan A. So, most serendipitously, I was able to make this dream happen. To be honest, I truly forgot about this idea because 1) it was so long ago 2) I was under a lot of pressure to make a decision and get going. It literally wasn’t until like a week into our Scandinavian Adventure before I connected the dots to this old idea and the new idea. That sounds silly, but so it goes. 

Day 30. Saturday 6/20/26

We waved Mom goodbye at the Geneva Airport and she cried the whole way home. I wasn’t there so I can’t actually speak to that. 

Dad and I got on a flight to Copenhagen, Denmark! (I don’t speak Danish. Haven’t learned any phrases. I don’t know what the currency is. I don’t have the city center map generally memorized. I don’t even know technically where on the map exactly city center is. I don’t have the public transport app downloaded.) Let’s go to Denmark!

Getting off the plane, we walked past tons of pictures/info stations advertising highlights of Copenhagen and Denmark at large. I took pictures of all of them and laughed. I kind of felt like I was landing in London for the first time and being like “Oh, that’s a cool big clock tower, doesn’t it have a name?” Or “Wow, you sound like you have a little bit of an accent.” — I knew nothing and everything was new. This ignorance was strangely fun and freeing throughout the trip. 

Bike Tour. Schlepped our stuff and dropped it behind the counter at the bike company, threw on a helmet, and off we went! A guide toured us around the city and we had the best time seeing everything for the first time and asking dumb tourist questions. 

Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. In Denmark, they speak Danish and English. Folks from Denmark are called Danes. If you were born in Sweden, but lived most of your life in Denmark, you are Dann-ish. HA! 

POP QUIZ

We don't have many buildings and structures around the world prior to the 1700s because:

A) caught fire and burnt down 

B) wars be bustin stuff up 

C) modern folks tore it down to build H&Ms 

D) buildings just fall appart, yo. 

Answer: Like your favorite fast food meal, t’s a combo choice here. It’s both of the first two, with usually everything burning down between around 1700s and if they were lucky, some places lasting up to 1920, before catching fire and burning down. So, so, many cities were destroyed because of fires. Meals were cooked with fire, and fire was used for light. And for burning cities to the ground. If not fire, many cities were severely damaged during WWII or other wars before or after. 

We landed the plane, stored our stuff at the bike shop, and hopped on a bike tour!

Here's some highlights I learned about Copenhagen (skip this if you just want pretty pictures):

• Town hall was rebuilt in a Neoromantic national style, marking the line between old town (within the city walls) and new town. Like all old historic cities, there’s “old town” — where the, um, old history of the city’s civilization exists- and the “new town” — which is, um, developed after that. 

• Tivoli Gardens is the second-oldest amusement park in the world. Actually have one made of wood with the operator on the ride.

• Visited the “Island of power”. All 3 branches of government are here. (The Danish Parliament (Folketinget), The Supreme Court, The Prime Minister's Office). They had 5 castles on these premises; a series of unfortunate events: the Germans destroyed the Danish fortress because the Danes started going into a competing herring business. (Not a joke). Since the Germans are "tidy”, they took all the stones with them back to Germany so the Danes couldn't rebuild it. Christianborg Palace is below.

• National Joke: Danes have 5 weeks of vacation; the royal horses get 6.

• All rulers' names are always Christian and Fredrick. Mostly the Christians were the "important" ones. You remember their number (IV, VII) more than the name.

• The Black Diamond is the newly built library that attaches to the old national library. It's made of a special granite from Zimbabwe, which shimmers in the canal each morning, reflecting the sunlight. The Black Diamond is below.

• Danish architecture museum is in Blox. Lego is a danish company 

• Up until 1990 active harbor. Factories went bankrupt; economic problems grews. They city was shrinking in population. The city decided to get their act together and start investing in infrastructure. Built a lot of housing, reshaped the geography of the harbor, cleaned up the water. They crushed it because now Copenhagen tops the Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Livability Index as the world's most livable city. Globally recognized for

  • it's pristine enviornment,

  • world-leading green technology (CopenHill waste-to-engery plant). See below. You can literally ski down it.

  

  • carbon-neutral district heating,

  • swimable harbours (like 14 official bathing spots, but most locals just jump in wherever), c

  • ycling culture (60% of residents commute to work/school via bike,

  • smart, creative, sustainable urban planning

Walked through Christiana. An unofficial “city” within Copenhagen. They were described to us as hippies, progressive, bohemian folks. They have their own set of town rules ( like a little government), live simply, like Woodstock, and being chill. Used to have a big drug, gang, and violence problem. Police got involved. Now no gangs and violence. Here's our photo in what I realized later was a "no photo" alternative city.

Saw “The Little Mermaid” statue. Hans Christian Andersen (Danish) wrote the story, Disney made it popular. Like most children's fairytales, the original story doesn't have a happy ending. The sculptor of The Little Mermaid was inspired by a particular dancer, who agreed to be the model for the sculptor, but only after the fact realized it was going to be a nude, and didn't do that. What's a sculptor to do? Solution: paint the face of the dancer on the naked body of his wife. Brilliant.

After Bike tour, sat down for a bevi at what we thought was a super casual street patio. Turns out it was a fancy Michelin-star-recommended restaurant. We enjoyed a really good bottle of wine, highly recommended by our young, experienced server… who has never tasted wine. She said she doesn’t drink; she does all her work based on smell and book/sommelier research. This is the first I’ve heard of this, and I would have to say that is weird and cool. 

Had a swag full apartment to ourselves. Expensive and lots of windows. Beautiful, but had a lot of broken pieces, like the window frame that swung out of it’s stripped screws and fell out and and hit me on the head. Not kidding. 

Day 31. Sunday 6/21/26

We went down to a millennial vibe-catering cafe called “The Living Room” to enjoy coffee, a pastry, and try to get our lives together. I wanted to tour the Copenhagen Opera House. I saw that the last tour starts in 34 minutes —  on the complete other side of town. We decided to go for it. While walking, navigating, and boarding public transit, I bought the tickets online while trying to navigate through Danish instructions that wouldn’t auto-translate. It was so chaotic, and I loved it. 

The Royal Danish Opera. Went on a guided tour. This was such a special and beautiful tour! Ah! Sebean (suh-BEAN) was an actor in the company who gave the tour, and she delivered 90 minutes of rehearsed, enthusiastic, and engaging performance via the tour. Not dramatic, just strong narrative and clear articulation. She beautifully synthesized the narrative of how history, function, and artistic design combined to build this facility. 

Photo from me from the water. Here’s the roof of the opera house, which casually doubles as the “Red Bull Cliff Diving” platform, which is a big event each year. . We left 2 days before it. 

Photo from wikipedia. Better shot than the ones I took.

Among the most modern opera houses in the world (built 20021-2025) and one of the most expensive opera houses ever built at 2.5 billion DKK (~$500 million at the time). It’s constructions was a tense rivalry (not heated — totally different drama there) between the architect (Henning Larsen) and the funder (Maersk). Maersk is the owner of the second-largest shipping company in the world (700 vessels, the owner of the shipping company that runs the world and has run the world for every. They disagreed passionately about the design. When it was completed, the architect said horrible things about it (his work), saying how ugly it was, due to believing Maersk ruined his vision. Artists, am I right? If you're curious, https://henninglarsen.com/projects/the-royal-danish-opera

It’s incredible. The outside looks like a modern shipping ship. The inside looks like the wooden hull of the ship, flying above the water. The entry catwalks look like gangways (boarding bridges) to the ship. The space is designed to feel enormous, but with stragegically spaces barriers to make it feel smaller and homey. The geographical structure is poetic and brilliant, called the “line of power”. All of these are in one line, aligned like the stars: The Marble Cathedral (not made of marble, representing God), the parliament (government), the harbor (nature), and the opera house (art). These four represent the pillars of society. It gives me goose bumps to write. The front steps of the church and the very middle of the symmetrically divided parliament quarter perfectly align with the entry door to the opera hall. How cool! 

Opera. Boy, we don’t have time to break down anthropological and cultural studies here, but here’s my short thesis (one of many). For much time, Opera didn’t need to be good. It didn’t need to be high quality (and often wasn’t). It didn’t need to make sense. It didn’t need to be real. Opera was a place for people to go, be seen, see others, do business deals, deal in gossip, be entertained, to experience art, and forget about their lives. It was more about the people’s experience in the audience than what was happening on stage. The halls were decorated to be elaborate, ornate, and beautiful to show off wealth and to look around. Over time, opera has developed into a much more refined production (higher quality of all elements) than it used to be.

They designed the hall to reflect this new aesthetic. Extremely minimalist and neutral interior to focus all the attention on the stage, so now the art is the focus. Groupings of 7 everywhere (the lights, wood paneling, etc) is a nod to the logo of the shipping company. 

The roof is supposed to be “subtle and muted” — casual simple panels… covered in gold leaf. 

The walls outside of the hall: The stone walls throughout function as a giant marimba that you can play by knocking on! (Non-sequenced pitches, so not laid out like a piano). Guests can go up to any (most) walls and knock on them with their visits and make music themselves. 

When we went in the hall, they had the Lighting Grid down — looks like a giant checkerboard — so they can set the bajillion light cues for the show. When they do shows, they bring in the shipping container of all the set pieces, and props, and/or unique costume pieces that were packaged up from the last time they did the show. There are hundreds of people involved in putting a production together. Everyone must trust everyone else to do their 0.3% of the job correctly/well to make the whole machine work. 

Backstage was unlike anything I’ve ever seen or heard of. 

Wow #1)There are 6 stages “backstage”. There’s the main stage, but then 5 additional stages backstage in the wings. These are used for rehearsal halls and set building and anything else they need. So they can literally have sets/rehearsals for multiple productions all happening at the same time. 

Wow #2) The floor moves. Like every 4x4 foot square can modularly move like a science fiction movie or Amazon warehouse. The floor squares uncouple from the other squares, move below the floor, shift all around, and move the entire set piece, piano, and costumes, to the other side of the stage. My jaw was on the floor through this whole backstage tour.

Here's a 1-minute time-lapse video -- if you look closely, you can see that they aren't moving the set pieces across the floor -- the floor is literally moving!

I didn't realize a salad could have an entire wheel of baked camembert cheese with honey drizzled all over with walnuts and fresh figs. Best "salad" I had in all of Europe. And fancy Smørbrød, which is the most traditional danish food. Smørbrød "butter bread" is a traditional ope-faced sandwich made of a piece of buttered dense dark rye bread topped with cold cuts, fish, cheese, or spreads. They get real creative with what can go on it. This one was a simple chicken salad.

LEGO is a Danish brand. Went to a store. Almost bought this. The price is still scary after the DKK to USD conversion (USD cost = 15% of DKK cost). 

I’ve seen a lot of statues of men (always men) on horses. But this is my first any of them wielding a hatchet. This is Bishop Absalon, who founded Denmark in 1167 (with a hatchet).

I was newly introduced to the Scandinavian world of “aquavit”, which is a spirit distilled from assorted herbs at a high ABV. This is “the drink” in all of Scandinavia as an after-dinner digestif. Very herby, very high alcohol content. Always served as 4 deciliters (a shot an a half?). Had an incredible six (?) course chef’s menu of Scandinavian cuisine. Fish, mustard, egg — these were the main themes, but it was more refined and interesting than that — really outstanding meal. 

Day 32. Monday 6/22/26

We watched a marching touring band rehearse part of their set on the side of the street. There were 40 students; the director said ages 12-19. I cried 8 times (eyes watered in 8 separate instances). I was so moved by the students’ authentic joy and movement in their playing. They authentically were expressing with their bodies the motion and style of the music in their movement and choreographed/nonchoreographed dancing. Additionally, they sounded terrific. Tight, balanced, levels. I was so moved to see them making “music for the sake of music”. Not for competition. Not for a score. For themselves and for others. 

Collaboration with Michael Bojese, music director/educator/composer. He’s the guy in Denmark. I sent him a cold email (warm message), and he kindly obliged. He invited me to come catch the end of his day’s recording session at the local TV studio. The project he is almost finished with is recording 800+ Danish songs (popular/hymns/carols/folk — a little bit of everything) from the most recent Danish songbook. This is the songbook that is used in high schools to teach/learn these traditional songs. He kindly gifted me a copy of the songbook to use in my classroom. 

After being buzzed into the studio, I sat in the control room and waited for them to finish their recording. All of these videos are publicly available on YouTube and are broadcasted everyday at 10am on the local radio station. Each recording is a short history/context lesson, a conversation with the singer of the session, and then a sing-along style performance. He explained the project clearly: to provide resources for the community to have access to this singing tradition and to support their participation in singing together. After the recording session, we had a terrific chat about all things music, education, and composing. Big inspo -- what a guy!

More Smørbrød!

(I think traditionally, 1 person is supposed to eat only 1 sandwich...)

Day 33. Tuesday 6/23/26

National Museum of Denmark. Ancient civilization is old. Looked at lots of rock and bone relics from the past. Perhaps the most interesting were the runes. These were ancient markings used by pagan traditions to mark the memory/death of others. Their reputation was seen has highly important, thus setting their name and reputation in stone (name, son of who, and how/when they died). 

There was an exhibit about money and banking. Here are some gems: 

Me picking up and holding a bar of gold! (First time to be honest.)

We went to the Midsommer Bonfire lighting. Midsommer is like on of if not the biggest, holiday is most Scandinavian cultures. The pagan holiday celebrates the summer equinox (the longest day of the year) and the associated fortune and hope that accompanies this time. Huge event. Like 8,000-10,000 people gathered along the harbour and pier. Watch [name of artist] perform, who is a significant pop icon in Denmark. Language was mostly in Danish, but familiar American idioms and filler words were thrown in there. Generic expressions relating to love, feelings, and cursing.) At the time of the lighting of the giant bonfire, she led the audience in singing the traditional “Vi elsker fort land” (1885). (Metrically very interesting shifting between compound and duple meter.) The bonfire was the size of a semi-truck. A little scary because the teepee shape collapsed to the side after a while. Firefolk were spraying it with water constantly around the base anyway to keep it contained. 

Day 34. Wednesday 6/24/26

Rosenborg Castle. I bought a ticket with an audio tour. Kindly told a guide I was an educator and asked if I could join their guided tour for the rest of the way. One of the smallest royal residences. It was outgrown almost immediately after being built. 

Big metal orbs in front of the fireplace emitted heat more evenly throughout the room. The side tables were filled with coals from the fire to keep food warm. 

The throne is made out of unicorn horn. Unicorns are a special and rare animal. That’s what the king told everyone. They were actually made of narwhal tusks — which is so interesting the more closely you look at the ornate carving. They also had an impressive museum of ivory sculpture, which was trendy to them. 

Lenticular Portrait of Frederik IV and his sister Sophie Hedevig. A singular portrait with a triangular design to show two images from different sides. Not sure how old this is, but this seems like a pretty quirky older optical illusion wall art.

The crown jewels. Skip the crown jewels in London (okay, those are pretty cool), but these were stunning and more intimate. Fun fact: the queens could repurpose jewelry however they wanted. They could reconstruct the jewels and metals to make different items. These sets are the most recent editions that had been revised and changed through the years. The king’s crown of Denmark from like forever ago was actually sold to someone in Germany a while back. Then Denmark bought it back. Beautifully ornate ivory carvings on both the king and queen’s crowns. 

At lunch in a street market. I almost ordered one of everything, but that would have fed the entire neighborhood. I settled on a salad/chicken skewer combo that featured three different kinds of premade salad put together. This was the heaviest salad I have ever cradled. I have held lighter new-borns.

Christiansborg Palace. Today’s government building. Went to the top for views of the city. 

The Round Tower. Take about 10 stories up, but around. This has been and continues to be a significant solar observatory for the region and Europe at large. 

Ate from the famed DOP sausage stand. Yes, there’s a map for finding sausage stands in Denmark. Yes, I used it. Yes, it was delicious. Here's the website: https://hotdogmap.dk/

Canal Concrete Beach Culture. When I think beach/swimming, I think Flordia/Carolinas sandy beach. Well, there’s a significant part of the world that has “concrete beach culture”, where the beaches are the manmade concrete piers next to the water, like all of the canals in Copenhagen. The water is incredibly clean because of significant eco/lifestyle actions from the city and people. It was very warm out (80s), and there were people everywhere sunbathing on the concrete on various piers and swimming, in both designated swimming areas and many non-designated swimming areas.

This was new and shiny to me, so I was eager to participate! I brought some shorts and jumped in at Kalvebod Bølge Badezone, one of the official swim beaches near Blox and the National Library. 

Attended an incredible choral concert at Church of Our Savior, put on by Kammerkoret Hymnia (Hymnia Chamber Choir) led by the remarkable conductor Flemming Windekilde. The first program was all living composers — three of whom were present that I enjoyed meeting and talking to after the concert. The back half of the program was all older, more “traditionally Nordic” music. I enjoyed engaging with the conductor and the composers and look forward to continuing to collaborate. I so enjoyed hearing about the composers' approach to language, composition, creativity, etc. They were excited to chat and so was I.

"Please excuse my smell and dress -- I just jumped in the harbor and dried on the walk over here.