What is happening?
Quote of the week
The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.
Albert Einstein
Hello,
Long time no see. Life has been rather quiet and I have been enjoying working on my creative projects. Since I am not a creative by nature, it does take some efforts. Furthermore, the weather has been bad, and it does not even inspire me for a walk. I go to the Spa and take my cold baths in the sea, but that is about it. However, this weekend I will go to Gothenburg to get to know the city a little bit better. It is the second biggest city in Sweden, and I don’t know it at all. As the people from there say: Gothenburg is the front side of Sweden.
The other positive thing is that Hannes, my son will join me. He is coming down from Oslo for the weekend. I hope to have a few things to tell you about this city for next newsletter.
Kristianstad
This is a city about 100 km from here. Founded by Christian IV of Denmark in 1614. The name means “The Town of Christian”. The purpose of establishing the city was to protect this eastern part of Scania. For the safeguarding of Blekinge, the neighbouring province, the king founded Kristianopel in the eastern part of Blekinge. In my younger days I had to think a little bit extra when mentioning the city, since I often referred it to Constantinople. These days I know better.
Before entering the city we visited a hill some kilometres outside. During the last visit to the museum I bought a book about the siege of Kristianstad which took place in 1678. At this time, this part of the country belonged to Sweden since 1658. However, the Danish king made another, not last, but almost, effort to take back this part of his lost kingdom. The war, which has been named the Scanian War, went on between 1675-1679. The biggest battle took place in December 1676 at the Battle of Lund, where the Swedes, with a little bit of luck won. Kristianstad had been occupied by the Danes in 1676 and was under siege by the Swedes from the summer of 1677. Around one year later a Danish army arrived to save the city.
In between the two armies, outside the city, are some hills. The Swedes had not occupied them by the time the Danish army arrived. After a short reconnaissance by the Danes, the evening they arrived, they decided to occupy it the next day. However, the Swedes had noticed the movements and during the night they took the hill and started building defensive walls.
This is the reason why I wanted to take a look around. It was not that easy to find, no signs showing the way. However, with Google maps we managed to find them and climbed the not too high hill. Even today you have a view over Kristianstad, although there are a few trees in between. It is a beautiful area with a small village, but mostly agricultural land. Enough of the nerdy stuff and on to more substantial visits.
Exhibition with David Bowie
Last time I visited the excellent museum in Kristianstad there was an interesting exhibition of Miro posters. This time me and my friends aimed for an exhibition “Bowie & Sukita - Heroes”. Sukita is a Japanese photographer who for many years was a friend of Bowie and took numerous photos of him. It is a very interesting exhibition of Bowie during different parts of his life. The photos are excellent and we enjoyed it.
Art exhibition
Every year, here in the province of Skåne (Scania), there are several art exhibitions from local painters. Me and my friend drove a little bit more than an hour to Hovdala Castle where one of them took place. The earliest part of the castle is from 1511, but it has been rebuilt several times during the last 500 years. Today it is owned by the state and is a popular tourist attraction.
The art exhibition was displayed in one of the long, low typical houses from this area. Usually, I am not so fond of modern art, but the artists here were really talented and I liked very much the displayed art. I could even have bought a couple of paintings had I had any walls to put them up on. I still have several paintings standing on the floor. One day they will come up on the walls.
We had bought a picnic with coffee and sandwiches, and it was actually a rather nice temperature, so we could sit down by the tables and chairs they had put out in the park. Just outside the beautiful, pink orangeri.
On my blog since last time
Well, seems not much has happened here either. I have read quite a few books, most of the with a short summary under the Wrap-Up post.
Some beautiful pictures there, Lisbeth, thanks for sharing.
As you know, my son studied in Göteborg and we visited last year. It is absolutely beautiful. Because, after all, you must agree with the saying "Västkusten är bästkusten". ;)