malmö/ jesse hodges scandanavian visit

Riding the train to Malmö.

Off the train we quickly settled into a Pilsner Urquell owned bar.

View from the bar of Lilla Torg square.

Swedes used to be badass vikings, now they just use their heritage to inform you of discount items. I personally would like to see a resurgance in raping and piliging the English, but whatever.

Nike tracksuits for Jesus.

Malmö Folkets Park (right behind Debaser) has a ride dedicated to every terrible Batman movie and the awful Catwoman spinoff.

This kid seems shocked and/ or frightened by the fact that you are trying to eat a cake with her face on it, plus the hat thing.

Debaser venue for the nights Pteradactyl show.

Before the show we went with Jesse and the dactyl's too a party at Deleted Art Records and then to the bar pictured below for more pre-party partying. (photo taken the morning after)

Hodges in action.

Swedish rock 'n' roll fans.

Ft Worth to Sweden.

I am sure each one of us will say this is easily the best picture we've ever taken.

DAY 2!

Kung-fu mannequins.

Crystal was taken by the little old lady in white and her bubble umbrella.

Malmö's farmers market kicks Karlskrona's ass.

This is an old cemetary downtown, it had more flowers/ greenary than either of us had seen in too damn long.

Spring?

Poop.

A cute old phonebooth in Lilla Torg square and token tourist photos to accompany it.

This place might have a vegetarian option for you, but it's at your own risk.

Goose crossing.

Malmohus Castle is the oldest Renaissance castle in Scandinavia, it was built by a Danish king when Malmo was part of Denmark and then was fortified in the 1600's (with the addition of the moat seen below) by a Swede and quickly repelled the last Danish attempt to reclaim the land. I think some Danes still hold all this against Sweden, and vice-versa.

Many a Danish invader were most likely killed by arrows shot through this neat little arrow shooting hole. Castles are cool.

A windmill stripped of its power.

Cityhall in Stortoget square.

This is S:T Petri Kyrka (St. Peter's Church), it dates back to the early 14th century. The picture doesn't really do the steeple justice because it is really ludicrously tall. The fact that it was made without any modern technology (like a crane) is just wild.

A bundle of bikes as we head to the train station and back to Karlskrona.

London Town

I had the opportunity to go to London last week to attend a showcase of Master's student work from the Fashion & the Environment program at the London College of Fashion. It was amazing, but we did a little sight seeing as well! I absolutely loved it there: super cool night life, we were lucky with two days of blue skies, and a vintage quality throughout the city. Good food too: curry markets and cafe's! Check out some cool photos of the town...

I started off with a Guiness...

And attended the showcase of work from the Fashion & the Environment program.

Queen Elizabeth Hall is lovely.

Westminster Abbey

We hit the curry street in Shoreditch

We stopped at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard, so many tourists! I really wanted a photo making a funny face next to the guard, but this was cool too:)

We went out and found this amazing little double decker bus turned into a restaurants. We went in to find a cute little dating scene.

Old and new architecture, looks like a superimposed image, huh?

This hidden cafe reminded me of New Orleans

Big Ben!

And then we were delayed a night because of a big snowstorm in the nordic lands...we returned to a majestic Karlskrona.

Rotterdam Global Urban Summit

Before Cop15, I had made a last minute decision to go to Rotterdamn's Global Urban Summit. It was a two day conference for urban planning enthusiasts from over the world; the purpose of the conference was to co-create 'New Green Deals'. The idea of New Green Deals is a timely evolution from Roosevelts 'New Deal'; hoping to push the green agenda in cities forward, create new jobs, and plan more efficient urban environments. About half of the world's population lives in urban areas, meaning there is a huge potential for cities to be thriving sustainable hubs of human existence.

To close the conference, Jeremy Rifkin who is the President of the Foundation on Economic Trends (sounds snoozy but he is amazing) gave a spectacular speech on the communication energy revolution (also sounds iffy but its intriguing). Please pop some popcorn and watch the speech on youtube. You won't be sorry; you will laugh, you will cry, and you will get goosebumps at least 5 times.

One super rad green deal was made: VEIL, an Eco Innovation Lab based in Australia would cooperate with Rotterdam to create a new VEIL (they would most likely call it REIL for Rotterdam). In the photo below you can see I agreed to help co-create more New Green Deals. My siggy is on the lower right above 'world'!

I think I heard correctly that Rotterdam commissions graffiti art throughout the city. I could be wrong on the details, but here is a lovely piece I saw.

Rotterdam also has initiatives in place for utilizing unused storefronts for public art. This concept is flying through cities worldwide. If any city officials need help with this, INDO wants to join the ride.

One night of the conference, we enjoyed a boat tour of the very organized Rotterdam ports. These two lovely ladies sang the menu to us for each course. The whole trip was amazing, we ate well, slept well, I didn't lose my wallet, and to think I almost didn't go! However, they did serve veal which was odd for a conference focused on sustainability.

We stayed the night in Amsterdam and it was beautiful!

I got to see the red-light district.

One thing I loved was this shop that sold just cheese.

These amazing vending machines in Amsterdam are each little microwaves; you pop in money, and out pops a corn dog or pizza pocket.

I did my BFA thesis on public bicycle programs; so I was ecstatic to see the yellow bikes in action around Amsterdam! So far Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Karlskrona and Copenhagen and 50% more bicycle friendly than my hometown Chicago. We have got some work to do!

I recommend seeing these cities. I wish Josh could have been with me for this little trip. Rotterdam is super cool, filled with innovation and a big arts scene. Amsterdam is just breathtaking.