Seattle, Washington
Back on my bike after 3.5 weeks--and it feels great despite the heat. Just finished another fun book on my bike, but the highlight of the ride was spotting a familiar face as I hustled along the Burke Gilman. I turned around to introduce myself this this fellow and, indeed, it was a gentleman that my family travelled with to China 41 years ago. That's pretty good face recognition after 40+ years!
More "books on bikes":
A gorgeous late August morning and time for a stroll in downtown Helsinki. The downtown area is packed with all sorts of interesting building and churches. Turned around when I got down to the harbor and found this wonderful old Customs House: "Tull & Packhus." A glorious day for it!
Our arrival this morning in Helsinki happily coincided with Helsinki's "Night of the Arts." After dinner, we headed out to explore and there was so much going on that I only had energy for a few things. But I definitely fell in love with the Finnish art at the Ateneumin! On the way home I also stopped into the Svenska Teatern--what a fantastically ornate theater!
Saturday morning and we stroll the 1km into the city center to buy breakfast food at the grocery store. We pass a brutalist boxy concrete structure that is clearly a church. It stands out particularly in a city with some of the most gorgeously preserved old Danish houses I have seen. And lovely old churches, too. I find myself wondering...
Sunday morning and I repeat the stroll toward the grocery store but this time I decide to try the doors of the church--it IS Sunday morning, after all. Inside a quite lovely interior awaits. I am reminded of one of my favorite churches in Berlin--a concrete monstrosity that from the inside has some of the most beautiful (modern) stained glass I have ever seen--and a delight to be inside.
Old truisms about not judging books by their covers spring to mind. Though, seriously, from the outside this place looks pretty rough...
Arrived at last in Denmark, we settle into the super CHARMING home of our friend's neighbor here in Lyngby. A cup of tea is just what I want. But a mystery confronts us: how to turn on the stove?
We search, we tap, we examine closely, we open nearby cupboards, we try a nearby remote (no, that's for the radio...), but all to no avail.
I text our friends who hurry over and repeat the steps above. Google is searched, and phone calls are made. Finally, a tap in just the right place (bottom right!) and a screen springs to life. We are saved!
I chalk this up (without irony!) in the category of the "joys of travel"!