A fortnight in Scandinavia - Part 1 of 2: Copenhagen, Reykjavik and Oslo

 A fortnight in Scandinavia

In mid-September 2024, I planned a trip to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. The trip was primarily to see the Northern Lights from Reykjavik and Tromso, but also to learn about the culture of the Scandinavian countries. It was a two week hectic itinerary, with stay in budget hostels, and low-cost airlines.


This is Copenhagen. Almost every European country has these wide roads for cyclists, with a ratio of 30-35 cycles/100 people. They have first priority on all roads with pedestrians and all traffic stops for them, even if there is no traffic light. There is a lesson here for a poor country like India.

Radhuspladsen Square used for concerts and celebrations

He statue in Helsingor, Denmark. A male "merman" from a very old folk tale, on the lines of The Little Mermaid.


View of Kronborg Castle, Helsingor, Denmark



View of Kronborg Castle, Helsingor, Denmark


Gate near Kronborg Castle
Statues on the pavement in Helsingor, Denmark

Dancers' Fountain in Helsingor, Denmark


View from Helsingor, Denmark

Ferry to Lund, Sweden from Helsingor, Denmark


Museum at Lund, Sweden



AF Borgen AB, staying place for students, and events at Lundt University, Sweden

Walking along the streets of Lundt, Sweden

Optimistic Orchestra - a sculpture in the middle of the street in Malmo, Sweden. Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden.

Restaurants in Malmo have this outside "balcony" where customers can smoke, since indoor smoking is not allowed. Public consumption of alcohol isn't allowed either, so this space represents a "middle ground" being semi-private!

I went around the streets of Malmo to find this piece of street art described on Google Maps as Venus Di Malmo.


Circus! A themed store right opposite the Hippodrome in Malmo, Sweden.


Stortoget, the historic market square in Malmo, Sweden, which also has the city hall. Constructed around the 16th century.


City Hall, Stortoget, Malmo, Sweden.


Turning Torso, the highest building in Malmo at 190 meters.


The Øresund Bridge. A 16 km long bridge, with half of it cable stayed, and half undersea, it is a stunning bridge which connects Malmo, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark.


Cycle parking outside Copenhagen Central Railway Station. At the back, you can see two tiers of cycles (top and bottom).


Palads Cinema from 1918, a historic cinema in Copenhagen.

Rosenberg Castle, Copenhagen


View from the bridge at Christianborg Slotsplads



View of an apartment in Copenhagen before a great fire. The Great Fire of Copenhagen occurred in 1728. It destroyed a significant portion of the city, leaving around 20% of its population homeless. The fire was caused by a lightning strike. This apartment was not burnt, so it was shifted to a museum!


E.T!!! A scene from the 80's in a settlement museum. "We are red, we are white, we are Danish Dynamite"- a popular chant of the Danish football team Brøndby IF who wore these colors.


The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is an enormous art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark founded by Carl Jacobsen, the son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries, in 1888. This piece is an Egyptian spoon from the period 1500-1300 BCE made of wood and bronze. It was meant for dispensing life-giving ointment. Some good obviously comes from drinking and brewing Carlsberg Beer!


The skeleton of an Auroch. The last of these magnificent creatures that weighed at least a 1000 kgs were hunted to extinction in the 17th century.


Random sculpture in a park!


Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a one-man museum founded in 1888 by Carl Jacobson of Carlsberg Brewery.


Nyhavn, the 17th century harbor of Copenhagen.


A tour of Copenhagen by boat.


Hallernes Smorrebrod - a very popular food in Copenhagen made of sourdough bread with some toppings. We also had beer that was fruity.
Copenhagen Airport - a sculpture of two women standing and looking at the crowd below.


Outside the airport at Reykjavik, Iceland

 Reykjavik, Iceland



A meal at Old Iceland restaurant

The continental plates. We can see both the North American and European plates and the magma below.


A color corrected photo of the magma below the thick gray glass showing the continental plates of North America and Europe.


A lake in Kerid Crater, formed by the collapse of a cone-shaped volcano into an empty magma chamber.


Secret Lagoon at Fluoir, Iceland. You can have a bath in the pool which is fed by sulphureous hot springs.

Secret Lagoon isn't so secret after all, if bus loads of tourists visit it every hour. But yes, relatively, few people are in this pool, unlike at Suryakund, Yamnotri.


Sculpture of two wrestlers at Stokkur Geyser


Stokkur Geyser


Stokkur Geysir which gave the English word "Geyser" to us!

Gulfoss Waterfall. Observe the rainbow formed near all waterfalls!

The scale of Gulfoss waterfall cannot be captured in a pic.


Pingvellir National Park


Pingvellir is on the mid-Atlantic ridge across North American and European continental plates. Ages ago, the Iceland Parliament used to meet here, including all the Viking tribes.


Another view of Pingvellir. The Viking chieftains all used to sit on these natural rock formations and have a parliament!


Another view of Pingvellir. This time showing the rift between the two continental plates. The right side is North America and the left side is Europe!



Sun voyager, an abstract steel sculpture representing a Viking ship in Reykjavik, Iceland


Street Art in Reykjavik


Street Art in Reykjavik


Northern Lights! Captured on my mobile.


Northern Lights! Captured on my mobile.


Northern Lights! Captured on my mobile.


Iceland has a lot of geothermal activity with hot streams. Almost all their electricity comes from these hot springs


A volcano in Iceland that recently exploded, causing a stoppage of air traffic across Europe that lasted for days. The wind blew all the smoke towards Europe so Iceland Airport still functioned!


Skogafoss, a magnificent waterfall.



Me, standing in front of Skogafoss, a magnificent waterfall. The rainbow is almost complete around me.


Reynsfjara Beach (Black Beach) and cave.


Black Beach. The pillars of rock are actually trolls who were looking for treasure, and waited in their greed till the first rays of the sun turned them into stone....so they said!


Black Beach with me staring into the ocean.


Base of Solheimajokull Glacier

Seljalandfoss Waterfall


Seljalandfoss


Ingolfur Arnarson, the viking credited with discovering Reykjavik a thousand years ago. His seat has a dragon's head and the God Odin on it. Reykjavik ("Smoke Cove") was so named because of the hot springs spouting steam and water in the area.


Street Art, Reykjavik

We had delicious Ice-cream in Iceland at Valdis!


Baron's Hostel, where we stayed, had a great dining hall, where you could make your own food in the kitchen at the far end.

Baron's Hostel, Reykjavik. The hostel was in the back, and the front had another hostel.




Hallgrimskirkja, the church in Reykjavik


A violinist outside Harpa Concert and Conference Hall, Reykjavik


Harpa Concert and Conference Hall, Reykjavik


Reykjavik Harbor


Reykjavik Maritime Museum - a typical Viking boat.


Reykjavik Maritime Museum - view of typical fish products that were exported from here


Was the REAL James Bond Icelandic?? Includes a quote from Ian Fleming on William Stephenson,""James Bond is a highly romanticised version of a true spy. The real thing is... William Stephenson." Stephenson's MOTHER was Islandic! The spymaster was actually Canadian and better known by his codename "Intrepid".


One of the earlies archealogical sites of the original settlers around 950 AD. The whole place around was converted into a museum in order to conserve this site. You can see walls sticking up out of the ground.


A huge mosaic by Gerour Helgadottir (Helga's Daughter!). Most Icelandic women and men don't have a last name. They are just someone's "dottir" or "son". And with such a small population, everyone is everyone elses first cousin or second cousin - that makes dating very, very difficult business indeed!


Arbaturinn - these were the small boats with both a sail and oars used for almost a thousand years. They were remarkably seaworthy and didn't even need harbors to dock.


I loved the nonchalant attitude of this sculpture and the way the guy is leaning on the lamp post!

Tjorninn Rocks and the lake there with swans and ducks.


Perlan Museum - an interactive fun museum! There was even a 100 meter long icecave where you could get the experience of being inside an ice-cave with -15 degrees Celsius.


Shawarma & Falafel in Iceland. On the way out, I thanked the Palestinian restaurant owner for the great food, and told him, "I am for Palestine"!
Comic characters mural at Reykjavik airport with one real comic standing in front.
National Theater right outside Oslo Central, Norway.


Scandinavian Institute of Maritime Law. Just an impressive building!

I love the arbitrariness of this sculpture of a cyclist leaning on his cycle!


Some streets in Oslo - you have to look right down at the ground to see beautiful writings inscribed in metal on the pavement.


A metal manhole cover in Oslo inscribed with art. What a way to get pedestrians to see the pavements and paths!


Public smart cycles for hire.

Gustav Vigeland Sculpture - Man and Woman
A Graffiti Artist in Oslo painting a eulogy to "Reach" - another famous grafitti artist from New York! I stopped for a few minutes to talk to him.

Museum of History


Gledessprederen Sculpture


The poor in Oslo, Norway. They had apparently been collecting several kilos of metal cans. A couple was also weaving baskets sitting out in the cold sunshine.

Sculpture at Radhusplassen (Townhall Square)

The monuments of Radhusplassen (Town Hall Square) celebrate the role of women in the history of Oslo.






Statue of Scuba Diver at the Harbor.

Honnorbrygga, the harbor originally built to welcome WWII heros back home.

At the top of Akershus Fortress

National Museum of Architecture

Museum of History: the clothes worn by the Inuit - a people who live in the Arctic and who taught Roald Amundsen essential survival skills for two years. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit is a cultural knowledge of animals, nature and people.
Ionian Gold coins made from Electrum (Elektron) struck in the 7th century BCE. These coins had 70% to 90% gold compared to earlier 40-50% and caused a monetary revolution in Greece.



A real viking helmet! None of them had horns - an unfounded myth!


A 1000 year old skeleton of a female Viking warrior along with her sword, axe and other weapons.


These were ceremonial swords that were used by cheiftains to signal their vote in the Viking parliament. A sword raised high meant agreement!


These tiny openings in churches allowed people to peep in and see small relics from outside the church.


Chainmail, shield, helmet and sword of a viking warrior.


A stick chart, that was used by micronesians to navigate far across the ocean. The shells and sticks represented how the swells and waves of the oceans changed near the islands. These were the navigational tools before maps, compasses and sextants!

Munch Museum

The Voice - Edward Munch

Madonna - Edward Munch

In the Man's Brain - Edward Munch


Scream - Edward Munch

Kon-tiki Expedition Museum, Oslo. The Framm museum is in the background, and outside the frame, there is also the Maritime Museum.


Dugout Canoe - Norway's oldest boat is 2,200 years old. With 5 to 7 paddlers, this is how the ancient explorers went across oceans hugging the shoreline.


The Kon-tiki Expedition was a historical expedition mid-20th Century to establish how Polynesia could have been colonized by the Incas of Peru using a large raft thousands of years ago. This firmly established that it was indeed possible!


The actual Kon-Tiki raft. No one knew how to pilot the raft any more. The wood used was inland in Peru and had to be brought to the coast to build the raft. The whole expedition took 101 days.


Heyerdahl constructed a balsa wood raft modeled after ancient South American designs. He named it "Kon-Tiki" after the Incan Sun God. Along with a crew of five, he set sail from Peru and successfully navigated the Pacific Ocean for 101 days before reaching the Tuamotu Islands in French Polynesia.


Gol Stave Church dating back to the 12th Century CE, beautifully maintained and conserved!


A farm house from several centuries ago, conserved at the Norwegian Folk Museum to show people how life was.

A house including storage room at the bottom, where livestock could stay.


The Wheel of Life at Vigeland Park -Gustav Vigeland was the a towering 20th century Norwegian sculptor, perhaps across all time in Norway.


Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo, which houses over 200 of Gustav Vigeland's sculptures, including the iconic "The Monolith" and "The Angry Child." He created the hundreds of stone sculptures over 20 years of his life, and it is a tremendous achievement.


Vigeland was known for his expressive and often controversial sculptures, which often depicted the human figure in various stages of life and emotion.


Gustav Vigeland Park : I have no more words but will allow the sculpture to talk for itself. Please spend time examining the expressions.

This sculpture was most emotionally jarring. It showed a woman being lifted and thrown by a man across his shoulder. This too, happens in reality, and in war.



Vigeland's sculptures often explored themes of life, death, love, and the human condition.


The expressive beard and the bent head of one old man holding another, dying man - I have never seen such intense art.





























 The "Triangle statue" often interpreted as representing the cycle of birth, life and death. Vigeland never said anything about it, leaving the interpretation of his art to the viewer.

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