Light-skinned-ed Girl

Leaving the Land of the Ugly Duckling

It's the last day in Copenhagen and it's also the most beautiful.  Time to plan the next trip.

The Fjord

 

Today's a Holiday in Copenhagen

So . . . take a break and enjoy the view of Nyhavn.

Black Musician Creating Beautiful Music on Copenhagen's Streets

After lunch at the top of the Post Office Museum--where you'll find a wonderful view of Copenhagen's rooftops--we walked out to hear the music of Yul Anderson, a talented African-American musician of note here who plays his upright piano in the middle of Copenhagen's walking street.  A Danish woman standing next to me said to her friend: "Wow, he's really good.  Now what's wrong with him?  Is he blind or is he deaf?"  Isn't he just a black musician playing an upright piano on the sidewalk? I chuckled to myself.  Isn't that enough to have stirred a lot of attention?  That, and the fact, that he plays very beautifully.  Listen on this You Tube video a tourist posted from last summer.

From Yul Anderson's website: "Music is for the people and the streets are where you find the ears and hearts of the people, Mozart did it. It's the best way to introduce everyone including new born babies and little old ladies to my new music. It's a good place for anyone who wishes to test their talents and try new things because people do not lie when it comes to music. In the streets the only hype is the music itself. Either you got that feeling or you don’t, and if you got that feeling people want it in the streets, in the best concert halls, in their car, in their bedroom, and everywhere, all the time."

Light-skinned-ed Girl in Copenhagen

I love Denmark.  I'm tickled that all of these people speak Danish!  Don't laugh, but it's such a small language that it often feels like a secret one.  I have been known to follow Danish tourists through the streets of New York--eavesdropping on their conversations--for several blocks.

Today, the sun was out--warm enough to go without hat, scarf or gloves.  The weather called for ice-cream on Nyhavn.  It was a wonderful afternoon.  Did I say I love Denmark?

Light-skinned-ed Girl's Last Fika

Thank you Sweden!  You've been nice.  Best part of the trip: enjoying the happy tradition of fika.  (I am totally obsessed with this fika as you can tell.)  I celebrated my last one today in Lund, a charming old university town.  Happily, we are close to the Danish border and my last fika was done in Danish style with good old-fashioned wienerbrod, or what Americans call Danish.

Tomorrow, a quick trip across the bridge and I'm in the homeland where I'll finally understand what the heck people are saying!  Swedish is annoyingly similar to Danish, but has different words.  My brain has been on overdrive trying to acclimate my ear to the words and the intonation.

More from Copenhagen with tales of the tasty treats at the poelser vogn.

Light-skinned-ed Girl Adopts Fika as a Way of Life

That means the blogger is taking it easy today.

An Interruption of the Swede Life for an Obama Moment

"A college-bred Negro still is not a person like other folks, but an interesting problem."

-- Zora Neale Hurston  "What White Publishers Won't Print"

1.  Obama has defied traditional categories of black people in the American imagination.  His highly-regarded speech on race--reasoned and eloquent--made it difficult to stick him with the Radical Black label.  Now, the "tar brush" is out again.  This time he's being painted as the "upppity Negro"--a type traditionally considered dangerous because s/he DOES NOT KNOW HER PLACE. 

2.  I have, heretofore, been of the mind, that the Obama supporters who are ardent Hillary haters have been unfair.  Today, I have changed my mind--  That Clinton has seized upon using Obama's remarks against him by painting him as an uppity Negro is SICKENING and DEPLORABLE.  Obama is elitest?  And Hillary--Yale Law School -educated now with an income that is out of the stratosphere of what any "lunch-bucket Democrat" will make in His lifetime--is not? 

So here we are close to a half a dozen decades since Zora Neale Hurston wrote those words--and still, we, the college-bred Negroes, are a problem for the American imagination.

Sweden's Little Brother Syndrome

The New Jersey vs. New York -- Sweden vs. Denmark analogy is perhaps more accurately described as a Little Brother Syndrome.  Denmark took over part of Sweden centuries ago, but the Swedes are still not over it.  Check out the propaganda of Swedish-sanctioned history.  The first is from the Vasa Museum interactive game in which you have to load and navigate your boat to see if you can do better than the ship-wrecked Vasa.  Read the text and you'll see that there's a little dig at the Danish king and the Crown's standards.  The second example (below) is from the Royal Armory museum.

Stockholm Gussies Up for Light-skinned-ed Girl

in glorious sunshine.  That doesn't mean it's anywhere close to warm.  Five layers of clothing were still warranted, but look how beautiful the city is with a little light on it.

The excellent weather called for outdoor activity--Skansen was the perfect place.  Billed as an outdoor museum, Skansen also houses a wonderful small zoo with beautiful "natural" habitats for animals more lively than any I've seen at any zoo anywhere.  Even the turtle rushed back and forth in his sandy habitat.

I loved watching the monkeys and sloths picking out their eats from a large vegetable tray.  Sloths move slowly.  And yes, I stood there the whole time watching it.  (It got as far as the plate, but didn't manage to pick anything out in the span of twenty minutes.)  But the best part was walking through the uncage-cage of the ring-tailed lemurs.

Those dudes were sunbathing and laconic when we approached--within inches.

   

We did a quick escape when we saw one lemur jump on the shoulder of a very scared visitor.  These were gangsta lemurs like the rampaging pizotes of Costa Rica last month. 

Okay, so it's ridiculous to travel across the world to admire the non-native species and environs at the zoo.  But really it was fun; and the zoo/park provided fantastic views of the city-scape.

The rest of the day: the Nordic Museum, the necessary fika pause with coffee and a cinnamon roll, the Vasaa Museum (displaying the unearthed 17th century ship-wrecked Vasa), and the beautiful Modern Museum with its Andy Warhol exhibit.

And Professor, yes, the food here is fantastic.  Stockholm--definitely at expensive prices--boasts some excellent food: the Food from the Sea entree at Mathias Dahlgren, and the turbot at F12 thus far.  And you know how I feel about the breakfast possibilities: for me, (unfortunately for my cholesterol and waist), you can't go wrong if there is good dark bread, cheese and leverpostej at the a.m. meal.

One more day in Stockholm, then off to the home of Jens Lekman.