Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

The film about the making of Bruce Springsteen's album "Nebraska" was just released this week. As we are big fans and have actually attended a concert in Leipzig, we of course had to see this film! Jeremy Allen White does a very great job of portraying a troubled Springsteen who is coming to terms with being over 30 and on the cusp between where he comes from (Freehold, NJ) and where he is headed (Los Angeles, CA).

My folks lived in New Jersey for a few years and my mom taught math at Freehold High School (a school very proud of its former pupil). Yes, that's what that town and many small towns in the US look like. The diner was just like the diner in my home town in Pennsylvania.

The film was sad and super at the same time. It was very slowly paced and White did a good job of letting us see that he was thinking deep (and painful) thoughts without saying anything. The music, of course, was great (although White actually learned the guitar and sang many of the songs himself). The studio production of "Born in the U.S.A." was really a highlight!

I'm afraid the film won't last long, there were three of us in the showing in English. It is well worth the time (and sitting through the horrible ads for films I would never in my life want to watch)! 

Nottingham to Berlin by Train, all in one day

The conference was lovely, my keynote well recieved. I learned a lot from the other talks, even some stuff I can use in my lecture this coming semester. I planned on taking all day Friday for the return back. I bought first class tickets (not that much more expensive) so that I could spend the day working and be home by midnight.

It didn't happen like that.  

I had a boring breakfast (not much selection for people who don't want English breakfast) and left the hotel at 8:15 for a nice, leisurly walk down the hill into town. No need to take a bus and good to get some exercise since I will be sitting most of the day.

I made it to the Nottingham train station in such good time I could have had an earlier train, but I just waited for the planned one. It was uneventful, a Midlands Railway Express, but the Internet didn't work. Oh well, I do have all day.

We got into St. Pancras on time and I wanted to look through the shops. Except they were mostly fancy-pancy designer places. I went through the bookstore, found a W. H. Smith's with actual newspapers and bought myself a Times and an Economist, and got some food at M&S. As they say, NEVER get on a train in Europe without food and drink! Although it was early, I decided to go through the security routine and just wait for my train to Brussels.

Pandemonium! I made it through security without event, but the waiting room behind it was PACKED with people! I managed to talk a woman into removing her bags from a seat and sat down. I didn't dare fight my way over to the duty free or the cafe, I had a seat and started to read the Times.  The place got fuller and fuller, as one of the Paris trains was delayed and kids were cranky and babies screamed. People were talking loudly with each other, as it was loud anyway, and this made it worse and worse. 

Finally, our train was called and 1000+ people pushed and shoved their way to the sloped people-mover that took us to the upper level. Again, a long train, but I was at least in a nice small compartment and had a seat to myself. It took half an hour for them to serve food, just before we hit the Chunnel. There was a little bottle of wine, water, coffee and a vegetarian meal. Not bad! But after all was cleared away: no stable Internet. 

Outside of Lille we stopped. And waited. Were told that we didn't have a platform yet. By the time we left Lille we had 15 minutes delay, I had 21 minutes to change in Brussels. The German DB sold it to me that way. And of course, we added minutes on the way in, so we were 22 minutes late and the train to Cologne did not wait. 

I got a piece of paper in the train stating that we were 15 minutes delayed, and asked in 3 places about getting a reservation on the next train to Cologne in an hour. I only got another piece of paper documenting the delay, and was told to contact the train manager on the platform. Which I did, finally finding the right platform. "We are fully booked," he said. I noted that I had a first-class ticket. "All gone. But I have one more seat in second-class." So I took it.

It was a cramped window seat next to a very large Frenchman who kept encroaching on my knee-space and arm-rest space. There was no Internet. A Brit in the row in front of me was loudly complaining that the Europeans couldn't organize a proper Internet. I kept my mouth shut, we were headed for Cologne. And indeed, we got there just a few minutes late. I needed to use the lavatory, but the next train from Cologne to Berlin was in 30 minutes, so I just got a roll with cheese and one slice of tomato for 6.20 € (!!!) and went to the platform. Just in case I booked a seat by mobile phone, as there were only 6 left, it seemed. This train was delayed by 5 minutes. Then 10. Then 15. Then 20. Then it disappeared off the board! We asked every human from DB we could find, no one knew what to say, other than: it is coming soon.  

50 minutes after the scheduled time the train pulled in—with no people on it, it was apparently a new trainset. There was PLENTY of room, I would not have needed a seat reservation. Oh well, I hit the lavatory, unpacked my food and drink, and dove into the functioning Internet. I might make it home by 1am, I thought. But between Hamm and Hannover there was a call on the intercom, if there was a doctor or nurse on the train. And soon we stopped. It was explained to us that there was a medical emergency, we had to stop. We soon continued, slowly, to a little train station where the train was apparently met by an ambulance. It seemed to take forever. Luckily I still had food and drink with me. 

We finally continued to Hannover, where we again had to wait - too many trains wanting to go in the direction of Berlin! Due to construction both north and south of Berlin, many trains have to take this route. Just before heading into Berlin-Zoo we stopped AGAIN, this time, no reason given. We finally made it, around 1:30 am (I was supposed to be there at 10:55 pm) and I hopped into a taxi. I did not have the energy to deal with the BVG.

So the trip to Nottingham: great! The trip back to Berlin: horror! I'll probably fly next time... 

Taking the Train to London

I have been following the Man in Seat 61 for quite some time now.  He travels throughout Europe by train (always trying to sit in seat 61) and blogs about his experiences. He has very detailed explanations on how various train connections work.

So when I was invited to give the keynote presentation at a conference in Nottingham, I thought: Okay, why not? The Eurostar goes from Brussels to London St. Pancras, and the Nottingham trains go from exactly this station. No fussing around with getting across London! It's a bit more expensive than flying, but it is more climate conscious, so let's give it a go.

I was a bit chicken about doing the entire trip in one day, German (and Swedish!) trains are notoriously delayed. So I took a train to Cologne in the late afternoon on Monday and spent the night in the Ibis right at the train station! I had a gorgeous view of the Cologne cathedral, the room was small but quiet and comfy, what more do I need?

I then got the 9:41 from Cologne to Brussels, no rushing necessary. The train was a bit crowded, but I had reserved a seat. However, in my chilled out state I got off the train at Brussels-North, not Brussels-Midi. No problem, the kind information guys told me what track to stand on and take the next train in 8 minutes. Good thing I had an extra 30 minutes in the schedule!

At Brussels-Midi there is a loooooong line to go through a metal detector. I was already saying goodbye to my pocket knife and my water... I was permitted to go through the priority line as I was walking with my stick. Turned out I was allowed to keep the knife, there is apparently one that looks like a Swiss Army Knife, but is in reality a switchblade. What a relief! Then we had to go through immigration, once with a human guard and once with a machine that took my picture and compared it to my passport (and probably is using the data to train some AI system).

Behind all this was a glittering "Duty-Free" shop, and then you landed in a large hall with airport seats, full of people! Construction was apparently going on, at least there were toilets. I convinced a German gentleman taking up 3 seats with his stuff to let me sit on one, so it was not too bad, just crowded and ugly. About 20 minutes before the train was to leave at 12:51 we were able to board the train. It had something like 20 cars! I currently don't have a seatmate, but we are stopping in Lille to pick up more passengers. 

As I went to plug in my computer I realized what I have forgotten: converters for the electrical outlets! I had thought of these one night, but my husband was sleeping in the room where we have them, so I told myself: I'll get them in the morning. Oh well, at least I know now what I forgot, I'm sure I can get one for a good chunk of cash in London.  

The Chunnel itself was very boring. I'm glad the Man in Seat 61 advised me that it would be about 20 minutes, there was no announcement made on the train. It just got dark outside shortly after we breezed through the station at Calais. Nothing exciting happened, we were exactly on time in London St. Pancras!

I spent some time looking around for buying a ticket for London-Nottingham. It took three tries before I was in the right place. Since I am coming back on a Friday before 10am I need a sort of flex ticket, more expensive than many of the other legs of the trip and no senior citizen discount!

Now, on to the Conference tomorrow! 

 

Iceland 2025

I just spent some time reading my previous blog entries on Iceland and realized how nice it is for ME to be able to remember our good times. So while I still remember what we did, I'll at least put up a list and hopefully get some pictures up, too.

We got off to a nasty start, as we were planning on flying out on Monday, March 10. Except the BER airport was closed down because of strikes that day. We spent a good bit of time on the Saturday getting seats nailed down for Tuesday. We had booked the flights ages ago when there was a sudden offer of 50 % off on Icelandair flights. We decided to use the discount and splurge on Saga Class (the business class). One could get used to this! Very short lines for baggage drop, you can take 2 suitcases each, you can spend time in the lounges with seats and food and drink, the seats are wider and you get a bottle of water the minute you plop into your seat. There is also a meal and alcoholic beverages served in Saga Class. We were quite pampered on each trip, we really enjoyed it! Okay, the fourth bag was the LAST one out at BER, despite having a "priority" tag, but hey, this is Berlin, okay?

I offered our friend, who is a professor at the University of Iceland, to give a talk on my favorite topic, plagiarism and AI detection. It was a quite well-attended talk with a very good Q&A session. It was brilliant weather, warm (okay, 6°C) and sunny. WiseMan took off to see the Edda manuscripts at the National Library, I enjoyed lunch in the cafeteria and browsed the bookstore afterwards. I feel so much at home at universities, one knows how they function and can get essentials sorted out.

We also had a visit another day with a former student of WiseMan who is now living in Iceland, and our old friends from Kiel came over for a fun night of food and talk and pictures and talk and talk and talk and talk!

We walked around Reykjavík a good bit, exploring the spooky old cemetary above the Tjórnin and walking around the embassy street. Just around the corner from the Russian embassy is a little park with a sculpture called "Support". The park has been renamed "Kyiv Square" (1 - 2):

"Support" in Kiev Square, Reykjavík

 

There were a surprising number of tourists in Reykjavík for it being March! Okay, we had great weather, only one day of pouring rain and snow on our last day, but unfortunately cloud cover every single evening. WiseMan lugged his cameras and tripod with him for nothing. 

We spent a day visiting the Art Museum with a good bit of very bizzare stuff and an Erró exhibition. Buying a ticket also gave you free entrance to the Ásmundur Sveinsson museum which was a good 3 kilometers away. It was nice weather, just a bit of rain, so we walked out and took the bus back. The guide at the entrace was happy to give us the introduction in German, as he was originally from Germany. This was the last place the artist lived with his family and worked. There are many sculptures and replicas both indoors and in the garden.

A woman making butter

Copy of a woman carrying water,
the sculpture itself is in downtown
and was used as an image
for the women's protests in 1974.

The big excitement was that we actually made it to Ísafjörður in the Westfjords! This time of year is always iffy, as landing a propellor plane on the landing strip at the base of the fjord takes a lot of experience! The wings almost seem to scrape the mountains as the land or take off. If there is too much wind, the plane doesn't fly. We had a wonderful time visiting old friends, walking in the wind the next fjord over, visiting the Dynjandi waterfalls (wonderful, no tourists except us!) and the birthplace of Jón Sigurðsson, the leader of the Icelandic Independence movement. The sun actually shined quite a bit, and we had some great lemon cake made from lemons grown in the greenhouse the friends have! One friend drove us around, the "highways" have lots of potholes, sharp stones that have rolled down the steep mountains, and patches of snow here and there. Not every street has a guardrail, I would not have wanted to do the driving!

We had to leave days before and after this adventure because of the uncertainity, so when we got back we spent a good bit of time in the local hot tubs. On our last day in Reykjavík I attended a doctoral defense at the university. The doctoral candidate was one of our friend's students. The university hoists a flag when a defense is happening, the main hall is used for the occasion. The dean and the two opponents were dressed in gowns, the candidate spoke for 30 minutes, then each opponent grilled the candidate for 30 minutes each. She passed! There was champagne in a special room after the candidate was given her certificate: In English, Icelandic, and Latin!

Since the flight back to Berlin was at 7:30 and we were to be at the airport at 5:00 (!), we spent the night in a hotel next to the airport. Expensive, but worth it to have a few more hours of sleep. Hotel Aurora is within walking distance of the airport, is comfortable and quiet, and you can get skyr or drinks at any hour.

It was another great trip to Iceland, now I want to speak Icelandic when shopping back here in Berlin!

Land og synir

I first saw this 1980 film by Ágúst Guðmundsson, Land og synir (Land and Sons), back when it came out at the Nordic Film Festival. My Icelandic was not that hot when I first saw it, but there is not that much speaking anyway and there were English subtitles. On the flight back from Iceland this year I managed to squeeze in this film as a second film. I skipped over some of the bits in the middle that I remembered as being quite brutal. There was a real horse shot in the film which caused quite a public stir.

This is a film about the harshness of living in the countryside of Iceland during the Depression days. You could work from dawn to dusk and still not have enough to eat and still owe the co-op money. When Einar's father dies, he decides to quit this life and move to town. He sells everything he can, either slaughters the animals or sells them, and asks the girl from the next farm over to elope with him. They are to meet at the hotel in the next village, but she doesn't come, so he boards the bus alone.

The landscapes in this film are fantastic, Iceland nominated it for the foreign film Oscar, but it was not in the final nominees. Many Icelandic habits, such as drinking coffee at all hours of the day, are portrayed. The hardness of a sheep roundup and the swearing and drinking that go on during this yearly happening are in sharp contrast to the dancing celebrations.

You want to put a sweater on because the film so aptly portrays the cold and rain people have to put up with. The topic of people moving to the cities is still an acute one. We saw some abandoned houses in the Westfjords of Iceland, people just finally giving up because they can't make a living off fish or sheep. Another film worth watching if it shows up on a streaming service - or on a flight with Icelandair. 

Mamma Gógó

Just got back from a wonderful visit to Iceland! On the flight over I saw one Icelandic film that was very boring, so no review. On the way back I managed to squeeze in two films, the first one was Mamma Gógó by Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. I am quite a fan of Friðrik Þór, having had the good luck to have met him at the Nordic Film Festival in Lübeck many years ago. I had seen his Children of Nature (Börn náttúrunnar) and was so impressed with it, I wrote an article for Nordeuropaforum in 1992 about Icelandic films in general. 

Anyway, Friðrik Þór has quite a sense of humor and includes lots of little jokes in his movies. In Mamma Gógó he starts out referring to Börn náttúrunnar and so you immediately see that the director in the film is none other than Friðrik Þór himself, with a bit of poetic license.

The story is mostly about the mother of the unnamed director (played by Hilmir Snær Guðnason), Gógó, who is succumbing to Alzheimer's disease. The mother is so wonderfully played by Kristbjörg Kjeld (isl) and I spent some time wondering how Friðrik Þór managed to find an actress to play Gógó as a young woman in the black-and-white flashbacks. Imagine my surprise to understand the joke when I started reading up on the film and participants when I got home: Kristbjörg herself played the role of Gógó in a 1962 film 79 af stöðinni (isl, film is on YouTube, english title is "The Girl Gogo"). And the actor playing Gógó's dead husband in the newer film, is none other than Gunnar Eyjólfsson, who played the taxi driver who falls in love with Gógó in that film (which also caused a bit of a kerfluffle in the USA about the way the US soldiers stationed at Keflavík were portrayed, but that is another story). No wonder there was such a similarity between the young actors and the elderly ones: they were played by the same people, just 47 years later!

There are other little jokes in the film, which was filmed in 2009, just after the kreppa, the world-wide economic crash. One has to do with deCode, an Icelandic company that sequenced genetic material for about 2/3 of the Icelandic population, then went bankrupt and sold the data to a company in the US. The director invests money he obtains from selling his mother's apartment in this company, losing his investment. Bank people are, shall we say, not portrayed in a good light :) Another is how Gógó manages to escape losing her licence for drunk driving, she has the director's son in the back seat, she is bringing him home from the hospital where she took him after she discovered that he had drunk a lot of alcohol. When she fails the breathalyzer test, she suggests it is broken and it should be tested on the boy. He, too, displays a high alcohol content, so the police figure that the device is broken and let her drive on home. And of course the final joke is that all of Friðrik Þór's films have to have pissing scenes in them. This time it is a woman, Gógó, getting her diaper changed by her son, a very touching scene.

It is a thought-provoking film about getting old and having to deal with a parent who has Alzheimer's. The film should have attracted much more attention than it did, even if some of the jokes escape a non-Icelandic audience. If you find it streamed somewhere: watch it!

The Big Guy

I'm on a train back to Berlin from Munich, where I participated in a live discussion about AI for one of the ZDFs YouTube channels.  The train is very full, the table I have booked has all four seats taken. Across from me is a big guy and a woman. They spent the first half hour with his hands all over her (while she tried to watch a movie on her phone). He then decided to sleep, and put his head in her lap with his knees sticking out in the asile making it difficult for people to pass by. He tried to put his head on the table, but his fourth of the table is too small. Now he is sitting (shoes off) sideways in the seat with his legs in the asile. 

I realize that it is difficult to get comfortable on a train if you are big, but the disrespect for those around him I find galling. There are, of course, a handfull of sneezers and coughers on the train as well, so I am wearing a mask (as the only person, apparently). I wish the Deutsche Bahn was able to have more trains running this route so that it would not be so crowded.

Skånes Djurpark

Goodness, it's been over a year since I last wrote. Probably no one reading anymore, but I need to get my anger out, so this is probably the best place to do it.

I'm in Skåne and WiseKid was up with his family for a few days. He wanted WiseKidKid2 to see how nice the forest and the grass around the house and the fresh air is. WKK ran barefoot around and around the house a zillion times (they live in an apartment building in downtown Berlin). He found some frogs and oodles of slugs (yuck), enjoyed picking and eating blueberries and raspberries right away, and studied the flowers - and of course watering them, getting your feet wet is really important if you are 3.

We decided to go to Skånes Djurpark yesterday morning, that used to be a very nice zoo that focused on fostering local animals and teaching kids all about the forest. 

The wierdness started when we checked the prices. There are different prices for every day, and it is cheaper if you buy it online, they are asking 399 SEK (around 35 €) at the door. Of course, the weekends are much more expensive than during the week, but we felt Monday was good. I don't like this "buy your tickets early for a particular date/time"-thing. It's horrible to have bought tickets and then someone is sick, or you miss a train, or the thing you were doing before is fun and you would have preferred to go an hour later. Anyway, they are to be 279 SEK a person (no discounts for children or senior citizens). But look what happens when you start adding people:

Even though the price on the calendar stays the same, they now want 299 SEK a person! Sure, that's only about 2 €, but it irritates me no end. I decided I was too tired Sunday evening and tried it again the next morning. Imagine my surprise to see that the price has now CHANGED, both in the calendar and in the basket they are now another 20 SEK more!

I gritted my teeth and paid the 319 SEK price, as WKK2 was babbling about going to see a moose today. Of course, I had to use a credit card. Must not let this valuable data point go missing!

We drove up, there were not that many cars there. They scan your license plate as you drive in and then you can pay at a station (with credit card) when you leave, or use an app. Sweden seems to have an app for everything.

WKK2 is so excited and runs way ahead of us, but Grandma is going to have words with the people at the cashier's desk. And indeed, they agree to refund me 160 SEK, that what I paid above the published price. Except that went on my credit card and has not shown up yet. The debit was taken momentarily. We'll see if it ever shows up, I demanded (and got) a receipt.

So, shall we now enjoy the park? I point to the left where the petting zoo is - and right behind it is "Shaun the Sheep Land". What on earth? Okay, at least there are some goats and sheep to pet, no rabbits or chickens or baby pigs to be seen as there used to be. We don't stay long, as WKK2 is racing up the hill to the tractors! They have an amusement park ride where two children can sit in the front, "steering", and two adults in the back. The tractors are on a track and are dragged though some cheesy figures, more than half of which don't work, WiseKid said. But the camera sure worked, and we were able to buy pictures and keychains of the event. At least the cost of the ride was part of the steep entrance fee. 

On to the next animal place, except this is now a bunch of wagons for people who want to sleep at the park. O-kaaay. The pig is at least still there, fat and bored. And there are big signs with figures from the mole book and a big button to press - and the painted animal "shits". Yes, a big hit with the kids, but not about learning about real animals! I tug the door that used to go to the building for observing the storks - locked. I peer around, no storks visible. Maybe they got angry at all the beeping and pooping?

And now there is a truly awful plastic TREE and people are taking selfies with themselves in front of the tree! I go with WKK2s mom to the seals, and yes, they are floating under the surface in very dirty water. The place seems quite run-down, although a worker is sawing away at bushes that are quite overgrown. A seal pokes his head up and has such sad eyes. I am reminded of the seals we observed in Labrador a few summers  ago, much more lively in their natural habitat. 

We continue up the hill past overgrown and decrepit pens. Yes, there is a fox walking around, but nothing else. We come to "Dinosaur Land"! Oh my, these look like the stupid dinosaurs we saw in a little amusement park we went to when WiseKid was a pre-teen and his cousins were 3-5. At least they seem to have gotten a bit of paint, some of it perhaps not intentional.

I didn't go in, but sat at what I thought was just past the exit in front of the wild cats. Except they came out above the cats and there was another dino you could take a selfie with. The booth at the "archeological dig", as many of the other booths, were closed because in Sweden school started today so be damned if any foreign tourists are here. We looked for some wolves from the viewpoint, but everything was overgrown. On to the bears - in decrepit pens, just sitting there, waiting for food. 

The place where you used to be able to pay 20 SEK to have your child ride a pony around and around is now just for children riding STICK PONIES! Pretend horses!

We pushed on, past more and more overgrown pens. We did see a wild pig in the pig stys, but there were no piglets. At least there were two eagles on a perch, but they were hard to see in the overgrown foilage. We saw some deer at a distance and finally finally finally found some moose!

You weren't allowed to feed them like we used to do, the branches for them to eat are behind a fence. I suppose too many people were giving them other stuff to eat. This was, of course, one of the reasons for coming, to see a moose, and WKK2 was very excited.

We waved at some bison on the way out, past some cabins now on the grounds of the place. WKK2 played in the water playstation (plastic) for a while, then we took the tractor ride again. The lines were not long, as there were not too many people here.

We made it past the collection of stuffed toys and ice cream on the way back to the car. The machine told me it would send me a receipt for the parking fee (50 SEK) by SMS. Of course, none has appeared yet. 

Can I say something positive about the park? Yes, they have more toilets now. 

The bottom line? WiseKid was very disappointed, he wanted his kid to experience what he had enjoyed as a kid. Of course, WKK2 had a wonderful time, but it was all plastic and figures from TV shows he watches, all commercialized. I'm afraid this is the last time I've been there, I have taken adult friends there previously without a kid and they enjoyed learning about the animals. The focus now is just on earning money and having fun fun fun.

I will be informing the Konsumentombud about the situation with the price gouging, I find it unacceptable that the price charged to you is different from what is advertised. We'll see if that gets any action.

Edit: WiseKid suggests that I include what he experienced after I haggled with the cashiers to get the 160 SEK back. They had heard us speaking German and me discussing in Swedish with a German accent. Once I left, one noted to the other that she found it so silly to worry about such a "small amount of money" (note: almost 15 €!). They didn't know that WiseKid speaks Swedish, too :)

Edit 2: The refund made it back to my account four days later, so that's taken care of. I still reported them to the Konsumentombud for price gouging. I wonder how much money they have made with this "error".

Der Schwarm / The Swarm

Well, that was a waste of time. All sorts of broadcasting companies and film boards across Europe collaborated to pour money into making an 8-part series out of Frank Schätzing's wonderful book, "Der Schwarm", that was published in 2004. The book itself was a fascinating bit of science fiction that contained lots of real science, which made it believable. And scary.

The "ecological thriller" TV film series is a catastrophe. Frank Schätzing was part of the production team at the beginning, but pulled out because, as he put it in an interview with Die Zeit, "it 'pilchers' more than it 'swarms'". Rosamunde Pilcher is the British author of numerous romantic stories with happy ends. 

It starts out okay as we are getting introduced to the characters. Not brilliant, but some nice scenery and okay acting. It gets worse with every episode. They were released 3-3-2 episodes a week on German television ZDF and you asked yourself every week, did you really want to continue? We made it through the book about 20 years ago, so we will make it through the series.

The love stories are really distracting. The pseudo-scientific crap with fancy pipetting and microscopes and audio stuff and fancy computers made no sense at all, but hey, who knows what those science-y types are really doing in their labs. A few small glimpses of the grinding life in a biochemical lab are perhaps a tad realistic, but eureka discoveries don't happen like this.

The errors in the film and discontinuities are too numerous to name. I mean, on a scientific ship you don't change clothes every five minutes! And when your face gets cut with flying glass, it does not scar over in 15 minutes!

Enough said. It actually makes me angry, as the environmental dangers that we as humankind pose to the planet are REAL. I saw the shrinking glaciers with my own eyes this past summer. We have to stop misusing the resources of the planet and work towards a life that is sustainable for ALL of the people on earth. And for the creatures of the sea. 

We will probably have to suffer a second season, as the close of episode 8 was a highly improbably cliffhanger. I do not understand the critics loving this film. I found it a waste of time I could have better and more enjoyably spent cleaning out my office. And I hate cleaning.

Kalaallisut Nunaat Days

Goodness, the days visiting Kalaallisut Nunaat (Greenland) have just flown by! I also picked up a nasty cold (no, not Covid, they tested me for that) and have been barking like a seal for days. I wear a mask to keep others from catching my cold. 

It was grand fun, getting on the Zodiacs and zipping around, getting a closer look at glaciers and moraines, learning what nunataks and cirques and drumlins are, and taking lots of pictures. 

The internet is terribly bad on board, so I’ll just try and upload a few pictures here!

The town of Aappilattog, in Kujalleq

A closer view of Aappilattog

Icebergs come in strange shapes

This glacier, an arm of Sermeq kujatadleg, runs into the sea. A small piece broke off (calved) and splashed into the water below.

Another interesting shape

On land! At the moraine in Puiátoq on the Qaersuatsiarssuasik

The power of the ice can split granite rocks in two!

The glacier didn’t look that big until we got up close

We can’t get any closer, because there would be waves if a piece breaks off that could capsize our boats. 

A view from afar

At the narrowest point in the Ikerasagssuaq fjord (Prince Christian Sound), only about 500 meters wide, the ship has to move *very* slowly to slip through.

They keep us in good spirits and give us too much to eat. We have had extraordinary good luck with the weather, that will be changing when we get to Canada. 

On board the MS Fridtjof Nansen

Our friend drove us into town so that we could get our outrageously expensive lateral flow tests at the Harpa. A test kit costs 2 € in Berlin, a test at a test center 3 €. They charged us 50 $ per person for the tests! I got my results within the hour, WiseMan‘s didn‘t come at all, so we trudged back and had them re-send it and print it out. Luckily, both of us were negative, so on with the adventure!

We were able to dump our suitcases early, and at 12:30 were able to board. First we showed all of our medical documentation and had our temperatures taken. Then we went through a metal detector, and joined the pure chaos that was behind that station. I had already fought with the ArriveCAN app that the Canadian government insists that you use to register coming to Canada for quite some time. It could use a usability overhaul, and maybe a proper update: Our ship was not on the list of ships entering a port of Canada. And without choosing a ship, you couldn‘t go on. You also had to put in the first landing in Canada and the date and time. I had written to the reception desk to ask and they sent me a place with a silly date, the day we are to land in St. John‘s, far away from Goose Bay.

We were, of course, not the only ones with problems, which were exacerbated by the Internet on board not working. You could get the ship WLAN, but it was not connecting to the outside world. I managed to get the app to talk to me and to FINALLY fill out all the fields. Then I pressed SEND, and it didn‘t go through. I must have pressed SEND a dozen times, it took a while and then timed out. I finally managed to turn off the WLAN and coax my mobile phone plan to speak with the Internet. Hey, 1&1, when you tell me I can use the Internet like home I didn‘t expect you to export all the connection problems like we have back in Germany as well!

It was also clear that many older people do have mobile phones, but they don‘t know how to use them to do anything other than phone. They don‘t know how to download apps, they don‘t know how to log onto a WLAN, and it scares them to not know what to do. We computing people really have to get better at this.

But of course with all the chaos, we were unable to get someone to understand that we have two cabins but both want to get into each of them. It took another two visits to the reception desk before their computers were working again and they were able to issue us additional room cards.

We now have our red signal rain coats, we have been through the safety instructions, and we have emptied the bottle of champagne that was in the suite :) Dinner was nice, although there are far too many people serving. It seems that the boat is only half full, which is actually good for us. 

Tomorrow we will be at sea all day, crossing the Straits of Denmark!

Reykjavik, Day 4

Seeing as it was Sunday, we picked up the mother of my friend and took her to church. She was so thrilled to be able to see old friends. The church was quite full, with lots of children and a small choir. I was able to follow along and sing, as I knew the melodies. I really hate that Lutherans don‘t print the music in their hymnals - people need to learn how to read music!

After church and lunch we packed up our spa stuff and headed out to Hammsvík on the Hvalfjörður (the Whale Fjord). It is a newly opened hot spring that caters to people who are sick of the throng of tourists at the Blue Lagoon (no link, sorry) or the Sky Lagoon (filling up with tourists fast). It is *way* out in the boondocks, you think you are about to plummet into the fjord from the gravel road when suddenly there is a nice parking space. It is only about an hour’s drive north of Reykjavik, though. You have to buy your tickets online in advance, as they want to keep the number of people at the place to a sensible number, around 50 people. 

The Hvalfjörður at Hvammsvík

There are lots of pools of heated water that cascade down to one that gets refreshed when the tide gets in, and you are welcome to go take a dip in the Atlantic Ocean that comes up the Hvalfjörður. As in North Atlantic Ocean. As in very cold water, but the Icelanders seem to like it. I waded in just a little bit and quickly ran out again, it was sooooooo cold!

This being Iceland, we ended up in one hot tub with the owner and his brother went to school with one of the sons of my friend. Icelanders talk with each other until they discover their common friend or relative. He explained a bit more of his concept, not letting too many people in and fitting in with the breath-taking landscape. It is truly an experience sitting in a pot of hot water while enjoying the view of mountains with a tad of snow still on the top and greens below. Remember to bring your bathing suit, although they will gladly loan you one for a fee. They have towels and soap and you can even wade over to the bar and get a beer or wine or champagne (in plastic glasses) if it suits your fancy. No screaming kids like at the public pool, so quite relaxing!

In the evening we walked out towards the light house on the Seltjarnarnes Peninsula. I was amazed at the number of cars zipping past us, and indeed, it seemed half the town was there, parking hither and thither, all with their mobile phones and iPads and cameras set up to take pictures of a most magnificent sunset. I took some pictures, too :)

Tomorrow we leave Reyjkavik for Greenland, I‘m really looking forward to this! But it has been a wonderful visit!

Reykjavik, Day 3

 I slept late this morning, so I missed everyone else out jogging or for a walk. It is 15°C and very sunny! The look out the window where I am writing is stunning:

We went for a walk downtown with about 10.000 other people! The place was packed with tourists, partially of course because there was a big cruise ship in the harbor. We first went to see the Harpa opera house and wanted to go to the top, but it was closed for some conference or other. 

We made reservations for dinner at the Tides, as it was clear that everyone and his brother would be out on the town this lovely day. The sun shone and it must have been 15 or 16°C. We had a lovely walking tour, stopping midway for coffee and delicious cakes at the Mokka Kaffi on the pedestrian zone. The street has been painted in rainbow colors, people stop to take selfies of themselves.

We walked through the sculpture garden of Einar Jónsson. He made quite a lot of sculptures that can be found mostly in Iceland, but also in the USA and Canada. Many of the ones in the garden have grief and sadness as a theme. This one, „Protection“, is in front of the house where he lived and worked, just the other side of the Hallgrímskirkja. 

It was fun walking down streets that were not full of tourists, peering into little gardens where people were sunning themselves, seeing the treasures they had on display on their window sills, and then sitting by the Tjörnin, a little lake in town soaking up the sun ourselves.

We had a rest before heading out to dinner. We started with drinks at Harpa, then really excellent food at Tides, and closing with more drinks at the bar in Kónsulat. Yes, alcohol is expensive in Iceland. But when you haven‘t seen your friends for 7 years, you need a night on the town!

Reykjavik, Day 2

After a very healthy breakfast (green smoothie) we set out for the local library in Seltjarnarnes. It is located right above the grocery store, very practical! It was quite windy, I was very glad to have a good jacket and hat on! The sun came out on the way back, but it was still very windy. We checked the local newspaper, Morgunblaðið just to see if they were reporting on the book presentation. Since the editor-in-chief ran against the current president in the last election, there was no report expected, and none found. 

We had a lovely coffee in a little café, Arna, nearby. It’s just like Berlin, I can get my Chai Latte (I’m not going to try and even calculate what the price is) and there are people sitting around with laptops plugged in, working away and sipping coffee. 

We spoke about politics and life in general. Iceland is lucky to have geothermal energy, so they won’t be freezing this winter like the rest of Europe. The homes are heated with that, you open the window to bring down the temperature to what you want.They sure could make much more energy if they put up windmills, but of course people think that would spoil the landscape, hurt the birds, and gee, the wind is so strong the things might blow over. They do need gas, however, as there are an enormous amount of cars and lots of traffic jams for such a small city (about half the size of Neukölln). Many people have electrical cars, but they are currently hard to come by, there’s a long waiting list to buy one. 

It seems there is a story behind every house door, as our friend explains as we walk along. This is the house of that politician, this is the Fauci of Iceland, here’s a famous musician. Iceland is truly a country of stories!

After lunch we went swimming in the local pool. Not only is there a 25 m outdoor swimming pool and a kid‘s area, but there is a steam bath and about 5 heitir pottar, hot tubs (the automatic correction keeps wanting to make that Harry Potter).  They come in varying degrees of heat, we started at the hottest one, 41-44 °C. Somewhere in the middle I had to then go through the 4-8°C cold tub, I got out of that real fast, an Icelandic friend even got completely under the cold water. Brrrrr! One feels so healthy and restored after the trip!

In the evening more old friends came over for dinner. We all met some 40 years ago when we were really all just children, young students! Now we are all grandparents. As one person noted: even her son now has grey hair! We hope that they will all be coming to Berlin next year to visit one of our fine theaters.

Reykjavik, Day 1

The flight to Keflavik was not until early afternoon, so we were able to get up at a normal time, have breakfast, pack last things, clean the place, take out the garbage, and we still had time to spare. The taxi company called to see if the car could come early, so we said “Sure!” and were on our way.

BER was, of course, packed with people. But I had insisted on doing the check-in the night before. We waited half an hour until the Iceland Air counter opened, and indeed: the long line was the people who had not checked in online, we needed only 5 minutes to get rid of our bags. 

The next challenge was security. I had made a “reservation” for a time slot in an hour’s time. This is a new thing, the reservations don’t cost anything (now), but how am I supposed to know how long I will need to get checked in? I tried to talk my way onto that short line, but no deal. So we joined the masses (us wearing masks, many not) and waited. And waited. Took us a bit over half an hour to finally be able to get to security.

I told the people that I did not want to be in the naked scanner. “Oh, it’s a full-body scanner, not a naked scanner, see what the pictures look like?” I replied “Sure, but re-naming it and running the taken pictures through a visualization transformer doesn’t change the pictures that are taken and stored, just what you see on the outside.” But apparently I wasn’t the only one that day, they were not snarly or such when doing the body search. She complained only about my face mask in my pocket that had a metal hinge on it. 

My bag, however, was a cause for concern. I had two blocks of cheese for our cheese-loving friends in there. Apparently that looked like something nasty, so I had to unpack and show them what it was. The lady was friendly enough, oooh, she loves cheese, too, I should bring some for her next time.

So we made it through early enough, bought some exorbitantly priced food, and discovered there is nowhere to sit behind security until you know your gate. We checked the gate the moment it was announced and dashed to it, snagging two seats with a table. I enjoyed my Economist, WiseMan his book, and we finished our food. 

The plane ended up being fully booked, so we were late leaving and spent a good 30 minutes on the tarmac waiting for the tower to let us go. But we were finally in the air and were quickly served the meals we had ordered and paid for in advance. Dear airline catering people: Don’t put drippy sauces on food you serve! We can’t eat with our mouths over the box because the person in front of us has their seat all the way back. I managed, surprisingly, by keeping my other hand under the fork at all times, so only the hand got sauced. WiseMan missed once and ended up with mustard on his shirt.

We landed only about 15 minutes late. Goodness, the airport has gotten big! We seemed to walk forever, that was probably so that they had time to unload the bags. We could have shopped at the duty free shop, but decided to get out since we were late. Luckily, the bags both showed up soon and in good condition. Our friend was outside waiting for us, so good to see him!

On the way to Reykjavik he said that he had to go to an appointment, did we want to come along? Sure, I’m game for anything! It turned out we were headed to a book presentation by the President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson. He is a historian and was presenting his new book about the Icelandic Cod Wars, which our friend had edited. So we enjoyed soft drinks and licorice (!) while listening to him. I didn’t catch everything he said, as I don’t know much of the vocabulary around fishing :) It was rather cool that we were able to just drop in, not registered or anything, to listen to the president. No visible body guards, just a car (license plate: “1”) to whisk him to an interview. 

What an great way to start the adventure! I added the book to his Wikipedia entry, we’ll see if that stays in!

The adventure begins

I was first planning on retiring the end of September 2022, so the month of September was to be dedicated to a Nordic adventure: Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland, New England. Except that I was easily convinced that I need to stay on another semester, not just as an adjunct, but as a full professor. So I will come back to the utter chaos that is a normal semester start. And I will be calm and chilled as never before :)

I will try and post the odd photo and story of the day here, if I have any Internet connection available.

Flight leaves tomorrow noon for Keflavik! I‘ve been learning a bit of Greenlandic with Memrise, so: Qanorik? Ajunngilanga. Kalaallisut ilinniarpunga. Artornarpoq!

Furia

Well, with movie theaters closed we broke down and subscribed to Netflix. We've watched all sorts of series there, or started them at least. Then the German ZDF broadcast the series Furia that can be found in their Mediathek since the beginning of November 2021. It is not for children (minimum age 16) or the faint of heart, as there is a lot of brutality in it. There is a German-language Wikipedia article on it, I suppose I will have to translate it into English now. And of course the IMDB has an entry.

It is excellent.

And scary as hell, because I find the basic premise absolutely believable. Critics have puh-puhed it, saying it was too far over the top. It would cost a lot of money to pull off a stunt like the one running through all eight episodes, but cashing in a ton of stolen cryptocurrency could, indeed, provide the funding. And I find it perfectly plausable. My knitting got all out of shape on the last three episodes, which we watched on one evening, just finishing it.

Oh, and in the last episode, they use a school that is just down the road from us. Our son attended the neighboring kindergarten that is in one ariel shot. We didn't see them filming this, although there are often crews here. It must have been done recently, as we can tell by the state of the new buildings going up behind the school. Okay, they mix a lot of scenes from downtown and Kreuzberg and Westhafen into the story, making it look like they get somewhere in 3 minutes that you can't do in under 25 in the middle of the night. But that's just us with local knowledge.

We quite enjoyed hearing the film in the original Norwegian with German subtitles. Our only complaint was that ZDF would never remember that we wanted Norwegian, only subtitles. So for every single episode I had to go into the menu and change the language to Norwegian. Hey, ZDF, guess what? There are people in Germany who LIKE to listen to films in the original language, especially if it is a niche language!

I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but it is an extremist right-wing identitäre group that is looking to destabilize Europe. And of course, it ends with a cliff-hanger, so we have hope for a season 2.

Time flies

Goodness, seems that I only blogged once last year and not at all this year. Must catch up, as there have been things I want to record here. I just read my posting about my father's funeral, as a friend's father just died. And all sorts of memories came rushing back.

It's dinner time and I don't have much time to write, just a few things: The blue car is still going strong, there's a new grandson, and a much missed granddaughter. I have this semester and one more until I retire from teaching, but I hope to continue to teach my favorite classes, maybe one a semester.

Oh yes, and Corona. Funny I didn't write during these strange times. I need to get back to writing. We'll see if I can keep this up ;)

Master Cheng

Ooooh, haven't written much. Not too much happens when you are sheltering in place, except binging on Netflix. I've seen 1 1/2 seasons of the Gilmore Girls, it's kind of funny but wearing thin.

When the movie theaters opened back up, we went to see Parasite. Strange film, weird that it won all those Oscars, nice to see a Korean film. And WONDERFUL to be back watching a movie. There ware five of us in the late afternoon showing.

This afternoon we went to see Master Cheng. There were six people there, so it was nice and comfortable, although I am afraid the theater can't survive on these numbers. We bought extra cokes and ice cream to help them make a buck.

This is a Kaurismäki film, but by Mika, the older brother of Aki, who is know for his bizarre Finnish films. It is a sweet story with some fun Finnish wierdness. It is almost Icelandic in presenting the Finnish landscapes in summer as the main character! 

A nice mellow afternoon film - it won the audience award at the Lübeck Film Festival last year. The trailers were rather disturbing, films I don't think I want to see, scheduled to "open soon, April something". Uh, right, they couldn't re-do that bit of the trailer? Anyway, nothing interesting.

Plane vs. Train

WiseWomanGrandkid spent her first week's holiday away from her mom with us in Sweden. She had a ball and didn't want to go home, but I had already booked a flight 2 weeks earlier. I decided to fly to Berlin with her, but take the train back so that I can compare plane vs. train travel for such a long distance.

On Wednesday we started out from Skåne in the afternoon at 1:15 pm after a bit of lunch.  We drove by car to Copenhagen Airport over the magnificant bridge between Sweden and Denmark. There is a special lane at the airport called "Kiss & Fly", no way to park because there are cars coming behind you. You pull up to the front, the fliers get out and give kisses, get their bags and the car is on its way. Really, a sensible way to set about it.

We made our way through security, there was a special counter with a human being for dealing with children, everyone else had to go through the machines that checked the boarding cards. The woman at the security screening couldn't believe that I only had a laptop, didn't I have an iPad for the child? No, I do not. We looked through the duty-free and got some chewing gum for WiseWomanGrandkid, and were at the gate by 3:30 pm. We bought some pastries to eat, and since I noticed that they were being really picky about only having one item each, I stuffed WiseWomanGrandkid's mouse ears backpack into mine, which I had purposly left rather empty. Other than that, we just had her suitcase.

Boarding was not until 4:10 pm and passed without incident for us (others had to pay because they had two things with them). I had splurged paying for chosen seats on EasyJet, so that we could have a window seat. We got seated easily, left the gate at 4:25 pm, and landed on time in Berlin at 5:25 pm. We were picked up by WiseWomanGrandkidMama at 6:00 pm, and I was home by 6:45 pm.

That makes it five and a half hours door to door. The plane was packed, but we had no checked baggage. I paid 40 € per person, and had planned lots of extra time to deal with a child perhaps not wanting to walk fast. It was without stress, the only negative point was not being able to take my own liquids with me and having to leave my pocket knife at home.

On Friday I went back the other way by train. I purposely left the booking to the last minute, and the train I wanted to take in the afternoon was already sold out. As I later saw on Twitter, it was a good thing, since it was full and completely without air conditioning the entire way. As there is construction between Nykøbing and Næstved, the normal route would have extra exchanges, getting off the train, onto a bus, off the bus, and back on a train. So I was taking the other route north, via Fredericia. I settled for a train two hours earlier with changes in Neumünster, Flensburg, Fredericia, and Copenhagen.

I had a good breakfast at home (luckily, as I planned on having lunch on the train) and left for the local train at 9:30 am. The train to Kiel via Neumünster left Südkreuz at 10:24, and was already jam-packed. I chased a woman from my seat (I had also purchased a reserved seat on all the trains possible) and settled in. At least we had Internet, so I got some work done, although the train was overfilled from Hamburg. I do not understand people who travel without making seat reservations this time of year.

In Neumünster at 1:30 pm there was a train change to a local train from the same platform - but the train was jam-packed. People had lots of luggage with them, and children who were screaming. It seemed like an Indian train, every square centimeter occupied, at least there were no goats and chickens along. I manage to snatch a seat, but with my backpack on my lap there was no chance to do anything while the train lumbered along, stopping at every station on the way.

At 2:45 pm we changed trains in Flensburg to a train on the same platform, with people pushing and shoving, trying to get a seat. Again, I chase people from my reserved seat, they end up standing in the aisles with dozens of others. When we cross the border into Denmark, we are told that all the aisle-standers must get off the train for passport control. They are unsure if they will be let back on, so they pull off their luggage as well. They are checked outside, then a policeman comes through the cars. A woman across from me had remarked that she doesn't look like her passport, she had long red hair when the picture was taken, now she has short grey hair. She passed muster, one wonders if this is just done for show.

We were now running 10 minutes late, the conductor announced through the PA system that the standers could get off in Tinglev and get a train 45 minutes later that would go through to Copenhagen. Some did, some didn't, the women sitting at my table were worried if we would make our next connection, as there was only 12 minutes scheduled and 8 tracks to move. I later saw on Twitter that those who changed trains found out that all the empty seats on that train ended up being reserved seats. Apparently, many people had the DSB app and were able to reserve a seat. I used the available internet to check that the next train in Fredericia still had empty seats and I could buy a reserved seat if necessary for it.

There was no chance to move to any sort of dining car, if there was one available, as all the aisles were blocked. Luckily, I had some bananas and cookies with me, and actually get some work done, as the Internet worked. 

The train in Fredericia actually waited for us at 4:26 pm, but the conductor said to everyone: run, run, get on the train as fast as possible. So no one checked which wagon they were entering. It was a fight, as not everyone had reserved a seat and those that had were in the wrong wagon. Luckily, I had a reservation and I checked the wagon before entering, so I made it to my seat, again chasing off squatters. The air conditioning, however, is not working, luckily I have my Spanish fan with me, as it is 29° C and getting hotter.

After the train gets going I manage to climb over people sitting in the aisles and go to the bathroom. Some crew is sitting in the wagon next to the bathroom with some unaccompanied children. The door is locked, and no one is being let through to their proper places in the car behind it, so they are stuck camping out in front of the bathroom. It is absolute madness that we paid good money for this - I spent 120 € for the one-way trip flexible ticket. It would have been only about 80 € if I had booked weeks in advance, but then I would have had to take exactly this train. The whole point of train travel should be flexibility, and the ability to get off and wait for a next train, if one wants to.  Why are there no extra cars on for a Friday afternoon when they know that people have to take this way around to get to Copenhagen?

Did I mention that there was no Internet? 

At 6:00 pm it is 30° C in the compartment, no fresh air, haven't seen a conductor until just now, climbing through with a coffee pot, probably to refresh it. She has been sitting in the children's compartment, which is locked. She obtained two bottles of cold water and climbed back past us, without saying a word to anyone.

We made it to Copenhagen on time, and I now had 45 minutes before the train to Sweden. There were far too many people for the escalator, it took some time to get up to the station. There I got a salad and some cheese and something to drink at Brugsen, and sat at a hot hot hot table in the back of the store eating. Finally, real food!

The train to Sweden arrived on time, although it was not marked at the track board at station level, only on the big billboard and down on the track. Whatever, the air conditioning works, there are plenty of empty seats, and the bathroom is easy to reach. We are on time, and I am home at 8:30 pm. 

I needed 11 hours for this trip, and am rather suffering from people overload and am a bit dizzy with motion sickness, I feel like I am still on the train. I was only able to eat my snacks until I reached Copenhagen, no real lunch, but I was able to take my knife and lots to drink with me, as well as my backpack and a suitcase.

The plane was one third the price and took half the time.

One third of the price in half the time. The plane wins.

I wrote a complaint on Twitter to the DSB, the Danish train system, and was sent back a link where I can lodge a complaint. I did, asking the following questions:

1. The Danish train system knows that people are avoiding the busses from Nykøbing to Næstved on the Hamburg--Copenhagen line. Why don't they put extra cars on the trains that run via Fredericia? People paid good money to travel and ended up standing or sitting in an aisle.
2. Why do they put broken cars in service? They should have enough in reserve for such situations.
3. Why doesn't a conductor care about the people on the train? We could have waited another minute or so in Fredericia and had people sort themselves out on the platform. It would still have been jam-packed, but not so chaotic. It would have been nice to have been welcomed over the PA system, or given some information about the trip, but there was nothing, in any language.
4. Internet would have at least given people something to do, why don't they get this working? They probably only have to give the router a reboot.  
5. What on earth would the train system do if even more people decided to take a train because they want to be environmentally sensible? The train system is broken now, they have been "saving money" for ages. How can it cope with more passengers?