The trip to Sweden with smarriveurr for celemon and graylion's wedding was lovely. We flew through Helsinki each way, but still managed to spend 6 days exploring and being sociable. The happy couple were married in a lovely church with a fantastically eclectic audience, and the reception held to traditions (like having a Toast-master space out the various speeches) that I think ought to catch on in America.

Aside from wedding-ness, we visited Gamla Uppsala and gawked at the grave mounds (I climbed up the Thing-mound, because I am a dork) and the lovely little church. We saw the cathedral, so I could press my nose against the glass and refrain from drooling over the Sture garments in the Treasury. We toured the Museum Gustavianum, so I could scratch my head over the new Viking women's dress reconstruction (verdict: much ick!). We fed the Swedish economy with our devalued US$ by wandering around some of the design shops in the area. And we certainly dined on/drank some lovely fare. Group consensus among those on the not-quite-pub-crawl seems to be heavily in favour of the local Slottskällens Decennium Jubileum brew, with their blond ale and a brew by Eriksburg at close second. (Just don't expect to see a pub open on a Sunday.)

We'll need to spend a week in Stockholm on our next trek over. ;)

Pictures here, with more to come as the week progresses.

Back from Sweden. Bone tired but happy. Sleep now.

In another week, smarriveurr and I will be in Uppsala via Stockholm and a layover in Helsinki. We'll be there for graylion and celemon's wedding (who else is going to be there for that? I know a few of you are.), so we do have some of our days booked, but we'll have some free days to explore the area.

I'd like to do the cathedral, castle, and old town in Uppsala, and if we get to Stockholm, a couple of museums there, too. Anything we shouldn't miss? Anyone we shouldn't miss? Anyone want to come museum-hopping/exploring/pubbing with us? I promise, smarriveurr only bites when provoked!

I'm going to be away (just me) between 15 and 26 Feb, for those of you who may be interested in making plans this month.

(i.e. keep smarriveurr entertained for me, willya? ;) )

Passed a lovely Saturday evening in Manhattan, as Bunni had organised a surprise shindig for Bakerina. smarriveurr helped me carry cookies and pie, with much aplomb and no major misadventures, through two hours' worth of (crowded) train and subway to get to our rendezvous point. The food was divine--as is expected when foodies collide--and the company refreshingly interesting.

Our interstate conspiracy to bring Bakerina some southern lovin' would, then, have proved to have been a success.

On this theme, a ( foodie meme )

Back from Thanksgiving with the family in upstate New York.

Fed the chickadees at Mendon Ponds Park. They'll eat out of your hand if you stay relatively still.

My foray into more southerly climes was, I believe, rather a success: in addition to being an interesting anthropological experience, it was, indeed, an adventure. I mean, go to an event, end up sitting at the High Table, for example. I got to do all kinds of things I don't normally do, from hiking in proper mountains to cooking way more sausage in a single week than one girl ought in her right mind to eat. Much squeeing and hugging as I got to see a bunch of dear people (Mistress Eleanor was nearly in tears when I told her about my Ph.D.). Condensing ten days of being out of my normal environment into a single entry, however, has been difficult, hence my relative silence on LJ.

It's been since I was over in York (York-on-Ouse, not York-near-Susquehanna, and thank you graylion) that I've taken to a particular bit of topography so readily. The bit of Appalachia where I did a significant part of my growing up was similarly bleak, with the same muted tones of the spirit, the same attitude that comes from a couple centuries of hardscrabble subsistence on what can be wrenched away from the mountains, but far from being drowned in the shadow of such a difficult, ancient, and unfeeling chain of mountains, House Mountain and Waterville were vibrant, like high points of hope in the inertia of Appalachia. There was a singular serenity to House Mountain, sitting on the rock of the overlook, that I hadn't felt since certain peaks in the Rockies, and before them up in the Adirondacks. And nipping into the Midnight Hole for a swim at the beginning of November is, admittedly, a unique and entirely fun kind of crazy. I miss my mountains.

It's also been a while since I had so much fun cooking in someone else's kitchen. thirteen_letter gave me free run of the cupboards and we came up with a number of lovely things that were almost entirely impromptu, or at least quite evolved from the original intended supper. All the right people have a mortar-and-pestle in the kitchen, or some other, unorthodox kitchen tools.

Having been invited back by multiple nice ladies (and rather more nice gentlemen, though I suspect the motives of one or two) I flew back to the metro area for snorglings with smarriveurr and supper with pir, whom I hadn't seen in far too long. I've had a burble or two as far as my health has been concerned, which has fouled some rather anticipated plans in the name of prudence, but I've stayed fairly busy--I even have an interview lined up for Thursday which will take me down near drmcsexypants and femmetofarad's neck of the woods, so fingers crossed that I'll have to go apartment hunting soon after.

Many, many thanks to smarriveurr for suggesting and making possible my "yay, Ph.D and birthday!" holiday, and to those who hosted my "why do they have a Jesus fish on the billboard for the hotel?" silliness down south.

From tomorrow morning, I'm going to be in Knoxville for ten days. Call or text probably the best way to be in touch.

And, yes, photos when I'm back.

Massive silliness ensued at femmetofarad and drmcsexypants' place this past weekend, including "extreme croquet." femmetofarad has again proven she's a fantastic cook by providing breakfasts and a huge Mexican spread, as well as entirely enjoyable margaritas and mojitos. Photos of those later.

Even though we gave coronation a miss, the weekend was still a good one.

Friday night took us down to Philadelphia's Chinatown for the VNV Nation Judgement tour gig at the Trocadero. I hadn't really paid much attention to the opener, And One, before the gig, so I only knew a few of their tracks by association with Project Pitchfork. I'm a bit ambivalent--some of it was because their tech guy hadn't balanced the vocals with the synthesizers and it was a bit hard to hear the lyrics, but part of was some of the lyrics themselves. I guess they're trying to be socially relevant and anti-war: "Erst kommt Krieg, dann kommt die Wahl. Steine sind Steine, ohne rote Qual. Erst kommt Hass, dann kommt die Nacht. Steine sind Steine, ohne rote Macht." Okay, I'll give you that, but the "Deutscher sei Stolz" and the salute your man flipped the audience at the end...maybe a bit in poor taste. At least most of the kids in the Pit probably had no idea what the lyrics meant.

VNV, though...sold out the place (and their NYC show, too). They had projector problems for most of the evening, so it wasn't quite the "religious experience" it was when I've seen them before, but the rapport with the audience was so generously warm, with a definite give-and-take of positive energy. The tracks from the new album, Judgement, are a little angrier, more aggressive and grim than I'm used to from VNV, with some growly spoken vocals, but they balanced that with tracks from earlier albums, and Ronan (as per usual) was good at keeping the crowd's energy up.

bluinkalchemist makes a good Black Russian, and a nice breakfast. :) I kind of wish we'd had a little more time to spend in Philly, but...hey, damionreed, do you have a free evening over the next couple weeks?

When we got home yesterday, I decided to tackle a brush pile that's been earmarked as garden space, so I pulled out and sorted the possibly-usable wood (for making a wattle fence, like in a medieval garden, to keep out enterprising bunnies) from the chaff. smarriveurr helpfully chopped down the volunteer saplings and I dug out the extremely persistent taproots to about half a metre below ground (any farther and I'd have done myself a mischief without bigger holes in the garden). There's a nor'easter on today, so I'll have to leave chopping up the partial trees that are still left for a drier day, but I'm glad I managed to clear a lot of the mess that was back there. Went to sleep last night absolutely knackered with really warm muscles, and am surprisingly not achy today for the tugging I was doing.

Have received and made the edits for the final chapter.....

Updated itinerary for the month!

17-18 March - Maryland
30-31 March - Pittsburgh, PA for Canterbury Tales

There is talk of central PA in April. VNV is 13 April in Philadelphia--so that's reserved for getting my goth on--but are there any other dates that are especially good/not good for the locals who'd like some quality time?

smarriveurr and I took the train into NYC yesterday to visit some friends who are visiting the country. Plan "C" had us meet them at their flat on 76th, followed by a few hours of silliness in Manhattan.

Lunch was at Hawaii Sushi on 2nd Avenue between 76th and 77th. Their luncheon menu prices are quite reasonable for a filling lunch. The front wall unfolds like a bistro to let in the afternoon breezes, and the decor isn't over the top. The spicy tuna rolls were tangy even if the texture was a little bit strange. The sushi was served with small pieces of melon that cleansed the palate like pickled ginger. smarriveurr enjoyed the teriyaki beef.

The afternoon was spent running amok in Central Park, then getting a dinosaur fix at the Museum of Natural History on 81st.

Dinner at Swagat Indian on Amsterdam Avenue behind the museum was pleasantly low-key. The papad had lovely coriander seeds, and the naan was fluffy. The lamb dishes were all three-alarm spicy, while N.'s eggplant dish was also "exciting." We were all too stuffed to eat dessert, but the mango lassis were lovely.

Shakespeare in the Park was distressingly hilarious. I say this because one isn't normally meant to laugh at MacBeth--except the porter scene. The play closes 9 July, but if you can make it, it's weird but good. That's about what one can say for Shakespeare set in an indeterminate war of the early 20th century.

Haven't been able to find An Post parcel freight services anywhere on their website; this had been my weapon of choice for shipping the three boxes (25 kg all together) I have in excess of my two suitcases. By regular shipping, it would cost me about €300 to get them all to NJ.

Or, I could get a new €50 suitcase that's of a size with the ones I have now, pay the €80 single excess bag fee, and struggle only marginally more in JFK, and take everything with me at once.

Any more cost-effective suggestions?

Before I even moved to Ireland, a friend of mine handed me a stone and asked me to place it "on Queen Maedb's grave," saying that he was confident that I would know it when I saw it. He's a shaman, and I have nothing but respect for him, so I've been looking for the right place for a couple years. After a dead end or two in Co. Roscommon, I found Knocknarea/Cnoc na Raibh, on the Strandhill Peninsula in Co. Sligo. The cairn at the top of the mountain is reputed to be for Queen Maedb of the Táin Bó Cuailgne.

This past Sunday, I took the earliest train I could out to Sligo town. My directions said to take Wolfe Tone Street, directly across from the station, to its end, then to turn right onto R292 and follow this out onto the Strandhill Peninsula. From there, it was a matter of following the signs for Knocknarea in order to choose a hiking trail toward the top. The weather wasn't nice, and I was fairly nervous, hiking by myself in the rain, but I couldn't leave Ireland without having done as Ruadhan had asked.

It took me an hour to get to the mountain, and the trail is fairly steep. The rain changed from a light mist to a more insistent drizzle as I hiked upward. I met a group of small boys out walking a huge St. Bernard that was nearly as tall as they; I was told that the trail I was on would take me "to the top". I seem to have been led astray, though, as to my growing nervousness the trail petered out into a field, and I found no path going farther. I panicked. Here I was on a pilgrimage, and I couldn't even find the proper destination.

I turned around to look out over the coast of the peninsula, toward the small islands to the north. Even in the rain, the view was lovely. One lone horse, blinking in the rain, seemed to agree.

Just as I managed to calm down a bit, a huge flock of ravens burst from the nearby trees, dozens and dozens of ravens, giving me quite a fright. And somehow in the croak and flap of so many birds, I knew, even though I'd not made it to the cairn at the top of the mountain, that I'd found the right place anyway. I left Ruadhan's stone at that spot, and came back down the mountain, sure that I'd finally managed to complete the quest on which I'd been sent.

By the time I reached Sligo town two hours later, I was fairly well soaked, but managed a lunch of homemade challah, sheep's-milk cheese and a pear while I dried off a bit and waited for the train back to Dublin. I'd had a nice (if strenuous) walk, and felt surprisingly happy through the weariness. Granted, I have no idea why Ruadhan wanted me to find the right place for his stone, and I'll probably never ask, but I'm glad to have been able to do it for him.

Wrote up my travel report on Oslo, finally--it took me a while to organise my thoughts on the Norwegian capital. It's one of the cities for which I would recommend getting the tourist card, as for NOK 210 it lets you into many of the museums about the city, and allows you free public transport. I managed to get twice my money's worth in a single day, visiting the Vigelandspark, the Viking Ship Museum, the Folkes Museum. I did pretty much everything but meet Dagfinn Skre; I had emailed to let him know which week I'd be in town, then emailed him to tell him which day in particular, but I found out the morning of my train from Malmö to Oslo that he'd be in Stavanger for the day.

One of the points that didn't seem to fit into the report was that I saw an exhibition by Tacita Dean at Oslo's Nasjonalmuseet. I'm usually rather skeptical of contemporary art, but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed her work. A lot of it seems to be particularly aimed at making you take a long time to appreciate something in its entirety, either because it takes a large amount of time to run its course (as is the case with the films and audio pieces) or because there's just a fantastic amount of detail in the pieces, too much to take in at once. Her pieces associated with "Stowaway Aboard" and the "Herzogin Cecilie", all together, felt like at 360º view of this ship and her stowaway, using newspaper clippings, photos, chalk boards, &c. My favourite was "The Russian Ending, 2002", a portfolio of 20 photographs on the Russian entry into Germany at the end of WWII. Each photo is annotated in such a way that it feels like a blueprint for a moment in time, with cynical comments scribbled in the margins.

Arrived Saturday night from a major jaunt into Scandinavia, having stayed at m_nivalis' flat in Malmö for a week. I must say, the weather was fantastic for late March, though upon arrival at Dublin airport the temperatures felt a good deal higher than they had; Oslo still had snow, and part of the Oslo Fjord was still frozen while I was there.

The picture to the right was taken at one of the cemeteries on the edge of Malmö's old town. While the snowdrops in Dublin have come and gone, they're just blooming in Sweden. Spring is evidently being slow--there was snow on my first full day there.

As far as what to see and do in Malmö, my photos should to a certain extent speak for themselves. I'd seen a Discovery Channel documentay on Turning Torso while it was being built, and it's actually as impressive as I'd thought. The Malmöhus has a small zoo inside, with snakes and bats and other nocturnal creatures, v. adorable fuzzy things to visit. The cats on the pier by Torggatan aren't exactly fuzzy, being of copper alloy, but they're cute all the same.

I was amazed by the number of skull-and-crossbones I saw while I was there. Not only do they show up in the churches, but there were skull magnets in Lagerhaus on Södergatan. Speaking of places to pick up nice things for the house, I have rekindled an interest in IKEA--not in a Fight Club sort of way, but certainly appreciating the cleanness of Swedish design. I wish I could do my house in Granit.

The Konditori Hollandia on Södra Förstadsgatan has a gorgeous selection of teas and coffees, and really nice desserts. m_nivalis and I went there for tea, to meet some of the local scholars who were about town. Jan Hedh/Maria Escalante Chocolatier have three outlets in Malmö under the name “Les Trois Roses”, the most easily accessible being along the north side of Gustav Adolfs Torg; I can honestly say that while their chocolate is expensive, it is to die for. Pressie was brought from there for olethros, who hopefully shall enjoy it to the full.

Everything was within walking distance, and we went up to Lund a few times on the train to hit the library and see the city. Malmö is pleasantly small that way, easy for commuting and not difficult to navigate. I learned my way around fairly quickly, and by the end of the week was brave enough to leave my maps at home. The people were really friendly, and quite apologetic when they didn't speak English to make up for my really crap Swedish. Were I slightly braver, it might be a really nice place to live for a while.

Happy birthday to olethros and tomorrow to chris_brigham.

Much love to you all--am still in Sweden, and heading up to Norway on tonight's overnight train. Have found plenty of new academic material to keep me occupied for the next couple of weeks, including the answer to my Norway problem! Many, many thousand thanks to m_nivalis for the use of her flat and for the in-depth lowdown on Skåne and Köpenhamn. Am now not quite so terrified about functioning in a region where I can only communicate in broken sentences unless it involves archaeology. At least my Norwegian isn't quite so crap. O:o)

Will be landing in Dublin at 20:00 Saturday evening after another layover in London. May have a moment of sheer madness and decide to come out after stowing my luggage at my gaff, but as am already exhausted this may prove unwise.

Keep an eye out for the new "Malmö...", "Lund...", and "Oslo for the Unpretentious Goth" travel guides on Globosapiens, as soon as I've had some time to organise my thoughts and upload my pictures to FuturePerfekt. Usual bat channel, kids.

To-do list today:

Make sure last load of wash is clean and dried
Change € for SEK
Pick up library books
Arrange for 5:30 taxi to airport, to get there around 6:00
Find camera batteries
Top-up call credit
Put in time sheet and reimbursement forms
Finish packing
Find plug adapters

Received post from TCD Graduate Studies today, declining my application for funding for my research trip to Scandinavia. [insert creative invective here] At least I still have the €200 from the Grace Lawless Lee fund, and can make a claim from the department for some reimbursement for travel expenses, so all is not lost. It's just going to cost me more, personally, than I'd really have liked. :o/

I hate rejection letters.

So, it looks like I'll be making an application to the travel fund for travel to Scandinavia in the first week of April. Am thinking of taking a Ryanair flight to London Stanstead, then connecting either to Malmo or to Oslo. Now, I just need to decide which, and make travel plans accordingly.

I know that if the ILLs I want don't come in, most of the useful books I need are in Malmo, whereas I've not really looked into the UIO library. Both my conversational Swedish and conversational Norwegian are crap, but at least I have learning materials for Swedish. Alternatively, I could just land in Malmo and take the train up to Oslo to visit the museum there (if I can find it).

And I'd have to figure out where to stay.

Gaah, I'm utterly terrified of travelling on my own. Anyone want to come with? Please?

ETA: I'm teaching until mid-March, then flying back to the US on 12 April and don't know if/when I'll be back afterwards. This limits my travel days to within this window.