Simrishamn, Sweden

On our last day in Sweden, we took a train two hours east from Malmö to Simrishamn, to attend the Annual Herring Day Festival (“Sillens Dag”), where Mathilda was staffing a table promoting her employer’s edible seaweed startup. Amy and Mathilda left earlier to setup, while Kathleen and I arrived around 10:30 AM, with hundreds of people already enjoying the stalls and exhibits selling crafts, cider, and of course, herring: pickled, canned, smoked, fried and baked. 

Simrishamn, population 6,500, is an adorable seaside town located in the southeast corner of Sweden, on the Baltic Sea. Dating back to the 12th century, it has historically harbored one of Sweden’s largest fishing fleets and is a popular tourist destination. Map link: Simrishamn, Sweden

Bonus Question: What musical instrument name becomes another musical instrument when an “f” is added to the front? (answer at end of post)

We walked among the vendors, who effortlessly switched to English to accommodate our complete lack of Swedish language skills. We ate local seafood and ice cream for lunch, then wandered into town, stopping at the 800-year-old Sankt Nicolai church, which has a definite maritime vibe inside and is named named for Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors and fishermen. 

After the festival ended at 3:00 PM, Mathilda took us on a tour of her nearby office and lab, then we caught the train back to Malmö. Amy and Mathilda went to a party at Mathilda’s sisters’s in town, while Kathleen and I ate our last dinner in Sweden at Fregatten (“frigate”), a neighborhood pub serving Polish food.

Bonus Question Answer: Lute becomes flute.

Lund, Sweden

Kathleen and I woke up in our attic room in Malmö, lounged around for a bit, then went downstairs to Mathilda’s for breakfast with her and Amy. The four of us took a bus to Lund, 30 minutes to the northeast. Established by Vikings around the year 990, Lund was part of Denmark until 1658, when the region was ceded to Sweden. We strolled through the modern part of town, then stopped for morning fika, Swedish for “coffee break.” On our way to the Lund Cathedral, which towers over the town, we discovered an interesting meditative labyrinth set into the courtyard. Map link: Lund, Sweden

Bonus Question: What is the difference between a labyrinth and a maze?

Outside the cathedral, we stumbled upon a very powerful exhibit, called We Have a Dream. In its 10th year in Scandinavia, this traveling display—excerpts from a book with the same name—highlights the courageous stories of people who overcame barriers such as racism, sexism, religious persecution, prejudice, wars and human rights abuses to make a difference. It was incredibly moving, and I think that we all read every word of the 58 stories on display, featuring people such as the Dalai Lama, Malala Yousafzai, Quincy Jones, Patti Smith and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Built in the 12th century, the Romanesque Lund Cathedral is a beautiful church inside and out, and we particularly enjoyed the fascinating 14th century astronomical clock and the underground crypt. 

We Have a Dream exhibit 

Astronomical clock and perpetual calendar

Lund Cathedral underground crypt

We next strolled through Lundegard Park, briefly checking out Kulturen, the local history museum (we didn’t go in), then ate lunch at Coffee Break restaurant. After our meal, we toured the prestigious Lund University, founded in 1666, and one of the largest universities in Scandinavia, with an enrollment of 45,000. We stopped by the beautiful University Library, then visited the school’s design and sketch museum, where we learned that the Southern Sweden Circus Festival was in town, and there would be a a free public show that evening in a nearby plaza.

Runestone outside the Kulturen history museum

Lund University Library

On our way to see the circus show we walked through the 20-acre Lund Botanical Gardens, which is owned and operated by the university and has been at this location since 1862—the original garden dates back to 1690. Then we stopped at Ramklints pastry shop for an afternoon fika before attending the free circus performance. The show featured an acrobatic troupe that combined strength and athleticism as they balanced on ladders and each other. We caught the train back to Malmö, where we got take-out poke bowls and ate them while watching the Moomins, a Scandinavian animated series. 

Bonus Question Answer: Labyrinths have a single, continuous path to the center, while mazes have multiple branches and dead ends designed to get you lost. 

Copenhagen, Denmark

While Amy’s friend and classmate Mathilda was at work, we took a bus, then a train from Malmö, Sweden, across the Øresund Bridge to Copenhagen, the capital and largest city in Denmark. Originally settled by Vikings more than a thousand years ago, the island city has been a cultural and economic center of Scandinavia since the 16th century. Map link: Copenhagen, Denmark

Our first stop was Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park in Downtown Copenhagen, across the street from the central train station. Opened in 1843, it was the inspiration for Disneyland after Walt Disney first visited here in 1951. It was a cool, cloudy day, and we enjoyed taking in the park’s grounds, gardens, attractive buildings and rides, although we didn’t go on any. We ate lunch outdoors at a shawarma and falafel place overlooking a lake, then worked our way out of the park, seeing as much as we could in the short time that we had. 

Show playing at Tivoli Gardens

Dragonfly art!

From Tivoli Gardens we walked to Christiansborg Slot (Castle), home to the Danish Parliament, Prime Minister and Supreme Court. We waited about 30 minutes to go to the top of the central tower, called The View, which is the highest place in Copenhagen. It began to drizzle as we walked to Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of the Danish royal family, adjacent to the stunning marble Frederick’s Church, built in the 1750s. 

Bonus Question: I enjoyed researching the names for the days of the week (see Bonus Question from post: June 17, 2026, 3-2-1 Launch!) and decided to do the same for the months. Where do the names for the 12 months of the year come from? (answer at end of post)

The drizzle continued on and off as we approached the charming Nyhavn historic canal, with its pastel colored buildings, cafes, vendors and watercraft of all kinds. The mist deteriorated into a steady rain, which quickly cleared the streets of tourists, but we were fortunate to find a covered cafe table to wait out the weather. 

Our last stop in Copenhagen was at Kastellet, an enormous, star-shaped 17th-century fortress that is both an active military base and a public park. We enjoyed walking on the cobblestone streets among the distinctive red brick buildings, as well as on the 1.5-mile gravel perimeter path on the ramparts and bastions overlooking the moat, stopping for a selfie at the Dutch-style windmill. After sightseeing, we ate a delicious meal of Thai food at Wok Express, then caught the train back to Malmö. 

Source: Reddit

Bonus Question Answer: Today we follow the Gregorian calendar, which is based on the ancient Roman calendar, believed to have originated with Romulus, the first King of Rome, around 750 BC. 

January—Named after Janus, the Roman protector of gates, doorways and transitions. He is usually depicted with two faces, looking in opposite directions. As is common today, the new year was a time for both peering forward and reflecting back. 

February—Comes from the Roman purification and atonement ritual Februa, which happened during festivals at this time of year. 

March—Named for Mars, the god of war. This was the time of year when military campaigns resumed after stopping for winter. 

April—Derived from the Latin word aperire, which means “to open;” referring to the beginning of plant growth each year. 

May—Commemorates Maia, oldest of the seven Pleiades sisters, and goddess of Earth, growth and spring. 

June—Dedicated to Juno, queen of the gods and protector of women, marriage and childbirth.

July—Named for Roman dictator Julius Caesar, who invented the Julian calendar, a precursor to the Gregorian calendar that we use today. 

August—Honors Caesar Augustus, first Roman emperor and grandnephew of Julius Caesar.

September, October, November and December—The Roman calendar originally had only ten months (January and February were added later), and the last four were uninspiringly numbered in Latin: septem (seven), octo (eight), novem (nine), and decem (ten).

Nice, France to Malmö, Sweden

On our last morning in France, Kathleen and Amy went for a morning swim in the sea while I packed up. We walked to the train station with our luggage on a very humid morning and were all soaked with sweat by the time we got to the Nice Airport. After a 2.5 hour flight to Copenhagen, Denmark, we boarded a train and crossed into Sweden on the Öresund Bridge, over the strait that connects the North Sea and the Baltic. Map link: Øresund Strait. At Malmö Central Station, we got an Uber to Mathilda’s apartment, where Amy would bunk; Kathleen and I had a cozy attic guest room on the 5th floor of the adjacent building. We went to dinner with Mathilda at a neighborhood pub with authentic Northern European food, then relaxed until bedtime. 

Bonus Question: What institution invented the sports of basketball, volleyball and racquetball? (answer at end of post)

Bonus Question Answer: Basketball, volleyball and racquetball were all invented at the YMCA. Basketball and volleyball were created in the 1890s in Massachusetts, while racquetball was invented in 1950 in Connecticut. 

Ventimiglia, Italy

We had one more full day on the Riviera, and decided to visit Italy, only 19 miles away. Kathleen, Amy and I boarded the eastbound train in the late morning, traveled from France to Monaco, back into France and then to Italy. We stopped in Ventimiglia, a Riviera town just four miles across the border in the Liguria region of Northern Italy at the mouth of the Roia River. The city’s name is derived from Album Intimilium, which was the capital of the Intimilii, an ancient Ligurian tribe, although it is commonly thought to mean “twenty miles,” which coincidentally is “venti miglia” in Italian. Remains of Roman structures dating back to the early second century are still visible here and the historic old town, called Ventimiglia Alta, was built during the Middle Ages on a hilltop to best protect it from frequent medieval raiders. Map link: Ventimiglia, Italy

We went up the hill (by elevator, to save wear and tear on my bad hip), enjoyed the amazing views of the town, and walked through the winding cobblestone streets to the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption). The current sandstone building was constructed during the 11th and 12th centuries on the site of a previous cathedral from the 6th century, which replaced a Roman Pagan temple to the goddess Juno. We took our time taking in the architecture and aura of the ancient church and underground crypt and baptistery.

Bonus Question: We all hate CAPTCHAs, those annoying online “I’m not a robot” gatekeepers that verify we’re human. What does CAPTCHA stand for? (answer at end of post). 

It was a hot and humid day, we were done wandering, and descended back down to sea level and found an outdoor table in the shade at Pasta & Basta, an Italian restaurant near the shore. We ate a leisurely lunch, taking our time in the European fashion—something we’ve admired in our travels but have found surprisingly difficult to emulate. After our meal, we visited the beach and marina across the street, then walked back to the train station, where me met Amy’s classmate Gabriela and her Columbian parents, who were switching trains on their way to Milan. After they left, we headed back to Nice, and Kathleen and I ate our leftovers from lunch and Amy met friends in nearby Antibes. 

An accidental pic of the sun through the
inside of my pants pocket. I really like the colors!

Bonus Question Answer: Invented in 1997, the Completely Automated Public Turing test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) was designed to prevent spam and bot attacks. Ironically, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have made it easier for many computers to solve these challenges faster than humans. To keep up, developers have modified CAPTCHAs to be fuzzier, more squiggly and harder to read, making them more frustrating than ever. 

Cannes and Ile Sainte Marguerite, France

Amy spent Saturday with friends, all wanting to maximize their time together before leaving France and scattering across the globe. Kathleen and I hopped on a train and headed east to the Riviera resort town of Cannes, about 20 miles away. The city dates back to the 2nd century BC, and is known internationally as the host of the Cannes Film Festival each May. The festival’s origins date back to 1938, when the event was created to compete with the Venice Film Festival, which had developed a fascist bias under Benito Mussolini. Today, the event draws more than 40,000 film industry professionals and more than 200,000 total visitors to this community of 75,000. Map link: Cannes, France

At the busy waterfront, which was preparing for the Cannes Yachting Festival, we ran (I actually limped) to catch the ferry to Île Saint Margeurite, which lies a mile offshore. The largest of the Lérins group, the island is best known as the home of Fort Royal, built in 1617 and converted to a prison in 1685. Its most famous inmate was the Man in the Iron Mask, an anonymous prisoner who was held for 11 years in a special wing out of view. Under orders from King Louis XIV, his identity was never revealed, and guards were directed to immediately kill him if the mask were removed. The mystery has been the subject of great historical interest, and the story was romanticized in Alexandre Dumas’ 1847 version, which included the legendary Three Musketeers and inspired at least four movies. The Man in the Iron Mask spent a total of 34 years in four French prisons, including the Bastille in Paris, where died in 1703. Map link: Ile Sainte Marguerite

Back in Nice, we ate a late dinner in with Amy, then went out for gelato and took a stroll through Old Town, staying up until midnight. 

Bonus Question: What is heliotropism? (answer at end of post)

The Palais des Festival et des Congrès,
home of the Cannes Film Festival 

View of Cannes from Iles Sainte Marguerite

Fort Royal

Greek amphorae recovered from local shipwrecks

The prison cell of the Man in the Iron Mask

Old Town Nice at night

Bonus Question Answer: Heliotropism is the biological process where plants turn from east to west during the day to follow the sun and maximize photosynthesis. At night, an internal circadian clock twists the stems back so plants face east again the next morning.