Scandinavia 2005 Trip Video

My whirl-wind trip to Scandinavia was a business trip that I had not been expecting. We had started the TIST program (TIST.org), a sustainable development, tree planting program with small-hold farmers in Africa and Tamil Nadu with the expectation that once the trees got big, we could create carbon credits that would finance the program and provide the subsistence farmers with a new source of cash revenue. At this early stage we were looking for alternative financing and this trip was to visit the national development agencies of Denmark, Sweden and Finland to see if they would provide funding. They didn't but I got a great trip.

When I first got to my hotel in Copenhagen I found that the rooms were super small. This proved to be the case the entire trip. We Americans have rooms twice the size at half the cost even in budget hotels. I was right near Nyhavn, a picturesque commercial area of bars and restaurants on one of the canals off the harbor. So first stop was to get a beer. I tried to learn a little language from the bartender to show a little courtesy and found that English was just fine. I asked how to say thank you after I got my beer and he said that Danes don't generally say thank you but I managed to get "tak" and "ein" out of him. Later with my new words, I went to a restaurant for dinner. Approaching the maitre de, I asked for a table for one, ein, and said tak when I was seated. Next thing I knew the waiter was there speaking Danish and I had no idea what it was. Oops. Luckily he saw my glazed eyes and switched to English.

My favorite place was Gamla Stan, Old Town Stockholm. You enter a labyrinth of medieval streets through a low arch that is a reminder that people many centuries ago were short. Doors were so short that I, at 5'8", had to stoop a little. This is ironic because the average height of Swedish men is almost 5"11' whereas American men are only 5'9".