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on our third day, we had just the morning in copenhagen, and went to the dansk design center and tivoli. a highlight of the museum was seeing designs by wood wood in a fashion exhibit. their work was new to me, and i loved their colors and mix of patterns. i was reluctant to go to tivoli, since i don’t like amusement parks, but then was glad we did. i liked seeing the old murals, which made me sad again that the mary blair murals at disneyland no longer exist…


then we crossed the water to sweden! we took the train to malmo, where we picked up a rental car, and then walked around the main malmo shopping area. i found granit (a nice muji-like store) and a few other good stores… we only had a couple hours in malmo, and then got on the road to goteborg. that drive up the west coast of sweden was so beautiful… the landscape was constantly changing. it reminded me of california one minute, and new england the next.

we stayed at a really nice new hotel in goteborg, call the first g. the location was a little strange, right above the central train station, but we had one of the best dinners of our trip from the hotel restaurant. mmm, it was so good!





our second day in copenhagen was very “hygge”, my favorite danish word, which roughly means “cozy” and “comfort”, but can’t be translated exactly. it’s homemade food and a drink, candlelight, being with good company, a certain atmosphere and state of mind … walking around copenhagen reminded me a lot of san francisco. it was chilly and overcast, which for me is very cozy and nostalgic of california.

that day was initially disappointing because it was sunday, and every store was closed! we had saved the second day for what we had heard were the best shopping areas– vesterbro and norrebro, but ended up only window shopping. we had a great time though, wandering around the city… most restaurants were closed on sunday too, but we found an old-fashioned danish pub for dinner, and had fish and chips by candlelight. it was a funny scene– a man was playing the piano and people were singing along. it was dark and cozy, and we felt like we were really experiencing true danish hygge.






so i completely fell in love with denmark and sweden, like i thought i would! i was a little worried, that after the build-up of wanting to visit for so long, i might be disappointed. but i wasn’t. i was incredibly inspired by the people, the history, the fashion, and of course the design, which seems to be infused into every aspect of life… and it felt so good to be on a real vacation! to just soak up new places… exploring a city is my favorite kind of vacation…

we started in copenhagen. the first day we walked and walked and walked… around the stroget, the central shopping area (the streets off from the main roads were beautiful, with lots of cool small stores), the parks, the waterfront. i was in love with all the bicycles, in every color and shape, with baskets and baby carriages… people were dressed for fall, and very stylish. we noticed how into fashion the young kids were, at ages 10, 11 12… and how beautiful the women in copenhagen are!

my first impression of copenhagen was that it felt more bohemian and gritty (i mean that in a good way!) than i expected. it was more how i pictured berlin or amsterdam to be. i loved the fashion, and it got me excited for fall, since it’s still so hot in new york. we ended up staying at the SAS royal, right across the street from tivoli. it was a great location, and the beds we sooo comfortable. so that was the first day…

back from a great trip… feeling tired and jet lagged… happy to be home, but sad that the vacation is over. so much to post about. it was an incredibly inspiring trip.
more soon!