Melissa had a passport appointment in Copenhagen so Erin and I joined her to see more of the city across the bridge. I hadn’t even seen the obligatory mermaid of HC Andersen fame. That was fun if a bit anticlimactic. 
We wandered around the 17th century fortress or Citadel and then Christiania, the infamous hippie “free town” before finding an amazing lunch at a French bistro. We were enjoying it so much we nearly missed our library tour but thankfully they let us join anyway.
Touring the Danish National Library/ Black Diamond, named for its modern addition, was a fantastic option for a Monday when many museums are closed. Our guide told lots of intriguing stories about the library’s long history, and the art and architecture are definitely worth a visit.
It seems visiting libraries is the thing to do in winter and ICH hosted a tour of Lund University Library.
Lund 1Runestone https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lund_1_Runestone moved to the library to protect it from the elements.
And we again heard stories of past scandals, controversies and intrigues associated with the collection and preservation of EVERYTHING published in Sweden, one copy of which is stored here (and in several other archives) That includes every IKEA catalog, grocery store ad, newspaper or newsletter, brochure etc. Every. Printed. Item.
Even those who self publish are supposed to send one copy to the archives by law. They are now using AI to create digital copies of the catalogues. The AI can even be taught to read the handwritten cards.
One of my favorite “scandals” is quite recent… in 2009 a student sculpted a plastic bust of himself and secreted in in an empty niche amidst the busts of famous historical figures. It remained unnoticed for years but once discovered became a feature of the library. There is even a QR code to scan https://www.lundagard.se/2009/05/04/en-student-bland-filosoferna
Katte had its Open House where the eldest helped run the Debate team info booth while the youngest tagged along to see if she wants to go to the same school when she finishes at ISLK.
I think this is part of the law school, maybe. It looked nice in the sun.
I also walked in the cemetery a lot recently and found a few graves with QR codes that tell some interesting details. Many have dob from the late 1700s and died in early 1800s. I wish there were more with codes because I’m very often curious about them.
And the green houses are still open at Botan. I try to go as often as I can because a huge renovation is set to begin soon, and I guess it will be closed to the public for a long time.
And Carole and I went to Helsingborg for an art therapy workshop (which was rather lame) but then we used our 24 hour train ticket to have breakfast the next day (a sunny one!) in Malmo.
And I’ll end with this oddity: a weird note from a Helsingborg bathroom (in English)
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