May 17 Travelers Circle: Scandinavia

• Date: Thursday, May 17
• Time: 7:00-8:30pm
• Place: HI-MN World Headquaters
• Above the Mississippi Market Food Coop: Second Floor Meeting Room
• 622 Selby Ave, St Paul, 55112

By Terrell Brown

Join me for a rambling tour through Scandinavia. My emphasis will be art, history and architecture.

I travel for 2 major reasons: I’m an art and history freak. I find the art, history and architecture of the places I visit incredibly intriguing. I’ve also met a number of interesting people in my travels. I’ve now been to 31 countries (which I had to list recently on a Russian visa application), most of them since 2001.

[Detour alert] Speaking of which, I was in Munich on Sept. 11 of 2001. I had a late lunch at the Hofbräuhaus, then walked across the street to an internet coffee shop and found a single sentence NY Times new alert that an airplane had flown into one of the World Trade Towers. When I got an alert on the 2nd airplane crash, I decided that my original thought on what happened was probably wrong.

From 2001 through 2010 I stepped foot on the European continent at least once each year and found time to visit Rio for Carnival, Australia, and Egypt (my sister has lived there for 30 years).

At one point I counted 40 art museums that I’ve visited. So we will talk about art some at the May Travelers Circle. Also expect that I might talk about some history – after all, who hasn’t controlled Finland at some point? And what parts of Scandinavia hasn’t either Sweden or Denmark controlled at some point? It’s hard to avoid the intermingled history of these countries. It’s fascinating.

My favorite European city is Barcelona; I’ve been there half a dozen times. However, Stockholm could move to the top of that list in a hurry. I’m thinking of going again in May on my way to Iceland. (OK – that’s not a direct route, but it should work with the schedule).

I have a lot of photos and some great stories. Join me for an evening on Scandinavia. Bring a friend. See you there.