Category Archives: Travel & Adventure

I’m back in Iceland for 5 more days before I head back to San Francisco. I’m really excited to be at this leg of my trip, because it involves heading out of city life and into the natural beauty of this magnificent country. I’ve been obsessed with the landscape of Iceland since I discovered it watching Heima several years ago, the documentary about Sigur Rós’ tour around their homeland. I found the imagery in the film so beautiful that I was moved to tears, and I decided at that moment I had to go to Iceland. And now I am here, and starting tomorrow I will be heading out into geysers, glaciers, volcanoes, waterfalls and coastline. Prepare yourself for some different kids of photos than I’ve been posting the last few weeks!

Today I stayed in Reykjavik to recover from a late night of travel. It’s really cold and wet here, so I’m enjoying taking a day of rest inside my cozy room. This morning I went to visit Hallgrímskirkja Church (drawn here), which is a short walk from the guest house where I am staying. I took an elevator to the top and shot some images of the rooftops, much like the photo taken by another photographer that I shared here before I left on the trip. Below are images from my walk, the church and the view from the top. Enjoy.

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{The sun behind the clouds on my bus ride from the Airport to Central Stockholm yesterday).

Lots of what’s amazing about traveling isn’t the shopping or museums. It’s the little things, like how the light falls at dusk or how the streets smell. I am trying to take in all those little things, and to appreciate them, because, in an instant, they will be gone.

I am two weeks into my Nordic adventure. It has been mostly completely amazing & inspiring and approximately 2% hard. The hard parts include sleeping in strange places, getting around when I cannot read the signs, trekking heavy bags to and from the airport, and being alone (and therefore missing home a bit more than I would otherwise). Most of the hard stuff is eclipsed by the amazing and inspiring stuff — the art and design (ah, the art and design!!), the history and culture, the people, the language differences, typography, architecture, fashion, nature, smells, music. At least once a day I stop and pinch myself: yes, I am really HERE and yes, I am really seeing this. I have been dreaming of this for years, and now I am finally here.

When I was a little girl, around 9 years old, I went away to camp for the first time. I spent the first 5 of the 7 days in tears most of the time because I missed my mom. I was so sad, in fact, that I couldn’t even enjoy the horseback riding or hiking or the new girls I was meeting. On about day 6, something clicked, and I realized I had been completely wasting my time being sad. I stopped thinking about home, and began experiencing camp as I should. The last two days were glorious and fun. I remember feeling almost euphoric when I finally relaxed and allowed myself to enjoy the experience. I remember, even at that young age, feeling regret that I had lost 5 days to sadness.

Whenever I start to get the slightest bit homesick on this adventure, I remember my 9 year old self. These three weeks are but a short blip in my life. Soon enough I will be back home in my regular (sometimes boring, mostly busy) life and the sights, sounds and smells of this adventure will be just a memory. I try to remember this when I’m feeling anxious about getting from point A to point B (and afraid I’ll get lost) or when I begin to miss Clay or Wilfredo. At those moments, I’ve been trying to stop, take it all in and appreciate how lucky I am to be here.

I have less than one week remaining. Tonight I fly to Reykjavik for 5 more days to explore the natural beauty of Iceland. Then I fly home.

Today is a big travel day, so I won’t have time (or internet access) to post photos of what I saw today. I’ll post some more photos tomorrow, though. So please come back if you’d like to see.

I want to thank everyone who has been following my adventure here on this blog, on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Your comments make me feel like I am actually sharing this experience, and not experiencing it completely alone. Your enthusiasm is part of what has made this trip so special. Thank you.

Today was my last day in the beautiful city of Copenhagen, Denmark (that last photo above? It’s a small replica of the old city outside the Copenhagen Museum and it’s so cool!). This afternoon I got back on an airplane (today was my 7th flight this trip!) and returned to Stockholm, Sweden for 24 hours before I leave tomorrow night for Iceland. Once I’m back in Iceland I’m going to spend the rest of my trip exploring its natural beauty. I cannot wait.

Today was my third day in the beautiful city of Copenhagen. I visited the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art outside the city and the first set of photos are taken (mostly outside) of that beautiful place (no photos allowed inside though I stole a couple). The second set of photos are from my walk around more of the city center this morning and to/from the museum. I didn’t get a ton of photos today…it was pouring rain for much of the day so getting outdoor shots outside was hard with my precious camera.

Enjoy.

{The current exhibit is of self portraits of many famous artists. It was enormous and stunning. Took me over two hours to walk through!}

{The museum looks out over the sea. It is spectacular.}

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Tomorrow I am headed back to Stockholm for 24 hours then back to Iceland for my final week!

I mostly shopped today! And Copenhagen, like Stockholm, is a design shoppers HAVEN. I went into three shops that blew my socks off: Stilliben, Illums Bolighus, and Hay. I promised many of you photos from these shops (and I did put some on Instagram) but my SLR camera was set incorrectly (I inadvertently twisted a dial that I shouldn’t have) and all my indoor (and some of my outdoor) photos came out almost black today, so I have very few to show you from inside the shops except those that I was able to correct in Photoshop… If my photos look dark today, that’s why. Hrmph… {Note to self: ALWAYS check camera settings!}

Onward…

Today I arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark! What a beautiful, BIKE FILLED city. I’ve only been here for a few hours but had a chance to walk around this afternoon. Here is some of what I captured. More tomorrow!

Today was my last day in Helsinki, Finland! Tomorrow I head to Copenhagen Denmark! See you there!

{left: a couple of Marimekko treasures I picked up; right: the bed in the apartment in Helsinki where I’m staying}

Those of you who’ve been following my travels know that I have been having an exceptionally exciting time here on my Nordic adventure. Day after day, I have had one amazing experience after another, seeing things I’ve only ever dreamed of seeing. There have been times I have been moved to tears when it’s dawned on me where I am and what I’m looking at or feeling.

Today is the ninth day of my trip, and it’s the first day I’ve felt really, really tired. I have been walking miles and miles every single day (when I am not on an airplane traveling between cities), eating strange food (sometimes I’m not even sure what I’m eating), navigating through completely different languages (Finnish has been the most challenging so far), and not always getting the most restful sleep (I think my body is still adjusting to the reversal of day and night).

I got back today from a visit to the Alvar Aalto Studio and House. It was an incredible experience, and I took loads of photos. I was going to share them with you here as my daily blog post, but I realized that I was just too tired. So I think I’ll save them for another time (I promise to post them after I get home for sure, or maybe even before that).

Time for me to lay down and get some rest this afternoon!

More tomorrow!

Friends! I have arrived in Helsinki, Finland today. I flew here from Stockholm this morning. It’s Helsinki Design Week, and I could not be more thrilled to be here. I am staying in the MOST ADORABLE APARTMENT EVER. Check out my Instagram feed (@lisacongdon) for photos (plus way more Helsinki photos than I’ve posted here.) Today’s highlight? Visiting the Marimekko Flagship Store in central Helsinki. I had to pinch myself. Here are some photos from my day.

Flying into Finland this morning was particularly exciting for me. There are birch tree groves everywhere, and those of you who know me know this is a very exciting thing for me to see. I’ll leave you with a photo I snapped from the airplane.

Hyvää yötä! (that’s “good night” in Finnish).

I have so loved my time here. I will never forget it. Stockholm has become one of my favorite places on the planet. Tomorrow I move on to Helsinki! See you there!

{More photos on Instagram // @lisacongdon}

More photos from my Day yesterday…

All photos taken at Nordiska Museet, Moderna Museet, Skansen or on the street, in no particular order. You can see Part 1 here.

Today was an amazing day. I did LOTS of things today, but one thing in particular was my favorite, so I’m just going to share photos of that (for now). That one thing? The Nordiska Museet. a museum of Swedish culture, design and handcraft on the island of Djurgårdsvägen. It was amazing, and so many of the exhibits took my breath away.

Here are some shots:

From the weaving exhibit (all hand loomed pieces by Swedish weavers and textile artists):

From the Sloyd exhibit (these are handcrafts made in school by kids in Sweden — yes, they learn handcraft in school!). All pieces the exhibit were donated, and were exhibited from very old to more recent:

And from the home interiors exhibit (where you learn about Swedish interiors from the 1600′s to present day):

I also LOVED the Swedish folk art exhibit (which included incredible textiles) and the Sápmi exhibit about Sami life in Sweden. The Sami are the indigenous people from the northern parts of Sweden and Finland. The show also demonstrated how the Sami have influenced the Swedish and the Swedes have influenced the Sami. As you may recall, I have drawn and painted several Sami inspired artworks, so this exhibit was particularly exciting for me! This exhibit was STUNNING but really too hard to photograph because of the glass cases and lighting around the artifacts.

Pretty much everything in this museum was magical. I didn’t want to leave!!

Topping it off, it is the 100th birthday of the The National Association of Swedish Handicraft Societies, and so lots of cool things were happening around the museum as part of that celebration!

Tons more shots on Instagram today of this museum and several other places I visitied! (@lisacongdon)

God natt! (Good night!)

{You can see Part 2 here.)