Snow!

We had a proper snowstorm on Friday... I awoke to an already white neighborhood and snow-saturated air, so I rushed outside to record the event. “A really REALLY good day” is how it was described by a small child I pass in my snowy wandering around Bristol. Schools were closed and the parks sprouted snowmen and filled with kids and sleds as cars crawled and skidded along snowy streets. I took the long way into work to walk up a very snowy Avon Gorge, past the suspension bridge and Clifton green spaces en route to the department... I then left early and walked around the far side of the harbor, to take photos of colored houses in snow.

The irony is, that I spent the beginning of the week in snow, in Aarhus, Denmark, where
I attended a workshop on the impacts of volcanic eruptions on past societies. I went to Denmark with my historian friend Caroline (who also attended the conference) and her husband Richard... we decided that we might as well go a few days early and spend the weekend exploring the city. A Danish colleague in Bristol didn’t have much good to say about Aarhus, as it is not as lovely as Copenhagen, but I quite enjoyed it as a city. In fact, I’ve decided that I really like Scandanavia, in general. Aarhus is the largest city in Jutland. It’s on the east coast of the peninsula, and is clearly an important working port and business center.


The city is a nice size, and a mixture of the old and the new. The old takes the form of timber and plaster buildings with earth-tone colors reminiscent of Italy. The old parts of the city were made more charming by the snow that fell gently for much of our visit... and highlighted not only the little sidewalk snowplows that made the walk into the University possible, but also a variant with a large brush in front, to clear snow from rough cobblestone streets.

The new is a mixture of working city and modern design
I was particularly taken with the Aarhus art museum. The museum itself is a wonderful space, and happened to feature a special exhibit on Edward Munch... it was fascinating to see more of Munch than just The Scream, especially his interactions with the French impressionists. Although we did leave the exhibit with the overwhelming impression that he isn’t someone you’d want to spend much time with!  




But my favorite part of the museum by far was the ‘rainbow bridge’ on the roof of the building, which is a fantastically creative participatory art exhibit. People walking through the bridge create an ever-changing silhouette movie for spectators on the ground, while a walk through the ring of transparent colors is a unique and fascinating way to view the cityscape spread out in all directions.