On Giant Mushrooms in Malmö!

I am standing in front of several tall, imposing figures. Dressed in long, black garments, with thin white limbs and sewed canvas faces, they say much with their silence. They are not alive, they cannot hurt me, yet still I feel somewhat intimidated. It reminded me of a bunch of German 12-year olds I once observed whilst on a tram - they are so young, still a little smaller than me, yet there is something about their defiant attitude which makes me feel somewhat smaller than they. I walk behind the group of ghostly figures, only to watch a clip of two female puppets jumping on a man and squirting blood out of him. The clip plays over and over again, this nonsensical fun-fair music going round and round, as if itself is on a merry-go-round or carousel, and you feel yourself spinning around too, not knowing if it is because of the music or because of the loss of blood.

Definitely one of the best museums I've ever been to (http://www.modernamuseet.se/Malmo/). When I visited, they had a fascinating exhibition of surrealist work, including original pieces by Magritte, Giorgio deChirico, and my personal favourite, Dali. On that cold, rainy day, it was a great pleasure to spend a few hours going round the exhibits at leisure, absorbing in the sheer range of human creativity.... including a room with several 4 metre high red spotted mushrooms, which had the effect of making me feel like a Smurf as I walked beneath them. Don't know what Mina felt like. Maybe a baby Smurf?

Malmö had many other interesting things to see:

the Turning Torso, Sweden's tallest skyscraper at almost 200m high.

The old water tower in Pildammsparken, Malmö's largest park - we biked there as the sun set.. it was so beautiful!

Malmö Stadsbibliothek, the city library (http://www.malmo.stadsbibliotek.org/), which is basically half a castle and half a giant glass building. Originally built in 1890, the library has more than HALF A MILLION items of different media - not just books, but audiobooks, magazines, music and DVDS - and it was also the first library in Sweden to start lending videogames!! Plus point: they have a great selection of media in ENGLISH, too!

For those who don't know me that well - if you want to know my reaction to a library full of books, imagine Sarah Jessica Parker in a room full of Jimmy Choos. Or a German at a Wurst factory.


Until next time.