THE PILGRIMAGE - REPRISE I

Home!

 

In the spirit of Chapter II of Sam Beckett's 'Murphy - some data:

Distance travelled by air/car/RV:            4,564 km (excluding local travel)

Distance Walked:                                        45 km

Flights Taken:                                                3

Airlines:                                                         1

Trains taken:                                                  1

Buses taken:                                                 3

               

Typologies visited:

Museums and Galleries:                                5

Theatres:                                                        3

Cultural Centers:                                            1

Studios:                                                          1                                                        

Schools:                                                         1

Workers Clubs:                                               1

Town Halls:                                                     1

University Buildings:                                       3

Archives:                                                         1

Chapels:                                                          1

Individual Houses:                                          5

Academic Bookstores:                                   1
Publishing Houses:                                         1

-------------------------------------------------------------

Total:                                                             25

Days taken:                                                   16

Currencies used:                                             2 

Debit/credit cards used:                                 3

Disappointments encountered:                      0

Joys:                                                            Incalculable

Turning now to lessons learnt:

1. Never be afraid to ask - they may just say yes. 
2. Politeness opens many doors.
3. Be open to serendipity.
4. Plan.
5. Don't over-plan.
6. Savour each moment.
7. Then remember it.
8. Travel by various means.
9. Celebrate a wildcat strike and travel by other means - you get to see things differently.
10. Do not expect anything to be open in Finland on Easter Sunday/Monday. Fair dinkum.
11. Change plans as opportunities arise (see 3 above)  
12. Learn lessons! 
13. Left open for further reflection.
    

 

A few things that I now know that I didn't know before traveling:

1. Aalto designed his first building at age 14 (unbuilt). 
2. Aalto began writing cultural articles for newspapers aged 15 and was published
3. Quite how expensive Norway is for the UK pilgrim.
4. How generous of spirit, time and hospitality people can be; and were.
5. How a sense of the Civic remains in Finland and Norway as it does in Denmark (but I knew that bit).
6. How 16 days of 'otherness' can shift perceptions.....fundamentally. 

And perhaps in closing: 

If you are asked aboard, get aboard - who knows where you might go.

Or as my old Dad used to say.....'You got to cut a shovel stick when you see one son'......