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Between Nordic Fuzzcon and Gdakon, we had three days to explore, starting on the Sunday which was the Dead Dog Day of the former convention. As is normal, there was little going on during the actual daytime, meaning that time could be afforded to look around Malmö. Wolfie's foot was still causing him issues, so he decided to stay behind in the hotel room, so after catching the last ten minutes of breakfast once again, I soon showered and got ready to head out.
My first stop was Malmöhus Castle, which was quite near the convention hotel. En route, I realised that I had yet to pick up a Geocache in Sweden and conveniently, there was a statue just outside the hotel which counted as a virtual one. I didn't realise this until I was heading towards the Castle, but I hadn't gone far, so I doubled back and picked up the Swedish souvenir associated with my first log in the country. I then headed over to the Castle, which was quite an imposing fortification just on the edge of town, square in shape with two round red flat turrets on either side. The main part of the castle looked very much like a Cambridge college, built in brick, with it hiding some truly monstrous modern buildings which have since been built in the courtyard. It was in one of these buildings where the museum was, a weird collection of exhibits for kids such as the aquarium as well as temporary artistic exhibitions, with the one on display at this time looking at migration, cultural displacement and its perceptions. The cartoon about the 'whale women' coming into a town and the reactions of progressives and reactionaries was very interesting, with 'whale women' being a clear parallel on 'veiled women' and all the connotations that throws up.
The highlight for me was the Castle itself though, hidden behind an innocuous brown wooden door next to which was the logo of the Swedish Museum Board or something. This was directly opposite the entrance to the aformentioned museum and had you not known what this symbol meant, it would have passed you by. I had to ask the front desk after wandering around the rather featutreless courtyard (save for a statue of a girl with some balls. I had tried to go round the back of the hideous modern buildings and onto the ramparts overlooking the moat, but the utilitarian metal staircase felt a little out of bounds and once I had climbed up the 30ft high wall, there wasn't much to see anyway. This was in contrast to inside the castle, which gave a plotted history, particularly of the wars between Sweden and Denmark over the straits. This was a key trading route of course and the only access to the Baltic Sea, so it was heavily fought over. I knew the history reasonably well as I had studied it in university, but the specific context here was very welcome and most fascinating, particularly charting the Dutch interference. They were happy to have Sweden on one side and Denmark on the other and switched allegiance to this end, with it worth remembering that southern Sweden was indeed Danish into the seventeenth century.
There was also the usual stuff about how the castle was run, with the quarters of the King and Queen highlighted. These were quite modest and tasteful, in white and brown, but most of the paintings and some of the furniture wasn't contemporary so you only really had a feel for how it would have been. Exploring one of the turrets was interesting too, particularly as it cast more light onto some key figures during the seventeenth century wars, while the stories of locals who were incarcerated in the castle when it had become a jail in the nineteenth century afforded a piece of social history that is quite rare in exhibitions like these. In the turrets there were cannons and details of warfare from the seventeenth century, as well as a suit of armour hung high on the ceiling like a bondage game. However, the highlight was undoubtedly the exhibit on the time it became a refugee centre in 1945, hosting thousands of men and women who were liberated from the Nazi concentration camps. It was a brave decision by the curators of the museum, who turned over the building over the course of six months to help the Swedish Red Cross look after so many malnourished and badly treated souls. There were a number of very moving personal stories here, along with expressions of gratitude for the care, which was a very humbling thing to see.
I spent about two hours in the castle and in all honesty, I could have spent more. However, time was running short and my ticket also enabled me to viist the nearby Science and Maritime House. This was really interesting, but I didn't really have time to do it justice. As it was included in the entry for Malmöhus Castle, I thought it was worth checking out though, not least because it was down a road where there were some recreated fishing huts by the harbour. This created a sense of the Malmö of old, while juxtaposed against this was a modern art sculpture of a nautical theme called 'The Red Prick' which I thought was quite amusing. Approaching the museum, the first thing you see is a huge war boat in the yard out back while once you enter the complex, the first exhibit you see is the iconic Swedish fighter jet built by Saab. Further down, there were a number of other planes, older in type, hanging from the ceiling over a pit which contained a variety of Swedish cars. This was interesting to walk around as it charted the history of the automobile from the turn of the twentieth century through to the present day, but alas I didn't really have time to read everything. Fortunately, much of the rest of the exhibition consisted of Magna-style interactive things for children such as how waves are formed, which was something I was very happy to skip over. There was something on motors and automation though, as well as another small section on local clockmaking, which I may do next time.
We had arranged the first ever Furry Brew Crew bar meet at the Malmo Brewdog for 6pm, so with the time approaching 4pm, I decided it would be wise to have a quick walk around the city, spying a windmill en route as I walked through a park to get from the castle to the centre. It is rather compact, with a collection of quaint little squares dotted between narrow cobbled streets. Lillatorg with its squat almost Tudor-style houses and cobbled square was probably the cutest and also quite anomalous in a major city centre. There wasn't much life about, which perhaps wasn't too surprising considering it was a Sunday, so it was quite a pleasant stroll even if the weather was mixed. It was a little cold, but I was quite excited about seeing new sights, while I even managed to grab a hot dog from a Pressbyran when Wolfie wanted me to pick up some paracetamol. Being super organised, I also walked past Brewdog and booked us a table as there was to be eight of us and we didn't know how busy it would be. As it turned out, the barstaff told me that I didn't need to book a table as it's normally quiet, and with the bar being quite large, this was probably right. Still, there were eight in our party, so I thought it wise.
Organisationally, I had a number of furs on Telegram worrying about meeting at the venue, so I offered to go back to the hotel and chaperone them. En route, I walked past the imposing brick Gothic church of St Peter's, which was built in the fourteenth century. The building was quite towering, terrifying even, but inside it was an oasis of calm with beautfiul white walls and a tranquil feel. A local choir were rehearsing for a concert they were due to perform later that evening and I just stood there and listened to their dulcet music, which was incredibly evocative. In one of the smaller chapels, tucked away next to the entrance, there were some exquisite frescos that I got completely lost in. I didn't really want to leave, but with Wolfie wanting his tablets and me needing to corrale all of the troops to Brewdog, I decided I had better depart, heading back to the hotel over one of the numerous bridges over the Rorsjokanalen, next to which sits the Clarion Hotel.
I had about forty minutes in the room with Wolfie before I needed to be back at the lobby to meet everyone, time I used to charge my phone, whose four-year-old battery was rendering the thing almost useless. Once done, we headed back downstairs where we bumped into Enteirah and SDF briefly while we waited for our drinking buddies. Knowing Wolfie hadn't had anything to eat and that this was unwise ahead of a night of drinking, I had arranged to meet in the lobby at 5:30pm for a trip to Max Burger, with a 6pm booking at Brewdog being pushed slightly later to 6:15pm. I had invited our drinking friends too, but most had told us they would meet us in the bar. Patter and Mooie did join us though, with the latter going back to his hotel en route and the former heading to the burger place with us. We hadn't been to Max Burger on this trip so it was quite a treat, and I must admit the burgers were humungous in size and quite delicious too. It's amazing to think that McDonald's is the biggest burger chain in the world, yet it's the worst. Max Burger is on Malmo's main square, Stortorget, where there is a pretty fountain stood outside the city hall, which wouldn't look too out of place in a Victorian British city. It was built between 1544 and 1547, but its facade is Dutch and dates from 1860. In the centre is the statue of King Karl X Gustav on horseback. He was the king who united the provinces of Skåne, Blekinge and Halland with Sweden in the Treaty of Roskilde of 1658. The Danes did try to take them back over the course of the next thirty years - see all the talk above - but ultimately failed.
We were slightly delayed coming out of Max as they had ten orders to deal with at once, so we arrived at Brewdog very slightly later than intended. En route, we did go up the Lion's Passage though, which I found particularly amusing. At the other end, we also saw statues of five metal dudes playing instruments, following a sixth in some sort of marching band. Once we had arrived at Brewdog, we noticed that Mooie, Evi and Neonmium had already arrived and were sitting on a table different to the one I had reserved. Still, the bar wasn't too busy and soon Blujay had joined us too, while Mooie's roommate and Enteirah also made guest appearances at various points of the night. We picked up our Brewdog Visa stamp, our 67th overall, with our first beer and settled down to try a range of drinks. My intention had been to head back to the con hotel at about 9pm, but knowing that the Dead Dog Party was on a boat with a capacity of 130 and feeling that there were probably about one thousand furs still at the con, I knew there was little back in the con space for us. Consequently, 9pm became 10pm and 10pm became closing time, as we availed ourselves of the shuffleboard tables downstairs towards the end of the evening. It was great to be in another shuffleboard bar - I didn't realise there were any outside of Leeds North Street - although it was interesting to note that the Malmö bar did not have their own shuffle stamp. We ended up going through all the beers - even the ones they had added as the night had progressed - plus I tried to buy a beautiful dog picture from a local artist that was hanging on the wall (it was from a local artist with whom I am currently in correspondence).
We were turfed out at closing time and decided to head back to the con hotel, stopping off at the Dead Dog Party as it was on the way. Noticing the long queue and realising we had left our con badges in the room, we decided to give this a miss, but Mooie joined the queue and waited for entry. We headed back to the hotel and thought it was worth checking out the Sky Bar on the 25th floor, knowing the main bar downstairs shut mysteriously at 6pm. We were expecting the Sky Bar to shut at 1am, but in the end it was midnight, giving us a mere twenty minutes to have a drink. Still, it was enough and as well as meeting some cool new people, we also got to see the splendid panoramic views over the city. They would probably have been nicer in the day - although I had seen the view from four floors lower at a private event three days earlier. It was certainly mesmerizing to see and a great way to end the con, almost romantic even. There was one cute fursuiter running around, but once the lights were raised, we knew the evening was over and we skulked back to our rooms. Here Wolfie stayed, but I went to meet a mutual Telegram friend for a little kink related fun, thus nicely ending our Malmö experience.
My first stop was Malmöhus Castle, which was quite near the convention hotel. En route, I realised that I had yet to pick up a Geocache in Sweden and conveniently, there was a statue just outside the hotel which counted as a virtual one. I didn't realise this until I was heading towards the Castle, but I hadn't gone far, so I doubled back and picked up the Swedish souvenir associated with my first log in the country. I then headed over to the Castle, which was quite an imposing fortification just on the edge of town, square in shape with two round red flat turrets on either side. The main part of the castle looked very much like a Cambridge college, built in brick, with it hiding some truly monstrous modern buildings which have since been built in the courtyard. It was in one of these buildings where the museum was, a weird collection of exhibits for kids such as the aquarium as well as temporary artistic exhibitions, with the one on display at this time looking at migration, cultural displacement and its perceptions. The cartoon about the 'whale women' coming into a town and the reactions of progressives and reactionaries was very interesting, with 'whale women' being a clear parallel on 'veiled women' and all the connotations that throws up.
The highlight for me was the Castle itself though, hidden behind an innocuous brown wooden door next to which was the logo of the Swedish Museum Board or something. This was directly opposite the entrance to the aformentioned museum and had you not known what this symbol meant, it would have passed you by. I had to ask the front desk after wandering around the rather featutreless courtyard (save for a statue of a girl with some balls. I had tried to go round the back of the hideous modern buildings and onto the ramparts overlooking the moat, but the utilitarian metal staircase felt a little out of bounds and once I had climbed up the 30ft high wall, there wasn't much to see anyway. This was in contrast to inside the castle, which gave a plotted history, particularly of the wars between Sweden and Denmark over the straits. This was a key trading route of course and the only access to the Baltic Sea, so it was heavily fought over. I knew the history reasonably well as I had studied it in university, but the specific context here was very welcome and most fascinating, particularly charting the Dutch interference. They were happy to have Sweden on one side and Denmark on the other and switched allegiance to this end, with it worth remembering that southern Sweden was indeed Danish into the seventeenth century.
There was also the usual stuff about how the castle was run, with the quarters of the King and Queen highlighted. These were quite modest and tasteful, in white and brown, but most of the paintings and some of the furniture wasn't contemporary so you only really had a feel for how it would have been. Exploring one of the turrets was interesting too, particularly as it cast more light onto some key figures during the seventeenth century wars, while the stories of locals who were incarcerated in the castle when it had become a jail in the nineteenth century afforded a piece of social history that is quite rare in exhibitions like these. In the turrets there were cannons and details of warfare from the seventeenth century, as well as a suit of armour hung high on the ceiling like a bondage game. However, the highlight was undoubtedly the exhibit on the time it became a refugee centre in 1945, hosting thousands of men and women who were liberated from the Nazi concentration camps. It was a brave decision by the curators of the museum, who turned over the building over the course of six months to help the Swedish Red Cross look after so many malnourished and badly treated souls. There were a number of very moving personal stories here, along with expressions of gratitude for the care, which was a very humbling thing to see.
I spent about two hours in the castle and in all honesty, I could have spent more. However, time was running short and my ticket also enabled me to viist the nearby Science and Maritime House. This was really interesting, but I didn't really have time to do it justice. As it was included in the entry for Malmöhus Castle, I thought it was worth checking out though, not least because it was down a road where there were some recreated fishing huts by the harbour. This created a sense of the Malmö of old, while juxtaposed against this was a modern art sculpture of a nautical theme called 'The Red Prick' which I thought was quite amusing. Approaching the museum, the first thing you see is a huge war boat in the yard out back while once you enter the complex, the first exhibit you see is the iconic Swedish fighter jet built by Saab. Further down, there were a number of other planes, older in type, hanging from the ceiling over a pit which contained a variety of Swedish cars. This was interesting to walk around as it charted the history of the automobile from the turn of the twentieth century through to the present day, but alas I didn't really have time to read everything. Fortunately, much of the rest of the exhibition consisted of Magna-style interactive things for children such as how waves are formed, which was something I was very happy to skip over. There was something on motors and automation though, as well as another small section on local clockmaking, which I may do next time.
We had arranged the first ever Furry Brew Crew bar meet at the Malmo Brewdog for 6pm, so with the time approaching 4pm, I decided it would be wise to have a quick walk around the city, spying a windmill en route as I walked through a park to get from the castle to the centre. It is rather compact, with a collection of quaint little squares dotted between narrow cobbled streets. Lillatorg with its squat almost Tudor-style houses and cobbled square was probably the cutest and also quite anomalous in a major city centre. There wasn't much life about, which perhaps wasn't too surprising considering it was a Sunday, so it was quite a pleasant stroll even if the weather was mixed. It was a little cold, but I was quite excited about seeing new sights, while I even managed to grab a hot dog from a Pressbyran when Wolfie wanted me to pick up some paracetamol. Being super organised, I also walked past Brewdog and booked us a table as there was to be eight of us and we didn't know how busy it would be. As it turned out, the barstaff told me that I didn't need to book a table as it's normally quiet, and with the bar being quite large, this was probably right. Still, there were eight in our party, so I thought it wise.
Organisationally, I had a number of furs on Telegram worrying about meeting at the venue, so I offered to go back to the hotel and chaperone them. En route, I walked past the imposing brick Gothic church of St Peter's, which was built in the fourteenth century. The building was quite towering, terrifying even, but inside it was an oasis of calm with beautfiul white walls and a tranquil feel. A local choir were rehearsing for a concert they were due to perform later that evening and I just stood there and listened to their dulcet music, which was incredibly evocative. In one of the smaller chapels, tucked away next to the entrance, there were some exquisite frescos that I got completely lost in. I didn't really want to leave, but with Wolfie wanting his tablets and me needing to corrale all of the troops to Brewdog, I decided I had better depart, heading back to the hotel over one of the numerous bridges over the Rorsjokanalen, next to which sits the Clarion Hotel.
I had about forty minutes in the room with Wolfie before I needed to be back at the lobby to meet everyone, time I used to charge my phone, whose four-year-old battery was rendering the thing almost useless. Once done, we headed back downstairs where we bumped into Enteirah and SDF briefly while we waited for our drinking buddies. Knowing Wolfie hadn't had anything to eat and that this was unwise ahead of a night of drinking, I had arranged to meet in the lobby at 5:30pm for a trip to Max Burger, with a 6pm booking at Brewdog being pushed slightly later to 6:15pm. I had invited our drinking friends too, but most had told us they would meet us in the bar. Patter and Mooie did join us though, with the latter going back to his hotel en route and the former heading to the burger place with us. We hadn't been to Max Burger on this trip so it was quite a treat, and I must admit the burgers were humungous in size and quite delicious too. It's amazing to think that McDonald's is the biggest burger chain in the world, yet it's the worst. Max Burger is on Malmo's main square, Stortorget, where there is a pretty fountain stood outside the city hall, which wouldn't look too out of place in a Victorian British city. It was built between 1544 and 1547, but its facade is Dutch and dates from 1860. In the centre is the statue of King Karl X Gustav on horseback. He was the king who united the provinces of Skåne, Blekinge and Halland with Sweden in the Treaty of Roskilde of 1658. The Danes did try to take them back over the course of the next thirty years - see all the talk above - but ultimately failed.
We were slightly delayed coming out of Max as they had ten orders to deal with at once, so we arrived at Brewdog very slightly later than intended. En route, we did go up the Lion's Passage though, which I found particularly amusing. At the other end, we also saw statues of five metal dudes playing instruments, following a sixth in some sort of marching band. Once we had arrived at Brewdog, we noticed that Mooie, Evi and Neonmium had already arrived and were sitting on a table different to the one I had reserved. Still, the bar wasn't too busy and soon Blujay had joined us too, while Mooie's roommate and Enteirah also made guest appearances at various points of the night. We picked up our Brewdog Visa stamp, our 67th overall, with our first beer and settled down to try a range of drinks. My intention had been to head back to the con hotel at about 9pm, but knowing that the Dead Dog Party was on a boat with a capacity of 130 and feeling that there were probably about one thousand furs still at the con, I knew there was little back in the con space for us. Consequently, 9pm became 10pm and 10pm became closing time, as we availed ourselves of the shuffleboard tables downstairs towards the end of the evening. It was great to be in another shuffleboard bar - I didn't realise there were any outside of Leeds North Street - although it was interesting to note that the Malmö bar did not have their own shuffle stamp. We ended up going through all the beers - even the ones they had added as the night had progressed - plus I tried to buy a beautiful dog picture from a local artist that was hanging on the wall (it was from a local artist with whom I am currently in correspondence).
We were turfed out at closing time and decided to head back to the con hotel, stopping off at the Dead Dog Party as it was on the way. Noticing the long queue and realising we had left our con badges in the room, we decided to give this a miss, but Mooie joined the queue and waited for entry. We headed back to the hotel and thought it was worth checking out the Sky Bar on the 25th floor, knowing the main bar downstairs shut mysteriously at 6pm. We were expecting the Sky Bar to shut at 1am, but in the end it was midnight, giving us a mere twenty minutes to have a drink. Still, it was enough and as well as meeting some cool new people, we also got to see the splendid panoramic views over the city. They would probably have been nicer in the day - although I had seen the view from four floors lower at a private event three days earlier. It was certainly mesmerizing to see and a great way to end the con, almost romantic even. There was one cute fursuiter running around, but once the lights were raised, we knew the evening was over and we skulked back to our rooms. Here Wolfie stayed, but I went to meet a mutual Telegram friend for a little kink related fun, thus nicely ending our Malmö experience.
