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The purpose of our trip was to visit
Linköping University: Institute of Technology and
exchange ideas on Systems Engineering Research and Education.
In a series of meetings that lasted about two days, we presented our
view of systems engineering education and the research needed to support this work.
In exchange, we learned about their model of research and education,
university/industry partnerships,
their student population (different from us), and the day-to-day academic
environment within which they work (in many ways, much nicer than us).
Linköping University: Institute of Technology
Pictured at the top left: John Baras, Ulla Salaneck, Jean La Fonta, Lee Harper, and Lennart Ljung.
Linköping is a small city (pop. 131,000) about 100 km south of Stockholm.
City Center of Linköping
So we walked through town (only about a mile) to visit the
cathedral, the key landmark of Linköping.
The Cathedral in Linköping
The cathedral has been built in stages, starting back in the Middle Ages.
What can I say, our hosts took great care of us!
Scenes from Old Linköping
and arranged for a guided tour of Old Linköping.
For first-time vistors to Sweden, this was great way to see how
Swedes (from various economic levels) lived, learned, and worked in the early 1900s.
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After our work was done in Linköping,
we took a train to Malmö, a city of about 250,000 people
in the south of Sweden.
We spent some time walking through the streets -- the
adjacent figures are art from Stortorget Square.
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Sweden and Denmark are now linked by the Øresund bridge,
the longest (7.8 km long) cable-stayed bridge in the World.
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Øresund Bridge between Sweden and Denmark
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The upper deck carries traffic, the lower deck is for trains.
We switched trains in Malmö and in about 1/2 hr were
over the bridge, past the Airport and at the central station in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen has an offshore wind farm consisting of 20 wind turbines,
which you can see when you are flying out of the airport.
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First and foremost, Copenhagen is very clean and stylish --
they have the coolest furniture stores.
Scenes of Copenhagen ...
We spent about 5-6 hrs each day walking the streets and parks of Copenhagen.
Our hotel was close to Sanks Jorgens So (a collection of lakes
in the middle of the city) and about 20 min from the main
town square, Strøget (the world's longest pedestrian mall),
and the central railway station.
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Traveling can be very tiring!
Fortunately, in Sweden we were given some excellent
tips for accomodation in Copenhagen.
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About 1 hr north of Copenhagen by train is the port town of Helsingor.
We wanted to visit Kronborg Castle, made famous as Elsinore castle in Hamlet.
Scenes from Kronborg Castle
The castle is protected by a moat and along the
seashore and there are canons pointing towards Sweden,
which is only 5 miles away.
I recently read that for 400 years the real purpose of the
castle was to collect taxes from boats passing through the Oresund channel --
presumably if they didn't pay up, the canons were put into action.
Also, Helsingor is located in the province of North Zealand.
It took me forever to find some postcards to send to the appropriate
folks in New Zealand.
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