{"id":1186,"date":"2014-05-02T10:28:06","date_gmt":"2014-05-02T09:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1186"},"modified":"2014-05-02T10:28:06","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T09:28:06","slug":"week-17-copenhagen","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1186","title":{"rendered":"Week 17: Copenhagen"},"content":{"rendered":"

The week began in Copenhagen, and although I flew home to Alicante Tuesday morning, all the pictures are from Sunday and Monday in Denmark.<\/p>\n

17_1<\/strong>
\nAs usual, I was staying at the hotel De Ni Sm\u00c3\u00a5 Hjem (“the nine little homes”, converted apartments in the building where Victor Borge was born) in \u00c3\u02dcsterbro, just around the corner from my friend Beata. \u00c3\u02dcsterbro is a (upper) middle class neighbourhood just north the centre. Its most prominent features are Langelinie, where the Little Mermaid is located, and a three interconnected artificial lakes that stretch from \u00c3\u02dcsterbrogade, the main street of the quarter, south to the centre. They have individual names, but everyone calls them simply “S\u00c3\u00b8erne”, “the lakes”:
\n\"L1010898\"<\/p>\n

17_2<\/strong>
\nA closer view of the bird in the previous image:
\n\"L1010900\"<\/p>\n

17_3<\/strong>
\nPart of the northernmost lake, Sortedams S\u00c3\u00b8, is currently covered by the construction of a new metro station, 40 m underneath. It is one of several huge construction projects going on in Denmark right now:
\n\"L1010893\"<\/p>\n

17_4<\/strong>
\nOn the opposite side of the lake there is an apartment building that used to be a home for unmarried women, back in the days when being unmarried past 30 was a social disaster and left you in poverty. The fa\u00c3\u00a7ade of the building is decorated with reliefs representing various virtues. Here we have Purity:
\n\"L1010906\"<\/p>\n

17_5<\/strong>
\nFaith:
\n\"L1010908\"<\/p>\n

17_6<\/strong>
\nWisdom:
\n\"L1010910\"<\/p>\n

17_7<\/strong>
\nAnother feathered inhabitant of the lake:
\n\"L1010912\"<\/p>\n

17_8<\/strong>
\nI noticed this weird statue at the southern end of the lakes while driving by, and so had to have a closer look. It is called “Dodekalitten”, has some connection to Greek mythology, and a rich guy is planning to put up 12 of them in a field on one of the islands south of Copenhagen, like a modern-day Stonehenge:
\n\"L1010939\"<\/p>\n

17_9<\/strong>
\nBicycles parked on Classensgade, \u00c3\u02dcsterbro. It is not unusual to see old grocery boxes and such converted for use on bicycles:
\n\"L1010916\"<\/p>\n

17_10<\/strong>
\nA standard phrase on Danish shop fronts is “Cykler fjernes uden ansvar” which means “Bicycles will be removed, no liability assumed” or something like that, means to discourage people from parking their bikes against the shop window. This shop, selling arts supplies, has twisted the phrase to mean that bicycles will be painted:
\n\"L1010941\"<\/p>\n

17_11<\/strong>
\nOne of the best bakeries in \u00c3\u02dcsterbro:
\n\"L1010919\"<\/p>\n

17_12<\/strong>
\nLangelinie is the home of the Little Mermaid, but the locals go there because it is one the nicest parks in the city, especially at this time of year when everything is in bloom:
\n\"L1010932\"<\/p>\n

17_13<\/strong>
\nBesides the Little Mermaid, Langelinie contains several other sculptures and monuments, such as this, recently raised, monument to Danish seamen who have perished at sea:
\n\"L1010929\"<\/p>\n

17_14<\/strong>
\nOn my last day in Copenhagen, Monday, my sister and I borrowed Beata’s car and drove up to Humleb\u00c3\u00a6k, home of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. It is one of the places I visit every time I am in Copenhagen, not least because of its beautiful location on the shores of the \u00c3\u02dcresund:
\n\"L1010948\"<\/p>\n

17_15<\/strong>
\nThe Swedish coast is just visible in the distance:
\n\"L1010947\"<\/p>\n

17_16<\/strong>
\nHere too, things were blooming:
\n\"L1010943\"<\/p>\n

17_17<\/strong>
\nStairs up to the village:
\n\"L1010949\"<\/p>\n

17_18<\/strong>
\nLouisiana is surrounded by a large park, dotted with sculptures by Henry Moore, Max Ernst and others:
\n\"L1011010\"<\/p>\n

17_19<\/strong>
\nOne by Max Ernst:
\n\"L1010960\"<\/p>\n

17_20<\/strong>
\nAnatomically correct:
\n\"L1010965\"<\/p>\n

17_21<\/strong>
\nDanish sculptor Henry Heerup was known for his use of colour:
\n\"L1010975\"<\/p>\n

17_22<\/strong>
\nThis and the next image show the landscape itself becomes part of the art. First, the gate:
\n\"L1010974\"<\/p>\n

17_23<\/strong>
\nWind chimes of sorts:
\n\"L1010966\"<\/p>\n

17_24<\/strong>
\nOne of my favourite rooms at Lousiana:
\n\"L1010962\"<\/p>\n

17_25<\/strong>
\nIn addition to the permanent collections, Lousiana always has one or more interesting exhibitions going on. Here, my sister is watching a video montage of a flooded McDo, part of an exhibition of modern American art:
\n\"L1010951\"<\/p>\n

17_26<\/strong>
\nBut our main objective this time was to see a major exhibition of Arabic art and (especially) architecture:
\n\"L1010979\"<\/p>\n

17_27<\/strong>
\nTraditional lattice wall, allowing people to see out while maintaining some degree of privacy:
\n\"L1010992\"<\/p>\n

17_28<\/strong>
\nLooking in from the outside:
\n\"L1010999\"<\/p>\n

17_29<\/strong>
\nDesert town:
\n\"L1010994\"<\/p>\n

17_30<\/strong>
\nPink:
\n\"L1011004\"<\/p>\n

17_31<\/strong>
\nThe darker side of Arab architecture, as evidenced in the excesses of places like Dubai, was also well documented and their resulting environmental footprint, as were the upheavals of the Arab spring. Here, a ceramic statue from Egypt, depicting riot police in action:
\n\"L1011002\"<\/p>\n

17_32<\/strong>
\nOne of the wonderful things about visiting Louisiana is the luminosity and the views of the surrounding landscape, which are never far away:
\n\"L1011009\"<\/p>\n

17_33<\/strong>
\nAnd art is everywhere, even in the toilets:
\n\"L1011018\"<\/p>\n

17_34<\/strong>
\nAfter our visit to Louisiana, my sister and I drove south to Vallensb\u00c3\u00a6k, to visit the beach where we had walked so many times with our parents:
\n\"L1011026\"<\/p>\n

17_35<\/strong>
\nThere are several inlets, and also a harbour:
\n\"L1011032\"<\/p>\n

17_36<\/strong>
\nSailing is popular in Denmark and by no means reserved for the rich. A big part of the attraction is what takes place on land. Lots of sausages get grilled here, and lots of green bottles are emptied on nice summer evenings:
\n\"L1011022\"<\/p>\n

17_37<\/strong>
\nHowever, in recent years, sailing has been losing popularity. The young people these days find it too time-consuming and just too much work compared to other outdoors pursuits. Consequently, Vallensb\u00c3\u00a6k harbour has set aside an area as a sort of boat cemetery:
\n\"L1011021\"<\/p>\n

17_38<\/strong>
\nFinally, we walked back to the car and drove back to Beata’s place. Before doing so, we looked from Vallensb\u00c3\u00a6k towards Br\u00c3\u00b8ndby Strand, the neighbouring suburb. My parents lived in the second building from the left until my father’s death in 2004:
\n\"L1011033\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The week began in Copenhagen, and although I flew home to Alicante Tuesday morning, all the pictures are from Sunday and Monday in Denmark. 17_1 As usual, I was staying at the hotel De Ni Sm\u00c3\u00a5 Hjem (“the nine little homes”, converted apartments in the building where Victor Borge was born) in \u00c3\u02dcsterbro, just around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1102,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1186"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1188,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1186\/revisions\/1188"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}