{"id":4471,"date":"2024-11-20T21:46:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4471"},"modified":"2024-11-21T06:29:47","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T05:29:47","slug":"week-43-the-autumn-trip-to-denmark","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=4471","title":{"rendered":"Week 43: the autumn trip to Denmark"},"content":{"rendered":"

I go to Denmark at least twice a year, always in the spring and in the autumn. The timing is related to the anniversaries of the deaths of my parents–21 April in the case of my mother and 1 November in the case of my father. This year was the 20th anniversary of my father’s death, so it was especially important to visit his grave on the day. <\/p>\n

But of course my trips to Denmark are also very much about enjoying the country that I love and being with my closest friends, people with whom I have a close connection despite living thousands of km apart. So this week I share a lengthy blog of 50 images from Copenhagen and from my hometown Aarhus. I present the images chronologically.<\/p>\n

43_1<\/strong>
\nI flew to Copenhagen on Wednesday and made my way to the hotel that I had booked, next to the Central Station:
\n\"DSF2482\"<\/p>\n

43_2<\/strong>
\nIn the evening, I went to visit my parents’ (and mine) old friends Marek and Tamara. They are today in their mid 70s, but when my parents were alive, they were young and energetic (actually, they are still quite energetic) and they were of enormous help to my parents and other people from their generation, something for which I am eternally grateful to them. They live in the suburb Br\u00c3\u00b8ndby Strand, in this building. My parents also lived there, in another building just like this:
\n\"DSF2484\"<\/p>\n

43_3<\/strong>
\nTamara in front of a very well appointed table:
\n\"DSF2488\"<\/p>\n

43_4<\/strong>
\nThey had prepared a generous spread of Danish sm\u00c3\u00b8rrebr\u00c3\u00b8d<\/em>:
\n\"DSF2486\"<\/p>\n

43_5<\/strong>
\nWell fed and watered with Danish beer and Polish vodka, I took the commuter train back to the centre. I walked past Industriens Hus, the headquarters of the Confederation of Danish Industry:
\n\"DSF2502\"<\/p>\n

43_6<\/strong>
\nOn Thursday morning, I went to visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, one of my favourite places in Denmark. It is located in a town called Humleb\u00c3\u00a6k, about 30 km north of Copenhagen. During the 1 km walk from the train station to the museum, I passed many houses with Halloween decorations. It was not a thing at all when I was growing up in Denmark in the 1970s, but it clearly is a thing now:
\n\"DSF2505\"<\/p>\n

43_7<\/strong>
\n\"DSF2507\"<\/p>\n

43_8<\/strong>
\nSelf-service yard sale, payment on the honour system:
\n\"DSF2508\"<\/p>\n

43_9<\/strong>
\n\"DSF2509\"<\/p>\n

43_10<\/strong>
\nI arrived at the entrance to Louisiana about 15 minutes before they open:
\n\"DSF2528\"<\/p>\n

43_11<\/strong>
\nI had not seen the museum cat before:
\n\"DSF2516\"<\/p>\n

43_12<\/strong>
\nLouisiana is located right on the shore of \u00c3\u02dcresund, the strait between Denmark and Sweden. The natural beauty of the location is part of the attraction:
\n\"DSF2526\"<\/p>\n

43_13<\/strong>
\nThe museum opened and I went inside. Louisiana has an incredible permanent collection, but I was there mainly to see the new exhibition of works by Swiss painter Franz Gertsch<\/a>. The title of the exhibition refers to the monumental scale of Gertsch’s works:
\n\"DSF2530\"<\/p>\n

43_14<\/strong>
\nGertsch died in late 2022, but given the time needed to mount such an exhibition, he participated in the planning of Louisiana’s show before his death:
\n\"DSF2554\"<\/p>\n

43_15<\/strong>
\nGertsch painted his huge paintings based on projection of photographs of his family and friends:
\n\"DSF2533\"<\/p>\n

43_16<\/strong>
\nLots of people were there. Louisiana is always well visited by people from both countries:
\n\"DSF2542\"<\/p>\n

43_17<\/strong>
\nAfter taking in the Gertsch exhibition, I wandered around the permanent collection for a while. There are a lot of works by Giacometti:
\n\"DSF2559\"<\/p>\n

43_18<\/strong>
\nUsually this magnificent room houses just a single Giacometti sculpture, but this time is has been joined by the Spider Couple sculpture by Louise Bourgeois:
\n\"DSF2565\"<\/p>\n

43_19<\/strong>
\nLouisiana also has a wonderful sculpture garden, combining man-made and natural beauty:
\n\"DSF2578\"<\/p>\n

43_20<\/strong>
\nThis work by American artist Richard Serra uses the landscape as an integral element:
\n\"DSF2590\"<\/p>\n

43_21<\/strong>
\nThere is also a caf\u00c3\u00a9 and restaurant where one can enjoy an excellent lunch in beautiful surroundings, although in late October people prefer to sit inside:
\n\"DSF2591\"<\/p>\n

43_22<\/strong>
\nI came across the orange cat again:
\n\"DSF2579\"<\/p>\n

43_23<\/strong>
\nI walked back to the station and took the train towards Copenhagen. But I got off at the Rungsted station to visit the Karen Blixen museum there (she lived there the last 31 years of her life and wrote all her famous books there). Near the station there were some more Halloween decorations:
\n\"DSF2596\"<\/p>\n

43_24<\/strong>
\nNext to the sign pointing to a forest path to get to the museum, I met this delightful lady walking her dog, and had a nice chat with her:
\n\"DSF2623\"<\/p>\n

43_25<\/strong>
\nI walked through the forest and came across a nice surprise. A couple of hundred meters before getting to the museum there is a small clearing in the forest, the great writer’s final resting place:
\n\"DSF2602\"<\/p>\n

43_26<\/strong>
\nAfter visiting the museum I took the train back to Copenhagen and met up with my childhood friend Beata for dinner. First, we went for a beer at a pub in Nyhavn where I used to drink with my father, yet another way in which I honour his memory when I am in town:
\n\"DSF2626\"<\/p>\n

43_27<\/strong>
\nAfterwards, we had dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant called Fiat:
\n\"DSF2628\"<\/p>\n

43_28<\/strong>
\nFriday was the last day in Copenhagen and it was the day for visiting my parents’ graves. First I went for a short walk, passing the entrance to Tivoli:
\n\"DSF2629\"<\/p>\n

43_29<\/strong>
\nThen this curious announcement. I regret not scanning what appears to be a QR code:
\n\"DSF2632\"<\/p>\n

43_30<\/strong>
\nTwo Copenhagen icons. H.C. Andersen looks across the street that bears his name at the Tivoli side entrance:
\n\"DSF2645\"<\/p>\n

43_31<\/strong>
\nThen I went to the cemetery where my mother is buried:
\n\"DSF2650\"<\/p>\n

43_32<\/strong>
\nAnd then on to the adjacent Jewish cemetery to visit my father on this 20th anniversary of his death:
\n\"DSF2655\"<\/p>\n

43_33<\/strong>
\nHaving done my filial duties, I went back to my hotel, checked out and had lunch in the hotel’s restaurant. I then walked over to the train station and took a train to Aarhus, my hometown where my best friend Lars lives, a train ride of about 3 hours. On Saturday morning, Lars and I did what we usually do when I visit–we went on a bike ride. Here is Lars emerging from his apartment, dressed for the ride in the brisk Danish autumn temperatures:
\n\"R000563\"<\/p>\n

43_34<\/strong>
\nI always find it touching that Lars has put my name on his mailbox–it is as if I have a home in my hometown again (the other name is his nephew who lived with him for a few months):
\n\"R000564\"<\/p>\n

43_35<\/strong>
\nWe cycled around Brabrand S\u00c3\u00b8, a lake west of the city, and a beautiful area with a great bike path all around the lake:
\n\"R000569\"<\/p>\n

43_36<\/strong>
\n\"R000565\"<\/p>\n

43_37<\/strong>
\n\"R000567\"<\/p>\n

43_38<\/strong>
\nLars had invited his family for dinner Saturday night, a kind of low-key celebration of our birthdays–mine on Nov. 1st and his on Nov. 4th. We walked to the supermarket to buy some last supplies, and along the way I was amused by this sticker, showing that true believers still exist:
\n\"DSF2658\"<\/p>\n

43_39<\/strong>
\nBack home, Lars started working on the pizzas, something he is a true master at:
\n\"DSF2676\"<\/p>\n

43_40<\/strong>
\nReady for the toppings:
\n\"DSF2677\"<\/p>\n

43_41<\/strong>
\nThen the guests arrived. Lars has two daughters, here the younger one, Klara, with Lars’s youngest grandchild, Liv:
\n\"DSF2680\"<\/p>\n

43_42<\/strong>
\nLars’s older daughter, Marie, with his oldest grandchild, her son Lauge:
\n\"DSF2684\"<\/p>\n

43_43<\/strong>
\nLars’s partner Winnie talking to Klara:
\n\"DSF2683\"<\/p>\n

43_44<\/strong>
\nReady for the oven:
\n\"DSF2685\"<\/p>\n

43_45<\/strong>
\nLars’s sister Hanne and her husband Claus (both lawyers), and his brother Niels also came, and we sat at the table and enjoyed the excellent pizza and conversation. Note the “classy” flag holder (in Denmark we use flags as celebratory elements for birthdays, weddings etc.):
\n\"DSF2686\"<\/p>\n

43_46<\/strong>
\nOn Sunday Lars invited me for lunch at a new restaurant on top of the Lighthouse, the tallest building in Aarhus, in a new part of town called Aarhus \u00c3\u02dc, built on reclaimed land in the harbour:
\n\"DSF2688\"<\/p>\n

43_47<\/strong>
\nThe restaurant is famous for its sm\u00c3\u00b8rrebr\u00c3\u00b8d<\/em>, and this shrimp creation is a good example. It was delicious:
\n\"rejemad02112024\"<\/p>\n

43_48<\/strong>
\nThe view from the Lighthouse.The brick buildings in the distance on the left are the main campus of Aarhus University, where I studied undergraduate economics between 1980 and 1983:
\n\"DSF2690\"<\/p>\n

43_49<\/strong>
\nOn Sunday afternoon I met for a drink with two classmates from primary school. I have known them since 1972, and it is amazing that we have maintained contact and meet every time I am in Aarhus. This is Ole, who lives in Aarhus \u00c3\u02dc:
\n\"DSF2696\"<\/p>\n

43_50<\/strong>
\nLone, who was the prettiest girl in our class when we were 13 years old, but back then she was in love with Donny Osmond and we regular boys did not have a chance:
\n\"DSF2698\"<\/p>\n

A fuller Copenhagen gallery is here<\/a>, and a small gallery from Aarhus is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I go to Denmark at least twice a year, always in the spring and in the autumn. The timing is related to the anniversaries of the deaths of my parents–21 April in the case of my mother and 1 November in the case of my father. This year was the 20th anniversary of my father’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4205,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4471"}],"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=4471"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4483,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4471\/revisions\/4483"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}