Sophisticated Sunday

September 30, 2012.

I am always conflicted when faced with the prospect of free art galleries. 

Because I really don't get art galleries. 

But I REALLY like free stuff. 

My inner-stinge won out, which took me to one of Copenhagen's best art galleries, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

The Glyptotek was opened in 1897 to house the formerly private collection of Carl Jacobsen - famously of Carlsberg beer. I honestly think that Denmark was just a giant swamp until the brewers got here. You can barely walk anywhere in any city without seeing a major building which was built by the Carlsberg brand. Anywho, the Glyptotek is the home to the largest collection of Mediterranean art outside of the Mediterranean. What is more impressive is that they have somehow managed to grow a tropical courtyard garden, complete with palm trees, in the foyer.

Also fish. 

There really isn't much I can offer in terms of commentary of reflection on my experience. It was art. It was free. They had a free coffee machine on level 3, and one of the modern art pieces had a footprint on it, so make of that what you will. 

So they used to put fake noses/ears/bits on the statues when they fell off.
Eventually, they decided that this detracted from the authenticity of the artworks and took them all off. So this is the wall of former bits attached to statues.

Sneaky nip-slip

We got to the modern art section. 

I just really, really, really struggle to take art seriously when IT'S BEEN STEPPED ON AND DISPLAYED

Me.
Art and antiquities appreciator. 

Top of Denmark

October 5, 2012

If you head west from copenhagen you will cross a bridge onto Fyn. 

And if you go west from Fyn, you'll hit Jutland. 

And if you go north in Jutland, you'll hit Aalborg, denmarks 2nd largest city.

And if you go further north, you'll hit a little down called Skagen.

And if you take a bus and tractor trip even further north, you will hit Grenen.

Grenen is the most northerly point of Denmark and represents the point where the Baltic Sea collides with the North Sea in a fairly spectacular fashion. Since Grenen is little more than a lighthouse, however, the main town in the area is called Skagen.

So the photo doesn't do it justice, but there is a really distinct line where the two oceans meet. 

I wandered a little too far out into the oceans!

Since Grenen is little more than a lighthouse, however, the main town in the area is called Skagen.

Skagen is so picturesque it hurts. It is nestled among a vast plain of sandy dunes and wild grasses - a result of desertification which has affected the region. The desertification is so bad, that there is actually a roving sand dune (the Rabjerg Mile) which traipses around the north at a rate of 10-20m a year. In fact, there are plans underway to make a new highway because the sand dune is expected to cover the current road into Skagen in the not too distant future. Because that seems like a reasonable and proportionate response to sand. 

All of the houses in Skagen follow one simple formula - pale yellow, with white beams. It makes for an adorable wander around the tiny town centre. Down by the harbour, there are distinct red-and-white sheds (for lack of a better word), with red-bottomed boats (when we were there there was a boat with a grey bottom, which, quote "just isn't right").

The harbour huts.

There isn't too much more to write. The entire town fits on a handful of pixels in Google maps, even when zoomed in, however this town, the most northerly point in Denmark is still an easy 6-8 hour drive from Copenhagen. It really brings it home how completely tiny Denmark really is.

Houses in Skagen

Noticing the theme?

Autumn in Copenhagen means pumpkins. 

Everywhere.

 As we were wandering around the town, the most amazing lolly smells kept on wafting around, and after a *lot* of hopefully sniffing the air, we managed to find the source, where we watched the confectioners hand-making delicious, delicious rock candy!

Slottier Sunday

16 September, 2012.

Another day, another Slot.

This time to Helsingør - the home of Hamlet, Holger the Dane and Han (the merman). 

Helsingor

Credit: http://www.kuriositas.com/2012/08/Han.html

Kronborg Slot was built as a residence for Christian IV between 1574 and 1584. But for almost a hundred years prior to that, it served as a military fortress to guard the entrance to the Baltic Sea.

Circa 1500s.
The original fortress

Circa 1690.
Getting a little more fortified...

The finished fortress

In order to enter or leave the Baltic, all ships had to pay "sound dues". Fun fact: the dues were calculated based on what the ship's captain declared the value of their cargo to be. To prevent some conniving ship captain from undervaluing their wares, the Crown was able to purchase the entirety of the cargo for the declared value. Using the income from the sound dues, the fortress was transformed into a royal residence so that the King could have a vantage point from which he could sit and watch ships coming into the Sea and make sure they were showing the appropriate respect (lowering their sails as a gesture of respect).

The King's Chamber.
The bay window you can see on the left-hand side is where King Frederik II would sit and watch the boats sail past and make sure that they dipped their sails out of respect.
The King took his sail-dipping pretty seriously. If a boat was a bit slow to get the sails down, the King would fire a warning shot to remind them. Four times. Into the boat. 

The entire palace was destroyed in 1629 by a fire, and was rebuilt in the Baroque style. The palace ceased to operate as a royal residence around the late 1700s, and instead became the fanciest military barracks in the world. The military were kicked out of their royal home in 1924 when the government decided to refurbish the palace to its former condition.

Looking out to Sweden

Cannons pointing straight at Sweden.
I can't help but think that if given the opportunity, Denmark would have a red-hot go at invading Sweden. 

Culturally, Kronborg is an important site for Danes, not only because it is the home of the legendary Danish prince, Hamlet, but also of Holger the Dane. Holger the Dane, according to myth, had a son who was killed by Charlemagne's son Charlot. Holger then killed Charlot out of revenge and spent around seven years fighting with Charlemagne before throwing in the towel and forming an alliance with him against the Saracens. There is a massive statue of Holger in the casemates of Kronborg. It is said that if the Danish kingdom is ever threatened, the statue will come to life and defend his country.

Me and my homeboy, Holger.

In the casematis.

It is a pity that I had been to Frederiksborg Slot the day before Kronborg, because when compared with the extravagance and elegance of Frederiksborg, Kronborg seems painfully plain. There are no pastel walls, or elegantly carved wooden fixtures. Instead, there are spartan stone walls and unvarnished wooden floors. The furniture was simple and the colours were absolutely minimal. The only hint of decoration in the entire palace was in the few threadbare tapestries that adorned the walls.

The Queen's Chamber.

Om nom nom. Tasty entire pigeon pie. 

This corridor is relatively wide because it leads to the ballroom
Because it had to fit all the ballgowns...

My question is this: How wide were these ball gowns?!?!?!?

These tapestries are threadbare because they were commissioned in the mid 1500s as a bit of a pissing contest with the Swedes. The Swedish king at the time had ordered his own set of tapestries to represent nearly 150 Swedish kings throughout the eras (FYI, Noah was a Swedish king). While the Danes could only muster 115 kings in their line (clearly, the Ark didn't make it all the way around the Baltic Sea), they did choose a better weaver because while Sweden only had 4 completed tapestries, the Danes accumulated 40. While most the tapestries were destroyed in the fire, 14 originals survived and are displayed in Kronborg.

One of the surviving tapestries.
Fun fact: The Swedes took this tapestry, but when they took it, tapestries were out of fashion for palace decoration, so they just put it in a box for a few decades, just to stick it to the Danes. 

The tapestries.

ps. Gift shops are fun