October Arhus Denmark 2 of 2

So we left one museum and headed to another. Though this one was not traditional museum. It was a small town full of buildings from the 19th century called Gamle By. In Danish it sounds like Gam-La-Boo to me…More of these timber buildings that are so grand.

These buildings were moved from various locations around Denmark to this densely populated village. Nobody lives here, its just a museum, but there are several buildings that have people in traditional costumes to enhance the experience. You could buy candy from the candy shop. We all had lunch, than continued our walk around. I love these three pics of the lake on the back side of these structures. There was also a horse and carriage that went by…very cute place

Here Saviya heading inside. Most of the buildings had a room, or several rooms with historic items in them, such as furniture, kitchens with all the pots and pans and dishware etc from the period.

 

Loved this picture of these shoes hangin…

 

So in one of these buildings, this lady on the left was talking to these two kids in Danish. She showed them the traditional brooms used in the early 19th century common in northern Europe (and still in use by the city workers in Amsterdam daily). They are just a 2 inch branch with bristles made of  long twigs bound to it. So she takes these 2 kids outside and lets them use the brooms to move some leaves down this middle gutter…It was so cute watching them, so determined to do well at using these traditional tools.

Bjorn taking his duties as popa, hanging with Annika while we futz around the museum.

And our Danish hosts again, in the Gamble By. 

So we really enjoyed our time in Arhus. Like most of our travel, we wish we had twice as long in every city. We got to play some Wii, and hang with our lovely hosts a bit, but it was in and out like usual. Saundra and I hadn't seen each other in many years, so it was a nice reconnection, and especially nice that we met up with our only other European friends. So thanks again! We had a blast..hope to return someday! So we climb on board the uber expensive Danish train back to Copenhagen, saying Tot Ziens to our German American Danish friends…Bye Annika!

October Arhus Denmark 1 of 2

So I am leaving Copenhagen for last even though we started and ended the trip there. For this post, we head to Arhus Denmark. About a decade ago I worked for a company in Seattle called Corbis. One of my coworkers from Corbis had met a German/Danish man and married him, and moved to Arhus. They had a cute young baby girl named Annika. The train took a few hours from Copenhagen, and we met them at the train station. For some reason their logo on the train station looks like a hotdog with wings…(or am I just missing a regular hotdog!). We strolled through Arhus, had some lunch, than hopped the bus to their house which was just about 15 minutes from the center of town, right on the water.  Here are a few pictures of our walk through Arhus, and its church in the center of town.      

We took a walk out to the beach from their house. Even though winter was setting in and very cold that day, it still was a wonderful view.

Here is Saundra our host! The wind was getting us!

The next day we went back into Arhus to visit some museums. This first place we just walked through briefly on our way to another. Here a father and daughter pose next to a statue next to the museum pool.

Here is the inside of the Museum of Modern Art, striking architecture.

Below is a piece of art called ‘Boy’. It is a massive sculpture, probably 20 feet tall of a boy crouching down. The amazing detail of this is hard to describe or capture. It really does seem like its alive, as if the boy would just stand up and walk out of the museum.

Here are some ground level pictures. You can see how big he is. His muscles, veins, and the wrinkles and folds of his skin were so lifelike. 

Here you see Saviya gazing in at the ‘Boy’

Saundra and her husband Bjorn and Annika walking through the park. They really are a wonderful family. I was very glad to connect with them while we lived here, the only people we know on this continent!

Annika Poppy!

October Malmo Sweden 2 of 2

So we walked a few more blocks from the castle and catch our first glimpse of the Turning Torso. It is the tallest structure in Scandinavia, and had to be built to withstand the winters and coastal winds. We were there on a fairly cold day, just about freezing. You could see in the design of everything here that it was made to endure, able to batten down the hatches to protect from the elements. Than of course there is the Torso which by design gets spanked by the elements constantly.There was a great beachfront park. You can see the Sontbrug, which is the bridge we took across to Malmo. So just a few years ago, everything you see here was just dirt. This wonderful marina and housing complex was very cool. None of this was really open unfortunately, this is more of a summer area of Malmo.

 Here are some shots of the Torso. I watched a show on Discovery on how they built this thing. It is entirely residential, though the area around its base had doctors, shopping, dentist, etc. I will let the photos speak for themselves here.

Here Saviya does here best impression of the Wizard of Oz greeting his guests at his front doors. “Who rang that bell?”

   

We hopped a bus back into Malmo for some dinner. We opted for TGI Fridays entirely because of the craving for some crap American food, in this case Mozzarella sticks! Yum! Sweden, like Denmark is very expensive. TGI Fridays cost us about $100 US for dinner!

So we hopped on the train back to Copenhagen for the night. When we purchased the tickets in Copenhagen I mistakenly didn't get a round trip ticket. We hopped onboard the train, and sure enough, BUSTED! But they are so nice in Europe, they just give you a bit of grief, than make you buy a ticket…So our first attempt for a freebie ride on a train was thwarted…so we try not to do that, the next time may not be so Swedish!

October Malmo Sweden 1 of 2

So in October we made our way to Scandinavia. We flew into Copenhagen and spent a few days poking around. A few days before the trip I had read an article online about the 10 most interesting buildings in the world. On that list was a building called the ‘Turning Torso’ in Malmo Sweden. The article mentioned that Malmo was just a quick train ride 30 minutes from Copenhagen, so we adjusted our plans and added a day trip over to Malmo. A few years ago a major bridge project was completed that connected Denmark and Sweden, itself a major feat of engineering. So we shot across the bridge on the train to Malmo. One of the very first things you see as you cross into Sweden is a massive IKEA. It seemed appropriate, as a Swedish welcome mat.So the train drops you off just a few minutes walk to the center of Malmo. We had some coffee and walked around the square shopping. These old timber frame buildings repurposed as shopping or restaurants were very cute.  Its always interesting to see what European cities share in architecture, and how much they differ. We found a little shop with glassware and other Swedish made arts and crafts. Saviya found a pair of red-orange shot glasses that were hand made. So we added those to our growing glass collection and continued our walk through the city.  Malmo has had a recent boom of growth. I read that it was becoming a run down old shipyard and fishing village. The bridge and the Turning Torso were part of a greater plan to grow the economy of the area. So the old town has been preserved nicely, but a new town has also sprung up around Malmo. We walked around 3 or 4 squares, visited a farmer’s market, than began our walk to the edge of the city to see the Torso. We walked through a huge park over to this castle. Not the most glorious structure, but the corners each had these giant round towers and a moat. As we cross the drawbridge to the castle we see the below picture. I can only hope this sign is from a past era, and is no longer the truth. Interesting nonetheless. So i am a giant….small  doors are funny. Took this picture for Saviya’s friend Cathy who visited us in Amsterdam..This was right at the waterfront at a rowing club.

September 15th Antwerp 3 of 3

So this post will be mostly pictures. I loved the cross hanging in the church.

Off to the sides of these grand Euro churches are often areas to pray, sometimes a tribute to a certain Saint, or other biblical person.

It was a great sunny day, showing off the stained glass windowsThis triptych was very old, I am guessing as old as the church itself, mid 1400’s or thereabouts. Another corner for prayer…and glass..Another shot down the center of the church from behind the cross.

Each of those on the right and the left are ornate wood seats, clergy or choir would sit here. Amazing gothic era woodwork.Another Reubens masterpiece

A wider angle of the main hall of the church and the organ pipes.These crazy wood carved pulpits are so cool. All over Belgium and the Netherlands churches, many of these are still in use for the daily sermon.Here is a closer picture of the front of the elevated pulpit.So that's it for Antwerp. We unfortunately showed up on a day that the Peter Paul Reubens house was closed, and the other church I wanted to visit had recently had a terrible fire and was under reconstruction. So we called it an end to our Belgium trip and went home to Amsterdam.

I would highly recommend visiting Belgium, especially Bruges and Antwerp. Brussels is nice, but just not my favorite, and so hilly for my poor legs (it really is completely flat in Holland!!!)…ahahahahah

-Colin