The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard – Page 44

Copenhagen – Happy New Year!

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We had heard that there would be fireworks in the City Hall Square, but had no idea what to expect. There’s not an organized display. Instead, citizens (and I would assume tourists as well) armed with any number of different pyrotechnics roam the city and detonate at will. As the midnight hour approaches, more and more fireworks can be seen and heard about the city.

Every now and then someone sets something off in City Hall Square.

Cynthia is skeptical that there will be much activity. Copenhagen dies down after 8 or 9 pm from what we’ve seen over the last few days. I explain that new years eve is a global party and I bet her there will be a ton of people and a ton of fireworks.

The people DO in fact start gathering and before long the square is surrounded by people. Some waiting to watch fireworks, others there to actually set them off. Our hotel balcony gives us front row seats to watch the event. Here is a video I shot from the balcony about 30 minutes before midnight

Fireworks in Copenhagen from baldheretic on Vimeo.

My fish-eye captures some of the excitement.

Copenhagen Day 5 – Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

We’d heard good things about The Glyptotek but were apprehensive as Cynthia and I are not big fans of sculpture museums. They tend to be dim and crowded. The Glyptotek was a huge surprise. Everything is open, well lit and nicely displayed. I also discovered that my fisheye lens is great for shooting this type of setting and used it for about 50% of the shots.

Interesting to note, the museum was named after Ny Carlsberg, the brewery owned by the founder, brewer Carl Jacobsen. He added the word Glyptotek, ’a collection of sculpture’, to indicate the pride of place taken by that art form and in recognition of his debt to the older namesake, the Glyptothek in Munich.

One thing I really liked about this museum was the lockers where you could stash your coat and other cumbersome items, making for a much more leisurely walk about the museum

The first thing you see is The Winter Garden, a huge open space with plants and trees and a fountain.

Designed to attract more people into the museum, I could see myself visiting regularly just to sit on a park bench all day long.

The rest of the museum is just spectacular. Cynthia and I had a wonderful time exploring all the rooms and walking amongst the sculptures.

There’s even one of the over twenty casts of the sculpture “The Thinker” by by Auguste Rodin.

If you are ever in Copenhagen, I heartily recommend a visit. What follows are some of the better photos I took while visiting. I know there’s a lot, but it’s only a small portion of what I got during this visit. I have never enjoyed photographing a museum more than this one, and I have been to a LOT of museums!

Copenhagen Day 5 – The Rundetårn

We headed off this morning to climb The Rundetårn (The Round Tower) which is not too far from the hotel. Cynthia really likes to climb things when we travel. Fortunately, the tower had a mildly sloping ramp that winds up most of the 130 feet to the top. There is a set of small stairs at the very top which are tight and difficult to manage when there’s too much two way traffic.

The fish-eye lens made for some really good photos inside the tower.

About halfway up we found this little alcove. The sign says Kissing Corner in Danish and there’s a piece of missletoe hanging from the ceiling.

Once to the top there’s a pretty spectacular view of the city

Another successful adventure!

Copenhagen Day 4 Part 2

As I noted in my previous post, I had not met with success in my efforts to capture the Copenhagen Opera House at night. When we had gone out to the waterfront it was a Sunday night and the building was dark. Checking on line I saw that there were performances all this week so on Tuesday night I loaded up the camera bag and the tripod and headed out to try again.

This time I got what I came for.

Copenhagen Day 4 Part 1

Today dawned bright and sunny. Still cold, but blue skies and sunshine. We had wanted to take the train over the Öresund Bridge to Malmö Sweden and this seemed to be the day to do it. Trains leave every 20 minutes or so and it takes about 30 minutes to get there.

We have no Swedish Kronier and we don’t have a map and we don’t really know what we want to do when we get there. My primary interest was crossing the bridge, which is half tunnel and is an architectural marvel. Plus I like the idea of making this a two country trip.

On the way over to the train station I grab a shot of an art installation on loan from Poland called the Tree Hugger Project.

We get to the train station and pretty quickly sort out getting out tickets and finding the platform to catch our train. There’s some confusion as there’s a train at the platform already, even though our train is not due for 15-20 minutes. We finally see a sign that says in three languages “Do Not Board This Train”.

The ride to Malmö is kinda of fun and exciting for me. For Cynthia, it is rather terrifying. She really hates being underground. And the recent London/Paris Chunnel passenger stranding which was all over the news didn’t help.

Malmö is quite charming. We set off toward the city center and explore our surroundings.

After walking for awhile I mention to Cynthia that I’d really like to see the Turning Torso which is an example of Deconstructivism architecture.

We could see if from the train coming in and I had a rough idea which direction it was, but as I mentioned before we don’t have a map and no Sedish Kroner to pay for a bus or a cab so we just walk. After a short time we spotted it in the distance.

We had hoped to walk a short distance and get a clear view of the building for a good photo, but it seemed no matter how far we walked, there was always some buliding or another in the way.

We kept walking and did eventually walk right up to the Turning Torso after traversing (on foot mind you) the industrial district of Malmö Sweden.

I will tell you this, it was worth the walk. I got some great photos!

Copenhagen Day 3 Part 2

After our great day visiting the castle and seeing The Little Mermaid we rested for a bit in the hotel. Next on the agenda was Tivoli Gardens to see the lights and witness the fireworks show. The park opened on August 15, 1843 and is, with the exception of Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg, the oldest amusement park in the world.

Sadly, my shots of the fireworks didn’t pan out. We staked out a spot that was too crowded and also behind a giant Christmas tree which obscured the view. Still, the park is amazing. I can’t even imagine how people ride those rides in the freezing temperatures, but they do. The whole park is filled with screaming and laughter as the rides buzz, whirl and whoosh right over your heads. And everything in the park is completely covered in multi-colored lights.

Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen

Copenhagen Day 3 Part 1

The sun comes up late here. Somewhere around 9:00 am. We woke up at 8:00 am and it was still pretty dark outside. It was raining pretty steady so not so appealing to walk around and see the sites. On top of that, it’s Monday and as is common in this part of the world, most tourist sites like museums and so forth are closed.

We’re a little down at this point. We were ready for rain but wanted it on days when we could hit the museums and such that didn’t require walking around outside.

I found out that the Rosenborg Castle, though usually closed on Monday, was open on this Monday for some reason. We headed to Central Station to catch the metro two stops out to have a tour of the castle and see the crown jewels which are on display there.

This worked out well. The castle is an interesting thing to see. I had to leave my camera bag in a locker as they didn’t want anything smashing into the displays. I could take my camera, though, once I paid the additional photographer fee.

After touring the castle we headed into the guarded basement to view the crown jewels.

It’s a pretty awesome display. There are many shiny trinkets I could see having in my own personal collection. Like these gold soldiers

Or this handsome pair of his and her sparkling bejeweled crowns.

At this point it’s about noon and the sun is coming out. We finish our tour and decide to head out to the waterfront and see The Little Mermaid.

It’s a pretty long walk, but the bright shining sun has really lifted our spirits and we’re happy to be walking along in the 35 degree warmth. The waterfront is really pleasant with a blue sky over the blue water.

As we were walking along the waterfront we came across the Greenpeace ship “Rainbow Warrior”

The walk continued and it was indeed a long, long walk. Eventually we came across the throngs of excited sightseers all jockeying for position on the treacherously wet and uneven rocks leading to the water where the Little Mermaid perched on here rock formation.

Yes, she’s tiny. And yes, this is probably one of the most overrated tourist attractions on the world. But you can no more go to Copenhagen and not see The Little Mermaid than you can go to Paris and not see the teeny weeny tiny Mona Lisa.

And on this day, she looked particularly nice, glinting in the low hanging sun with the blue sky and the blue water as a backdrop.

We took our touristy photos and the hoofed it back to the hotel. What started as a possibly off day turned into a wonderful day after all.

Next up, Tivoli Gardens at night.

Experimentation

I am always up for trying local customs and foods. I ate haggis in Scotland and liked it. The breakfast buffet at the hotel has pickled herring so I thought I would give it a try. It is a local delicacy after all.

Cynthia documented the event.

herring1

herring2