In Copenhagen and most of Denmark, nearly 1/3 of all trips out of the house are made by bike. A flat country makes that easy on the body, but the designated bike lanes make it all that much safer!
These were taken in the town of Odense on the island of Funen. Odense, the 3rd largest city in Denmark was the home of......
...Hans Christian Andersen
In Odense, I rented a bike and took off on one of the many bike paths that cover the countryside.
I biked along the channel which leads out to the Odense Fjord. I was able to keep up with this boat for a couple of kilometers.
On the way back from Odense, I got off the train in the town of Roskilde which has a Viking ship museum. The Vikings were Scandinavians who conquered the seas and were a power in the 8th through 11th centuries AD. In the 1950's five ships were found at the bottom of the bay in Roskilde. Pieces of the boat were preserved and reconstructed to the extent that pieces were found. Shown is a war ship.
Long and "skinny", war ships were used primarily to transport soldiers quickly to battle.
The ships with wider hulls were trading ships.
A model viking trading ship.
Another candidate for the Chen Christmas card?
Yes, while I was in Copenhagen, the UN Climate Summit commenced. I couldn't help but find myself a part of the festivities.
This melting ice bear was outside the pavilion set up by the WWF to underscore global warming's affect on the polar bear habitat.
The media center!
My last adventure in Copenhagen was to visit the famed Tivoli Gardens. Even though it's famous for its games and rides, for me, it was the night time lights!
This was a tree filled with red heart lights, the effect is lost in translation.
The Ny Carlsberg Glytotek is a museum in Copenhagen that has significant Ancient Greek & Roman art as well as French and Danish paintings and sculpture. I was there to see the former and I much appreciated the fact that the entrance fee is waived on Sundays.
Etruscan temples were made of earthen materials, which over time have decomposed. Here we see the some remnants of a surviving Etruscan temple.
Doric, Ionic or Corinthian? Ionic because of the curly scrolls, called volutes.
The founder of Carlsberg Beer, Carl Jacobsen had a love of things French, Danish and Ancient. He donated his colletion to form this museum and this room is a celebration of the ancient world.
Palm trees in Denmark? The museum's two buildings are connected by a beautiful winter garden atrium.
Archaic (c. 560 BCE)...
....hellenistic (c. 330 BCE)
When the Romans overtook the Greeks, the victors took the original bronzes as war booty. They melted down the bronzes but luckily, due to their love of Greek sculpture, we have marble copies today. This is the of Polykleitos' "Discus Bearer." Polykleitos is known as the first Greek sculptor to shift the weight of his subject. This pose is called "controposto" with one leg forward and the opposite arm behind.
Here is a copy of Lysippos' "Hermes". Lysippos not only changed the canon of the head being 1/7 to 1/8 of the body, but he also began having the viewer look at the figure from multiple angles.
This is the guy I came to see, Demosthenes! In the Hellenistic age, no we begin to see portraits of regular people, or more specifically, body types that were not ideal ones. Demosthenes here is an old man, showing his age. The artist, Polyeuktos, doesn't idealize him, but shows him as he was, frail, with receding hair and an expression of sadness.
The room in which Demosthenes is housed was showing some crazy exhibition on Danish chairs and there were spotlights circling about flashing comments. I think this is an interesting statement on Hellenistic portraiture.
Augustus
The beard of a Roman man.
Roman women weren't excluded from portraiture. Notice the locket of hair that drops from off her perfectly kept hair.
The Roman Empire reached its greatest extent during the rule of Hadrian (117-138 AD). In times of peace, mens hair became bigger and bigger.
Lucius Verus (161-169 AD)
Alexander Severus (222-235 AD). Crew cut......
This bust is by Carpeaux, an 19th century sculptor. It shows just how far along, and how good, artists of the ancient world were. As I learn more about the ancient world, the more I hold it in high esteem.
The Trinitas Complex in the center of Copenhagen was built 17th century by Christian IV. It consists of a church and a tower attached.(Picture taken from Wikipedia)
The Round Tower
At the top of the round tower, there is a working observatory, which was used by the University of Copenhagen until the 1800's. Christian IV, as well as his contemporaries were fascinated by astronomy.
One fascinating characteristic of the tower is that it is built with a circular ramp, not stairs.
Part of the reason for the ramp is to be able to get sensitive equipment up without much damage.
Embedded in the iron work at the top, is C4, the mark left by Christian IV on all the items he erected. Political propaganda, baby.
The view from the top of the tower, documentation of my no sun weekend.
I attended Sunday services at Trinity Church. There was a great choral concert during the service.
Directly above the interior of the church is a library and meeting room.
This photo is taken directly above the the library room and where I sat for the service. All three are taken facing to the east.
HERESY!! A heliocentric view of the world.
The charming area of Nyhavn. Anne, Rory and I had a fantastic Danish Julkefrost dinner in one of the buildings.
