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Phil Mercer |
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You are in the Mercers Tedium Blog |
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011Cake
It's my last day in Denmark and I've used my Copenhagen card thingy to head out in to the suburbs to track down Louisiana.
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The modern art collection is mentioned in all the guide books as a must see and who am I to argue. I always have reservations about Modern Art! Most of it I just don't get, however, every now and then something goes click. Just to be sure I also intended to go to see Ordrupgaard, which was on the same railway line. It has a recent addition by one of my favourite architects Zaha Hadid. Louisiana proved a bit of a trek from Humlebaek station and I'd only given myself an hour to have a look around. The first hint that I might have to change my plans a bit was the large Henry Moore statue sitting in the entrance courtyard! Ever since laying out in the sun in Greenwich Patk at lunchtimes, in the shadow of a Moore (which I think has now sadly been removed for security reasons!) I have developed a love for his voluptuous and organic yet monolithic works. You walk through the door of what could be the house of someone who has done well out of life to then be taken through to a vast warren of glass walled flat roofed modern buildings. They make a large loop around the gardens and allow regular glances out in to open to see trees and lakes dotted with regular sculpture installations. The collection is pretty good with some of my favourites, Moore, Plank and Giacometti. Plus a fare smattering of the ones I'd file under 'Not for me!' (my father would just say 'crap' though!). It is the setting that makes it wonderful. Even on a dreary day you get an amazing atmosphere and changing light that transports you away. It helped I had Goldfrapp playing on my iPhone and the place was nice and quiet. What's topped it all off was a rather tasty bit of cake by the open fire in the cafe! All I need to do now is complete my final task. Find something for my travels shelf at home. It needs to look alright alongside my carvings from NZ, India and Canada and compete with Poopi from Bilbao! I'm thinking something Viking! Labels: Copenhagen, Travel Monday, January 17, 2011By the book
After such a wet Saturday, Sunday stayed pretty dry so I pottered around the city centre and did some of the standard touristy things. I've posted the pics on to my Flickr page so you can see what I got up to.
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My photos from Copenhagen. The Nationalmuseet tells the tale of how Denmark came together. Although in my quest to learn about the Vikings I didn't seem to absorb much beyond a familiarity to our (Britain's) own prehistory. The use of burial barrows was quite striking with similar designs to Wayland Smithy (or more likely the other way round!). The stunning new Opera house on the harbour front was amazing. If only I liked Opera!!! It seems i can't visit anywhere without seeing the lay of the land from above, so I climbed the Roundhouse. A different experience to most as instead of steps there is a long helical slope! I guess if you wanted you could drive a car up there! In the evening I found a much better bar for a few pints and a lovely chat with some locals. Labels: Copenhagen, Travel Saturday, January 15, 2011First
Things didn't go fully to plan after I got in to Copenhagen. I made it to the hotel without any hassle but in the process managed to do my back in. So I spent a few hours ironing myself out on the floor of the worlds smallest hotel room.
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I'm sure a twin bed should be wider than my shoulders! By 9pm I was feeling better - with help from a shower that had the water pressure of a Laser from a 1960's Bond film! I set off to find food and beer. It was raining. Really raining. The type that goes up as well as down! By the time I'd found food and completely missed the bar I was aiming for I was soaked to the bone. Plan B was to find the gay club i'd looked up. As usual my timing was perfect! I made it in time to see the guy unlock the door! Therefore I was first in! What is it with the continent for this late late start malarkey?  It was at this point I wondered if I was going to be on my own all night! I was also a little worried i'd found the Danish version of G-A-Y! The bar staff looked young enough to be my children! It was a long way from my XXL comfort zone! Labels: Copenhagen, Travel Vikings
As I write this I'm climbing up to 11,000m (37,000 feet) on my way to Denmark for the first time.
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 Not the most obvious choice for mid january but knowing I had a few weeks of leave to mop up but (as usual) not much cash to play with I looked at the family options. We used to be quite far spread as a clan, with relatives in the US, France and Switzerland at various times. Thanks to the army even Belize became an option for a while although I was too young to take advantage! Now it seems just Germany is left. Two of my cousins have settled on Hamburg and their parents are in Celle so I booked myself in. I love Germany and as I've mentioned in the blog, it has been a regular holiday destination. The itchy feet of mine do have a tendency to demand fresh turf though and having spun the globe a few times I remembered that just north of Hamburg is the Danish border, and that is somewhere I'd yet to go. Anyway, thanks to a sale at BA (I have an unhealthy dislike of any airline that requires me to fight to get a good seat!) Copenhagen actually proved no more expensive to get to than Hamburg. So here I am, on my way to what is said to be one of the most chilled out and friendly cities in the world. I'll be getting a train down to the family middle of next week, but for the moment I'm on m' tod. Will I make mischief or just do the wall flower thing! Only time will tell! I do kinda fancy meeting a genuine Viking though. Labels: Copenhagen, Travel
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Copyright Phil Mercer 2010