Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Denmark, wow.

Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous neighborhood in the heart of Copenhagen. It's beautiful there, with 850 unique and free spirited residents, who all live in amazing and secluded homes, most on the water. It is like a larger, more beautiful Bolinas for those of you familiar with Northern California. Below was just one of many interesting homes there.


Sophie's favourite spot to hangout and enjoy the summer.


Lifeguards wait in an interesting Danish lifeguard tower, as rain approaches.



An eye-catching ad for 'Dianetics,' the book by L. Ron Hubbard.


Sophie reminding me where in the world we are on her large map in her beautiful apartment in central Copenhagen.




The Round Tower, at least that's what Sophie called it. In the center, the rainbow flag indicating the week long 'World Out Games' that was going on in Copenhagen.


A shot from inside the Round Tower. Apparently they made it so that horse carriages could travel to the top of the tower. Today it serves as a race track for kids to run down in a controlled tumble.






This guy was AWESOME. All his clothes we're shaped to look like he was in heavy wind, but he was actually just standing there as people walked past. The smoke from his pipe was cotton.


The King's Garden is one of the most beautiful places I've seen, which is pretty amazing considering it's just a public park.



We took a hour and a half trip to Sophie's father's friend's summer house in the country, where we stayed for two days. The house was in the middle of the woods, and was a 15 min. bike ride from the ocean.









The traditional Danish roof is made from thousands of stalks of wheat (or something like wheat). It created beautiful forms on these homes, and the mold actually made them more stunning.




We never went hungry in Denmark :)




The water... was freezing cold. I wasn't man enough for it. But Sophie's a viking...


The ride back to the summer house from the beach. In the distance was the train we took in from Copenhagen. The locals call this train 'the pig.'



A random tent in the middle of field. The sign said 'storyteller' in Danish.




Off the coast of Copenhagen is an enormous array of windmills that surely provide a lot of power to the city.





A morning run in Drager (one hour outside of Copenhagen) is the polar opposite of a run in Shanghai. The whole trip in Denmark I was amazed by the sky, and the stunning cloud formations.



The new Opera House.


Hundreds of tourists visit the biggest tourist trap (and let down) in Copenhagen... the 'little mermaid.' This shot was taken from the bus boat.







A traditional Danish hotdog, with extra spicy mustard. Mmmmmm.



We went to Tivoli, which Sophie tells me is the oldest amusement park in the world. It was like a smaller version of Disneyland, with a bit more charm... and the restaurants inside the park actually have good, reasonably priced food.





Returning from Tivoli to Drager (where Sophie's mother lives). This town is unbelievable, like a Hollywood set of the stereotype of a scandanavian town, except it was real.





Putting the mack down.



A classic Danish car in Copenhagen.



I opened a bar while I was there.







Another shot from inside the King's garden. Seriously beautiful.








My last night in Copenhagen, a french performance group performed on one of the city's five lakes. From our porely chosen vantage point, we still experienced quite an amazing show. Highlights were great fireworks, synced with Amelie-esque Parisian music.









A panaroma shot of the city from the top of the Round Tower. I will definetely come back to Copenhagen some day.

2 comments:

peter said...

very nice pictures... but should've bought me a postcard or somethin at least... geez....

(RL) said...

i like the photos, but you could have gotten a few with the cloud-filled skyline i hear so much about Denmark...