Copenhagen at this time: the climate-deco

This time, it is the round of photos on the theme of climate change.
If you come back to Kongens Nytorv, one can now see an outdoor photos exhibition called "100 Steder at Huske før of forsvinder" (100 places to remember before they disappear). The pictures come from all around the world and their beauty is astounding, but underneath all of them, a text reminds us that each of these places is in potential danger because of the global warming.

And in orbit around the square are arranged a multitude of decorated planets (they have also invaded the underground stations).

Now let's take Strøget and have a look to Amagertorv.
Well, there are weird things but I think it has nothing to do with climate.

Oh, not this one of course

I also checked out Nytorv / Gammeltorv, which is under the theme of melting ice. No need for explanations.

Pictures taken on Saturday

And there was on Tuesday night
(Yes, in Copenhagen there is more than 0 ° C, what did you imagine?)

And we approach our ultimate goal, Rådhuspladsen. But just before we pass in front of some stuff.

And when we finally arrive on the spot, we see a lot of greeny information stands.

But something catches the eye: there is a huge white ball in the middle. I first wondered if it was a balloon or something like that, but at night time, I understood!

Otherwise, I've not checked the Bella Center (I am afraid it might be kind of difficult to access these days), and I've not yet seen any demonstrations...

Copenhagen at this time: the Christmas-deco

This month, it's pretty funny to walk in Copenhagen and see the Christmas decorations alongside exhibitions on the theme of the climate change conference, and everything in a happy jumble. First I wanted to put all the pictures in one article, but I think it would have been too long, so I cut it in half. So today, I'll take a walk with you on the theme of Christmas in a whole glittering Copenhagen.

Let's start by going to see the inevitable Nyhavn. Of course, the place is sooo romantic, it is the perfect place to set up a Christmas market.

It's weird, there is surprisingly very few things to eat, but on the other hand, there is a plethora of useless shops in several copies, like the woolen-things-stands, you know, the caps, scarves, what all this (but why are they pollute all the Christmas markets them like that?) There's also sellers of non-local crafts costing an arm and sellers of candles and uh... an unnecessary-trinkets-stamped-Tuborg shop, but here this is normal.

To do your Christmas shopping nearby, Magasin du Nord will tempt you with a beautiful deco unfortunately accompanied by an insufferable sirupy music (Sympathique of Pink Martini tapped me on edge the whole Saturday every time I passed by, I swear it was over and over).

The other big department store, Illum, is also weel decorated.


Just for fun, I confess that I made a trip to Christiania too, just to see if in case they would not decorated too. Well actually it was! Sellers of substances have their little personal stall embellished with garlands bright, but with techno hardcore music. I could not take photos for the reasons you know. Psychedelic.

Otherwise the streets of the old city center, there are many delicate decorations on window sills like:

And the wreaths, in the windows, everywhere, always the same symbol:

It's the Julehjerte (Christmas heart), the typical Danish decoration. Traditionally, it is a small basket of woven paper filled with delicacies and that people hang in their Christmas trees. Give to your tree the Danish touch by doing your owns it is super easy to do.

Here is the Christmas tree of Rådhuspladsen

Its Julehjerter are not baskets

Lets draw on a little bit closer... Huh, what is there at the bottom?

Ah yes, I'm stupid, obviously, bikes of course. To light the tree. Really, these Danes are incorrigible. Still, this device makes me laugh, when you look directly opposite you can see Tivoli fully illuminated ...

To be continued tomorrow: the climate-deco.

A festival at the summit

You all know it by heart because all the media only speak about that since a looong time, that this month takes place in Copenhagen the summit on the climate change, aka COP15. So since it has not yet begun, I shall not speak about yet. In fact, I just wanted to point out to people who will be there at that time, that there will be a big festival on Rådhuspladsen throughout the duration of the summit (from the 7th to the 18th). There will be concerts, films, exhibitions, debates ... Basically, that's the place to be (well I mean for people who do not attend conferences). The festival is called Hopenhagen and here is the program.

Who said that politics was a serious issue?

Next week, the Danes are voting for the municipal and regional elections. And of course, right now, all the poles of Copenhagen are covered with election posters.

Among the clutter, some weird posters are hidden, and that caught my eye. That's why I went biking today to hunt for the most bizarre of them. And I didn't come back empty-handed.

Here is a totally serious party, but with a little bit of humor, I love this

I just don't understand

The Progress Party (WTF?!)

Another bike-lover-weirdo

Is it really to support someone?
"veldfærd" means welfare

Is this to make fun of the politicians and their stonewalling?
"enhed" means "unity"

Mmmmh, I can smell the spirit of Christiania there

But for the big nonsense matter, nobody does better than the Nihilistisk Folkeparti. It is a political party "just for fun", but which does exist for real. Their motto is "Det hele er alligevel ligegyldigt - Spild din stemme på os!" and that's means approximatively "Nothing matters anyway - Waste your vote for us!" I presume that their name is a parody of the extreme-right wing party, the Dansk Folkeparti.

Here is an anthology of their achievements:

"For psychedelic colors in the metro
Stop the grey brainwashing!"

"Nothing matters
except the cute little animals"

"Because an asshole can be as good as another one"

The one on the left made me smile (note the little mermaids at the bottom)
But I burst into laughter when I read the one on the right:
"Stop the church bell! - Fuck our salvation - we are hung over!"

"At have tømmermænd" is an expression which means "to be hung over". "Tømmer" is "timber" in my dictionary and "mænd" means "men". And to finish subtly, this is how must look like a "tømmermand ":

"More vomit in the streets!"

What do you think of all this? I personally find that they are quite fearless ... But I realize that I probably lack some cultural references to understand everything. And to be quite honest with you, I'm not really interested at all in Danish politics.

By the way, did you know that Denmark is one of the less corrupted countries in the world? (according to the NGO Transparency International, sources here)

The day when an army of grinning pumpkins invaded Tivoli

Well, they left last weekend anyway, even if Halloween is next week. Actually, Tivoli has reopened just 9 short days, just the time of the autumn holidays (eftersårferie). It's a bit short to enjoy it I think.

So I know I'm a little bit late for this article. But anyway, if you live in Copenhagen, you've probably already been there, otherwise you have the Christmas holidays to catch up. And if you don't live here, you're probably asking yourself "but what she is talking about?"

Let's start from the beginning. In fact it is an amusement park located in the heart of Copenhagen (between the City Hall and the central station to be more precise). And this is not just any amusement park, it is the second oldest in the world still working after Dyrehavsbakken (*), which is also Danish (located in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen).

Tivoli was founded in 1843 by a man called Georg Carstensen. At this time the park was located outside the city and it was called "Tivoli & Vauxhall". "Tivoli" in tribute to the Tivoli Gardens in Paris, now extinct, which were named after the Roman gardens of the same name, and "Vauxhall" for the Vauxhall Gardens in London.

Because of its location, it is quite small and has no possibility of extension. So of course it's hard to compete with the major theme parks such as you know. But the designers have more than one trick up their sleeve and they managed the feat of installing an incredible amount of attractions. The modern ones are just nearby the very old ones. So, they are located a little over each other, and in this exuberant mess, it is sometimes difficult to find the entrance of your ride. But after all, it is what makes the charm of Tivoli.

It is a true coming-back to your childhood, there are funfair stands (pigeon shooting, bumper cars), and even if the park is primarily dedicated to kids, there are some exciting rides:

Dæmonen (the Demon), short but really effective

Det Gyldne Tårn (The Golden Tower), a good adrenaline shoot

Himmelskibet (The Flying Ship), where you definitively have the best view of CPH

The Vertigo, a barbaric invention:
you will drive yourself the small plane
(you can rotate it in all directions)

And for Halloween, all the park was redecorated:

In this picture is hidden a typical Danish touch, can you guess what it is?

The park is open daily during the summer. With a little bonus: every Friday evening from May to September a different group is playing on the big stage. The event is known as Fredagsrock. So if like me you are a happy owner of an årskort (annual pass), you can enter for free. Because, of course, the entrance to Tivoli is not free, but buying the årskort is completely justified if you go at least twice a year.

And it will reopen from the 20th of November to the 30th of December for the Christmas market (that promises great pictures).

Why are they so in love with her?

Hey, this is a little grumble (or a big laugh, depends of you) to wake up this blog from its summer hibernation ;-)

If you've already been in Copenhagen, sure, this title rings a bell in your head. I'm of course talking about the inexplicable love story between the tourists and the major monument of Copenhagen, the Little Mermaid. If you have never been there, you must have heard of it at least. It is a small mermaid statue staring at the sea, located at the harbor entrance, depicting the eponymous tale by Hans Christian Andersen, the national hero (*).

As you can see, she is "full-scale"

This statue was sculpted by Edvard Eriksen and was funded by the brewer and philanthropist Carl Jacobsen. She was inaugurated in 1913 and since then she has lived a more than exciting life:

- In 1964, she was beheaded (they had to redo another one)

- In 1984, she became amputated of the right arm, which was found again afterwards

- In 1990, some people try again, unsuccessfully, to decapitate her

- In 1998, this trial was successfull and the head was given back

She has also been repeatedly repainted and dressed up with diverse accessories (burka, vibrator ...)

And actually, she is now THE symbol of Copenhagen, which appears on all the guidebooks covers, on ALL the postcards...) So, she is something you MUST see during your visit. And you will not be the only one:

Horde of worshippers

(Yes, this is the tiny thing pointed by the arrow)

They are all there just for her, certainly not for the ugly indutrial-military landscape in the background. And I spare you the line of sightseeing busses who park on the promenade.

Facing this hilarious and surreal vision, the only question that comes to mind is: why her? why so many people come to see her? (or she just became famous because so many people come to see her...  something like the theory of vicious/virtuous circle). Or is it that every city needs an emblem? (for the key rings and souvenir tee-shirts of course). Anyway, it reminds me my visits to the Louvre and the obligatory stop in front of the Mona Lisa (that you cannot see because soo many people are standing in front of her shouting more or less the same thing: "Oh my god,  it is smaller than I imagined").

Still, she will soon on holiday in China for six months, the municipality of Copenhagen lend it to Shanghai during the Universal Exposition of 2010.

But do not worry, if you come to Copenhagen during that time, you will have some colleagues of her to look up.

In fact, very few people know that there are actually three statues of mermaids in the harbor!

The Pamela Anderson version (she is located on a terrace restaurant):

And the Picasso version:

She is a little bit difficult to find, but she is not very far of the original one, and at least, there is no touristy crowd in front of her queuing for taking pictures.

(*) There are statues of him in every park of Copenhagen, but nobody cares

Copenhagen Beach: yes, you can even bath!

Forget your preconceived ideas about Scandinavia: yes, you can find bathing beaches there. Of course this is the case for Copenhagen, a city fully dedicated to the sea, with its harbor and its beach. Its artificial beach. Since the Baltic doesn't have so much waves and tides, in the 30s, was created in the south of Copenhagen on the island of Amager, the well-named "Amager Strand Park" (strand means beach in Danish).

But there was a problem: the sand didn't want to stay, and worse, the coastline is oriented north-east: not so good. So, the Danes had the idea of building an island to form a sort of lagoon. And it's fairly new, it dates from 2005 only. The island is connected to the mainland by 3 bridges.

Please have a look:

They built some kind of big blocks in rough concrete, numbered from 1 to 5, which shelter showers, toilets, and ice cream dealers. And they are connected by a sort of walk in smooth concrete, which zigzags through the first half and is straight in the other. The place is invaded by roller skaters (I don't even want to talk about the cyclists). Actually, this is the only decent roller skating spot I know in Copenhagen.


There are also facilities for making windsurfing, kite-surfing and diving. And there is a small marina nearby.

But my favorite place is definitely the Kastrup Søbad (sø = sea or lake, and bad = bath). It's soooo design and soooo Danish, and it was just made for the purpose of ... bathing in the sea. It is a delicate wooden piece of architecture, connected to the land by a pontoon, with dedicated steps to bask in the sun, showers, lockers, two diving boards and a bunch of swaggerers on. And there is even a small platform to swim to, just like that.

So I have tested it, of course, but it was during the Pentecost weekend, remember, it was so hot at that time (it has deteriorated since, sniff). The water temperature? Well, if you're used to swim in the Atlantic, the Baltic might not be a problem for you (something like 18 celcius degrees?). In fact, the Baltic is not as cold as you could imagine, after all, it is quite shallow and there is hardly no current.

Otherwise regarding the view, you have a lot to admire. When you face the sea, from right to left you see in that order:

- At the end of the beach the marina

- At the waterfront the airport of Kastrup with direct view of aircrafts landing or taking off, it depends on the day (and you can see the control tower as well)

- The Øresund Bridge

- In front of you Malmö

- A little further a group of wind turbines

- And on your left some factory chimneys

And if it doesn't please you, then turn around to the other side, face the sun, and check out the quiet residential area of southern Copenhagen, full of greenery.

Slip into your swimsuits!