Copenhagen

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Yesterday we spent all day on the train from Berlin, via Hamburg to Copenhagen, across the Baltic on a ferry to the city.

Today was deciding what to do and see, and where to go. My first pick was the Little Mermaid based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story, about a thirty minute walk from where we are staying. I had heard that it is quite small. Well it was but not as small as what I had thought. It didn’t disappoint. Ian laughed hysterically when I said this was the reason we had come to Copenhagen!

On the way, guess what. We passed the art gallery. A large impressive building with a new light-filled modern wing added a bit like the Auckland AG. Inside were some treasures. Years ago I had a bronze coloured relief brooch of Fernand Leger’s Woman with Vase. I loved the simplicity of the image and wore it a lot. Therefore I was most surprised and delighted when I spotted the original painting at the end of a corridor. That’s the thing about art. Some works take your fancy and you never forget them. And some don’t. The wall label said her face was empty and she looked like a Greek Doric column. But I still like her. Just like the Little Mermaid. And the Ampel Man.

Only one more artist who impressed us.

A German artist we haven’t come across before, Judith Hopf, and her Laptop Men. Have a look at the photos. She’s taken the basic shape of people using laptops and reduced them to flat pieces of metal. Ingenious.

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Photos

Woman with Vase
Fernand Leger

Judith Hopf also did these brick pears
Reminiscent of Peter Lange’s brick chairs and dinghy in the Botanical Gardens, Manukau

The Gefion Fountain
Four bulls pulling a chariot driven by the Norse goddess Gefjon.

Though we could rent one of these and Ian could pedal be home
We’ve seen mum and 3 kids in here and even a baby in a capsule!