Design

The Apple shop in Canterbury refused to replace the battery on my iphone because there was a tiny chip on the corner of the screen – they said there was a risk of everything shattering. However an independent phone-repair shop in Copenhagen did it in 10 minutes with no trouble at all.

We walked from there towards the city centre, finding one Tegner’s colossal statues along the way – his style is now so burned into my brain that I would recognise his work anywhere!

It is noticeable how calm and tranquil the atmosphere is here, compared to the UK at the moment, where Brexit rage seems to have infected everything. The days are warm and sunny, not too hot, and with a hint of mists in the mornings. 

We walked in towards the University and failed to find an entrance to the beautiful Palm house in the Botanical Gardens. But we went to the remarkable and really exhilarating food market and wondered about in a daze looking at every kind of food ingredient from around the world.

We had a Danishlunch there and then headed for the Design Museum. Along the way we found the National Art Gallery and were undecided about whether that would be a better option. Going into the art gallery shop made the decision easy. Buying a book and some cards we headed away again towards the Design Museum. What was really tempting was the display of handmade mobiles all along one wall – shimmering flattering multicoloured beautifully designed set of shapes dangling on almost invisible threads, all made by one family over three generations. They are for sale but about £30 or £40 apiece – too much for us.

It was pleasing to see how busy it was at the Design Museum. Room after room of stunning designs (mostly but not exclusively Danish) over the last 200 years or so - furniture, ceramics, machinery,  gadgets, musical instruments, posters, ... whatever you can think of, all there.  I particularly liked a dress made of straw which was designed as a costume for the Snow Queen. Every single straw was stitched onto a linen undershirt so that it was in fact a thatched frock.

The particular exhibition at the moment is about the Bauhaus and very comprehensive but in fact not as exciting as the main part of the museum.

Walking back to the railway station past the beautiful park we met an interesting woman who told us she was a curator at the Museum in the citadel, where there is a superb and free museum devoted to Islamic art. We are heading in there today to see it, and perhaps meet her again.

Strandweg

 The Strandweg must be a very ancient road hugging the coast all the way round the edge of  Sjælland.  Sometimes it carries the traffic of the main road, and sometimes it’s a small lane with scarcely any surface and with sand and trees and parked cars keeping it calm and quiet. For a large part of the way you can see across the Øresund to Sweden. It’s clearly a favourite place to build expensive houses, and has been so since the 19th century.

The light on the water is really beautiful, silvery and radiant. Along the coast people have built small private jetties going out into the water which is calm and quiet, at least at this time of year. And of course it is a favourite swimming place, either for families or for retired people who go for their daily constitutional swim.

That’s what we did yesterday afternoon - my aunt, her sister and myself.  We were keeping a lookout for red jellyfish - thankfully there were none about. My two companions went briskly down the ladder at the end of a little public jetty and sploshed straight into the water. I did my usual act of loathing the coldness coming around my waist, but of course once I was in it was marvellous. We swam for about quarter of an hour and then went back to dry ourselves off on the grassy banks.

Andrew and I stopped off at the little harbour at Espergærde, where we sought out the best ice cream shop in the world, according to us.  Mysteriously it is an Italian business run by a man called Nikolai, and the ice cream is really remarkable. We had a grapefruit and a raspberry cone and then took home a frozen block of passionfruit for supper later in the evening. We walked away from the sea between beautiful modern villas and quiet behedged  gardens. This is a privileged place no doubt.

Colossal sculptures

Rudolph Tegner is literally a colossal artist. Born in 1873 he studied at the Danish Royal Academy of Art and became something of a rebel against the art establishment. He also married a very rich wife so he did not need to pay much attention to what other people thought. He became a sculptor and there is a museum which he & his wife built in 1938 dedicated to his own works, in the middle of a vast and natural heathland on the north coast of Denmark.

Inside the brutalist concrete building are literally hundreds of truly massive plaster models that he made. Some of these were cast in bronze and are dotted about the landscape outside.

He seems to have been inspired by a wide range of subjects – Greek mythology, Scandinavian mythology, and sentimental views about the lives and role of men and women. The collection is jaw-dropping. Nothing stopped him.

Some of the work is hilarious. For example there is a rider seated on a horse and brandishing a hammer and chisel. It is called The Sculptor. This monument is about 20 feet tall, seems to be something of a self-portrait.

He was a very accomplished anatomist and in some ways the statues are very pleasing. They are certainly eye-catching. But something about them is also rather creepy – verging on the fascistic, highly idealised. It is notable that the genitalia. The male nudes are perfectly formed but on the small side.

He died in 1950. The museum - near Dronningmølle - is definitely worth a visit. The website is rudolphtegner.dk

Stress and calm

Airports are just ridiculously large greedy and unsustainable. I along with everybody else have enjoyed my trips abroad, but they have become increasingly difficult and stressful, especially going through all the security screening procedures. The current campaign to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases means that this whole industry is going to have to shrink, very rapidly.

In fact our journey from Faversham to Espergærde was fine, smooth, and without incident. I did not like sitting in front of a woman in the plane coughing her guts out with a really horrible infection, but it seems there was nothing I could do about it.

It was very nice coming back into Denmark which seems very calm and unstressed, compared to the excitements in Britain. As we left the Prime Minister, B Johnson, was seeing the Queen to ask her to prorogue Parliament. The internet was awash with campaigns, petitions, protest, insults, and anxieties about the failure of democracy.

The train journey up along the Øresund coast takes you through woods, tiny fields, villages, golf course landscape and suburbs. We were in a designated quiet coach, and glimpsed the sea on one side and a huge red sunset on the other.

It was also delightful to meet up with my uncle Chris and his Danish wife, where we are staying for a few days. We ate supper on their terrace overlooking the garden, in the peaceful evening light. And then slept soundly on a sofa bed.

Dealing with My Travel Anxiety!

I've been working hard on not being too anxious before travelling.   In my daily life I am rarely upset or stressed about anything really - but over the years I've noticed I definitely do get twitchy when I'm preparing to go away.

This time it's not too bad. I've busied myself with things like getting the garden organised so the watering is automatic - all the plants in wide trays which are fed twice a day for 5 minutes with a small trickle of water... This is enough to keep them fresh and lively.    Packing is minimal because this is only for a few days, and we'll be staying with my uncle in Denmark.... so we have the tea and cheese which they asked us to bring, and some Original Alka-Seltzer to take to another friend who lives near them.  I think the weather is not likely to be all that different from what we've had in the last couple of weeks at home, so I don't have to go into mental contortions trying to imagine what clothes I might need... Ha ha.

The basis for my pre-travel anxiety is some sort of fear... But what?  Fear of death? Why should death be any more likely when I'm away from home?  Fear of accident or attack? Same thing applies.  Fear of plane crash or train crash?  Very very unlikely.   Fear of never coming back again? Fear of disaster striking at home? Fear of getting lost in some way. Fear of not being good enough.... I know all these are not rational, but I suppose they come bubbling up so that I can pay attention to it.  So, I am grateful in some weird way, that I am getting this same constant reminder. I need to deal with this stuff.

As it is, we're off tomorrow to Copenhagen and thence to Espergaerde and some lovely family members who we don't see very often. I am looking forward to swimming in the Danish sea!