Trick or Treat?

After my second night with limited sleep, we had an early start to the day.  Our plan was to head north to Karen Blixen's house in Rungsted.  Alexis had spoken with someone in the Tourist office before I came, and thought she had the drill.  We took the Metro and then boarded a train at Nørreport Station.  We were settled in to our plush seats in a very new train when the conductor came by and asked where we were headed.  Turns out we were going in the wrong direction.  The great thing about trains in Europe (and I can't speak for anyplace else) is that such mistakes are fine.  All we did was get off and find the right train -- no biggie.

We were off on the right path in no time at all. Blixen's home in Rungstedlund is just north of Copenhagen on the "thumb" of Denmark--Hovedstaden.  Disembarking from the train, we immediately saw signs to the Karen Blixen house--a mere 1.1 km from the station.

As we were walking in the direction of the Museum, we were greeted by a couple who informed us the museum, cafe and gift shop were closed due to a meeting of the Danish Academy of Writers, but we were free to walk the grounds.   We were seriously disappointed, but set off on our trek through the woods, regardless.  This was the first time we've seen the sun in days, so it didn't make sense to sulk about it.

The Rungstedlund Park "covers an area of 16.6 hectacres,

and [most] of the grounds have been laid out as a bird sanctuary."

 These bird houses apparently facilitate nesting by the bird species frequenting the park.

"There are also flower gardens where every day during the summer season fresh flowers are cut for decorating the house."

Eventually, we made our way to the front of the house. 

Alexis volunteered to play the status card to see if we might gain access to the house because we are visiting scholars.  She found a sympathetic young man who was playing along quite nicely, but he asked if we had an invitation to this event and she had to answer truthfully.  Strike two.

The house is situated with a lovely view of the water in front,

and the wonderful grounds in the back. 

Before leaving the property, we sought out Blixen's grave (she died in 1962 from malnutrition; she was 77).

While we couldn't say we were satisfied by our visit (we really wanted to see the house and visit the gift shop), it wasn't a worthless experience.

Back at the train station, we met a lovely woman who asked if we'd been to see her mother Karen.  This woman was also a writer named Karen and was quite familiar with the Blixen story.  She told us that the rail authority had wanted to buy some of the Blixen land to facilitate a coastal rail line, but Karen Blixen's father refused--and set it up so that the land could never be sold.   The rail line had to be moved inland.  Karen also told us that this part of the shore had been developed by rich Jews from Copenhagen who built beautiful "summer" homes.  She also mentioned that during the war, some of these Jews made their way to Malmo by kayak.

Karen, our new friend, made sure we were on the right train for our next destination--the modern art museum, Louisiana, 35 km north of Copenhagen on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk.  It seemed like most of the passengers on our train were also visiting the museum--it was extremely crowded.  

We started our visit with some "buck-you-uppo" at the museum cafe overlooking the water.

I couldn't believe it, but I saw someone swimming!

We went back to the museum proper passing by some magnificent sculptures.

The museum's web site says: 

"LOUISIANA MUSEUM OF MODERN ART is a leading international museum of modern art. Located on the coast it strikes that rarest of balances between landscape, architecture, and art in a unique interaction that attracts visitors from around the world and makes a visit to Louisiana something special throughout the year.

"The museum, which is located 25 miles north of Copenhagen, with a panoramic view of Sweden across the Sound, presents six to ten special exhibitions annually and has a distinguished permanent collection with over 3,500 works."

Two of the featured artists today were Yayoi Kusama and Lucien Freud (Sigmund's grandson).  Freud had some interesting sketches, but he's really not to my taste (Alexis liked him, though).  He has a way of making women look like old men.
Kusama's work was bizarre.  Some of her early work was engaging--Infinity of Nets made sense to me.  I also liked her pumpkins.

Her U.S. work from the '60s did not appeal to me.  I call this one, "Where's Alexis?"

I found this piece very disturbing.

That mannequin (of the artist herself) is darned lifelike.  I was pretty much done after going through some of the "textile" work which resembled tons of hot dogs (if you catch my meaning).  I'd had enough.

The train trip back to Copenhagen was completely smooth and uneventful, which is just the way I like it.

Since it is Halloween tonight, we thought it best to get dinner right away.  We headed for Oscar's Cafe, the same restaurant we ate at on my first night.  It was just a little bit lighter than it was the first time we went, so I made sure to capture some images which didn't turn out from our first foray down this road Thursday evening.  I really wanted to capture the statue of King Christian--famous for the story about wearing the star of David armband after the Nazis required all Jews to wear one.

I hadn't been able to get a good shot of the Frederik's Kirke / Lutheran Church (right next door to the Orthodox Church) until this evening.

We also lucked out and gained access to the Russian Orthodox Church.

We were allowed to go inside, but they were about to start services and I didn't want to take photos in the interior.  I did, however, capture this image of the bust of Maria Feodrovna (the former Princess Dagmar of Denmark) located in the courtyard on the side of the church.

Dinner at Oscar's cafe was every bit as good as the first evening.

 By the time we were done, we were spent.  It was a day of both tricks and treats.

Happy November everyone!

A tale of Two Cities

After a very nice breakfast at our hotel we were off and running.  Alexis had purchased bus tickets for us to travel across the sound to Malmö, Sweden so that we could see an exhibition on the White Buses, a rescue effort at the end of World War II. 

We were able to board the bus just a few blocks from our hotel across the street from the fabulous Magasin.

The skies here are leaden, but we haven't had any rain so I'm not complaining.  Also, the temps haven't been too bad either.

The tourist office had recommended we take the bus rather than the train so that we could see the scenery.  We crossed the sound on the Oresund Bridge and the trip didn't take too long. 
 
Once we disembarked, we found ourselves in a city square.

My daughter and her friends play a photo game called "be the statue".  I suggested it to Alexis, but she didn't seem keen to do it for some reason.

We were really clueless about where the museum was or what it was called.  We went looking for people who might be able to help us, and found a very nice man named Jan who at least pointed us in the right direction.  It was a funny conversation.  He asked if we were Aussies, and shared he had lived in Australia for a time.  He told us he was originally from Poland, and that he had married a lady who was half Polish and half Swedish. Then he showed us photos of his children.  It was sweet, but odd. 

Jan's suggestion was that we should get a bus pass and then take the number eight out to a museum with a submarine outside.  His thinking was that the museum with the submarine outside would be the most logical venue for the exhibit as it might be able to house one of the white buses we wanted to study.  We went to a news stand to purchase our passes and asked the clerk to confirm that this was indeed the right museum.  She frankly, was not aware whether or not Malmö even had one museum, let alone which one would house the White Buses exhibit.  It's so interesting that people are sometimes completely unaware of the resources available in their own cities.

We caught the number 8 bus and then asked a few people if they knew where the museum was.  Jan had told us it was only a five minute ride.  The first few people didn't know, but finally we saw a teen-aged boy who seemed to know where to direct us. 

We got off the bus once we saw the submarine Jan had mentioned. 

It was a bit of a jaunt 'round Robin Hood's barn to find the entrance, but we did succeed.

We quickly learned that this wasn't the right place.  Fortunately, the correct venue was a mere 150 meters down the road at the Malmö Museum, which had served as a refugee camp following WWII.

Sure enough, right outside the museum was a white bus protected behind plexiglass.

According to an article from May this year in B'nai B'rith Europe:  "In Gothenburg, during the whole week [there was a celebration] ... of the white buses that saved the lives of 1000's of people who had been in concentration camps during World War II. They had decided to have a ceremony in the synagogue and on [that same] night they vandalized the exhibition. Vandalism was addressing specifically the Jewish victims who came with the buses. They wanted to wipe out that it was the Jews who came."  There was no mention of this situation in the exhibit itself.

This exhibit told the story from the eyes of the refugees.  There were five stations featuring interviews with people who had been rescued by the buses, as well as a feature on modern refugees who settled in Sweden.

The story of the white buses is not well known.  The Danish government had been forced to accept German control, but had started working as early as 1942 to try to rescue their countrymen.  The exhibit we saw later in the afternoon at the Copenhagen National Museum outlined the extent of these efforts.  More on that later. 

Initially, the buses carried Red Cross packages to various camps.  This was a map posted outside of the Malmo Museum.

The Swedish exhibit pays homage to Folke Bernadotte, the vice president of the Swedish Red Cross, for his involvement in this project. 

Once the British learned about this plan, they insisted that the buses be painted while and carry the red cross so they would be easier to detect from the air.  Regardless, the Allies fired on some buses because the Germans had also painted some of their transports white, and there were both prisoners and rescuers who perished from those attacks..

These were perilous missions taking between two to five days.  Two drivers were assigned to each bus, allowing them to spell each other.  According to a placard outside of the bus behind plexiglass, the buses were loaded with food, fuel and medicines for the concentration camp victims.

Our visit to the Malmo Museum exhibit took a little over an hour.  We were anxious to get back to Copenhagen to visit their much more extensive exhibit at the National Museum.

We decided to take the train since it was much faster.  The Malmo train station was a bit of a surprise.  We noticed moving films projected on the walls across from the platforms.

The main train station in Copenhagen is right across the street from the world famous Tivoli park.

It's a good landmark to orient visitors.  The National Museum was only a few blocks away.

The National Museum exhibit was a revelation in how to put together an exhibition.  Visitors entered a darkened room with spotlights that move around.  A simulated cattle car experience is the gateway to the rest of the exhibit.  Visitors were asked to pack one of the care packages and then were challenged with questions about ethics.  For example, one of the questions posed concerned how the participant felt knowing that these packages reduced costs for concentration camp operators (the Nazis).  Also, they acknowledged that often materials from the packages went missing before they found their way into the prisoners' hands.  Another challenging question concerned the privileged status of the Danish prisoners who received these packages.  This didn't make them very popular, even though it likely saved their lives. 

There was a tent erected in the middle of the floor with projected film of  some of the drivers, et al., who participated in these missions.  They talked about how these tents were also targeted during air raids.

The end of the exhibit features film of Danish politicians and social workers talking about the ethical responsibilities of ordinary people to help those less fortunate then themselves.  Visitors are asked to respond to questions about the role of the government in helping the refugee and other less fortunate people.  There was a row of buttons allowing multiple respondents to participate.  The results were then projected.

It's an incredible exhibit, but unfortunately it will only be up until early January 2016.  Even more unfortunate was the fact that the book based on the exhibit is available only in Danish.  I hope someone will translate it to English and that the exhibit will travel.  It was incredibly inspiring on so many levels.

We decided to get dinner right away and then headed back to our room.

 

Wonderful Copenhagen

My favorite kind of transit is uneventful.  I feel fortunate that this was the case these last two days.  I have only the standard complaints of sitting in an airplane seat and trying to catch some sleep.  I did manage to doze off from time to time, but it was the bobbing head snap variety, which is never pleasant.

My friend Alexis was waiting for me outside of baggage claim, which was a welcome sight.  She guided me over to some glass windows on the right where I bought a Copenhagen City card that will allow us to travel by metro, bus and train.  It also gives us access to museums.  We've already tested it and it works!

We're staying at a no-frills hotel, which suits me just fine.  Our beds are toe-to-toe, which is a little odd, and there's not way to isolate the bedside lamp from the overhead light (one switch controls the power in the room), but other than that, it's just fine.

Once I brushed that awful fuzzy feeling from my teeth, and unloaded the heavy stuff from my purse, we went off exploring.  I am absolutely amazed at how much energy I had today.  It's almost 1 a.m. local time, and I'm still up.  Ah well. 

We walked along the canals and headed for the Jewish Museum, which is located very near to the Black Diamond, Copenhagen's largest library (it also serves as the library for the University of Copenhagen).

The Jewish Museum is across the street and behind the library.  The entrance faces the Danish Parliament building.  Alexis pointed out that there is always a police presence at this museum, given violent anti-semitic incidents of recent years.  The exhibit is very well done and tells the story of Denmark's Jewish population. It reminded me of Amsterdam's Jewish museum in this respect.  The Amsterdam Jewish museum is, however, much larger.

The museum contained many useful stories about the Jewish experience in Denmark and displayed photos and artifacts.  The floor of the museum is uneven, which was a purposeful choice.  It's very lovely inside.

We got there about 45 minutes before it closed at 4 o'clock, but it was still a worthwhile visit.

The Black Diamond itself has a number of worthwhile exhibits, including a very strange room filled with Denmark's national treasures. I was thrilled to see a Gutenberg bible as well as a text from Maimonides, along with a number of other fantastic displays.

We had a little "buck-you-uppo" which included a fantastic macaroon--the Danes know their pastry.

Alexis was keen to show me Copenhagen's famous department store, Magasin du Nord.

As we walked in the front door, they were selling James Bond martinis.

A made a special purchase, and then we were on our way down Bredgade.  There were great window shopping opportunities--particularly if you are a fan of Danish Modern Furniture.  The real highlight, however, was the Alexsandr Nevskij Kirke.

The golden cupolas are magnificent, as are the gates in honor of Tsar Alexander III of Russian and Tsarina Maria Feodorovna (the former Princess Dagmar of Denmark).  Find the "A" and the "M".

Fortunately, this was very close to the Cafe Oscar where we had a delicious dinner of Salmon crepes. 

I'd say this was a great start to our adventures.