Saturday, February 16, 2008

Horsens & Ribe (oldest city in Denmark) - Western Denmark Study Tour

Here we are on the bus going across the bridge that connects the island that we are living on (Zealand) over to Jutland where both Horsens and Ribe are (Ribe is the oldest city in Denmark!) I thought this bridge looked a lot like the Alex Fraser Bridge... maybe the same architect!?! or just a really good design?!
A long day of traveling requires a great meal... and in this case a HUGE meal. I had a massive hamburger with fries and a bigger shawarma that I have ever seen! Everyone thought I wouldn't be able to finish the food... Would I prove them wrong?!
Absoultely! I have learned that no food can be wasted while in Denmark (because food is hard to come by hahahaha)
Really beautifully designed church in Ribe.
On top of Koldinghus castle on our way back to Copenhagen.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

So I've learned that the Sun does exist in Denmark

So, I have been trying a lot of different pastries since I've been here but unfortunately they have all been names that I can't let along pronounce them so there's no way that I can spell them out again... Sorry. But, this has been my favourite pastry so far and I bought it from a little bakery near DIS that is called St. Peder's Bakery and it's awesome. This particular pastry starts with an "S" but that's all I got. It costs 11 kroners which equals out to about just over $2 CDN which isn't too bad. But the outside it just like croissant pastry but the best part is the inside which is like vanilla cream that tastes unbelievable! Today, after my classes ended at 11:30, I was amazed to walk outside and find, not exactly sunshine, but at least breaks in the clouds so that sun could be seen! I wanted to go take a nap but thought I better take advantage of this opportunity to get some nice pictures of the city the way it might look closer to summertime. This is one of my favourite buildings that I have seen in Copenhagen so far and it's the City Hall building.
Just a close up of the clock tower portion...
As I continued on my way, I noticed this colourful building which is the Thovaldson's Museum. Not exactly sure what's inside but I may check it out in the future and let you guys know then.
I thought this was really funny because apparently in Denmark and maybe Europe, they don't have Honda CR-V's but instead they have Honda FR-V's hahahah.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Sights of Copenhagen
















This is from the main walking/shopping/downtown street that runs through Copenhagen. It's called Stroget (except the O has slash through it but I don't know how to do that. Really cool street that is always packed.


This next picture I took while in the bathroom at Illum. Illum is a department store that is right off Stroget and it's pretty high class. Store layout reminds me of Holt Renfrew because different designers have sectioned off areas around the floor. The other picture with the escalators was also taken in Illum.
































This is more of Stroget Street. A lot of these streets all meet up in different squares so this is just in one of those squares. Right to my left and not in this picture of Georg Jensen's store.

This picture is taken from the Radhspladsen Square (City Hall Square). All the buildings in this square are covered with advertisements and it doesn't really feel like Copenhagen but feels more like a huge city. Anyways the cool thing is that on the side of this building is a thermostat. If you can see right under the Phillips sign there is a gold coloured structure. This is a gold plated man that is a weather predictor. So, when it's supposed to rain, he comes out from under the Phillips sign and is out in the rain but he has an umbrella. Thought it was pretty cool.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Viking Museum




More Danish Design Center + National Museum + Amazing feast...

Thought you might like this Mom, it was from the same exhibit as the 1947 camera. Can't remember the date of this sewing machine though.








Me and my friend Hilary checked out the National Museum because it's free every day. There were some pretty cool artifacts in there but I thought this was amazing. It's a hollowed out elephant tusk that has been intricately carved along its length. It was full of finely detailed designs and what looked like cupids and other small figures. It was just cool to see the detail and the amazing artwork that could be done on an elephant tusk.






So, just thought I'd give everyone a taste of the awesome food that I am cooking over here. I really have to work with the simple things and so for dinner on this particular night, I had some ravioli with tomato sauce and two over hard eggs... What more can I say about the meal?! But it was good! I've concluded that all food over here is good and CANNOT be wasted: (1) because it costs an arm and a leg to buy and (2) because food is so valuable over here, especially for me. In fact, I've even started eating tomatoes JUST because I can't bear to waste food!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Danish Design Center Cont'd

So, since the Danish Design Center was so impressive, I decided to add a few more pictures of different things that I thought were awesome from there...Just a crazy light fixture... Danes are really into awesome looking lights because I see amazingly designed light fixtures everywhere. This was one of my favourites!

Folding bike speaks for itself. You wouldn't believe how popular biking is in Denmark. There are bikes everywhere right now and it's not even that nice out. I cant imagine how many bikes will be around the city when the weather is actually nice.

Crazy looking chair that is supposed to resemble an orchid. The back is completely white as you can see on the left and the inside is all black. There was a picture that was next to this chair and it was of a model who totally looked like she was coming out of the chair.

There was a part in the museum that had all old school stuff. Among them was this camera which I thought would have meaning for our family. BUT, the best part of this camera is in the next picture.

If you can see that right, it's from 1947, that's right Dad, it was made when you were born! Or somewhere around the same time at least.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Danish Design Center


Luckily, today I didn't have classes. Sometimes we have field trips for our classes but this week none of my classes had any field trips so I got the day free. Slept in for a little bit and then went out with some friends and tried Smorrebrod which is apparently a staple Danish food. Basically, it can have different toppings on rye bread and its like an open faced sandwich. Really good though! We got the roast beef ones...

Later on, tonight a few of us went to the Danish Design Center downtown and saw a lot of awesome stuff. It's amazing how creative and original the Danes are. A really cool exhibit that they had was all about lamps...lamp shades etc... One of my favourite designs was actually done by Jorn Utzon. This is also the Danish architect who designed the Sydney Opera House. Unfortunately tomorrow I DO have classes so I should get to some of that hw...


But before I do, I should mention that I was very proud of myself tonight for cooking a whole meal hahaha. I made pasta meat sauce and this was accompanied by salad and beer of course. Anyways the important thing was that everybody who ate it really liked it and I thought it wasn't half bad either! Maybe I won't starve over here after all.