BrainLog

Christina and I used this Sunday to get out into the sun and relax a little. The weather was good and it was relatively warm so we took the car and drove down south of Copenhagen to a commune called Ishøj. We already knew this place since we stayed at the local youth hostel when we arrived in the Copenhagen area. Back from that time we also knew the beach. So we bought some stuff to eat and drink and had a little picnic at a footbridge at the beach.

After eating we took a little walk in the perimeter and returned to our car. Not far from the beach we stopped at the Arken museum for modern art. The museum does not only host modern art inside but can be considered as a piece of modern art itself. The building has a very distinct shape and is visible from a far distance because of its high, tower-like edge.
When we entered the museum we noticed that it was free admission today so we decided to have a look. We saw an exhibition called “hi bob - greatest hits” about the Danish artist Peter Bonde. In this exhibition a lot of big-canvas paintings were shown. Maybe the term installation would fit better since some paintings contained plasma screens showing animations or objects that he mounted on the canvas. I’m no art specialist so I can’t really classify Peter Bonde’s works. I liked some of the things I saw, others were just a little disturbing.
I tried to take pictures but was angrily advised by the museum wardens not to do this. Still I have some pictures of the beach and the Arken building in the gallery.

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Similar to the Austrian “Lange Nacht der Museen” Copenhagen has it’s Kulturnatten. Translated as “culture night” the name reveals exactly what this whole thing is. Most museums in Copenhagen are open to visitors until midnight. Not exactly what I’d consider a whole night, but good enough for starters.

Unfortunately we noticed the event very late so it was already 7:30 pm when we took the bus to the inner city. There we got off at the town hall square and went inside the town hall. There a lot of organizations (political parties, NGOs, etc.) had put up their stands and they gave away balloons, drinks and other stuff for free. After trying blue Venstre-slushies and the like we left and went on to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek which was very close by to the get Kulturnatten-badge. This badge was the ticket to the museums and cost only 70 DKK (10 EUR). We were lucky to get one since they were already sold out at most other places. Then we started our museum tour.

At first we wanted to find out if not so traditional museums such as the Louis Tussaud’s wax museum or Ripley’s Believe it or not would also be accessible with this badge. They were but still they charged an extra fee. So we passed on them and headed instead to the Dansk Design Center.

There we saw everything that was connected to Danish design. Furniture, glasses, computer games and much more. I liked a lot of that stuff but still I can’t quite understand the fuss about Danish design. For me it’s not totally outstanding or different from other country’s designs.

Next step on our museum-tour was the Post & Tele Museum. The whole museum, which spreads over 4 floors, shows everything about the history of communication. From light-signals on ships over telegraphy up to modern wireless communication. The museum has everything. Plus all things are very nicely presented, with audio stories (unfortunately only in Danish) and written explanations (also in English).
They even had a special exhibition about Zeppelin airships which totally fascinated me. All different airship models were explained and also their sometimes tragic history. Visitors were also allowed to take away replicas of stamps and airship tickets from that time. A very nice keepsake.

Unfortunately time was running out for us so we left the PTT museum and went to the Round Tower to gaze a nightly overview over Copenhagen. Even more unfortunately for us, a lot of other people had the same thoughts. The ramp inside was crowded with people and so we gave up. We didn’t really mind since we had already been on the tower and made our way home. We were quite happy to find out that the buses were free with the badge which again had the consequence that the buses were totally crowded.

Generally I really enjoyed the Kulturnatten. I also have to say that I have never seen the streets of Copenhagen so crowded. People of all ages and cultures were out on the streets and in the museums that night. Definitely worth seeing. That’s why I want to share my pictures of the night with you - of course in the gallery.

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Just two day after Christina’s birthday the next occasion was to be celebrated: The anniversary of my delivery.
And here comes my big dilemma: I suck at giving presents. Why? Well, as you might have read, I prepared three things for Christina’s birthday: Breakfast to the bed, a cake and roses. I’d consider this as a very personal gift. But maybe it is not very much - seen in material value.
Well, on my birthday I got not only breakfast to my bed, a self-baked cake from Christina and a rose but also a board-game (Trivial Pursuit) an audio-CD (from Einshoch6) and a computer game (The Settlers II - 10th Anniversary) from her parents.
Looks pretty bad and shabby for me, doesn’t it? That’s why I actually don’t really like anniversaries or special occasions since I’m usually the one with the crappier presents. And I know, it’s not a thing about how big a present it or how much it costs but still… I’m feeling stupid. Is it just me or is this a man-thing?
Anyway, I’m very glad and happy for the presents - thank you very much!

On the next day Christina and I hosted a birthday party for our friends here in Copenhagen. We invited around 10 people and cooked a typical Austrian Schweinsbraten and Buchteln for desert. Just a small and nice get-together with our friends. I hope, they liked the Austrian food. For my part I really enjoyed it since the Danish cuisine is not the best in my eyes.

You can have a look at some party pictures in the gallery.

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Since we moved to our apartment here in Copenhagen we noticed a lot of straying cats in our neighborhood. As stated in earlier posts, Christina loves cats and so she started giving them a little food on our windowsill. Since then more and more cats are joining us regularly to get some food. Either they are completely wild cats or living somewhere near - it’s hard to say. They do not look neglected or sick or even malnourished.
Anyway, it’s nice to have some company each day and Christina surely likes it even more than I do.
I put some pictures of the cats (unfortunately not the best ones) into the gallery.

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Today is my girlfriend Christina’s birthday. I’m not gonna reveal her age because that is just not gentleman-like.
I tried to surprise her with the three things she always wanted for her birthday: A self-made cake, roses and a breakfast to bed.

Since I’m not very good at baking cakes completely myself I cheated and bought a blending for a chocolate cake. Interestingly enough I did not screw up. I still had bought a second blending in case I would. Even the glaze on top was pretty okay. I bought a lot of candles and set the cake on fire and surprised her in bed.
Before that I had already served her breakfast on a table. I rounded up the whole experience with 10 beautiful red roses. Christina looked very happy and I hope she enjoyed the day. Happy birthday darling.

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After living with three additional people in the apartment for some days Christina and I enjoyed our newly won freedom to go shopping and having a picnic in the park afterwards. The shopping would be nothing special except for one thing I found: Danish licorice (Lakritz) called “Spunk”. People familiar with newly arisen internet terms might be familiar with this word. All the others might find the description at UrbanDictionary useful.

Our little picnic took place in the “Rosenborg have”, a park right in the center of Copenhagen surrounding Rosenborg Castle. Although it was already the end of September the temperatures were just fine for being outside. The sun was shining and the grass was not even that wet. We enjoyed the sun as long as possible and I even fell asleep because the conditions were so nice outside.

After the sun was gone we went home and did some cleaning to our apartment. Christina also planted some nice flowers outside of our window. Feels much more homelike now. You can check the pictures in the gallery.

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The last 4 days we had a visit from some Austrian friends. Well actually from one of our friends and his two traveling companions. Julian, my former study-mate from Hagenberg was on an Inter Rail trip throughout Europe with his two friends Marlies and Michael.

So he asked Christina and me if they could sleep at our place while they were in Copenhagen. We of course agreed, nevertheless that we only have a very small apartment and that they would have to sleep on the floor. Still this seemed to be a much better option than sleeping in the rather expensive Danish youth hostels. So Julian and his friends checked in at our luxury suite from the 20th to the 24th.

They spent most of their time sightseeing and in the evening we sat together and enjoyed a few drinks. On their last evening they cooked for us a tasty dinner as a thank you for being able to stay here. It was nice to have visitors from Austria, I hope they enjoyed it too.

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Only two days after our first trip to the center of Copenhagen, Christina and I continued our sightseeing tour. This time some friends joined us: Łukasz, Tomasz, Gosia and Ralph from Poland and Daniel from Austria.

We met at the city hall square and walked only a few minutes to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. This art museum houses the personal collection of one of the Carlsberg offsprings. Carlsberg is the hugest brewery in Denmark and of course also very well known internationally. Anyway, the museum is mostly about ancient Roman, Greek and Egyptian antiquities but also houses a series of famous paintings by artists such as Monet, Degasse or van Gogh.
Fortunately for us a lot of museums in Copenhagen don’t charge you any admission on certain days and so we did not have to pay to enter the Glyptotek on Sunday. Unfortunately the section with the paintings is closed when there is free admission so the sculptures and antiquities were the only thing we could have a look at. Personally I liked the Egyptian things best: mummies, sarcophagi and the likes. The Roman and Greek collections mostly consisted of busts (heads) of people of different eras. Maybe interesting for historians but for me it got boring after the 20th head or so. And there were much much more than just 20. But since it was free I should maybe not complain. At least it was some culture…

After we lost Daniel in the museum the rest of us moved on. Our next target was the Round Tower (Rundetårn). But it was still a bit to walk there and we took a little detour to watch other things.
First we came by Christiansborg Palace, the place were Denmark’s judicial, executive and legislative powers are housed. This is only the case here in Denmark so it’s kind of unique.

Next on our walk was the Danish Royal Library with its very nice gardens. Adjacent to the gardens is the old library building which houses still some books and also the Jewish Museum in Copenhagen. Next to the building a statue of the famous Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard sits on a high pedestal and waits for the time to pass by. When stepping out of the gardens one can see the “Black Diamond” - the new building of the Danish Royal Library built in 1999.

After leaving the library we next passed the former stock exchange building, also known as Børsen. This building has a very famous tower that shows four dragon tails winded up in each other. Besides that the building is in very bad shape. The traffic that passes it each day has clearly left its marks: All the walls are just black and so the overall impression is not a very nice one.

Then we finally arrived at Rundetårn. The tower does not look very special from the outside (it’s not even that high) but the surprise waits inside. There are no steps. Instead a circular ramp leads straight to the top. Only the last few meters are actually steps which lead to a viewing platform. There is also a planetarium on the top which is opened for visitors during the night. While on top of the tower we enjoyed a nice overview of Copenhagen. On our way down from the tower we checked out the outhouse that is built in on the side of the tower. They even show a detailed description, where and how the drainage is built in the walls. Important information for sure!

On our way home we wanted to check out the botanical gardens which unfortunately had already closed. Maybe another time. This concluded our second sightseeing day. I’ve put some pictures of it into the gallery. Enjoy.

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One of our friends here in Copenhagen - Łukasz from Poland - turned 23 on September 12th. For this reason he threw a little party at his apartment (the one next to ours). Besides Christina and me he invited all the other Erasmus and foreign students too: Linda, Corrada, Giuseppe and Domenico from Italy, Raphael from Poland and Daniel from Austria. Of course his room mate Tomasz was also there. He was joined by his girlfriend Gosia who is also studying at Aalborg University - only at the campus in Aalborg.
So we had a nice little party on the floor (they are not fully equipped with furniture yet) with some drinks and a little food. I brought my new speakers I had just bought a few days ago and so we had everything we needed for a student party.
I also learned a few things: Łukasz is pronounced “Wukasch” because the Ł is not an “L” but a kind of “W” in Poland. Now I also know that the famous Polish ski-jumpers name is pronounced “Mawisch” since Małysz also contains this letter. And I learned something else: “Prost” is “Na zdrowie”. Pretty easy, eh?

I’ve put a few pictures of the party in the gallery. Have fun.

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