Last post

The last post of the year is this one from a very run-down Swedish house in sore need of a caring hand. A great symbol, I think, of the year that is coming to an end tonight. What will the new year bring? I'm no oracle, but I'm sure that it'll bring a lot of posts on this blog, hopefully with some pleasing photos and a bit of explanation as well. I might do a total re-furbishment here, show photos from new places or show you some of the hidden places in Copenhagen. Or maybe all of the above. That is not decided yet, but I hope that you'll have a great New Year anyway:)

Signs of winter

The most discussed subject in Denmark this Christmas, besides the rantings of the Minister of Health, Bertel Haarder, has been the weather. Having been hit hard by King Winter in all his glory and all his wrath, Denmark has been a country under siege as the roads has been closed down due to snow and accidents, the railroads has been unable to cope professionally and the airports has struggled to keep the planes running. Even the icebreakers has been called on standby despite a decree from the Minister of Defense that we wouldn't have problems with ice in the Danish waters.

Feeding the birds

Many people feed the birds in the few open water areas in Copenhagen. While a nice gesture, it's not without it's problems, as it gets the birds used to getting their food for free. Another more serious problem is that the huge flocks contaminate the water in the lakes with their droppings and the surplus bread.

Gathering

These specks are a great gathering of tufted ducks that has found some peace and quiet just outside the Copenhagen park of Valbyparken. And this is only a small part of this flock.

An Uphill Battle

A common sight in Copenhagen these past weeks has been this, a small tractor trying to get rid of the white fluffy stuff from the streets and sidewalks. It has been an uphill struggle as has been true for large parts of Europe.

Singing

The last couple of weeks before Christmas saw a lot of these small performances made by bands and choirs. This group of appropriately clad kids was singing on the central square of Copenhagen, the Rådhuspladsen.

Missing the Christmas mail?

This might be the reason for any missing Christmas mail in Copenhagen; the postal workers are out to play music on the streets instead of doing their job. No, seriously, they were doing this to raise money for good causes. And not doing a bad job, by the way:-)

And a merry Christmas for those of you that are celebrating today. I'm trying to get over the overfeeding of yesterday, so the couch is a good place to find me today:-)

Merry Christmas

The day's pic is of one of the 6 Happy Xmas Trees on the square Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. It's made artist Mikael Hauberg and it's called Copenhagen Towers Tree, which is appropriate as it shows the Copenhagen skyline.

In Denmark we celebrate Christmas on the eve of the 24th of December, so I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas, while I prepare for the feast of roasted duck with caramelized potates, boiled red cabbage and all the rest of the accessories, ending with ris a'lamande and hot cherry sauce.

Star Tree

Some of the Happy Xmas Trees have been moved inside like this one in the Field's shopping mall, where it not only was put a bit away, but on a flight of stairs that see very little use. It was made by Lo Maalue Lynghøj and is called Star Tree.

Where have you been hiding?

Of the around 40 Happy Xmas Trees this one eluded me for weeks, and then suddenly there it was, just outside Copenhagen Central Station and next to the Freedom Monument (Frihedsstøtten). The Xmas Tree was made by Jens Galschiøt and it was supposed to be at the Copenhagen Airport. I have no clue as to why they moved it here, but maybe it would scare the passengers too much.

Happy Xmas Trees

A surge of colourful Christmas trees made out of fiber class has been displayed on the streets of Copenhagen for the last month. The trees are part of a campaign to get trees to Africa and it's called Happy Xmas Trees. All the trees are painted by artists, kids and groups and will be auctioned off during Christmas. In the next few days I'll show a few more of these trees. This one I found near the Dronning Louise's Bridge.

A Statesman

Carl Christian Hall was Council President of Denmark and Foreign Minister in one of the more tubulent periods in the 1800's, the time between the two wars between Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein in 1847-1850 and 1864 He tried to keep the German influence out of the area but ultimately failed, Schleswig-Holstein went to Prussia under Bismarck after the defeat in 1864. The statue of him is found in the park Søndermarken in Copenhagen.

Serfdom

Just inside the main entrance to the Copenhagen park Frederiksberg Have is this statue of King Frederik VI of Denmark. The thing he is remembered best for is the abbolishment of the serfdom in 1788 before he was crowned. But during his rein, Denmark lost Norway to Sweden at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and Copenhagen was bombarded by the the British who also "confiscated" the Danish navy.

Our Fallen

Not far from the angel of yesterday's post, is this monument to the fallen in Danish and Allied service during World War II. When visiting the Citadel, you can't miss it as it's just at the entrance. It's made in 1957 by Svend Lindhart and depicts a private in Allied uniform with the characteristic British steel helmet.

The Angel

One of my favourite statues in Copenhagen is this one; an angel at Langelinie looking out over the yacht club and the water of Øresund. It's a monument to the fallen Danish sailors of World War I made in 1928 by Svend Rathsack and Ivar Bentsenand has all the names of the sailors and ships lost.

A Cold Place

The Little Mermaid on her new stone in Copenhagen Harbour. When seeing her for the first time, many tourists are a bit disappointed as she isn't the big monument that many expects. She is only life-sized but pretty nonetheless.

A Mill and a Canon

Inside the Copenhagen Citadel this mill can be seen. It's still in service on the anniversary for the building of the Citadel, which is the last day of October.

Simplicity

The winter weather cries out for experiments with b/w and simple photos. This one of seven hooded gulls sitting on the ice on the moat circling the citadel, is a case of that. I've cropped it a bit, converted it to b/w, overexposed it and increased the contrast. The result is a very simple photo of the birds where only the dark parts are showing and rest is left to the imagination.

Welcome back, LIttle Mermaid

For the past months the most famous of all the statues of Copenhagen has been out of town so to speak. The Little Mermaid was moved to Shanghai for the world exhibition as part of the Danish pavilion, and her stone in the harbour was taken over by a video screen showing her in China. Now she's back, but if she could talk, she might prefer the weather in Shanghai to the fierce Danish winter that greeted her.
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Time to skate

With the early winter in Copenhagen, people has rushed to dust off their old skates and find places to use them. As the lakes are still unsafe to use, the answer is the artificial and free public skating rings, that has been built at some of the squares. This one is just in front of the park Frederiksberg Garden and it's a popular one, so if you want to be able to move at speed here, you need to be here early.

Victim of a snowball fight?

The statues in the Royal Danish Garden Society's Garden near the park Frederiksberg Have look like they have been in a vicious snowball fight. This garden is one of the hidden gems in Copenhagen, even though it's right at the entrance of the park, but many just pass it, maybe because they think it's private.

Stay safe

The Grey herons from yesterday not only have to fight to stay warm in the Danish winter, they also have their problems with keeping steady on their feet when landing. This one from Frederiksberg Have did keep upright though.

Cold

The grey herons in Frederiksberg Have in Copenhagen seem to think this is a bit cold. And with frost from the end of November they might be correct.

Location:Vigerslevvej,Valby,Danmark

A National Poet

The snow decorated statue of Adam Oehlenschläger (1779-1850) in the park Søndermarken in Copenhagen is a memorial to this national poet. He lived most of his childhood at the nearby Frederiksberg Palace as his father was the steward of the palace. Adam is mostly known by generations of school children for his Romantic poem Guldhornene (The Golden Horns) and of course the national anthem Der er et yndigt land (There is a lovely country).

A Norwegian House

In the park Søndermarken in Copenhagen is a number of small houses. This one is the Norwegian House (Norske Hus), built in 1787 as an element in the Romantic garden. Today it's used på school and kindergarten groups as a base for nature studies. The house looks right at home in the snow covered park.

Made for bob-sleighs

On the top of Valby Hill (Valbybakke) in Copenhagen overlooking the Frederiksberg Garden (Frederiksberg Have) is the Frederiksberg Palace, a Baroque palace built as a Royal summer residence in 1703. Since 1869 it has been the home of the Royal Danish Army Officer Academy. This December the slopes up to it is a popular place for the kids to run their toboggans and bob-sleighs, except that this morning only one was early enough to be caught on camera. Right next to it is another of my favourite hangouts, the Copenhagen Zoo.

Not Good Camouflage Anymore

A few weeks ago I had a post, where a red squirrel was a bit hard to spot in the reds and yellows of all the fallen autumn leaves. This squirrel wasn't as lucky, in the white winter world of the Copenhagen park Søndermarken it was easy prey for my camera.

Hatching an Egg of Ice

In Tivoli a Chinese couple makes sculptures of ice every day until Christmas, while the guests can watch the progress. With temperatures below freezing in Copenhagen, this is the ideal climate for this sort of art.

Feeding

On Rådhuspladsen (City Hall Square) in Copenhagen this guy made sure that the pigeons and seagulls didn't go hungry as winter set in.

Seeking shelter with a sax

The busker here has sought shelter from the sudden winter while playing his sax. The shelter he uses is one of the oldest dormitories of Copenhagen, Regensen, which was originally built in 1623.

A month of Christmas

For the last couple of weeks, Copenhagen has been decorated for Christmas. Even though many find it cosy, I wouldn't mind if they waited until today with it, as it will get tiring in the long run. However the traditional Christmas Market in Tivoli is always very nice, if a bit overdone. This year they didn't need to use artificial snow, as King Winter came a bit early.