Even in the middle of the city you'll get wild flowers like this. It seems like the city gardeners are following a new policy as these pockets of explosive growth are left to their own devices, where they would have been mowed rigorously and savagely been kept down a few years back. And good it is, as they don't hinder traffic and actually give joy to most, except of course those with severe hay fever.
On my way to work I often see this one going at speed down the bicycle lane. And it is a kind of bicycle though more streamlined than most. Perfect for rainy days, I guess, but I'm not sure how comfortable it is.
This oversized trash can is part of a campaign to get people in Copenhagen to use the trash cans instead of littering. I hope it's going to work because, as I've told about before, the city has become increasingly dirtier over the last ten years. And the main reason is that people just don't seem to care about their trash. Somebody else will pick it up, right? Well, yes it's going to be picked up eventually by the municipality but it costs the taxpayers (that's all of us, remember) a bundle each year just because a lot of people, young and old, can't be bothered to walk a few extra steps to the nearest trash can.
The tourists in Copenhagen gets more and more options to get around. I haven't seen these golf carts before, and they might look a bit flimsy in the heavy traffic of the inner city, but they seems to work fine here.
My latest time lapse from Copenhagen is this one. Taken on Constitution Day, which in Denmark is the 5th of June, it starts very symbolic at the Danish Parliament Folketinget at Christiansborg Palace with the statue of King Frederik VII in the foreground. He was the king that decided to give Denmark a Constitution based on democracy in 1849. The rest of the time lapse will take you through many of the squares in the old park of the city.
Copenhagen is renowned for its bicycle culture, and with more bicycles in the city than people, traffic jams are not only evident in the streets with cars, lorries and buses. It's also a problem on the bicycle lanes during rush hour. People here seems to be transporting anything possible on their bikes; groceries and kids are high on the list, but even man's best friend seems to enjoy a ride.
One thing often criticized about the newly developed area of Ørestaden on Amager is that it lacks facilities for the residents. Now at the southern end a play area for the young and the young at heart has opened. Called Plug n Play it has a speed skating rink, a parkour area, a street soccer field, a dirt jump area and numerous other activities. And it's free for all to use.
No, it's not Dyrehaven but Ørestaden, even if these deer seem a bit misplaced. This is part of a new trend in Copenhagen. Instead of having a long and boring fence that begs the local youth to be creative with a spray can, artists are asked to use the fences as a big canvas. I haven't been able to figure out who is behind the deer on this fence, but it is nice. The deer progress from an open white field to a dark forest as you pass the Bella Center.
Hidden behind these ferns in the Open Air Museum in Brede north of Copenhagen is a house from the former Danish areas in what is now Sweden. A simple wooden structure that would fit perfectly in those large forests our neighbour has.
Some of the farms at the Open Air Museum in Brede are huge, and it must have been quite an undertaking to get them to the museum and rebuilding them. And then they've had to get the right surroundings too.
A great place to spend a summer day is the Open Air Museum in Brede just north of Copenhagen. Here a host of buildings and farms from all over Denmark and southern Sweden has been moved and rebuilt. Walking around there will take you on a time travel to the 19th century, and it will show you now the people lived, how the land was farmed and lots of other stuff. With animals and poultry, fields and orchards, guides in costumes and lots of informations, the day is well spend here. And it is all free.
The statue of Hans Christian Andersen is looking at Tivoli. The statue is one of the most popular in Copenhagen as tourists flock to pose next to it, or on it.
Yesterday I showed you one of the instances where the city planners of Copenhagen haven't really used their head. Today's photo shows you the opposite situation. After a couple of years of construction, the street Vester Voldgade has changed from a traffic heavy street to a quiet street with a broad sidewalk lined with trees and with room for outdoor-serving. Really nice that the city planners get it right from time to time. More of this, please, and less of the idiocy from yesterday.
The Inner Harbour Bridge and the three other smaller bridges that will connect Nyhavn with Holmen and Christianshavn are delayed. They should have been ready in February but it will be at least October before pedestrians and bicyclists can make use of the shortcut across the harbour and canals. Apparently the construction of the steel elements has been the big stumbling stone for this 200 million DKR project.
When I was a kid the Armoury (Tøjhusmuseet) was a place with row upon row of cannons, muskets, sabers, pikes, helmets and a plentitude of other weaponry displayed in great halls. After a year-long redecoration and rearranging it is now a modern museum with audio-visual displays, a few but great focus points and up-to-date texts. It's well worth a visit, even to someone who has been there only a few years ago.
I spent Saturday testing the GoPro Hero3 cam that I told you about yesterday. And I did really get around; Amaliehaven, Gefion Fountain, Frederiksberg Have and Copenhagen Zoo. But I think I got a nice result, even if Windows Moviemaker and I will never be friends.
I got the action cam GoPro Hero3 Black Edition a few days ago, and to test it I went to the Copenhagen Zoo. Here a very curious penguin tried to connect but didn't seem to understand that there was a thick glass wall between photographer and beak. The Hero3 camera is small, it's very easy to use with only three buttons, it got wifi so you can operate it with an app, and its 12Mp sensor can record both still, bursts of up to 30 shots in one second, time lapse and up to 4K video. But best of all, I think, is the frame rate, if you shoot in rather low resolution; 120 frames per second in 720 pixels. So if you shoot a clip with that and slow the frame rate down to 25 fps, you get a smooth slow-motion. Tomorrow I'll show you the whole video I shot yesterday.
The flowers in Valbyparken was struggling to bloom the last time I was there. Now I'm sure they're in full bloom.
