A Pink Sniper

When walking down one of the main streets in Køge south of Copenhagen, you might notice something that is out of place, like this pink sniper looking down the street from a roof. He is a member of the Pink Army, a street art installation that is part of the exhibition Walk This Way in Køge. Walk This Way is organized by KØS - the museum for art in public spaces and will run through summer. The next few days I'll show you some more photos from this event.

Golden Orbs

The Caritas Well on Gammeltorv in Copenhagen is the oldest of the fountains in Copenhagen. It's from 1608 and ordered by King Christian IV. On certain days, like the Queen's birthday, golden orbs made by copper coated with 24 carat gold is put in the fountain. To hinder theft a discreet guard is placed there as well.

A Big Golf Club?

Outside the DR's HQ in Ørestad in Copenhagen this steel sculpture resides, drawing quite a lot of curious people to it. The steel egg with an 18 meter high antenna is made by the German art group Inges Idee and is called Reciever. DR (Denmark's Radio) is the Danish public radio and television network.

In the Shadow of the Opera

Another view from the Copenhagen Opera towards the Marble Church and Amalienborg. When building the Opera, traffic considerations was not a main priority, so to get here can be tricky. Driving here by car will take you on a huge detour and ordinary buses is not much easier. The water buses is actually the easiest way to get here and a nice way to see the harbour as well. Walking and cycling bridges are being planned so it'll be easier to get here in the future. Even so there'll only be crowds here during performances.

A Ship Builder

One of the main naval officers during the construction of the gun boats in the Gun Boat War mentioned yesterday was Vice-Admiral Andreas Schifter (1779 - 1852). A First Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander during the war, he built gun boats in Norway, Holstein and Copenhagen in the first year, before he was commissioned to the ship of the line Pultusk, a commisioned not to his liking. After a travel around Europe, he came back to Holmen as ship master and more or less stayed there for the rest of his career.

Gun Boat Sheds

On the former naval base of Holmen in Copenhagen, rows of gun boat sheds line the island of  Frederiksholm. These where used for storing the canon boats used during the so-called Gun Boat War, 1807 - 1814 between Denmark-Norway and the UK. The use of gun boats on the Danish side was a necessity after the English had stolen the fleet after the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807. Today the protected sheds are being converted into offices for mainly IT companies and architects.

A View from the Opera

For many Copenhagers and visitors alike the Copenhagen Opera is an eyesore, though I find it if not actually beautiful then at least bearable and certainly nicer than quite a few other buildings in the city. The view from the Opera towards Frederiksstaden on the other hand most people would appreciate. In this view you can see the Marble Church and the Queens palace Amalienborg.

A New Fountain

In front of yesterday's building, Krystallen in Copenhagen, a new fountain has been made. As it's a bit difficult to see the fountain when it's not in use, I imagine one should avoid crossing the square in case someone suddenly decides to turn it on.

The Crystal

New buildings are emerging all the time in Copenhagen these years. This one is Krystallen (The Crystal) on Kalvebod Brygge, the old wharf area that has been transformed into a row of office buildings and hotels. With its quirky angles and glass façades it really resemble a crystal. The building is used by Nykredit, a Danish mortgage firm.

Colours

 

At Kronborg Castle in Helsingør there's ample opportunities for a great shot with a lot of colours. This one is of the gift shop there.

Miniature in Copper

At the entrance to Kronborg is a new addition, a miniature of the castle done in copper. It's a nice way to get the big picture of the castle.

April 9th

I've shown photos from Kronborg Castle (the home of Hamlet) in Helsingør before, but as it's one of my favourite places to spend a few hours with the camera I go there regularly. This time it was on April 9th which is an anniversary in Denmark. On that day in 1940 the Germans occupied Denmark with relatively ease, and since then the flag has to go on half-mast until noon.

A New Bathtub in Nyhavn?

Yesterday I showed you a beautiful ship, the Juan Sebastian de Elcano, todays floating thing is IMHO not so nice to the eye. It's the Café Liva 2, a restaurant and theatre "ship" that has replaced an older version of this iron barge. Docked right in the middle of one of Copenhagen's best collections of old wooden ships, this one stands out like a sore thumb.

Visitors from the Sea

Even though the harbour areas of Copenhagen are being converted into residences and business areas Copenhagen is still a much sought harbour for a lot of ships. This one is the Spanish military training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano that visited the city in April. Docked across from the Opera it looked really nice this early morning.

And now for something completely different...

The last couple of months has not just been about spring, a lot of other motives went past my lens, so for the next few weeks I'll show you a bit of those photos. The photo of the day is a reflection in a rearview mirror on a scooter parked outside a building on Frederiksholms Kanal in Copenhagen. It shows two reliefs of the two sculptors H.V. Bissen and his son Wilhelm Bissen.