copenhagen, part three.
On my third day in Copenhagen, I started off with a short walk to the Nyhavn area, which is filled with lots of small boutiques and restaurants. It kind of reminded me of Amsterdam and the canals in the Jordaan area. It’s a really beautiful area and I’m glad that the weather was pretty decent, no rain to soak me this morning.
Shortly afterwards, I took the train up north to the small municipality of Humlebæk. The train ticket there cost about an arm and a leg for a 30-minute ride, but hey, that’s Copenhagen for you. I snacked on a delicious bun from Holm’s Bager, drank some antioxidant drink, which was surprisingly good, and enjoyed the view of the Danish countryside. Once the train arrived in Humlebæk, I walked over to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. When I first saw the museum, it didn’t really seem that big but my goodness, it’s actually huge and filled with such an amazing collection of contemporary art! I was quite glad that I had gotten there early so that I could spend the rest of the afternoon and evening being enraptured by the museum’s personal collection of art and the other exhibitions.
Georg Herold, Untitled (2007)
All the dark spots are actually caviar.
Yayoi Kusama, Gleaming Lights of Souls (2008)
Highlight of my trip to the museum.
Roy Lichtenstein, Yellow Brushstroke II (1965)
When I first heard that there was an Ai Weiwei exhibition at the Louisiana, I knew I had to make a trip to Humlebæk for sure. Many of you might have already heard of him through the recent coverage of his most recent arrest by the Chinese government and the resulting ‘Free Ai Weiwei’ campaign. Ai Weiwei is probably China’s most famous artist and activist, and his work has been shown in many galleries and museums all over the world. The exhibition at the Louisiana was a little on the smaller scale, with a total of 3 films and 5 other works. I ended up watching Ai Weiwei’s film, Fairytale, which documented his Fairytale project in 2007 where he invited 1001 Chinese citizens to visit Kassel, Germany for Documenta 12. The film was very interesting and shows much of the challenges facing Chinese citizens. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone interested in Ai Weiwei and his art.
Ai Weiwei, Forever (2003)
Ai Weiwei, Hanging Man in Porcelain (2009)
Ai Weiwei, Trees (2009-2010)
Ai Weiwei, Rocks (2009-2010)
Watching Ai Weiwei's film, Fairytale (2007)
Cindy Sherman, Untitled #128A (1980)
Günther Uecker, Weisses Feld (1963)
François Morellet, Sphere (1962)
Ai Weiwei, Fountain of Light (2007)
After spending the majority of my day at the Louisiana, I took the train back to Copenhagen. Funnily enough, the train back was half price because after a certain time, the price goes down. No wonder there were so many more people visiting the museum after 4pm. Anyway, I picked up a bun at Holm’s Bager and I also got a hot chocolate and fruit cup at Baresso Coffee. The way the prepared the hot chocolate was so cool! They give you boiling milk and two sticks with chocolate on the bottom. You just stick the sticks into the milk and stir until the chocolate is all melted. And voilà, hot chocolate!
On my final morning in Copenhagen, I checked out the hostel and killed some time walking around the general area. After that, I met up with Glory Mae, the Californian I met on my very first day in Copenhagen, and her friend Michal. We took the metro to Christianshavn and we ate a traditional Danish hotdog complete with all the toppings of ketchup, mustard, dried onions, and pickles. Then, they showed me around Christiania, which is a small area that has declared themselves separate of Copenhagen and Denmark. It’s a very colourful and unique area, but no pictures were allowed so you’ll just have to take my word for it. Glory Mae and Michal took me to eat some more Danish food and this time, we ate some open sandwiches, which are like small sandwiches minus the top layer of bread.
I got lost again trying to find the Kongens Nytorv metro station, which was so stupid considering it was the place I met up with Glory Mae and Michal. But it took me a while to find and once I did, I was finally on my way to the airport and back to my second home in England.
That’s it for Copenhagen. Cheers!