Purchasing tickets for Denmark’s train system is one of the more unusual things about Denmark. There are so many different ticket options and prices to go from Point A to Point B that it leaves your head spinning. You never know if a given trip on the train will be cheap or expensive. Copenhagen Business School was paying for our trip to Louisiana so I didn’t have to worry, but before I found out they were paying I did a little research.

We could buy an all-day pass for 115 DKK each (about US$25). We could purchase one-way zone passes for 80 DKK each way. Or we could purchase tickets along with an entrance to the museum for 160 DKK round trip. I’m sure there were a dozen other options using other passes or klip variations or . . . The bottom line is that you never know how much a trip will cost, if you may get lucky and get a special that is going on that day, or if you go to a different ticket agent they may know of another less expensive way to get to your destination. It’s a crap shoot.

I prefer the Japanese system in which you always know the price and the price is much cheaper than in Denmark. For instance, to travel the distance we traveled to Louisiana from Copenhagen we’d pay no more than about US$5 in Japan. Here the price, again depending on the ticket agent of the day, ranges from about $12 to about $20.

Louisiana Modern Art Museum (Moderne Kunst in Danish) is in a beautiful setting in the town of Humlebaek (also spelled Humelbaek). I’m not a big fan of modern art; in fact, much of it does absolutely nothing for me. However, the settings for some of the pieces here really do make the works far more interesting than they would be on their own.

My kids pushed a button near the above work. Nothing happened. Then, about 10 seconds later, the bell started slamming the metal man in the head over and over again causing a huge noise that seemed totally out of place in this quiet museum. My kids freaked out. They thought security would be all over them. I’m not sure how this is art, but it did make things interesting.

You never know which of the museum’s Andy Warhol collections will be out on display. They have three. One is the “Marilyn” collection (which we’ve seen examples of in a museum at BYU). Another is “Flowers” (which we have seen examples of at the Smithsonian in DC). The third is what we saw at Louisiana, “Mao.”

I thought this last one was going to have a different title than it did. This work is called “Eyes” and is by Louise Bourgeois. There is also a very cool Bourgeois spider sculpture at Louisiana.

When my kids could take no more (actually they had a great time on the very long slide here and there is a workshop with lots of stuff for kids to do) we headed to the adjacent beach. More on that in tomorrow’s entry . . .

Posted on August 8th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: beach, copenhagen, living in copenhagen, museums, pictures. Comments: None

I didn’t feel great about entering this last one. From the exterior it looked like it could come down at any minute. It reminded me of the nursery rhyme,
“There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.”

The whole Danish country side reminds me of nursery rhymes and fairy tales.

Posted on August 7th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: copenhagen, living in copenhagen, museums, pictures, thatch roof. Comments: None

Frilandsmuseet (or the Open-Air Museum in English) was not even mentioned in our guidebooks (and we have three different ones). Therefore, we weren’t expecting much. I loved the place though. It should not only be mentioned, in my opinion, it should be a recommendation for those with more than a few days in Copenhagen.

You can ride a bike there from downtown Copenhagen as it is under 10 miles away. Alternatively, you can take the train or bus to the Kongens Lyngby area. We took the train to Lyngby Station and then caught a bus (184 or 194) that dropped us off right in front of the place. To avoid missing the stop, like we did at Frederiksborg, we asked the bus driver how we would know to get off. He told use that he would say, “NOW!” and sure enough he did.

This museum is quite different from any that I’ve been to before. It is well over 100 years old and features buildings that are as much as 400 years old. Instead of wandering around rooms in a building looking at things you wander around outside and look at how people lived hundreds of years ago in Denmark’s past.

If your imagination isn’t so good you can go to about four different houses where they have live actors playing the parts of peasants or other roles in old Danish society. The actors were a lot of fun. They interact with the visitors as well (and in English if you let them know you don’t speak Danish).

The character players also put on a non-spoken play that was very well done. The skit was quite humorous, and it really did take you back. I felt, at numerous times during the day, that I was hundreds of years in the Danish, rural past.

You can walk through the buildings as well. We only had time to explore about half of the 60+ buildings. I don’t think you can do it all in one day. Some of the buildings were from nearby islands and Sweden as well. Most were from the 1600s and 1700s, and I believe all of them had thatched roofs.

The interiors were decorated to look like various eras. Perhaps most were from the 1800s. They were all authentic, rather than mere reproductions. Apparently when you are ready to rip down an ancient building in Denmark you can call this place, and they will take it for you.

The price is right too. It costs nothing.

Afterwards we decided to walk back to the train station instead of take the bus. This was a good idea and highly recommended if you are physically able to walk a few miles. Head west for some marvelous lakes. Head south for some nice parks (completely empty compared to those closer to Copenhagen). We ended up at a place called “Badfarten” which provided much fodder for 10-year old jokes and photo opportunities.

There is a pretty canal at Badfarten. You can hop in a boat there and tour the canal and connected lakes if you can stand the smell. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Actually, Badfarten smells just fine. We didn’t have time to do the boat ride (and didn’t want to part with more of our Danish Kroners), but I wouldn’t mind doing so on a subsequent visit.

If you want a quick trip to somewhere more rural than downtown Copenhagen or if you’d like to travel through Danish time, this is the place to do so.

I’ll post some more photographs of the old structures in tomorrow’s blog entry.

Posted on August 6th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: copenhagen, living in copenhagen, museums, pictures. Comments: None

Today’s clouds are from the Botanisk Have again.

The above steeple is part of the International Church of Copenhagen. We didn’t go inside, but a fellow faculty member went to church there once. I think it is the only place in Denmark with services in English. I asked him how it was since religion is mostly dead in Scandinavia. He said there were only about 20 people at the service. The place holds hundreds.

When we were in the Vor Frue Kirke their service was about to start. The place seemed big enough to hold several hundred people–maybe even 500–but there were no more than about 30. They all looked pretty unhappy and pretty old. The average age was well over 50.

Of the less than 2% of the population that attends church in Denmark, some are still atheists who attend for social reasons. Even a Danish priest, Thorkild Grosboll, came out as a non-believer and his congregation supported him.

Many, if not nearly all, of the churches in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark only continue to exist because of state support. Some have been converted into museums, restaurants, and other facilities. We saw one in Gothenburg, Sweden that had been turned into a fish market.

I wonder how long it will take the rest of the world to follow Scandinavia’s lead. In my own town, in the U.S.A. even, churches are closing up shop left and right.

Posted on August 5th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: clouds, copenhagen, living in copenhagen, nature, norway, pictures, sweden. Comments: None

As mentioned in yesterday’s entry, there is more to see and do than Bellevue Beach if you get off at Klampenborg Station. If you head west from the station you will soon find yourself in a forest. This area is known as Dyrehaven or The Deer Park in English. There are supposed to be thousands of deer living in these forests but we didn’t see any. That’s OK, though, as we see plenty of deer back home.

After a nice walk you’ll find yourself at Bakken, the world’s oldest amusement park. There is a history of the park display, but it was all in Danish so I didn’t get all the details. I think I read that in the early days there weren’t any rides, per se. Rather there were jugglers and other circus-type acts. Most of the rides didn’t seem to be more than a decade or two old, but some of them were quite old and very unique.

On one ride you have to manually pedal a swan around a track. In another you are in a Viking Ship loaded with water cannons that actually work. Not only are the other riders firing on you but the ride itself will hose you down good. No one seemed to make it off of that ride anywhere near dry.

The park is free to get in, but the all-day ride ticket sets you back as much as Tivoli. Food seemed to be cheaper. Bakken was more crowded than Tivoli–maybe just because it isn’t as spread out (not that Tivoli is spread out compared to amusement and theme parks in the U.S.).

On our way back to the train station we road in a horse-drawn carriage.

Posted on August 4th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: amusement parks, copenhagen, living in copenhagen, pictures, tivoli. Comments: None

Our third beach adventure in Denmark was to Bellevue Beach just north of Copenhagen. You could probably ride a bike there as it’s only about 10 miles north of the city center, but we took the train to Klampenborg Station. The beach can almost be seen from the station. It is a very short, 2-minute walk to the east from the train.

You can see the Oresund Bridge, linking Denmark and Sweden, in the background of the above picture.

There was lots of nudity but I don’t think this is technically a “nude beach.” Most of the people there were young, but the naked people were mostly old–not a real pretty sight. I say nude, but it was mostly just topless individuals.

The beach itself was nothing special. The sand is better at Gilleleje. The crowds are usually smaller at Amager Strand. If you like a crowded beach, to people watch, or to be watched, then this is the beach for you. Otherwise, there are probably better choices on Zealand. What helped to make this beach special, though, are the things you can do nearby. Stay tuned to tomorrow’s entry for more on that subject.

Posted on August 3rd, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: beach, copenhagen, living in copenhagen, pictures. Comments: None