Day Three in Copenhagen: Another Art Gallery (why not?) and the National Museum to see the Vikings - Exploring Holland, Germany and Denmark on a Recumbent Tandem - CycleBlaze
Day Three in Copenhagen: Another Art Gallery (why not?) and the National Museum to see the Vikings
The sun is shining and we have decided to focus our attention on the centre of Copenhagen and visit Ny Carlsberg Glypotek Art Gallery Museum, The National Museum with its special Vikings exhibit, then off to Tivoli to have some fun. The National Museum has an excellent reputation and is one of the top attractions in Copenhagen. We are impressed that entrance is free - the only cost is to visit a special exhibit. We remember the days in Canada, when as residents we could also visit our local museums free of charge. The Dan Hostel has proven to be a wonderful place to stay. Location, facilities, comfort and accommodating helpful staff have won us over. As this is our 3rd day of riding the train, we are beginning to recognize fellow commuters - we are beginning to feel at home here.
We stayed in Ishoj, a few km out of Copenhagen and took this train in to town everyday. As nearly everybody rides a bike, there is plenty of space for bikes to come on board.
The central train station in Copenhagen. Old train stations like this have much character and history. This is a quiet time in the morning and there is only one cycist in the picture. Later in the day, the station will be full of cyclists with their bikes going home on the train.
We went on a few different buses trying to find a bike shop and chanced upon an amazing bakery - what a delicious sandwich this is; Danish meatball filling called frikadelle. local beet relish, creme fraiche dressing and fresh baked buns.
The founder of Carlsberg Brewery, Carl Jacobsen had a passion for art, sculpture and the cultures of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. The museum houses an impressive collection of Danish, European and French art and antiquities of the Mediterranean. The museum was named after his brewery with "Glypotek" (collection of sculpture) added to the name. Originally the collection was housed at his accommodation at the brewery but was moved in 1906 to the current Glypotek. Like the National Art Gallery, modern Danish architecture has recently added a new dimension to its unique architectural setting. A special feature is the exquisite Winter Garden under a glass dome in the middle of the building.
We went to Ny Carlsburg to see the notable French collection but it was not available for viewing. Gauguin was married to a Danish woman and this museum contains a large collection of Gauguin's masterpieces. Initially we were disappointed, but the gallery offered so much to see that we were glad we visited the museum.
Charmaine RuppoltI went to a fantastic violin concert there! The guy playing literally worked up a sweat when playing - -his shirt was DRENCHED at the end!! Reply to this comment 6 months ago
Rodin - we are so lucky to have had the opportunity to see Rodin sculptures on this trip in Copenhagen and at the Koller Muller Museum in Holland. Interestingly, both museums represent the passion and interest of an individual collector and their desire to share it with others.
An enthusiastic, yet perhaps misinformed visitor to the Viking exhibit at the National Museum. We learned that horns on a Viking helmet are not authentic, but are a recent artistic rendering by a French artist in the 1800's.
A figure of Christ, showing wounds only on his hands and once again looking strong. The Viking Kings wanted their people to convert to Christianity and preferred a powerful image rather than the typical Western image of Christ on the cross.
After Christianity was adopted, weapons were not allowed to be taken to church. These "long" pins were used to secure their robes and came in handy as a discrete weapon if arguments arose.
The stein in the front right caught our eye - the traditional pottery from the WesterWald region of Germany where we visited the Reitz family. Such beautiful pottery.
This section of the museum chronicles "stories of the people" and has an excellent overview of recent Danish life. This exhibit shows the Pusher Street section of Copenhagen where a blind eye was turned to the sale of hash. Squatters took over a military camp on the eastern side of Christianshavn and called it the free state of Christiania. Today, this area still exists but a deadline has been given by the government that the residents of this area must now buy the land by 2018 for 36 million kroner, thus ending 30 years of squatting. Today, the open sale of soft drugs is banned.
We've had a great time here learning about the Vikings and the history of Denmark. Vikings often have a limited reputation as plunderers and pirates - which they were - but they also were explorers, settlers and merchants...an integral part of Nordic history.
Such a bike friendly culture...we watched this taxi stop for this couple and we wondered where the bike would go...the driver grabbed two bars from his trunk and he had instant bike racks.
