Author: Grubb

Post by Grubb. After our train ride over the bridge from Copenhagen to the Malmo Central station, we took a hike over some canals to the More Hotel in the Vastra Hamnen district.  Although the weather was beautiful, I found myself blundering along the wide thoroughfares periodically stopping to check my whereabouts as if Ella and…

Post by Grubb. When I grew up in Chicago in the early fifties my parents outfitted our apartment with Danish modern furniture.  Spare two piece curved blond wood chairs held together by tubular steel, kidney shaped blond wood coffee tables, a long canvas stretched lounge chair that rocked on wooden runners, and a simple easy chair…

Post by Grubb. As we were walking to the Danish Design Museum (after our expedition to see the giants) we passed an art gallery with strong feelings towards corporate advertising.

Post by Grubb. For a moment I thought I had come across Olaf Oesterplunk’s gravestone.

Post by Grubb. And you’re Alexander Brun, you name the museum you’re having built The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.   The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is considered to be another Danish architectural landmark.  From the outside at the small courtyard entrance, the museum looks like a provincial French farmhouse recently renovated by a rock star…

Post by Grubb. Our last trek of this cold and windy day took us out to Langelinie Promenade where the statue of Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid is perched on a rock by the water of a large inlet.  The closer we got to the water, the more the wind tried to blow us back to…

Post by Grubb. Touring Copenhagen’s National Gallery took me through century after century of European painting and there was nothing wrong with that especially when I ran across an unexpected Hieronymous  Bosch. But there’s only so much appreciation I can muster for the allegorical and royal before I want to explode it all in modern smithereens.  Matisse…

Post by Grubb. Lauded by the Danish in the later part of the 19th century when he was alive, Bloch’s reputation tanked when modernism hit the scene.  His emotionally charged depictions of Christ and Prometheus didn’t prefigure any of the new 20th century ‘isms and seemed hopelessly out of date.  But now there is an entire exhibit…

Post by Grubb. I looked out the window this morning and didn’t need a weather report to know the wind was up. No bathers today.

Post by Grubb. This is an apartment building down the street from where we’re staying.  It has an extensive view of the inlet where the young folk were swimming yesterday. Keeping up with the circular theme.

Post by Grubb. Whether it’s chocolate dipped or sugar covered, the pastry selection at the bakeries here in Copenhagen are mouth watering. Olaf would have filled a basket; I settled for a raisin bun.

Post by Grubb Scrolling through yesterday’s photos I realized that my shots of Copenhagen’s Circular Bridge didn’t do it justice. What do you think?  Does it amaze?

Post by Grubb. So outside the Rosenberg Castle Ella says to me, why don’t I get a picture of you standing in front of the guard hut?  Sure, I think to myself, it sounds like something Olaf Oesterplunk would do while scoffing at the King.  I barely began striking a pose before the actual guard, dressed in…

Post by Grubb. Two great-greats on my mother’s side immigrated to America from Denmark in the late 1840s.  So here I am in the old city section of Copenhagen and maybe it’s my uneven footing on the cobblestone streets, like Proust tripping over loose paving in the Guermantes courtyard, but I begin to feel swayed by…

Post by Grubb. The next architectural gem that I was determined to find was Copenhagen’s Circle Bridge on the Christianshavn Canal.  It is exactly that: a small wooden bridge tressed from above with a spray of wire cables.  When we got there Ella asked where it was.  “You’re standing on it,” I told her.  I got the look.  The circle…