The main event of the last week of February was a 3-day trip to Copenhagen, a city which I visit 2-3 times each year for personal reasons. This time, I was going there for work–I was giving a speech at the launch of the Danish Design Panel, and also met with people from the Danish IP office. But of course I had some free time as well, and took advantage of the opportunity to meet with friends.
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But first, our Sunday lunch with friends, also the four-legged variety:
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The plato fuerte, as we say here:
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Feeding the hungry:
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Continuing the dog theme, now on Monday evening in the vestibule of the supermarket:
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On Wednesday morning, I flew to Copenhagen, checked into my hotel and then ventured out for a long walk around the Vesterbro neighbourhood. Vesterbro used to be a working class area, later it became known for drugs, crime and prostitution, but today it is thoroughly gentrified but still with a sort of authenticity. This is the “New Theatre” which is not that new, having been opened in 1908:
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I walked up the main street of the neighbourhood, Vesterbrogade, stopping to take a look at this gate with fancy lighting:
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I then walked back to the main pedestrian street, Strøget, where I happened upon a small group of misguided people demonstrating in support of the Canadian right wing truckers:
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One of the many squares along Strøget, Amagertorv, in the magic light around dusk:
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After dark, I could enjoy the many light installations around the city, part of the CPH Light Festival:
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I had a lunch appointment on Thursday at noon, so I decided to use the morning to visit my parents’ graves. On the way to the cemetery, I passed this small memorial, installed here in 1969 to commemorate Danish generosity towards the “Vienna children”. After World War I several thousand children from Austria were brought to Denmark to help them recover from the deprivations of the war. A smaller number were similarly welcomed after World War II. Most of them retained links to Denmark for the rest of their lives:
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My mother’s grave. When she died in 2001, my sister and brother-in-law made this combined bench/storage case so that my father could sit there and reflect when he visited. After he died 3 years later, it just became a place to store stuff like candles. A few years ago it was damaged by accident by the gardeners who look after the grave, but I don’t mind since I never sit on it anyway:
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Having done my filial duties, I took the metro back to my hotel, changed into my suit and went to the event where I had the honour of delivering the keynote speech. There was a good audience of over 100 people:
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Afterwards, I listened to the other speakers who were actually quite interesting:
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During the break, I explored the building a bit. It housed a Danish legal society of some sorts. The designers clearly liked the yellow colour scheme:
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My work done, I went to the hotel, changed back into human clothes, and made my way to my friend Beata’s home. She lives in a semi-posh neighbourhood which is the home to several embassies, among them the Russian one. As I walked from the train station to her place, I stopped to photograph the demonstration in front of the Russian embassy, protesting the invasion of Ukraine which the Russians had started that morning:
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I spent the rest of the evening with Beata and her husband Ricardo, sitting in their kitchen, drinking beer, and enjoying a nice meal:
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My flight home to Alicante departed in the afternoon, so I had the morning free to enjoy the rainy streets of the city. I first walked to Christiansborg, site of the Danish Parliament but also the royal stables. On festive occasions, the Queen travels around Copenhagen in a carriage, and the horses need their practice and exercise:
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It started raining, but it was just as well, since the main objective of my walk was the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a great art museum founded in the 19th century by the founder of Carlsberg, thus allowing me to feel virtuous when I drink beer. The Winter Garden is in the centre of the complex, a wonderful place to sit and relax:
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Glyptoteket has a large permanent collection of art, ranging from antiquity to the 21st century, but I was there to see a couple of special exhibitions. In particular the one by French painter Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), a fascinating woman who started as a model for some of the most famous French painters of the day before taking up the brush herself:
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An employee speaks with a visitor:
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Around noon I walked back to my hotel, picked up the suitcase I had left there, and took the train to the airport for my flight home. In the departure hall there are statues of two travellers looking at the check-in counters below. This was my last photo in Copenhagen this time around:
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Back home on Friday evening, and then the weekend. On Saturday I made one of my favourite dishes, baked marinated cod fillets Moroccan-style (yes, they are down there under the layer of cherry tomatoes, peppers and kalamata olives):
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And on Sunday morning, I was doing what I do on weekend mornings, out in the mountains on my bike, this time on one of my favourite routes, between Aigües and Relleu:
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At the highest point of the route, altitude around 500 meters, there is a nice view of the road:
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And the mountains, with Benidorm in the far distance:
More photos from my walking around Copenhagen can be seen here, and I have also made a separate gallery from my visit to Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.