|
We took the train to Denmark, and spent a few
days there. Eric greets one of the locals, a rather small draft horse.
|
|
There is a sort of town square in the middle,
with this fountain in the center. It was too cold for the fountain to
run, but it was pretty cool anyway. It took me a long time to figure
out what's going on in the statue, but it is a statue of a bull goring a
sea monster. I'm sure there's a story here somewhere.
|
|
Four winged lizards gaze placidly on the scene.
|
|
We were able to ascertain that they are girl lizards, though.
|
|
The sea monster has lots of baby sea monsters
perched on it. The whole thing has a lot of pigeons perched on it, but
I don't think they were part of the original design.
|
|
There is also a large government building on
the same square. It might be a church, actually, it's hard to tell.
But it definitely has a rather bishop-looking figure inlaid with gold on
the front, with some pigeons swinging in for a closer look.
|
|
Denmark had the first Europeon erotic art
museum. It costs about four times as much to get in as the one in
Amsterdam, but the displays are slightly better and often more
educational. Here they have a life-size model of a "Dixi Bar." As the
text explains: "Dixi Bar in the 50'ties was the head-quarters for
american soldiers on leave from their bases in Germany. The girls that
were hanging out in Dixi Bar, were known as 'the american girls', a girl
bringing joy after the war. They haven's excisted neither before nor
after. When a G.I. was on leave in Copenhagen, he usually stayed with
one lady - and she stayed with him. The girls were the soldiers guides
round the night-life of the city, to places like Jomfrulmret, City Bar,
Evergreen, Silver Dollar and Maxim Bar. The girls didn't charge money,
but the soldiers paid for food, drinks, and cigaretts, gave them
presents and paid for hotels, taxis and other 'necessaties'." (spelling
and grammar copied, too.)
|
|
Some of the displays were less educational,
but still interesting. This sculpture, on a rotating pedastal, seemed
like the perfect piece for an erotic art museum.
|
|
It is technically
interesting (interweaving the bodies to create a face), undeniably
pornographic, and also implies some deeper meaning - after all, what's
really on any guy's mind most of the time?
|
|
The other interesting sculpture in the museum
was this one. It is entitled "Terminator" and suggests a better use for
cybernetic technology.
|
|
This is a Danish coin circa 1771. The images
on either side were re-configured to be suggestive, and the text referred to a
political scandal taking place at the time. The circulation of such
coins helped to popularize the scandal and poke fun at the royalty
involved.
|
|
"What are you doing in the kitchen, Honey?"
"Oh, just whipping something up."
This was a "sexual aid" prior to electricity.
|
|
Somehow, we learned about Pythagoras, Aristotle, and Plato
in school, but they never mentioned these guys...
|
|
Perhaps part of the justification for the
admission price is the 12-TV theater of porn. Each TV displays a
different porn movie, so odds are good you can find one that you
actually want to watch. The six screens across the top display
advertisements.
|
|
A giant gold penis marks the way out, in case you should lose your way.
|
|
Another strange animal on the streets of
Copenhagen.
|
|
One definitely got the impression that Denmark
was against the war, even though the Danish government was one of the
first to throw in their support for the US effort in Iraq. If you look
carefully, the graffiti in the middle of the kiosk says "Fuck Bush."
|
|
A group is handing out leaflets and soup in
front of the giant spider.
|
|
A full-scale protest is forming in front of
the Tivoli. Note the flag with skulls instead of stars.
|
|
The march leaves from the square to
demonstrate in the streets of Copenhagen.
|
|
Further down the street, the Women in Black
hold signs protesting the war. Once translated, the slogans are
familiar - "No blood for oil" and "War is not the answer."
|
|
Protest is, appearently, nothing new to
Denmark. This metal rendition of the statue of "liberty" is full of
symbolism - the star of David around the bottom, the missiles in her
crown, holding chains in one hand and a staff in the other with a cross
on one end and the sickle (as in hammer and sickle) on the other. This
sculpture stands outside of Christiana.
|
|
Pictures aren't allowed inside Christiana,
which is really too bad, because there's plenty to see. Christiana is a
hippie commune that took over a disused military base on the edge of
Copenhagen in the 1960's. They declared themselves separate from the
rest of Denmark, refusing the social services and laws of the rest of
the country in favor of self-sufficiency. There are around 1000
residents of Christiana, and despite some problems they seem to have
done fairly well overall. There are few cars in Christiana, people
generally walk wherever they need to go. Most residents have jobs
outside of Christiana, but some work inside to maintain the gardens and
run the local shops. The original residents took over the old military
buildings as residences, but over the years many people have built their
own houses. Not surprisingly, the houses rarely follow any traditional
design. One has the top floor about twice as large as the bottom, held
up by pillars. One has six or seven different levels of roofs, all
sloped at different angles. One had a huge semicicular solarium jutting
off of it, whose roof sloped gently from house-height in the middle to
ground level at the points.
|
|
The current conservative government of Denmark
despises Christiana, a problem which is complicated by the fact that the
disused military base that was on the edge of Copenhagen in the 60's is
now in the middle of town, and has become very valuable real estate.
Christiana's situation is further complicated by the fact that its
population is growing older - most of them are in their 50's and 60's
now - and they are beginning to eye the socialized medical care and
other benefits of living in Denmark. I don't know if Christiana has the
will to fight, but it is common to see signs saying "Bevar Christiana" -
Save Christiana - throughout Copenhagen.
|
|
I must admit to having cheated and taken a
couple of pictures inside Christiana - but these small boats seemed to
sail about the lake without any guidance or reason, accompanied only by
a swan. Neither the boats nor the swan seemed to object to having their
picture taken.
|
|
Drowned bicycles were actually a more common
sight in the canals of Amsterdam, but this one had the lighting such
that I could actually photograph it. You know there's got to be a story
behind something like this...
|
|
Even the clocktower outside of Christiana
seems cooler than average.
|
|
It is strange where one finds poetic symbolism. The mermaid
with a GREAT BIG diamond ring, luring sailors to their death.
|
|
Before we left Copenhagen, I found this
unusually decorative sink in the women's room at a pub.
|