a ballet fit for a queen

my history of european ballet class took its final trip to the royal danish theatre to see the royal danish ballet's premiere production of la ventana/ the kermesse in bruges. the former was a short, lighthearted and spanish-inspired bournonville piece; the latter was a comic ballet also choreographed by bournonville, following the story of three brothers who receive magic gifts from an alchemist with a stage and backdrop that looked like a massive brueghel painting.

however, while my intention was to lose myself as an audience member one last time to the incredible talent and beauty onstage, my eyes were wandering far too often. for to my right sat nikolaj hübbe, artistic director of the royal danish ballet and a legendary (and super handsome) bournonville dancer himself. he sat, intently watching his dancers, in a perfectly fitted tuxedo, a silver fox. and 20 feet to my left sat another danish icon. as the doors to the theaters closed just before the start of the performance and everyone began to settle into their seats, some sort of commotion caused everyone to hurriedly get up again. i looked around unsure of what was going on to find that not far from me, an older woman, all smiles wearing a pink ball gown and tiny bows in her hair, had walked into the royal box. she looked over the audience and proceeded to seat the entire theatre as she sat down on a plush red velvet chair on top of which was perched a small crown. and so, i watched my final royal danish ballet, at the royal danish theatre, on a pleasant may evening, in copenhagen, with margrethe II, queen of denmark.

the st. kjeld climate district

my danish design class took its second and last field trip to the outer østerbro neighborhood to the st. kjeld district. the area's wide streets, big brick buildings and antique shop signs refer back to an age when this was a real working-class neighborhood. however, this area is currently undergoing a major makeover by becoming copenhagen's very first "climate district". the goal is to give this old neighborhood a new identity with green streets, gardens with flowers, rich wildlife and water channels.

on the website, klimakvarter.dk, acting both as an information portal and a platform for involving citizens, residents can sign up for events, where they can learn about urban farming, green roofs for bicycle sheds and other climate-friendly initiatives. in this way, the residents are becoming personally responsible for the neighborhood's new green identity, giving the area also a social lift. residents working together on the various green initiatives will improve the environment, not only on a climate level, but also on a social level.

museum day

as a break from studying for finals, some of my housemates and i took a field trip to a number of exhibits at various museums around the city. our first stop was at the statens museum for kunst (the national art museum) for an exhibit called "flowers and world views". the exhibition explores a period when individuals were poised between a symbolic and a rather more scientific approach in viewing the world and sheds light on how this was evident in the art of flower painting. it shows how 17^th and 18^th century artists portrayed flowers, which is contingent on history and on how artists view the world.

we also saw the exhibition named “we the people”, which displays a full-scale replica of the statue of liberty has been built at a metal workshop in shanghai. however, the statue has not been welded together to reach its full height, but has rather, been split into approximately 400 fragments that have been scattered across the entire world. fragments including her crown spikes and feet have made it to copenhagen. her feet and toes were smaller than i had expected...

we then visited the danish architecture center, where there is a new exhibition entitled “your harbor at the dac”. this exhibition casts a spotlight on the rapid development of copenhagen’s inner harbor, which has been developing as an increasingly attractive, fascinating and open recreational area, providing the people of copenhagen with a wonderful range of activities and experiences.

from 2013, a total of four new bicycle and pedestrian bridges between nyhavn and christianshavn will make life easier for the many residents and students who cross the harbor entrance on a daily basis. the largest of the bridges is called inderhavnsbroen (the inner harbor bridge), which is being constructed as two retractable cantilever platforms whose decks can be retracted by a sliding mechanism when ships need to pass.

we ended the night with a cup of hot chocolate at a nearby cafe before getting a little more fresh air on the bike home, re-energized for a night of studying.

grød and graves

on a beautiful wednesday morning, my roommate, melissa and i decided to take advantage of the sun and bits of warmth that by chance was visiting the city. we rode our bikes to grød (in nørrebro), a very quaint little cafe tucked in the middle of street, where you can find nothing but endless varieties of porridge on the menu. we opted for the breakfast-like options that included spelt porridge with chestnut puree, apples, raisins, bananas, and toasted almonds. 

seeing that they also offered a variety of lunch and dinner options that included risotto and other seemingly appetizing options, we vowed to return again before the end of the semester. unfortunately, we never made it back.

kirkegaard's grave

h.c. andersen's grave

we continued our day of exploring the areas of the city that we had not seen yet. so we stopped to pick up lunch at the glass market (or torvehallerne), an indoor marketplace with over 80 different shops selling anything from coffee to bread to flowers, fish, cheese, wine, etc. i went with one food option in mind, a duck sandwich that a number of housemates had been raving about. i ordered what is essentially a pulled pork sandwich, but instead of pork, bbc sauce and a flat, doughy bun, my version was made with duck, mustard, and a fresh baguette. with our food items safely tucked into our bicycle baskets, we biked to kirkegaard's cemetery for a picnic. 

this enormous cemetery is the burial site of  countless danish notables as well as an important greenspace in the district. we munched on our food (the duck sandwich was quite tasty) and enjoyed the afternoon in the sun. while it felt slightly odd sitting in what is really a cemetery, but felt just like any public park, many other danes were likewise strolling the well-kept grounds, enjoying lunch or a few beers, taking a stroll, and enjoying the nice day.

czech it out!

i apologize for the lack of posts lately! now that's the weather is finally starting to be kind, i am trying to take avantage of it during my time left in denmark!

prague's main train station 

i left off with my trip to vienna. from there i took a train ride to prague where i met up with eva, another friend from grinnell studying in prague for the semester. we hopped on the metro to her apartment where we met up with all of her housemates for a delicious potluck dinner that got us sufficiently stuffed. afterwards we all went bowling and eva and i stopped at a pub on the way back to the apartment, where i got my first taste of some traditional czech beer.

church of our mother of god before týn

the next morning, eva and i walked to the city center together, and as she headed to class, i made my way down the street to the alphonse mucha museum, which held a number of his beautiful works. mucha was a czech art nouveau painter and decorative artist, known for his distinct style as seen in a number of paintings, illustrations, advertisements, postcards and designs. 

eva and i in front of the astronomical clock
tower, first installed in 1410, making it one
of the oldest clocks still working

old town square

i took a quick turn around the old city before eva and patty (another grinnellian studying in prague) came out of class and made excellent tour guides as they walked with me around prague's main sites and attractions. it was a sunny, hot(!), and overall beautiful day!  

the jan hus memorial, commemorating the 500th anniversary of jan hus' martyrdom

we stopped for lunch/dinner at a little pub "hany bany", where i had a traditional czech meal of fried cheese, a heap of french fries and beer. that night we went to one of prague's many beer gardens, situated on a hill that overlooked the entire city. it was a perfect spot to sit and admire the twinkling lights of the city at night. 

st. charles bridge

the next day we started our day at mama coffee, a cute little coffee shop where i had a delicious bagel with vegetables and hummus (to balance out the less than healthy dinner from the night before) and a perfect coffee in a beautiful ceramic mug.

we continued touring the sites of prague that were a little farther away and first headed toward charles bridge. packed with people, it is prague's all-pedestrian street, where vendors sell a mix of kitchy cartoon drawings and a variety of arts and crafts items. the bridge band, a jazz band of six men playing a banjo, washboard, tuba, trumpet and sax, brought a very lively, yet romantic feel to the bustling and touristy bridge.

prague is no exception with the love locks
along the canal in mala strana 

me, eva, patty and vanessa at the johnlennon wall

after making a wish on one of the statues of st. john of nepomuk, which not only guaranteed my wish, but also a return to prague and good luck, we made it to the other side of the bridge and headed towards the prague castle. 

mucha's stained glass

once at the top we sat for a good while overlooking the city and then went into st. vitus cathedral, which is situated entirely within the prague castle complex. it was so beautiful inside, and the stained glass windows, one of which was entirely mucha's work, were certainly to beat.

we took a walk around the castle's green spaces afterwards, where eva and i had some dance ensemble fun ;) that night, eva, patty and i went out to a bar called "the big leboswki" where we sipped on yummy czech raspberry beers and paid what we wanted for them. needless to say, compared to copenhagen, during my entire stay in prague i felt like i was paying dirt for everything because it was all SO CHEAP.

on my last day, eva had some work to do, so i made my way into the old town again to catch some of the sites and spots i had not yet visited. first on the list was prague's jewish quarter, where some of the most high- end boutiques and flamboyant looking buildings are found next to classically beautiful synagogues and quaint gardens.

the spanish synagogue from the 19th century

the high synagogue from the 16th century

most of the quarter was demolished between 1893 and 1913 as a part of an initiative to model the city on paris. what was left were only six synagogues, the old cemetery and the old jewish town hall. the jewish quarter is now mostly built with buildings from the early 20th century, so it is difficult to appreciate exactly what the old quarter was like when it was reputed to have over 18,000 inhabitants. while i wish i could have seen more of it, i was particularly entranced by the tiny view i got of the old jewish cemetery, which is speculated to have been around for over 1000 years. its ancestor was a cemetery called "the jewish garden", which i think would be a more appropriate name for it now seeing as there are 12 layers of graves in the cemetery, where tombstones sprout in all different directions, each seeming to vie for their own space.

view of the prague castle above the river vltava

from the jewish quarter i walked along the water toward charles bridge, through mala strana, up nerudova street (or kings road) and toward the castle once more while munching on a classic trdelnik, rolled dough wrapped around a stick, then grilled and topped with sugar and walnuts.

my final stop was the kafka museum in mala strana. with various items from kafka's life, including pictures, letters, diary entires, notes and sketches, the museum first takes the viewer through a journey of kafka’s perspective on prague, which contributed myth, obscure magic, and an abhorrence of clarity. the museum then becomes almost a literal metamorphosis as one begins to learn about his many works via a labyrinth of frightening red lights, white tunnels, sound effects and flashing images that created an atmosphere that was so claustrophobic and surreal, i found myself literally running through the exhibit in an attempt to get out. so, i guess the museum did its job? but i wouldn’t say it was the most pleasant experience…

in front of the kafka museum are these statues by the czech artist and sculptor, david cerny. the two male bronze statues pee quotes of famous prague residents with the stream of water. they move realistically with an electric mechanism that swivels the upper part of the body while the penis goes up and down. very odd...

after a lunch of traditional czech bread dumplings, meat, gravy, cucumber salad, and wheat beer, i made it onboard the overnight train that would take me back to copenhagen. i enjoyed 15 hours in my own cabin, where i lounged, looked at the beautiful czech landscape until night, and slept a good 8 hours in a surprisingly comfortable bed. i don't think that was quite the experience most people get on their first overnight train ride, but i could certainly not complain. after the train steward knocked on my door letting me know copenhagen would be the last and final stop the next morning with my complementary breakfast coffee in hand, i made it refreshed and well-rested back to copenhagen on sunday morning. while the weather was certainly cooler in denmark (no surprise there), the sun was shining bright as i returned home with so many wonderful memories from a truly fantastic week.