[December 28] Dortmund, Germany: Impressionist Exhibit

Impressionism is my favorite kind of art, so I was excited when C's family decided to go to a popular Impressionist exhibit in a nearby city. It was pretty crowded there! I did enjoy it quite a bit but it would have been better if there weren't so many people. Also, something about going to see art in a museum makes me a bit uncomfortable these days. It feels weird to go to a big building and walk around looking at carefully placed art on a wall. I never used to have this 'problem' until recently. I much rather the art be placed in everyday places, integrated into daily life instead of being put in a big, cold museum.

On a brighter note, here's a pic of me and C taken at lunch that I really like:

[September 3 PART TWO] Copenhagen, Denmark: Museums

I really wanted to check out the WWII museum since it is definitely an interest of mine, so we walked to Churchhillparken whereabouts it was located.

I love the motion captured in this sculpture. Just saw it in the park. Copenhagen seemed obsessed with having epic statues.

A steam powered truck... thing... from WWII.

Inside the WWII museum... some examples of uniform. I am really intimidated by the uniforms of especially the Nazis. They were so imposing and I know to see a tall soldier wearing one with a gun would have been terrifying. At least to me. I can't blame so many people for listening to them. Denmark was indeed occupied by the Nazis, but there were many attempts at sabotage and Denmark managed to save 8,000 Jews by sending them to Sweden.

Afterwards we went to a Danish Design museum. It was MUCH larger than I expected and there was a special wood-working exhibit there. A lot of the pieces were just ridiculous and completely impractical, but I did find this Little Prince book holder that I admired.

Then there was a fashion exhibit as well from a well-known Danish designer (cannot remember her name, lame) from the 1960's.

Some other pieces in the museum that especially caught my attention:

This is especially striking to me and is one of my favorites:

[September 2 PART ONE] Copenhagen, Denmark: Traveling to Copenhagen & Exploring Alone

I thought it would be a shame to be in Denmark for 11 days and not make my way to Copenhagen. Jette very kindly let me use her train pass (which was a lot cheaper, about $40 each way instead of almost $70) and also rode with me to the train station in the morning to make sure I got on the right train! I was admittedly rather nervous to travel and stay there alone.

Here I am on the train. I have a weird look on my face...?

Just a cool bridge I saw from the train:

Decently comfy for the 3-hour ride from Århus to Copenhagen.

Copenhagen!

I stayed in a hostel for 2 nights. Here is Danhostel; it's pretty tall!

It was very clean and seemed pretty new.

Here's what the room I stayed in looked like:

My bed:

The AMAZING view from the room's window! 5-star hotel view?

My first meal in Copenhagen. Delicious and surprisingly reasonably priced compared to everything else I found there. Toast with chicken salad and bacon:

City hall clocktower. Like the Domkirke in Århus, it helped me find my way at times!

A ride at Tivoli, an amusement park:

There were a few stands selling these 'pancakes'... a crepe, to me. I ordered one with nutella on it and it was GOOD!

I wandered around alone a lot on the first day. Honestly, I didn't know where I was or what I was looking at most of the time. Which is really a shame, but even if I had known what each building was, I would definitely have forgotten because it was a whirlwind of amazing-looking buildings.

I visited Thorvaldsen's Museum which was a beautiful building in itself:

SO many statues inside, SO many amazing pieces... SO many lifelike pieces. I wouldn't have been totally surprised if one of the statues had suddenly come to life.

And a very large collection of paintings as well:

One of the most interesting things to me in the museum was the little display pictured below. I have always been curious as to HOW in the world these artists so realistically rendered the human body and this was at least a little insight into that process. Sadly, this was located right by the bathrooms in the basement! (???)