Arken

Last weekend we went to see the "Sculptures of the American Dream" exhibition at Arken, a modern art museum south of Copenhagen. It was a bit disquieting and comforting at the same time to walk among these life-size figures that look so familiar. Several pieces were set up in ways where it required a double-take to determine if they were part of the exhibit or museum visitors. The style was called "hyper-realism" and we left debating whether it was really art. After considering it further, I came to the conclusion that if it makes you think, it's probably art. Equally enjoyable (or maybe more) than the exhibit was the cafe. We've noticed that most of the museums in Denmark have excellent food available at their cafes. Highlights in our museum food experiences include Frederiksborg Castle, Louisiana, the Workers' Museum, and now Arken. We only had sandwiches, but they were delicious and accompanied by a beautiful view of the sea.

We're looking forward to returning to the area around Arken this summer. There's a beach and lots of well-marked cycle paths. To get to the museum, we took the train and walked 2.1 km from the station to the museum on a dedicated cycle/walking path. It was very easy to find, but not easy to walk into the steady strong wind with temperatures at or around freezing. It had occurred to me on the train ride that I could have driven; that thought reoccurred frequently during the walk. In any case it was good exercise, the walk back to the station was very easy with the wind at our back, and I didn't lose my excellent parking space...

Olsen Banden

Our entertainment this weekend was watching the first Olsen Banden movie. The Olsen Gang is a made up of three guys who, from the two films we've seen so far, carry out different capers to steal something very valuable and run off to Mallorca to enjoy their newfound wealth. There were 14 films in all, all of which follow the same pattern. We had to watch the CD with subtitles for hearing-impaired Danes, since there were no English subtitles. There is a lot of physical humor, so we there wasn't much lost there. It's also a chance to see scenes of Denmark from the past including old cars and different sites in Copenhagen and other towns.

Otherwise, we're both recovering from colds (again). We had a big social weekend planned with a visit Friday with a couple for whom we were planning to cat-sit, a dinner this evening with another couple, and lastly Monday dinner with our former Danish instructor. We've rescheduled things and hopefully we can be healthy for the next go-round.