#10

February 29^th-March 6^th

And so it was we went to ♫Copenhagen♪, a city with a name that is just so sing-able (as the city is wonderful). Brilliant art museums, wonderful Smørrebrod, cyclists buzzing to and fro… I have so many happy memories of this city. The architecture is imposing, standing tall and firm with no frills attached. It’s such a contrast to Bonn, but there was something comforting about how somber it was. Something stoic, which seems a million miles away from the succulent, over-the-top, sugary pastries we chowed down on there (garnished with the tastiest strawberries I have ever eaten). The Danes surely are masters of pastry, every cinnamon roll, every fancy piece, (and every strawberry for that matter) I have now can only be destined to be somewhat disappointing. Ignorance is bliss, right?

The David Collection was especially amazing. Spectacularly adorned Mughal daggers, fascinating mythologies, intricate Persian tapestries, and an ancient painting than nonetheless looks like a cheesy boyfriend/girlfriend facebook photo (hehe, some things never change apparently):  

It was really, really spectacular & I highly recommend it. You could spend hours and hours getting lost in there… It also had some pretty cool 18^th century European porcelain worth a look if you’re into teapots. It weirdly reminded my of my grandmother’s drawing room. We also checked out the Glyptotek, which had an amazing collection of Ancient Greek and Egyptian artifacts, if you saw someone swooning it was probably me (hehe). The entire museum was gorgeously designed, just like in Vienna, the museum itself without anything in it could have been, well, a museum.

Traipsing around the botanic gardens and gazing at the statues gives you a sense of how beautiful Copenhagen must be in the midst of Spring & Summer. There was a statue there called the echo (or maybe I called it that, no idea), it made me kind of sad to look around and see there was no response at the opposite end of the garden. Just a little statue calling out, all alone (insert depressing commentary on the deep dark abyss of our lives and loneliness of the human soul, hehe). It’s amazing how art can evoke any sense of emotion from us at all. After all, it is, at its core, just a bronze statue fashioned after a human. Incredible. Rosenborg Castle stands smack-bam in the middle of the Gardens, a fairytale castle peaking out between the trees. The rooms inside are spectacularly adorned, with intricate carvings gazing down from the ceilings. Though, as with a lot of Baroque architecture, half the time the artists just didn’t know when to stop (hehe). Downstairs in the basement was a collection of golden toy soldiers some prince of bygone days had played with, along with toy cannons. And we wonder why there have been so many pointless wars. Spoilt princelings maketh impudent leaders, perhaps?

All in all, a successful weekend trip!

Turrah! Ashleigh

PS: School! So it’s always more difficult to talk about this in retrospect. Stress, anxiety, success, interesting discoveries: they all sort of blend together into an incomprehensible mess. Preparing the Enmodes project was interesting, even though I wasn’t much use I found myself having to think in a totally new fashion. It struck me how my major prepared me for one way of thinking, while another might have prepared me for a totally different one. Anyways, I hope I contributed at least with a positive attitude! Er, maybe somewhat useful.