Tag Archives: displays

Taking Time Out in Scandi-Noir Country

Off-Season Relaxation in Ystad, Sweden

Needing a break from art and design museums, we decided to get off the highway for two nights in Ystad, Sweden after we crossed The Bridge (yes, the one in the Scandi-Noir television series) and headed south from Malmo.

Just as we were leaving Aarhus, Denmark, the skies turned dark and ominous and we drove through heavy burst of rain and hail. The green-tinged sky looked as if tornadoes could drop out of it at any moment.

Fortunately, the weather cleared by the time we reached the border of Denmark and Sweden and we had a pleasant drive for the rest of the day.

©Deborah Harmes. Tornado-like clouds forming outside of Aarhus, Denmark in autumn.

©Deborah Harmes. Signs on the E20 heading into Copenhagen, Denmark, then across “The Bridge” into Malmo, Sweden.

Below is the Oresund Bridge — the one featured in the Swedish-Danish co-production television series The Bridge. Some tips for those who travel this way, there is a Border Force booth that is manned by police at the end. For the first time since we’ve been travelling in mainland Europe, we were required to produce our passports — and the fee to cross the bridge is over €50. That was a bit unexpected!

©Deborah Harmes. The Oresund Bridge — just under 8km or 5 miles long. This structure spans the Oresund Strait, a body of water between Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmo, Sweden. Best known to fans of the Scandi-Noir television series “The Bridge.”

I needed to catch up on some writing and photo editing and a couple of days by the Baltic Sea in the off-season sounded quite relaxing. It was — and we ended up staying for five and a half days, not two.

Fatigue had caught up with us. After two-plus weeks in England, we had crossed the North Sea on a Stena Line ship, debarked in the Netherlands, and driven on to Germany. Our next stops were in Kolding, Denmark for a visit to the Trapholt Museum and to Aarhus, Denmark and the AROS Museum.

Getting in and out of the van multiple times a day, whether to have a meal, see one of the sights, or just stretch our legs, was getting really tiresome.

The cottage I had rented more than met our expectations — it exceeded them with the attention to detail that the owners had paid when they renovated it. We had a fully-equipped kitchen and could cook for ourselves, removing the need to go out to restaurants or bring back sandwiches or salads. The beds were comfy, the neighbourhood was quiet, and the hot tub on the back deck was a genuine bonus.

©Deborah Harmes. Cottage in a seaside setting in Ystad, Sweden.

For someone who is so research-minded, I had done ZERO research into things to do in the area. So it was a very pleasant surprise to discover that there was a movie and television studio in Ystad — Ystad Studios — where the 40-plus episodes of the Scandi-Noir crime series Wallander had been filmed. Portions of the series The Bridge were also produced there. Some of the sets from each of those shows, plus some movies we had never heard of, had been preserved to form a tour. What fun!

©Deborah Harmes. The main Film iSkane building of Ystad Studios in Yestad, Sweden. This was the headquarters for the 40+ episodes of the Swedish crime series, Wallander.

Off-season travelling often means less-crowded conditions. But we never anticipated having the entire studio tour area to ourselves. Below are some images from that tour. And yes, I know it’s cheesy, but we both enjoyed sitting in one of the leather chairs from the Wallander series and taking pictures to capture the moment.

©Deborah Harmes. Wallander’s Mail Slot at the Ystad Studios tour in Sweden.

©Deborah Harmes. Set of the Police Meeting Room for the crime series Wallander. Ystad Studios in Sweden.

©Mark Harmes. Deborah Harmes sitting in the fictional crime detective Kurt Wallander’s chair at the studio tour in Ystad, Sweden.

©Deborah Harmes. Part of the small display for The Bridge-Bron at the Ystad Studios tour in Sweden.

©Deborah Harmes. Signed scripts and photos from the cast of The Bridge-Bron at Ystad Studios in Sweden.

©Deborah Harmes. Kenneth Branaugh in the BBC English language version of Wallander.

©Deborah Harmes. Mark Harmes on the set of a children’s sci-fi series at Ystad Studios in Sweden.

An added bonus to staying put for several days was that Mark finally had a chance to ride his new bike someplace other than the congested roads of Essex in England!

©Deborah Harmes. Mark Harmes riding his bike through the woods and beachside roads of Ystad, Sweden.

NEXT UP — some views of the Baltic seacoast at Ystad, Sweden.

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©Deborah Harmes 2007-2022 and ©Mark Harmes 2007-2022
©A Wanderful Life 2007-2022
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Art, Design, and Autumn in Aarhus, Denmark

48 Hours In A Lovely Small City

After leaving Kolding and our wonderful visit to the Trapholt, Museum, we took a less than two-hour drive north to Aarhus to see yet another Danish museum that is primarily dedicated to modern art and design.

Before our arrival, we hadn’t known that Arne Jacobsen, one of our favourite Danish designers, was one of the architects for the City Hall and Clock Tower opened in the early 1940s in Aarhus during World War II.

We had intentionally chosen an apartment that was a short 7-minute walk to the museum, allowing us to park the car and not worry about driving in the city. Mark took a few early morning walks while I was still sleeping, so a sprinkling of his pictures are included below.

The AROS Museum’s contemporary interior is housed in the 2004-built fourth version of the museum. The original was founded in 1859. Due to copyright issues, you will notice that I have not included any images of the artwork within the galleries.

The ring of coloured glass on the top of the building is a walkway that allows you to have a full view of the city all around you.

The exterior of the AROS Museum in the heart of Aarhus, Denmark.

Coloured glass rooftop walkway at the AROS Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

Stepping through the doors of AROS, we were presented with an array of levels and lashings of bold phrases painted on the walls.

Interior of the AROS Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

Accessibility is never an issue within this museum since there are glass elevators as well as curved ramps of easy-to-use stairs.

Spiral ramps connect the interior levels of the AROS Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

AROS also has a multi-area cafe and shop on the ground floor.

Entry to the restaurant inside the AROS Museum in Aarhus, Denmark.

As we left the museum that evening, I turned around to see what the building would look like when it was lit up at night. It was equally as delightful as during the daytime.

Night view of the exterior of the AROS Museum with its landmark coloured glass walkway atop the building.

Below are some of the wonderful discoveries that Mark made on his morning walks. Enjoy!

Public art in Aarhus, Denmark. A metal sculpture of a man in a suit with his bicycle.

The near-empty canalside streets of Aarhus, Denmark in the early morning.

A wonderfully funny pedestrian crossing light with an illuminated Viking in a helmet carrying a battle axe and shield.

©Deborah Harmes. Painted signage — “it’s over” — on the wall of a passageway leading to an exit.

COPYRIGHT
©Deborah Harmes 2007-2019 and ©Mark Harmes 2007-2019
©A Wanderful Life 2007-2019
Please respect the words and images on this page.
All rights reserved.

Almhult, Sweden and the World of IKEA

It couldn’t have been any greyer — flat skies and a persistent thin drizzle keeping everything damp to the touch outside. But we had a destination in mind — the IKEA Museum in Almhult, Sweden — located in the original 1950s building that had been the first store in the retail empire.

The exhibits are spread out over several floors, but the entire experience moves at a sensible pace when compared to the slower-paced decision making necessary when shopping in one of their retail stores.

Levels of exhibits at the IKEA Museum in Almhult, Sweden — the original 1950s store in the IKEA empire.

The museum’s purpose is to explain the origins and history behind the founding of IKEA and why the harsh economic conditions of the region, both before World War II and immediately afterwards, had contributed to the ideas that fermented inside the head of Ingvar Kamprads.

Interestingly, the museum goes back to the rural poverty of the mid-1800s, a time that saw tens of thousands of Swedes emigrating in hopes of a better life, usually to the United States of America.

Once the exhibit arrives at the pre-war years of the 1930s, it very truthfully reveals that Kamprad’s beloved grandmother was a devoted follower of Hitler and believed in his cause. Fortunately, although Kamprad himself flirted with those ideas as a young teenager, he soon proved that his destiny was to empower Swedish society as a whole through good design at a fair cost.

Watching a documentary segment at the IKEA Museum in Almhult, Sweden.

The exhibits that showed how the building must have looked in 1958 when it opened were particularly interesting. There was nothing there that we wouldn’t have had in our own home today.

1958 Photo Mural & Furniture Juxtaposition-IKEA Museum in Almhult, Sweden.

A beautiful showroom demonstrating the evolution of modern design ideas at the IKEA Museum in Almhult, Sweden.

We arrived at lunch time after I needed to sleep in a bit (chronic insomnia struck again!) and headed straight for the meatballs. Mark were the classic ones, but mine were salmon instead.

Deborah Harmes eating lunch at the IKEA Museum in Almhult, Sweden.

The lounge area of the cafe had a gas-effects fireplace and it was a cozy place for the informal business meetings we saw being conducted.

Business meeting being conducted in front of the fireplace at the IKEA Museum cafe in Almhult, Sweden.

It’s a very pleasant museum and the historical aspects of the exhibits allow the visitor to understand the background history that eventually created the global powerhouse that is the IKEA retail empire. Highly recommended!

A windowfront display of green glass in the shop at the IKEA Museum in Almhult, Sweden.

Deborah Harmes is a freelance writer, editor, and photographer and may be found at http://www.deborahharmes.com — Linkedin — Twitter — Instagram — Alamy photographic portfolio.

Marching Through History in Amsterdam

How small they were, those suits of armor. How diminutive were the heroes that defended the realm and bore that metallic outer layer upon their arms and chests. Marching, marching — doing what was expected of them.

Suits of Armor

Suit of Armor

I was surprised when I stood quite close to several of the exhibits and realized that the men who wore those metal suits were, in many cases, quite a bit smaller of frame and shorter of stature than most contemporary 20th or 21st century women. And these tiny men fought quite furious battles on land and sea to conquer lands or defend their homes. They were certainly smaller than I am and I’m not a very big person at 5 and 1/2 feet tall.

Perhaps it was the gloomy palette of the winter day outside and the icy-gusty rain, but between the paintings and exhibits of military life or the life aboard a sailing ship in both the Rijksmuseum yesterday afternoon and the Amsterdam Historisch Museum today, I experienced a strong sense of sadness for those lives that may have had intense boredom or bodily discomfort layered into their daily existence. I actually shuddered at one particularly vivid picture of two ships, side by side, engaged in a fiery, bloody battle. None of it seemed remotely stirring or the least bit grand or glamorous.

Exterior of the Rijksmuseum

Our afternoon at the Rijksmuseum was quite pleasant in spite of the mid-winter crowds and it was marvelous to revisit the work of Rembrandt after two decades, see his evolution as a painter, and compare the work of his contemporaries.

Corbel known as The Milkmaid

Wooden statue from 15th century

1960s-70s Kitchen

For me personally, the most enjoyable parts of our visit to the Amsterdam Historisch Museum were the fine wooden carvings that were displayed on the exterior of buildings during the 15th through 17th centuries and the exhibits on daily life in Amsterdam. There were cross sections of model houses that showed how the citizens of this city lived in various eras and set-ups of entire period rooms.

Some of the exhibits were both difficult to view and eerily fascinating at the same time. We had walked through room after room, era after era until we reached the top floor of this large museum and we came upon an entire series of displays that illustrated what life was like for Amsterdam citizens during the 5 year long German occupation of World War II. It was compelling viewing and I have included a few photos below of propaganda posters that can be enlarged if you click on them.

Picture of Judenstrasse during German occupation

German Propaganda Posters

This is a particularly comprehensive one-city-only historical museum that is housed in a splendidly large building. The exhibits are quite easy to understand, even if you don’t speak a word of Dutch! In fact, almost all of the museum has both Dutch and English captioning. A visit to this museum is a highly recommended way to spend several hours in Amsterdam.