Tag Archives: visit

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.

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

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

Family Time in the USA

It’s been an amazingly busy three weeks here in the USA and we are winding down to our last few days with more than a tinge of wistfulness. My sisters, Karen and Cindy, flew up to Washington State from California to come and visit with us while we were at my son Chris’s house.

The line-up below is as follows — my youngest sister Cindy, my next-youngest sister Karen, yours truly, my son Chris, and his darling wife Diane.

Family time in Tacoma, Washington with Cindy Hatton, Karen Heilbronner, Deborah Harmes, Chris Fowler, & Diane Fowler

On Friday afternoon we all went to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Here are some random pictures from that wonderful family-oriented museum.

My son Chris and his youngest son Ryan

My sister Karen Heilbronner helping my grandson Ian with an exhibit

My sisters Karen Heilbronner and Cindy Hatton helping my grandson Ryan with an exhibit

Ryan working with magnets and iron shavings

Mark and Diane after a wee visit to the gift shop

Stay tuned for another post with more images of this marvelous museum in Seattle!

Beautiful Bouncy Boys in Washington State

Time for some more family frolics — this time in Washington State. We took a wonderful 3 and 1/2 day trip across the country on an Amtrak train — and I will have some images from that trip in an upcoming post. Now we’re in Lakewood, Washington just south of Tacoma visiting with my son Chris, his wife Diane, and their two little bouncy bundles named Ian (aged 5) and Ryan (aged 3).

All of the boys were out front the other day when it was time for Ian to head off to school. Each boy had some quick chats with Mark and then Chris walked Ian down to the bus and went on board with him. Know why? School buses have safety belts now and he was making certain that Ian was buckled in safely!

Stay tuned for more family frolics in the days ahead. As Mark said the other day, “This certainly is a different kind of travel for us.”

Mark and Ian (age 5) chatting before school

3 year old Ryan chatting with Mark on a rare & sunny Washington State day.

Chris walking Ian down to the school bus before school.

Chris on board the school bus making sure that Ian is buckled into his seatbelt

Day Out At Walden School in Louisville, Kentucky

We are having the most wonderful time visiting with our family in the USA and a particularly wonderful few hours was spent at the Walden School in Louisville, Kentucky where my grandson Johnny is in the 1st grade.

Just have a peek at these classrooms and tell me if you aren’t envious of the children that get to go to school here! It’s a wonderful and nurturing environment that encourages creativity and individuality instead of expecting each child to ‘conform’ to a methodology that might not suit their specific personality or intellect. I am quite pleased that my daughter Jennifer and her husband John are able to send Johnny to this marvelous private school.

We started our visit to the school with a meal in the lunchroom. Walden School actively encourages parents and grandparents to drop in for lunch on ANY day — not just on specific or pre-defined family days. I’ve been suffering from hideous allergy problems since we arrived in the USA due to pollen that is now ‘foreign’ to my body — so that’s why my face and eyes are so puffy in this group shot below taken in Johnny’s school lunchroom.

Mark, Deborah, Johnny, and his mother Jennifer having lunch at the Walden School.

1st Grade classroom at Walden School.

The science classroom for the elementary school. Note the ‘treehouse’ area in both the main classroom and this science room where students can just get away and have some quiet time.

Another section of the science room at Walden School.

Johnny showing the koi pond filled with live fish to Mark.

A phrase that seems to encapsulate the Walden approach to their students

Johnny’s diorama showing the cheetah that he sculpted out of clay. His accompanying report gave information about cheetahs.

Johnny walking back to the classroom after lunch.

Jennifer and her little man — Johnny.

Frolics With Family — Part 1

Have you wondered where Mark and I have been? We’ve been in Louisville, Kentucky after flying from Europe to Iceland to Canada to the USA. And my daughter Jennifer, her charming husband John, and their darling children have been my focus for the last couple of weeks.

This is a VERY quick post because I am sitting in the train station in Portland, Oregon and I have a wifi signal for the first time in days. The Empire Builder train that we travelled on from Chicago to the West Coast didn’t have active wifi. (sigh!) So I am VERY FAR behind on my posts right now.

Here are some shots of my grandchildren Johnny and Elena — and there will be more in the days ahead. We are headed to Tacoma, Washington in 35 minutes to visit with my son and his wife and their 2 children. What a wonderful whirl of activity we are having!

More soon……………