Carlsberg beer museum, Copenhagen – part 1

We have written up quite a few museums on this blog, for example, big glass boxes like the Der Moderne in Munich, the Islamic Art Museum in Kuala Lumpur, the Mushroom museum in Saumur inside a cave, or the rather odd Schaulager in Basel. There are all kinds of museums around the world, for example, the unexpected Museum of Broken Relations in Berlin which we heard about but did not see.

Well, in Copenhagen, I(Chris) went to the Copenhagen Exbeerience – a beer museum created by Carlsberg where you can first admire and then consume the exhibits.

Located in Vesterbro, the museum is at the heritage site, where J. C. Jacobsen brewed the very first Carlsberg beer. Many of the buildings had its year of erection marked on the entrance.

The first brewery was built in 1847 but burnt down in 1867. It was rebuilt with a steel frame and is now still standing tall, seemingly untouched by time.

Part of the experience is that of an authentic brewery and a beer garden. Food is served naturally alongside the beer in the open space. Too bad I was only there in the afternoon.

In the various buildings, there were self-guided tours with stations where one can learn about the ingredients and the brewing process, and how these affect the flavor. The official brand store is in one of the buildings where one can buy the beers and branded mechandise – T-shirts, caps, etc.  I got a bottle cap opener. I am such a predictable tourist.

One can also get a horse carriage ride around the grounds.

We walked through the stables which were the cleanest I have ever seen.

No odors !

On the grounds of the brewery, there was also a small garden with its own Little Mermaid.

It would be fun for kids to ride around on a horse-drawn carriage.

The museum also houses the world’s largest collection of unopened bottled beer. In 1968 a Danish engineer started collecting unopened beer bottles from every corner of the world.

In the early 1990’s, the collection reached 10,000 bottles and due to the vast number, the collection was moved to the Carlsberg site.

The collection is organized in geographical order followed by breweries and brands.

In 2007, the collection entered the Guiness Book of Records – the collection comprised then 16,384 bottles. On a chalkboard, it was noted that on June 8, 2015, there were 16,879 on display but the total collection comprised 22,558 bottles.

Giant beer bottle labels adorn the walls of the brewery drinking room.

More to come in part 2.Built in 1879 and its twin in 1891.

 

 

Hilarity in names #6

This is no. 6 in a series of posts that is about funny business names or signs that we captured on film. Since we are now living in continental Europe, from time to time we come across English names that makes us laugh.

See Hilarity in names #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5 at the respective link.

“Fatal” restaurant, Budapest, Hungary

Deadly Shop, Catania, Sicily

Less is Less – a bike shop. There was a “More & More” in an earlier post.

Less is More – we suspect one can buy this neon sign from somewhere because we saw another neon sign of similar size and style of script in Vienna last year, and here it is again in Kuala Lumpur. See the other sign here.

Made in World – that’s just about everywhere, right ?

Dive cafe & bar

Funny Boy Kebab

There are more to come …

World Expo 2015, Milano – part 2

Continuing with our tour of Expo 2015 in Milano …   part 1 is here

One of the pavilion that we wanted to see (as we have heard much praise about it) was the Padiglione Giaponne (Japanese Pavilion). But it was so popular that when we found the tail of a long line coiled around the back of the pavilion – we were informed by a notice board that, according to our position in the queue, we were three and half hours from the entrance.

We gave up.

Here is another sign which said that if the line is here, the wait is five hours – that kind of line must have occurred during the weekend. Who can wait that long ?  Crazy. But they are serious, it says – to make the last entrance at 8 pm, the last time to join the queue is at 3 pm !

If you look carefully at the sign, disabled visitors or people with infants have a shorter wait (50 minutes versus 300 minutes). My friends who brought a young child and a baby carriage confirmed the advantage. Only parents are allowed to go in with the child.

The other pavilion where we actually spent some time inside was the South Korean pavilion. The wait was only 1 hour as announced but it was actually less than 1 hour.

The Korean pavilion put on a more hi-tech and simultaneously artsy exhibition.

Kimchi was artfully glorified as a traditional healthful food.

This little boy is not static, it looks like a hologram of some sort.

This exhibit employed two industrial robot to move around the space (silently), turning  and spinning around two giant video screens while the graphics flows back and forth in unison. Nice.

We had dinner at the pavilion, partly because it was about to open (so there was no line outside).

But we wandered how authentic would the restaurant be, given the surroundings. Well, it was run by Bibigo, owned by a chaebol – CJ-Cheiljedang (CJ제일제당) – it was ok.

More corporate speak – “Expo 2015 was also a great laboratory of ideas and insights, an opportunity to rediscover old traditions and to learn about cultures and distant lands, a window on the world of technology and innovation, which has allowed us to peek will be the future of agriculture and food production worldwide.”

Belgium – “a time corridor leading to food’s future”

This is a system of hydroponics and aquaculture where the fish poop in water is directly used to fertilize the vegetables grown under artificial light.

China – “a wheat field blowing in wind reminds us we are part of the planet” – the orange flowers were chrysantheums.

Czech Republic – “nature, innovation, tourism and art … all in harmony beneath the same roof”

Our overall impression is that the idea of the Expo was exciting but its contents were overrated. The actual experience of attending the event was downright exhausting due to the sheer number of visitors and long hours of waiting. Nothing in there was worth waiting for hours after hours standing behind a line of people.

The next Expo will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan with the theme “Future Energy” and Dubai will host Expo 2020 having selected the theme “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”.

Kazakhstan in Milano

Click this link to see all 52 pavilions built by the participating countries, and the 9 clusters which included exhibits by additional countries. One can explore further links to the specific exhibits inside each pavilion. There is really quite a lot to see at this site.

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World Expo 2015, Milano – part 1

In October, we took a tour of Milan and Venice – to see the World Expo 2015 and the 56th International Art Exhibition (La Biennale di Venezia). IT joined us for the Venetian leg of the trip. Here are pictures of the Expo 2015.

The line to enter was not as bad as we thought but there were far too many people everywhere.

 

Pavilion Zero located at the main entrance provides an introduction to the Expo Milano 2015 Site.

Pavilion Zero takes the visitor on a captivating journey to explore how much humankind has produced, the transformation of natural landscape, and the culture and rituals of food consumption

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The exhibition hall had many giant screens – talk about being immersive.

The official statistics indicate over 20 million visitors, more than 150 participants and about 5000 events held in 184 days.

Click this link to see all 52 pavilions built by the participating countries, and the 9 clusters which included exhibits by additional countries. One can explore further links to the specific exhibits inside each pavilion. There is really quite a lot to see at this site.

Germany – “where awareness is raised and transformed into action”

Much of what we have written below came from the official web site. So it may sound a bit “corporate”.

“Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” – Expo Milano 2015 offers an opportunity to reflect upon, and discuss, solutions to the contradictions of the world today.

Feed the Planet, Energy for Life”, was aimed to give concrete answers to the important issues such as sustainable development and food security.

USA –  “Food 2.0 depends on each one of us”

We came across a parade of giant fruits and vegetables mingling with stuffed animals.

We fed ourselves in the pavilion of Tunisia where a couscous bar was found. Nothing special on the menu. But we bought some Tunisian harissa.

Padiglione Italia: le cifre del successo – the host country’s pavilion

Tree of Life – there was a show of lights and water jets every hour – it must be spectacular at night.

UK – “Following the buzz of a bee is easily than expected”

Vietnam – “Beauty birthed from mud”

Skyline of the exhibition grounds. It was not a sunny day (thankfully) so the temperature was not unbearable.

More pictures to come in our next post.

Window shopping at night in Chamonix

Chamonix is a ski resort and in the summer great for hiking. It held the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and has been a popular mountain resort. And it is also a great place to buy skiwear and outfit for any mountain sports.

After dinner one night, we strolled through the main street – the crowd was thinner and the mountains were dark (no ski operation in the summer).

We were curious how many brands of sportswear have their own store here. In case, you are not interested in the shops, we have photos of the mountains here.

Moncler

Patagonia

Rossignol

Unless it is in a major city like New York, most of these brands are not sold in their own stores. They are typically retailed in a specialty sports store that carries various different brands.

Columbia

North Face

All the brands were selling puffy jackets with practically the same design. Perhaps what they stuff the jackets with (polyesters and feathers ?) are different and thus perform more effectively or less ?

Lafuma- Eider

Icebreaker

While Chamonix is touristy and it is definitely not an inexpensive place to buy mountain sportwear (until they are on sale), it does offer the widest selection in a small area.

Mamut

Peak Performance

One can practically walk from one end of the main street to the other end within 20 minutes or less. It must have the highest density of mountain sportswear store in Europe.

Salomon

Narapijri

A few brands are known for beach wear and they also have shops here ?!

Rip Curl

Billabong

We are happy with our outfit so we did not buy anything.

Millet

Bogner

We counted at least 15 brands here. Window shopping can be fun too.

Take off from Planpraz

Continuing with our weekend in Chamonix …

Planpraz is a plateau that is half way up the Aiguiles Rouge at about 2000 m. If you are going to Le Brevent, one of the summits on this side of the valley, this is where one change cable car. Click here to see earlier post with more photos around Planpraz.

Planpraz is also the official launch site for hangliders and paragliders on this side of mountain above valley. On that day, the clouds were oppressively low and there was no visibility above Planpraz (which was the reason for us to hang around Planpraz).

Apparently, Mieusey, 50km west of Chamonix, lays claim to the birth of paragliding in 1974. There are numerous flying schools in Chamonix for the brave souls.

Big thermals, eagles, glaciers and high peaks make the Chamonix valley one of the best flying areas in the world.

Cool nights and hot days create large temperature gradients resulting in powerful thermals and strong valley winds. The season starts in March and ends in October, but it is possible to fly all year long.

Most of the flights we saw there were tandem flights – a lay person flying with a pilot. There were lots of ads in town for this activity – obviously very popular with tourists. Below are a sequence of photos which follow the setup and take off of one such flights – it only took 15 minutes.

I(Chris) did tandem hangliding and Sue did tandem paragliding in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where we flew off a cliff out towards the sea and landed on a beach. It was mindblowing.

In my experience, the only scary part is when you start running off the side of the mountain and jump … you initially fall … and fall … then the sails pick up the wind and lift you. That short moment of falling was terrifying.

We did not try flying here. But I am sure it will be quite an experience as the descent will be at least 1000 m. They landed somewhere in the village on the valley floor.

It is also possible to take off on the Mount Blanc side (opposite from us) and from Aiguille du Midi which is even higher at more than 4000 meters, that is double the altitude of Planpraz ! One can stay up for at least twice as long.

It must be freezing cold up there especially when you are riding the wind and it will take some time before you land. Just imagine your hands and fingers becoming numb or frozen and preventing the proper operation of the parachute  … oops.

On that day, even with the clouds, there were always five or six flights up in the sky at the same time for much of the day.

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Up to Planpraz, Chamonix

We were back in Chamonix …

We wanted to do a bit of hiking, initially hoping to walk down from one of the peaks of Aiguilles Rouges (“Red Peaks”) – Le Brevent (2525 m or 8284 feet above sea level) down to Planpraz (around 2000 m or 6562 feet).

But due to low cloud and fog resulting in poor visibility, we scrapped the idea and did not even bother to take the second stage of the cable car up to Le Brevent.

Planpraz is the terminal of the first stage of the cable car and the interchange to the second stage.  It is essentially a small plateau, in the form of a shoulder of the Aiguilles Rouges, situated opposite the Mount Blanc massif above the Chamonix valley. A crossroad of sorts.

Instead, we decided to hike Le Grand Balcon Sud (“Grand Southern Balcony”) which traverses one side of Aiguilles Rouges.

This mountain path runs from Planpraz to the Col des Montets via La Flégère, just above the treeline.

La Flégère is just visible from here.

We used the télécabine to get from the valley floor up to Planpraz.

But the téléphérique at La Flégère (1877 m) has stopped running since it was offseason … and we did not want to climb down to the valley. So we just did a loop and came back to Planpraz.

Unlike the massif of the Mont Blanc, the Aiguilles Rouges have no significant glaciers, presumably due to the direction of its faces and local weather. But it is quite different on the other side of the valley.

The Aiguilles Rouges offer a splendid view of all the peaks of Chamonix and the glaciers of Mont Blanc.

The little refuge on the Le Grand Balcan Nord is just visible in the middle of this photo – that is the starting point of our previous “epic” hike, see earlier post here.

We will come back and try either of the hikes again soon. Watch this space.

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Random photos #176 – 185

These are the photos I (Chris) took and posted on Facebook. The series was started in March of 2013. There is no theme – just something random and visually interesting. We gave each a title and noted where it was taken (to the extent we could remember the city).

 

random photo #176 – sinker – Lugano

 

random photos #177 – frames – Paris

 

random photo #178 – wall – Milano

 

random photo #179 – rainbow on sea – Caribbean

 

random photo #180 – entrance – Sao Paulo

 

random photo #181 – ivan – Miami

 

random photo #182 – birds – Miami

 

random photo #181 bis – santinho – Sao Paulo.

Just noticed that the two numbers, #181 and #182 have been repeated. Oh well, it’s too late to fix it now. So, I will number them #181bis and #182bis here. Let’s remember to add two to the last number to get the total number of random photos.

random photo #182 bis – beers – Miami

random photo #183 – conceptual art – New York

 

 

To keep the numbers in sync, two more photos are uploaded.

random photo #184 – modern art

random photo #185 – tiles – Barcelona

If you are interested in seeing other Random Photos, click on the  random  tag on the left.

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