Saturday, November 26, 2011

Santa Claus

Santa Claus leads the Christmas parade through the streets being driven in a Cadillac with Santa's elves, fire engines, vintage cars and so on.

Why so? Because in Aarhus, Denmark, Santa comes in a Cadillac after he sailed on a boat... pretty sweet for a guy employed only for 1 day a year!

Friday, November 25, 2011

AROS

In April 7th 2004 was the official opening of ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in the presence, among other dignitaries, of the museum’s Patron Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. In April 8th the new 17,700 square metre building, situated in central Århus and costing 306 million Danish Crowns opened its doors to the public. The event marked a new era in the museum’s almost 150-year history: the provincial art museum with high ambitions now emerged as a national museum with international ambitions. To highlight its new profile, Aarhus Kunstmuseum added ARoS to its name.

With thousands of square metres spanning ten levels the museum now has ample space to showcase its extensive collection of 1100 paintings, 400 sculptures and installations, 200 art videos and over 7,000 drawings, photos and graphics: a collection that ahead of the inauguration was enhanced by the addition of works by international artists such as Bill Viola, Tony Oursler, Carsten Höller, Miwa Yanagi and James Turrell. In large measure, a donation of 40 million Danish Crowns by New Carlsberg Foundation over a ten-year period enabled the purchase of these works.

The new art museum contains three large galleries of just under 1,100 square metres each for permanent exhibitions allowing visitors the opportunity to view a broad spectrum of works from the museum’s own collection. In addition, recent acquisitions of international light and video works are displayed in the basement level of the museum in a special exhibition gallery called 'The 9 Spaces.' Lastly, the museum has two further galleries at its disposal: the dedicated special exhibitions gallery commanding 1,100 square metres and the West Gallery with 350 square metres.

ARoS’ striking architecture is the creation of Schmidt, Hammer & Lassen. The Århus-based practice won the 1997 competition for the design of the new Aarhus Kunstmuseum from a field of some 109 architectural firms from around the world. The building is cube-shaped, 43 metres tall and 54 by 54 metres wide. It is divided by a curved "museum street", to which the public has access without an admission fee. A spiral staircase accentuates the mid-point of the "street" and, upon payment of an entrance fee, visitors gain full access to all of the museum's galleries and facilities.

Besides its regular galleries, ARoS contains a Junior Museum for children: an exciting experiential zone for children to learn about art in a hands-on way.

At the main floor entering the museum you find Art Café and ARoS Shop. Both can be visited free of charge. In ARoS Shop you find a broad variaty of design and books. At Art Café you can enjoy a quality coffee while looking at the pulse of the city outside, read a book or just relax after visiting the galleries.

Friday, November 04, 2011

Legoland


LEGOland is an entertainment park situated in Billund, the city where all the Lego toys came. Billund's Lego factory is very well known around the World.

This park is amazing. There are a lot of attractions and if you visit it you will never forget it. There are Legoland parks also in Windsor UK, Carlsbad - California US, Florida US and Günzburg Germany. The one in Billund is the only one in Denmark and this is the starting point. All LEGO dreams came from this location.

First of all, you can arrive in Billund using this very modern airport. The park with a hotel and a resort is only 1 km away. After this there are a lot of restaurants in Legoland. The themes chosen for entertaining are various and cool. You may find a medieval area, a cowboys and indians area, a Star Wars area or a Pirates theme zone. The toys are great and really amazing. It is redundant to say that every figure is made of Lego pieces. And they are just marvelous.

There are organised parties and concerts every Saturday. The most important Danish singers and bands participate and entertain the visitors. Every year it is a new theme developed. For 2011 it was Star Wars with all the saga realised in small figures of LEGO pieces. For 2012 it will be a Polar Land, a zone who presents all the Arcitc clichés.

When you finish all Legoland options to explore, pay yourself a visit in Lalandia which is really close. The joy and fun will be double.