Louisiana Art Museum and an afternoon in Sweden

We got up Saturday and hit the ground running. Kevin and I followed Benji's meticulous instructions on which train to board, and the kids met us further down the line so we could all travel together to the Louisiana Art Museum. This museum of modern art was high on Abby's "to see" list and also on the way to Helsingor, where we were staying the night:

Abby and Benji sent us a selfie from their train station before we met up

This was the first exhibit we came across in the museum, but it was a little underwhelming

Lot of similar artists to what we saw at MOMA last summer

But then there was this whole exhibit on interconnected ecosystems and natural fiber work and reproducing organic compounds in plastic (it was visually interesting but the science was a lot)

I just liked this little guy

This section of the museum was very pretty

And had a giant spider (representing the artist's mother)

The best part of the museum (for me, at least) was the outdoor sculpture garden:

The museum was right on the ocean

Funny to see a Calder all the way out here

This picture was taken about noon -- look how low the sun is already!

We finished the museum around lunchtime and got on a bus to head north to Helsingor. The weather was beautiful, and a quick look at the forecast told us it would rain all day Sunday. Kevin suggested we mix up our plans and head to Sweden for the afternoon, because it would be a lot more fun to explore there in the sun. That sounded right, so we went right from the bus station to the ferry terminal and hopped on a boat. Sweden is only 20 minutes by boat (across the Oresund Strait) from Denmark at this point (it is the spot where they are closest together) and ferries go back and forth every 15 minutes. It was a really nice boat -- a full bar, fancy restaurant, duty free shopping -- all for a 20 minute trip! Stepping off the boat in a new country was surreal - no fanfare or process at all (since they are both in the Schengen Zone of the EU, you don't even need a passport to travel between them):

Only sign we were in Sweden was the Swedish flags (city hall in the background)

Kevin had a hard time remembering the name of this town because it was so close to Helsingor across the strait. Turns out the reason is because all of this used to be part of Denmark, too

I had a loose list of sites to explore in Helsingborg, and top of the list was the old Keep:

Halfway up

This center tower is all that is left of the original medieval castle, and even it was largely reconstructed in the 18th century

View from the top

From the keep, we walked down a different set of steps that led us to St. Maria Church, which was a delightful surprise. This gothic church was started at the beginning of the 14th century and completed in 1410. It was largely made with blocks of sandstone from an earlier 12th century church that had been on the same site. The stepped gable tower was added in the 16th century:

Ships are common in coastal churches. This one was designed and donated in 1739.

The pulpit is of renaissance craftsmanship and dates from 1615

This fresco is medieval and probably dates to the original church. It was uncovered in a recent renovation.

The altar screen dates from 1450 Germany

This chandelier dates from 1653 and still uses real candles

Door to the pulpit

By the time we finished at the church, we were ready for a snack and decided to observe the Swedish custom of fika (essentially a coffee break, with pastries, taken mid-afternoon).  It is clear that this is a serious custom, as the coffee house was packed with people speaking Swedish and having drinks and food with their friends (the pastries were all excellent):

When we left the coffee house a little before 4, it was already getting dark and businesses were closing (most closed at 4), but we strolled down the main shopping area and took in the lights and store windows:

City Hall again, this time all lit up

We were ready to head back to Denmark before dinner, so we jumped back on the ferry and ended our day in Helsingor: