Sydney Opera House and Ferrari seats in Aalborg?

These days, we're preoocupied with the weather forecast, not wanting to get caught out in one of those really heavy showers and get soaked to the skin. We decided to make the most of what was forecast to be a dry morning by taking a walk in the city. We took our waterproofs and umbrellas just in case though.

Our hotel is really well situated on the edge of the city centre and we began our walk just across the road from here in the car park of the old Nordkraft Power Station, now repurposed as an arts centre. We admired the variety of configurations of bicycle as we passed by.

We were following a route on a map from the hotel; the same one as in our guide book which was probably going to be followed by many on this bright Sunday morning. But we accidentally went a little off piste almost immediately and soon found ourselves on our own in a pretty residential district.

I was admiring the smart, well maintained town houses along these narrow streets.

Some had been recently painted and were looking fresh, clean and colourful.

Just opposite, this one had a cute nameplate on the door too.

At the end of the street was a tiny shop with the whole window filled with a pair of these grand chairs. In true Scandinavian style incorporating a blend of traditional and contemporary, I wondered if any of these tiny houses would have room for such lavish furniture?

We soon found ourselves on the right track again, turning into a pedestrian street in the old town.

We found the pedestrian area of the town more comfortable to walk around, for avoiding fast-moving cyclists had become a bit of a preoccupation. But no sooner had we relaxed than a bunch of small boys on scooters whizzed by. Aaaagh!

Our route took us off the main drag again, turning into this small street, reminiscent of the one behind our hotel in Ribe, with similarly bulging walls.

It led to another network of small lanes lined with cottage style houses; a variation on the mews cottages in parts of London. These would be a most desirable place to live, I'm sure, just a step from the city centre and yet peaceful and tucked away (except for folks like us coming through for a look around)

One house in particular had a fascinating panel on the front door.

Look closely and you'll see a list of the inhabitants of that particular house right from the beginning. Wow.

No good for a car owner though, unless there's an alleyway (or as we'd say in Hull, a tenfoot) behind there, Well, never mind, everywhere's within walking distance here, isn't it? 😉

At the end of this small street we turned on to the main thoroughfare again and were back in the buzz. Things were waking up and shops starting to open.

Here was the cathedral too, though we couldn't see much activity in or around it even though it was 11am on a Sunday morning. We tentatively tried the door, but found it locked.

Never mind, we were not so far away from one place we thought looked interesting. Perhaps we should continue there.

Our route took us through the Kloster Square, currently empty but we agreed, somewhere that would probably be a lovely place to sit for a drink on a sunny afternoon.

Our goal was right there across the road with a large picture of Sydney Opera House outside.

On the other side was the Aalborg waterfront and it was on this pathway that we found the entrance to the Architecture Museum , named after the city's most renowned architect, Jørn Utzon, His name is most closely associated with the Sydney Opera House, for which his design was selected in an international competition in 1957.

We had earmarked this as a place of refuge should the weather turn nasty during the morning, but here we were, still dry and eager to learn more about the man and his work.

But the first room was somewhat dark and ill lit. The small black and white photos were not easy to see, but we got the drift of the story of his most personal project: his own home in Mallorca, named after his wife: Can Lis. It was of distinctive design based on rectangular units with floor to ceiling windows set in between pillars giving the overall appearance of a pillared shelter rather than a house.

We continued along the corridor to the next room, with the title The Blocky City. Urban architecture, perhaps?

Well, yes indeed. Here were many white skyscrapers of a variety of design and it was as we went further into the displays to take a closer look that we recognised the building blocks.

I imagine you recognise them too?

For there beside each array of skyscrapers were stools and huge pits of LEGO! Hundreds and thousands of white bricks…come, sit and play!

Well, you'd have needed no further encouragement either, would you?

We settled ourselves besides one of the brick pits and looked more closely at some of the pieces around us. Just how did they do that?!

Well, it didn't take long before we were utterly absorbed. My Hero found the abandoned base from a previous builder and brought it up to his personal building standards as I copied the pattern to make one of those semi circular designs. We were not alone, for there were a couple of young men across the way, building their own masterpiece and a bunch of women appeared to be having fun with a virtual reality brick building activity. At last, we could say “I'll just finish this bit” no more, for almost two hours had passed. Though we hadn't any further plans for the day, nevertheless, we felt we ought to move on! We hadn't even seen all of this museum!

We didn't really leave a masterpiece behind, but perhaps someone will come along and enhance it further?

Tearing ourselves away from the brick pits then, we stepped out into the corridor and realised that the architecture of the museum was rather similar to that of Can Lis with the windows set in between pillars. We moved fairly swiftly past Utzon's architectural models, recognising that he had done so much more than the Opera House, but not recognising any of the others at all.

The room at the end of the corridor focused on his masterpiece, with models, drawings, samples and photographs displayed in the most attractive setting.

Around the edges were exquisitely made wooden plan chests, which contained drawings of all kinds related to the project.

Yes, of course I investigated! My favourite was the one of the acoustic planning, the drawing of the sound map within one of the concert halls, the like of which I've not seen before and which I have used as a feature photo for this post. We opened one or two more drawers finding all sorts of treasures before noting that the clouds were darkening through those windows. Hmm. If we wanted to stay dry, perhaps we'd better move on.

We enjoyed the walk along the harbourside, admiring a smart yacht that sailed swiftly by,

We had one more place on our list: the Musikken Hus. Another architectural gem, we were curious to see inside to see if it was as quirky within as it was outside.

I think we agreed that it was! As we stood admiring the lines and shapes of the foyer, a young woman staff member came over and invited us to come with her to take a look in the auditorium. We needed no second invitation!

There, inside, a Swedish rock band were preparing for their concert this evening, whilst we stood at the back learning about this beautiful space and remarking on the comfort and generosity of the red seats in the hall. “They're Ferrari seats”, Cecille our guide said, agreeing that they were especially attractive and very comfortable.

We loved the detail and remarked on the number of occasions we've made a visit like this and subsequently returned for a concert. I wonder if we might return here to sit in a Ferrari seat sometime in the future?

For now, we were nearly back where we'd started at our hotel. We thanked Cecille sincerely and remarkably, reached “home” in the dry too. I didn't really grumble about carrying my raincoat and umbrella around with me all day for no reason…or did I?

🤫