Random views of København (2)

Gammel Kongevej at the corner of Stenosgade in København V, viewed diagonally across Sankt Jørgens Sø from Svineryggen

The steeple centered in the background is of Jesu Hjerte Kirke (Jesus Heart Church), located at Stenosgade 4A. The building to the left houses the Mariendal Friskole (Mariendal Free School), at Stenosgade 4C.

A closer view of Stenosgade, viewed south from Gammel Kongevej

A slightly better view of the Church complex on Stenosgade

The building just south of the church on Stenosgade, at the corner of Vesterbrogade, seems to be an apartment house with street level shops and impressive cylindrical corner towers. I wouldn't mind owning an upper floor apartment, facing the narrow street, with a tower room to read in. Fat chance.

All photos taken 23 August 2009.

Nosing around Nørrebro (13). "This Way Up"

Sometimes nosing takes me underground, in analogy to the truffle pig, which earns its keep sniffing out highly prized genera of the family Tuberaceae, those delicious edible fungal symbiotes found buried in the soil of forests and countrysides around the world, growing in close association with the roots of a variety of tree species. Of course I'm not looking for anything in particular, and I don't generally use my nose to direct my search. More likely, I just stumble across something that happens to be in my path, and find it interesting or amusing for reasons that can sometimes be difficult to explain, like these boxes I noticed occupying a long corridor in one of the basements of the Panum Institute, where I work. There's always construction and renovation going on somewhere in the building, so it's no surprise to see a lot of boxes stacked on palettes. What caught my eye were the rather generic looking labels, like the cans of "FOOD" in Otto's parents' house in "Repo Man" (1984). The majority were marked "SLAVE"; after some searching, I found a couple of palettes with boxes marked "MASTER". The scene kind of reminded me of a song from the 1970s, by the Akron, Ohio band Tin Huey, "I Could Rule the World, If I Could Only Get the Parts" (Contents Dislodged During Shipment, 1979).

"Slave" boxes (The Panum Institute, København)

"Slave" boxes, closeup

"Master" boxes (The Panum Insitute, København)

"Master" boxes, closeup

A further source of amusement (for me, and that's what matters most) was the trilingual sticker indicating the proper orientation of the boxes for moving and storage. The Danish version, Denne Side Op, which I would have translated as "This Side Up", looked sensible, being exactly what I would have expected to see back home; but the translation given, "This Way Up", accompanied by a pair of bold red arrows, as if you might not fucking know, was just another absurdity. Sorry, people, this is how I keep myself amused in a foreign country where I am still out of the native conversation after 19 months.

Oh yeah, the actual contents of the boxes? Fluorescent light fixtures.

All photos taken 12 August 2009.