Today I went in the other direction on my daily bike trip meant to get me back in working condition (yesterday I went south as you can see here).
Nice bike lanes in the forest at Ermelundsvej.
North of Copenhagen you will find all the rich people and in the middle of it all is Dyrehaven, The Deer Garden, royal hunting ground since 1669 where Frederik III had a fence put around the forest so he could use it for par force hunting. Par force means 'by force' and you simply chase the poor deer around until it is completely exhausted. Then you kill it and go home and eat something else as the poor creature you just killed taste awful due to too many stress hormones. The deers got some revenge when Christian V was killed by a large male while trying to give it the coup de grace.
The unfortunate Christian V, Sovereign King of Denmark and Norway, who got himself killed by a cornered red deer in 1699
The place has a large population of red deer that grass the undergrowth just like the aurochs of the stone age must have done. It gives an open forest that probably looks a lot like what it did 4000 years ago.
Today the tress are allowed to fall and stay on the ground giving a large and varied fauna better conditions.
As it was mainly used as a hunting ground it is more or less a primeval forest that has been unchanged since stone was the tool of choice.
I went past Bakken, (The Hill), an entertainment park almost as old as Tivoli and known to be more for commoners (not quite as fine :) A very funny and pleasurable place that would make a great alternative to Tivoli for tourists that want to see something different.
Bakken, the second oldest entertainment park in Denmark after Tivoli.
Peter Liep's House is a resturant that has its name after a former gamekeeper in Dyrehaven who ran a beer garden in the house.
Out of the forest at Klampenborg. I decided to go see the Øresund, the narrow strait between Denmark and Sweden, more often.
On the way home I took the old beach road, the place where the most expensive houses in Denmark lie. I took a photo of the US ambassadors house, which the USA took over from the Nazi Germany administrator, Werner Best, who occupied the house until the end of the war. This rather ugly house seems to appeal to powerful foreigners.
25,5 km in a nice and calm spring weather.
Lovely ride, it seems. I have never been to Denmark, but would love to go.
My favourite writer is Danish, Isak Dineson.
I think the us ambassador house isn't ugly, at all. It looks like Victorian merged with the more symmetrical lines of a Palladian building, but the all white facade looks so crisp and sharp. Although I am sure it is nothing to the more amazing architecture you must have in the city, so I get that.
I actually know someone who knew her (Karen Blixen who wrote as Isak Dinesen). She was a very special lady indeed. I share your enthusiasm for her books, especially Seven Gothic Tales.
As for the house you are maybe right. It might be local snobbism on my part. Danes are peculiar when it comes to architecture. It has to be stout but elegant, not too pretentious even though no other people on earth loves to brag and show off as much as Danes, discreetly adapting to the landscape that by the way is cultivated from the North sea to Øresund, soft lines and not to perpendicular, adapted to local style so as not to look foreign, and first and foremost it has to be old, the older the better.
This poor house didn't have a chance, but at least it is close to another more famous house called Hvidøre where the Russian Empress, Dagmar of Denmark, lived until her death. It is also white and was called the cream cake, which was not meant in a nice way. You can see it here back in its heydays.
Oh wow, knew her? I've never been one for celebrity and most famous people could be in a room with me and I'd probably not know who they were, but I have a few people I'd love to have just had a good conversation with, and she is on the top of that list, as well as Edith Wharton, Beryl Markham, Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, Maria Rilke, et al.
We have some horrendous architecture here in the US and we have a habit of tearing things down quickly. I live in the older part of our country and even own a house from 1718 that was built before we even were the USA (still a British Colony) but nothing can touch the grandeur and style of European and British architecture for me. I too find the older the better :)
But what is funny, is that American Embassy building, if it were clad in greying cedar shingle shake siding and trimmed in white round windows and all openings it would fit perfectly in New England, where I live, perched on the sea and would easily fit the vernacular of the late Victorian Shingle Style that was prevalent for Summer Homes in my area.
I never meet her myself of course as she was dead when I was born, but I did meet some of the poets and literary critics that she kept as her court. They were centered around the literary periodical called Heretica, which today also gives its name to the grave and affected poetry of the years right after the war. Thorkild Bjørnvig, one of the young poets that she courted (in a platonic way), wrote about it in a book called The Pact that I think is translated into English.
I am glad to hear that you have such an old house. Half a year ago I actually did write a post here about where all the old building were in New York. You can see it here: Where are all the old houses in New York?
Cool, @katharsisdrill. Hope your daily bike trips help you, man.
I laughed at that par force hunting talk, and felt pity for the unlucky Christian V. But is that really a thing? Stress hormones making a deer taste awful?
Yes, it should be. No one hunts deer this way anymore, but there are historical text describing it. I guess that the deer would have used a lot of its muscles and fat in the process too. In Denmark you have methods to kill pigs without them even knowing it, and the reason is to avoid stress hormones in the meat.
Wow! Never ever heard or thought or imagined this till now 😁. Thank you.
Love the architecture, such as your snap of 'Peter Liep's House' with those steeped roofs. We have some of that in the south of England, but here in the grim north its terraced houses and you can forget seeing white buildings.
Its great cycling off the roads in scenic areas like these, did you spot any deer while you were out?
It is a fine looking house. The whole place was a royal institution so the house had to look splendid.
I didn't see any deer this time, but they are there aplenty. The royal gamekeepers have to shoot down the population meticulously to keep it healthy. They have a lot of space, but no real enemies (except for the shooters of course.)
'The royal gamekeepers have to shoot down the population meticulously to keep it healthy.'
I don't think that could happen here, there would be a hug outcry from the animal lovers. I'm surprised it happens there.
Haha, yes, I think this is one of the few cultural differences between the Anglo-Saxon world and the Scandinavian. I remember the outcry from English speaking media when a giraffe was killed in Copenhagen zoo and dismembered in front of families with children who had come to see the spectacle. After that it was feed to the lions. Here we found the fuzz sentimental and squeamish, but that was definitely not the case elsewhere.
Another thing is that it has to happen also in England, else you would have dead deer lying around and a sick population. Probably the people doing it is not so public about it though.
Well.. I learn something everyday. There certainly is a culture difference!
:)
I'm living in Aarhus at the moment I may have to try and go check out the park before I go back to Canada!
Good idea. Go have a beer and an Ice cream at Bakken and then maybe a stroll in the woods.
Looking at your picture as if I myself in there, as I can see the park and how people leave there. but for the jungle I love it no mater where. I can feel home if I am in the jungle.
but a bit curious for this part
hope the role of hunting has been changed, just to let next generation could see more from the past @katharsisdrill
Thank you very much, I think I should share the beauty from my side
Regards
You might know the English fox-hunt - that is the closest you get to t par force hunting today, so no. There is still a big culture about hunting in Scandinavia, but nothing like this crual old sport.
Really love the pictures. Seeing similar pictures from some movies I watch here in Nigeria.
Maybe in your next ride I will come over to join you.
Haha, I will have a bike ready for you then!
Patiently waiting
Looks like a nice day in Dyrehaven!
It was, but I was dressed too warm. The weather can't decide what to be like in April :)
wow.....@katharsisdrill........... nice your photography. it's soooo.......... awesome. look like so....... beautiful. i love spring weather. and thanks... for share
Great post. thanks for sharing
excellent post ..loving to your blog.thanks for sharing..