Copenhagen | Maritime Youth House by Bjarke Ingels

I came here not knowing the name of the building. Just with a google map off the Mimoa blog and some transportation direction. This architectural gem is surprisingly hidden in the depths of the Copenhagen suburbs off the tourist trails.
From Mimoa:

"To save budget the architects covered the entire site with a wooden deck (1600m2), so wasn’t necessary to clean the site first. The building is shared by two clients, a sail club and a youth house. The youth house needed outdoor space for the kids to play; the sail club needed most of the site to park their boats. The design is the literal results of negotiations between the two contradictory demands. Where the deck rises it allows for boat storage and, at the same time, becomes an exciting play area for the kids. The common room for daily activities is located in the front house, the workshop and storage is in the back corner building. In contrast to the wooden exterior decks the floor in the community space is white concrete and a standard grey concrete in the workshop and storage area. This is meant to reflect the dominance of the outdoor activities; the wooden deck is the actual "room" of the Maritime Youth House."




This is a fun architecture piece where people and kids can freely run up and down the roofs. A cheap (apparently), and inspiring way to make architecture more fun and human. This building piece catapulted is architect to fame.

One-floor house (youth center + sailing center).

Under the narrow parts of the wooden roof is the canoe storage.

... my faithful travelling friend.

Copenhagen | Why are the Danes so happy?

Wohoo! An update! It's been pre-set from two months ago though! I don't expect that anyone would still be looking though *looks around* Yohoo? Drop a message if you're there!

Day to day lives of an ordinary Dane:


Rise and Shine! Danes are hard-core biker, even at the chilly hours of 7 in the morning!


Newspaper boys there are amaaazingly energetic. They hop around the street to deliver their papers to the basketed hurried bicycle riders...


And they dodge cars!


Smushi. What is smushi?


Sudoku n' poo?


Danish dogs can readand use touch-screens.


Everybody buys cut flowers? Ah. What a grand life!


Roses are red~ Roses are yellow~ Sugar is sweet~ ...


They are, lucky.

Copenhagen | Dream Home for the Snail

Can't you tell what kind of a person am I from the kind of home I want to live in?

Copenhagen | Swan Lake

Copenhagen, located near the sea, is weaved in and out by broad strokes of canals. These canals are clean, and it reflects the blue of the sky. It doesn't stink like Venice too. Strangely enough, they're not as famous.


A swan feeding from its shallow depths...


Walking by the waterside on a sunny day... The houses in Copenhagen are so harmonious!


Some of them even have these suburbanesque trees in front of them...


Two friends on a bridge.
What are they talking about?


Floating house. I would love to live on one. Not one that is on the tourist's route though, probably.


The Maersk Opera House. Maersk is the largest company in Denmark. It is an international container shipping company which (practically) owns the country.


The LITTLE Mermaid.

Brussels | Antiques City

As the capital of the Europena Union, and comparing it to other European cities, I must say that Brussels is a let down. The atmosphere is rather Frenchly snobbish, and unless you are talking to an immigrant, they are not very nice. There's lots of (expensive) boxed gourmets, but not much gutsy good food. There's plenty of stylish art-nouveau decoration pieces (lamps, door knobs, window panes, etc.), but they seem to have not succeeded in putting them together to create great architecture, save great urban design. Plus, the amount of tax they are levying on its citizens, the maintenance of its infrastructure is patchy, the metro smells like beer (and seems to never have gotten any renovation since the 70s!). Eww.

Anyhow here's the prettiest gleans:


The Maneken Pis (the pissing mannequin) is a tourist icon of Brussels. As you can see, there's always a constant crowd hovering around it. Legend has it that the boy in the statue stopped the bombing of a certain quarters in Brussels by pissing on the explosives. (Really?)


Ok, the shops there are authentic and darn cute. Don't you think this could easily have been in London?


And what else could these cute shops be selling! Chocolates, flowers, potted plants! Life is sweet.


French Garden = Robotically neat hedges.


Professor's lamp.
Putting this on your desk will make you look smart.
Second hand (other wise it wouldn't look so eclectic, wouldn't it! )
Sells for 80 euro apiece.


I love the antiquated look of its hinges. Makes you think that things used to be made with thought.


Innovative inside-outside bench... with trashy beer cans inside.


HQ of Cote d'Or Chocolate? Free tasting of the day (left) is their concoction of chocolate with white pepper and pecan. Exotic!


This is their main square, La Grand Place. It doesn't look striking during the day, these buildings glisten prettily at night. Come to think of it, these Belgians, they have time to trim their hedges to perfection, but none to clean their smogged-out gray city square?


A dirt's view of the glam. Surprisingly, them speaking French doesn't mean that they're uptight. People can casually sit on its pavement and drink beer here at night.


Lego at the airport is a really good idea. I wish they think to make that elsewhere (hint hint... american airports where they often run late!)

Having said that though, I must say that its a rather unfairly mean comment. I'm complaining because I don't have money to spend, and Brussels don't have public good freebies. Brussels may not compare favorably to its European friends, but it is still way prettier than Houston where I am now.

Oporto | Portugal

Oporto is the quieter side of the tourist-run western Europe. It is out of the way of major airline routes, and it does not have an attraction of a legendary scale, but! It's a cute, well-organized and well-disciplined place (ie. the people are reluctant to speak English, but there's plenty tourist info center and english signs, that non-Portugese speakers can traverse its city without much trouble).


The one scene that Oporto is famous for.


This is the hostel where I stayed at. A charming, petite, historic house. Complete with pigeons. The residents here seems to like the idea of feeding pigeons, unlike their pigeon-averse European neighbors.


The ultra modern light rail that runs through this city. Nice man. (because he stays calm as I stalk him).


Me on the bridge scene.


Souvenirs with chicken of Barcelos on it. In Australia, this chicken is also better known as, Nandos. Yummmm!


Vibrant café and shops riverfront. Touristy, but not overtly so.


One of the things I miss about the touristy Europe is the sound of accordion wafting through the air. And the smile of the old men who plays it.


Advertisement for port wine. Not my endorsed brand though. But in case you're looking for a good bottle of port, go and find Graham's 10 year tawny port next time you're at the airport's duty free.


Whispers says that this is the best pastry shop in Oporto. It is small (no seating), tucked away on some street corners, but surprisingly packed with people, even on a rainy Monday. I had to jostle around to get the sights many delicious Portuguese egg pastry at the shop. I couldn't possible eat all of them, but thankfully they have these takeaway mini-version!


Nice pastry people. They think I'm Japanese.


Complicated stair manouvers seems to be their pastime specialty (see the post on the Lello)


Ceramics as walls is another one of their favorite architectural bag of tricks.

Oporto | The Lello

Of all the famous places in Europe, why did I end up visiting Oporto? Oporto (or Porto, in local language, but I think that is a less distinctive name, so let's stick with Oporto) is the second largest city in Portugal. On the grand scale pf the glamorous European tour however, it is a rather modest town, known mainly for port wine!


Anyhow. The answer to why I end up here can be found in the Lello's Library. No, it's not about the search of some rare books or tomes of secret knowledge, but it is for the search of a stair.


This stair. I saw the photo of this stair on Google Image as I was browsing ryanair's destination list going out from Barcelona. And it looks befuddlingly interesting. I couldn't figure out how does this stair work in 3D. It seems convolutedly elegant, and yet it compactly snug in the small space. Plus, I have soft spot for antique shops, a bookshop no less!


View from the other side of the balcony. And that's a person coming up from the first floor. Do you start seeing how this stair works? It's works like a ribbon weaving in and out and finally parting ways in two. There's four landing along the way, and the red floor material seems to be made out of something like latex.


Looking from the second landing onto the street entrance. The shop makes the simple event of purchasing a book like a scene from a bygone era. There is cart at the other end of the small rail there, that carries books thru and fro the shop.


View of the back of the stairs. Looks like it sits on a Victorian gothic mansions, huh? I love the sight of books.