Tuesday 19 June 2018

The Churches of Møn

  

Møn has three of the Denmark’s best known fresco painted churches. We counted at least nine churches in total on the island.

Magleby Church

Unusual long brick-church. Nave is from 1200-1250 century, the church port is from approximately 15th century. The steeple is a bit younger than the nave which originally was a twin-steeple. Renaissance altar made of Albert Schröder the older from the year 1598.

Borre church

The nave and chancel is made of large medieval brick in approximately 1200-1250th century. This church has never been whitewashed. In 1510 where the city Borre still a well-established market town and at this time the city had many yachters traveling to the Baltic Sea to go up North.


Elmelunde Church

Probably the oldest stone church on Møn maybe from 1100th century. The Elmelunde master - the painter of the beautiful fresco paintings, painted the church in approximately 1480 his fresco painting was made from scenes on the Bible.


Keldby Church

Tilestonebuilding with chancel and nave from approximately 1200-1250, the walls inside the church are decorated with fresco painting from four different periods the earliest is from app. the year 1275.


Stege Church

The church is a big gothic medieval brick building from the beginning of 1300thcentury. In 1460-1480 was the church rebuild after a fire. The fresco paintings are from different historic periods but the year 1494 is being seen as one of the most primitive years.


Nyord Church

The octagonal church. Nyord church are built in 1845-47, the people living on Nyord at that time build the ground under the church and the fence around the church.


Damsholte Church

The church is built of small yellow bricks, the church have a light and elegant rococo facade. The altarpiece hanging on the north wall is painted by Eckersberg. Around the year 1800th there was built an addition to the church made for the owner – the family La Calmette.


Fanefjord Church

Fanefjord Church is a whitewashed brick church, located on a hill with a view to Fanefjord and Grønsund. The nave originates from the 1200’s. The church is decorated with beautiful frescoes from the 13th and 15th century. The painter’s emblems are repeated in the churches in Keldby and Elmelunde. This shows that the paintings come from the same workshop of the master of Elmelunde. The church’s historic furnishings have been restored during 2008/09, and the fresco paintings now appear crisp and clear. 


Bogø Church

The building is a medieval longhouse and has a tower which has been rebuilt several times. Both the porch and tower is late Gothic. The wood-carved altar panel dates back to 1661. The altarpiece from 1665 is in Baroque style. The pulpit is approximately the same age as the altarpiece and of a similar nature, but hardly made by the same carver.  The font is an ancient sacrificial stone with ancient sun-sign engravings, hollowed out and fitted with a font.




Monday 18 June 2018

Sketching in Denmark

Enjoyed making these along the way. Top one is acrylic on birch panel of the boys on the Møn beach on the Baltic where we swam.

Second is a sunset on the field behind the AirBnb on Møn. 

Third is the acrylic on birch panel of the poppy field and ocean behind the house and me painting it. 

It was the first real test of my plein air paintbox. I would definitely use it and the acrylics again. Watercolour is less mess, but the results are less predictable.




Friday 15 June 2018

Sea Trout Flies from Denmark

I was walking down the main street of Stage (main town on Møn) and came across Klip Friske which is a combo barbershop and fishing store.  I bought two Danish sea Trout flies - one is a copper flea, not sure what the other is.




Thursday 14 June 2018

Denmark vs Canada in Cell Phone Plans

The exchange rate between Danish kroner and Canadian dollars is 5:1. When I arrived in Denmark a week ago I picked up a Lebara Sim card for the equivalent of $20 Canadian.  This got me the unheard of data package of 60GB for 30 days. Denmark has a population of 5 million yet there is very healthy competition between providers and resellers to make data use affordable.



The Knitting Report

I was hoping to visit a good yarn store in our few hours in Halden, Norway. Steve located a great one. Enjoyed picking these pieces out, some of which were made in Norway and some of which were just pretty.

The brighter purple and teal yarn was bought in a lovely store in Stege, Denmark.

The last photo shows the grape vines on the back patio where we are.


Interesting Vinyl

Our AirBnb hosts have an impressive record collection. Some albums are classics like this one. The international cover really stands out.

Some are Danish favourites, like this 1973 debut album by Kim Larsen.

Norwegian Hairwing Salmon Flies

When we were in Halden Norway I stumbled across a fly fishing shop.  These Hairwing flies are for my dad.

Wednesday 13 June 2018

Taxation in Denmark

Last Sunday when the boys were at the Liseberg amusement Park in Sweden they decided to place a wager on what they described as a "chocolate roulette wheel".

When we picked them up at the park entrance they were carrying a huge Marabou chocolate bar - 2 kilograms of Swedish chocolate.

Denmark has high personal income and sales tax rates, but what the boys had not counted on was the dreaded "dad tax" which can be applied randomly throughout the day on consumable products.




Møn Denmark

We rented two AirBnBs on this trip- the first was just south of Gottenburg, the second is on the island of Møn.





Helsingør Denmark

After arriving at Helsingør Denmark, we drove to Kronborg castle - the castle of Hamlet.