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I'm so happy with our new laser cut colours. We've added Ultramarine which is a very vibrant blue and Bright Pink which is..well..a bright pink!
Produced, as ever, by our wonderful laser cut artists in Scotland from our original designs.
Hope you like them. If you'd like to see more images (close ups etc) you can see them on our site by clicking here.
We found Copenhagen to have a very positive outlook and with everyone seemingly cycling or running around the place it just feels really really healthy!
The Danish are very committed to living sustainably and, while visiting the stunning Danish Architectural Centre, we discovered just how progressive and environmentally aware this society is - particularly the sensitivity in terms of developing their built-up environment.Even little things like checking our train times, the website gave us an indication of your CO2 emissions versus a car journey! It feels good. Oh, and apparently the water in the harbour is clean enough to swim in, although it was a bit cold for me to test this!
Copenhagen is a very stylish city. Shops, cafés and bakeries are all beautifully presented, and they feel fresh and exciting. One of my favourite shops was Hay (which I've mentioned before on this blog):
We visited the fantastic Laundromat Café pictured here above. It's a very lively café, with, as the name promises, the opportunity to do a quick clothes wash whilst sipping your latte.
We enjoyed a lovely lunch with our friends from Mimis Circus at the Royal Café. The food was traditional Danish open sandwiches which were heavenly.
Many people had recommended that we visit Tivoli Gardens. At first I have to say that we were a little reluctant. We're not huge fans of the usual mayhem and lemming-like experience of a theme park....but Tivoli was very different. First, we arrived outside the front gate - right in the middle of the city - by bike. Getting in took about 2 mins and the cost of entry, a pretty reasonable 10€ and free for kids. We avoided the high rides (we're all chickens) and just took the kids around the bits for them. They had great fun playing for a few hours - we got lunch at Wagamama!
We're spending a few days in Copenhagen. Partly for work and entirely for pleasure!
I'll do a couple of posts over the next few days to share a little of what we have seen. This is my first trip to Denmark (Simon has been for work a few times). My first impressions are really very positive, despite the slightly gloomy weather which greeted us!
The airport is very close to the centre of the city, so it took very little time at all for us to arrive at our home for the duration - a house that we've rented right in the middle of the city. We're staying in a terraced workers cottage located between The Lakes and the National Gallery of Denmark. The road is very charming, with many bikes and children's tricycles and toys scattered randomly. Every evening the children here play in this very calm road. It seems a wonderful community.
Ahh the bicycles….we're big fans of cycling. Actually, we're big fans of coffee and cycling - and this city is overrun by cafes and bike shops! Cycle lanes run everywhere and it is a pure joy to cycle around this city. Locals are a little aggressive on the bikes, so you need to have your wits about you as they zoom on past. We've borrowed a great Christiania Bike, which has the box at the front for the children to sit in. It's very practical and the kids love it!
First morning was a little wet so we visited the Botanical Gardens right next to where we're staying. The buildings are beautiful late 19th Century greenhouses, although the history of the garden dates back to 1600! An elegant spiral staircase takes you to a balcony surrounding the building's dome with a fantastic view of the plants and outside across the gardens.
Cycling in to town the children were treated to an unexpected display of Danish pageantry as a troop of finely dressed soldiers passed us on their way to the palace. Ophelia is a little obsessed with Royalty (she's already invested all of her holiday money in 3 postcards of the Queen and Princess of Denmark) so we made a detour on our bikes to visit the Palace and see some more guards.
The beautiful harbour at Nyhavn is perhaps the most famous view of Copenhagen, but nevertheless well worth a visit. The architecture is wonderful - beautiful old buildings with a luscious spread of colour. It feels so obviously Scandinavian, so clean and precise.
8m x 6m wall art by Matt W. Moore. The Portland based artist did this mural as part of his Cristal and Lasers show at Since Utopian gallery in Paris in 2010. He is now back at the gallery until mid June to present his new work Gravity.
Seen on Unurth Street Art.
By Irish textile designer Claire-Anne O'Brien.
Somehow every time we go for a walk in the forest our son Lucien comes back home with his arms full of sticks and branches. Instead of hiding the branches at the back of the garden I decided to make a good use out of it. It was a good team work: Ophelia and Lucien happily painted numerous sheets of paper in green and turquoise while I was cutting them into pretty leaves. The result is hanging on top of our bed.
A chaque retour de promenade en forêt, notre fils Lucien revient les bras remplis de branches et de bâtons. Cette fois ci j'ai décidé d'en garder une pour la décorer. Les enfants se sont bien amusés à peindre des feuilles de papier d'un joli vert et turquoise pendant que je découpais des formes de feuilles. Voila le résultat au dessus de notre lit.
Yesterday, 1st May was a bank holiday here in France. While thousands of people were marching the streets of Paris (Sarkozy was in the Trocadero, Le Pen at the Place de l'Opéra and the left unions were marching on the Boulevard Saint Michel), we decided to have a quite day at the Château de Breteuil. The Château is located in the Parc de la Chevreuse (just 40mn drive from the centre of Paris heading South West). We had the whole ground for ourselves and the children had an amazing time cycling around the beautiful gardens.
