COPENHAGEN

Højbro Plads: Bishop Absalon (1128-1201), a cleric of the axe-wielding variety who was until very recently credited with founding Copenhagen.

A Greenlander with his kayak. The position of the knot at the bottom of his coat is unfortunate.

Our statues tend to be serene and heraldic. Theirs tend to be ripping something apart.

Echo (in Kongens Have).

Look carefully. You'll see that there are bronze statues under the water. They are quite a hazard to boats too.

This looks so foreign, and yet Denmark is so close.

Classically naked girl reading outside a public library. One reason I shot her from this side was that some git had spray painted the other side.

Calmness doesn't seem to be top priority in statuary in Copenhagen. Here we see a valkyrie on a horse. Neither looks happy.

I took me a while to work out what I was looking at. A bull is smashing a sea beast into the ground with its head.

There once was a very famous man,
On his famous horse he'd ride throughout the land,
The people used to see him everywhere,
And when he died they put a statue in the square.
Here comes the equestrian statue!
Prancing up and down the square.
Little old ladies stop and say, "Well, I declare!"
It's a sight to bring you joy, you'll feel so gay,
And it's guaranteed to brighten up your day,
If it's grey.

Just outside the students' union building is this stone. The photographs of it are deceptive. They suggest falsely that these carvings are quite clear. It took me a while to convince myself that it wasn't just a very weathered piece of stone, and it was a while before I saw the owl catching the mouse. My guide said that she had walked past it hundreds of times, and had never noticed that it had designs on it.

He's made of sand, but realistic enough to get some money in his hat.