Here are some photographs from my recent visit to Denmark and Sweden. My first priority was to visit the naval architects Knud E. Hansen A/S, about whom I am to write a new book for their 75th anniversary in November. KEH accommodated me in the house they own for guests and foreign employees in Espergaerde.
Above: naval architects Virginia, José, Juan and retired senior naval architect Hans Kjærgaard.
Dinner in rather a good Italian restaurant by the coast:
Thursday:
The local train from Espergaerde to Helsingør the next morning:
Helsingør signs:
Knud E. Hansen A/S headquarters:
Hans Kjærgaard in the archives:
Luncheon:
(Ships can't be designed on an empty stomach.)
Above: Juan, me and José. Below: Virginia and Camilla.
After my day at KEH, I went to visit Tage and Ingrid Wandborg. Tage was once KEH's Chief Designer and was responsible for many of the most brilliant passenger ships of the 1960s-70s period:
Like me, Ingrid is a very keen gardener:
Tage's futuristic cruise ship designs:
Pearl Seaways passes Helsingør on her way to Oslo:
Dinner with Ingrid and Tage:
Friday
On Friday morning, I took the ferry to Helsingborg. The MS Tycho Brahe has been renovated internally with a very smart and fresh Swedish design by Figura:
Sundbuss approaching:
Me and a cute Chinese tourist:
ShipPax headquarters in Halmstad:
I stayed with Anders and Siv Bergenek. Siv had cooked a superb pie:
The empty dish - the pie was a great success:
Saturday
Halmstad flea market:
Me and Captain Nils Funk, former Senior Master with Lion Ferry:
Hand-crafted Swedish students:
A delicious Germanic dinner cooked by Anders:
Sunday
On Sunday morning, I visited several modernist church buildings around Halmstad. This is the Martin Luther Church, built in 1968-1970 to a design by the Stockholm architects Bertil Engstrand and Hans Speek. It is a very, very fine building indeed. The exterior is clad entirely in shiny aluminium and the interior is finished largely in rusty steel:
Another fine church, the Vallåskyrkan, designed by Lise and Hugo Höstrup and completed in 1975:
The great Klas Brogren of ShipPax came to visit for luncheon:
Then, I caught a train to Varberg for some afternoon photography there:
A Stena-owned MZ locomotive in Varberg (in the 1970s-80s period, these used to pull Danish Inter-city trains):
Varberg waterfront:
The Stena Nautica approaches:
That was a very good photography session.
