Thursday 31 May 2012

Helsingør, Halmstad and Varberg

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.