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.


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