Rather than settling for a dusty conference centre, Denmark has decided that its cultural house should on the water, so from today until 12 August the Danes are taking over St Katharine Docks for a cultural and culinary extravaganza to coincide with the London 2012 Olympic Games. Entitled ‘IMAGINATION – Discover The Danish Spirit’, they are hoping that the festival will showcase the best of Denmark in this lovely London location just around the corner from Tower Bridge.
The tourism centre and the Danish TV studio are, rather fittingly, floating in the dock itself while the rest of the activities take place on dry land. There will be LEGO to play with, Danish food and cookery classes and even displays on energy sustainability, for those with an interest in those things. There are other waterborne treats too – for the duration of their three week stay the Danes will be showing off their 17 metre long historic Viking ship and, for the first week, Maja will be berthed in the dock – Maja is a 3-mast iron-hulled schooner built in the early 1900s that has come all the way from Denmark loaded with Danish Crown bacon (which represents 60% of what we put on our breakfast tables in Britain) and you can have a look around her too. For those looking to quench their thirst in the hot weather, the popular Dickens pub on St Katharine Docks has also been converted into a Danish hostelry, with lots of Danish beverages available on tap. If you’re aren’t sufficiently distracted by all the Danish culture around you, there are several big screens where you can watch all the action from London 2012 too…
Yesterday I had the opportunity to board Maja with her crew and the Danish Crown team (who were wearing rather fetching t-shirts emblazoned with ‘MEAT EATER’) for a little jaunt along the Thames – we sat and drank Danish beer especially brewed for Maja and tucked into traditionally-preserved bacon as we passed beneath the raised Tower Bridge not once, but twice! Maja is an absolute beauty, and very well-preserved for her age, so do check her out when you visit this little slice of Denmark. I’m not sure whether the Danish pig will survive the entire three weeks however, particularly because in the photograph below he’s helping the chef to prepare some bacon dishes… There are a few more photographs of the ship on Google+ here.
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