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| November 29, 2009 Post 19 |
| Denmark Trip |
One of the mill ponds near the Wonsild's home |
Our first trip to Europe made in company with my sister, was enlightening and enjoyable. We were lucky to have an invite from a one time exchange student who had stayed for a year with the Peterson's in 1960. The Wonsilds have kept in touch ever since and we had a grand stay with these outstanding gracious generous and genial hosts.
Is it true the Danes are the happiest nation?I have little to compare with not being much of a traveler, but the Danes we associated with seemed cheerful enough. Among the many surprises was the prevalence of spoken and written English. Not only is it the business language of the EU but it is also very widely spoken in Denmark to the benefit of tourists trying to make the ticket puncher work on the train. It's widely use for marketing ( the Wall Street Pub, the Qvickly discount store and Fruit World on a package of cranberries being examples.) It's “trendy” Leif explained. Many museums have signs in English and Danish as do a lot of public places and tourist brochures. And all the store clerks and wait staffs seem to at least understand you. They were all very agreeable too. We didn't find any rude northern Europeans on this visit.
A bicycle counter with the Tivoli amusement park in the background |
Copenhagen, Denmark's largest city by far,was gearing up for the climate summit in December. We came across a photo exhibit in a main city square depicting 100 places impacted by climate change. Bend the Trend ( of upward CO2 emissions) said a large banner hung from a building nearby. Denmark is trying with a hefty tax on all car sales and a 25% national sales tax on top of that. At the time of our visit, gas was around 8 to 9 dollars a gallon. A 120 dollar US fill up of a medium sized car wasn't unusual. Yet we saw plenty of cars on the roads. No doubt the gas prices along with the limited parking on medieval size streets and dense city core accounted for the bicycles we saw everywhere. Copenhagen's goal is to get 50% of the commuters to do so on bikes. About a third of the city's commutes are now on bikes. There are bike lanes everywhere and the throngs of cyclists seen at night were amazing.
Nyhavn, the old canal in Copenhagen, opened in 1670 |
The ancient urban architecture, some of it 8 or 900 years old fascinated us. We saw thatched roofs in the country and thick stone walls and castles and palaces. We walked by a house built in 1577 and toured several churches that went back that far or more. One Swedish cathedral in Lund had a clock built in 1425. As we walked out of that one, the huge bronze bells high overhead began to toll for a morning mass. What an amazing and arresting sound at close range.
Being boaters we naturally headed for the waterfront when we had a chance. Within Copenhagen's Nyhaven canal we found a delightful variety of old gaffers, beaters, upscale varnished woodies, charter boats motor sailors and dinner boats. The national gaffer rig seems to be a ketch, and nearly all the woodies were double enders. I think we only saw one schooner. Apparent a few Danes solve the high cost of house problem by living aboard. And despite the late fall date a number of boats were still afloat. We even saw several out sailing.
The Royal stables |
Our hosts drove us to the Viking ship museum in Roskilde, the place of springs. This city as about forty minutes across Zealand, the island Copenhagen is on. Denmark is a nation of islands, several hundred of them. This old town on a large protected body of water has been a seat of power for at least ten centuries. Its hill top cathedral built of brick in the 1400's is filled with tombs and burial vaults containing the remains of kings and queens of Denmark. We wandered around and peered into a couple of rooms with ornate caskets and statues of royalty before heading down hill to the harbor side ship museum. En route we passed two ancient springs. One had a huge flow of water welling up out of a carved round stone. In the middle ages some of the springs were considered sacred. You wonder as you walk by who drank here a thousand years ago.
Our hosts, Leif and Benedikta Wonsild |
Five vessels were sunk as a blockade about a thousand years ago to protect against an attack on the city. Each vessel was of a different type so they were a treasure trove of nautical history when discovered in the mud about fifty years ago.
Their many pieces of pine and oak and iron were stabilized and re-assembled within metal frameworks that outline the original vessel shapes in a beautiful display. The Danes have also re-created the five fishing, merchant and warships found here, and the replicas are now in active use for voyaging in the summers. They were stored outside on land at the time of our visit.
On another day we visited the shore and the strange Troll Forest and sandy beach on Zealand's north shore. Here we were looking out over brackish water between Denmark and Norway. Denmark's forestry practices are impressive as forest management and restoration has been underway here for two hundred years. Some of the splendid straight tall oaks we saw were planted to replenish forests depleted by the early 1800s navy building program. After iron and steel ships became the norm, the oaks grew unmolested and survive today.
Leif's son Simon with some tourists in front of the Queens summer palace |
Our hosts lived near a millstream and green way of old oak beech forest where we took a ramble following the waterway. We explored a park with ancient footpaths and burial mounds from the bronze age and we marveled at the history here. The Danish countryside even near Copenhagen remains open and actively farmed. Such a small land has to control land use and preserve its farmland to survive. And they have. We also spent a day in Sweden, crossing the recently constructed bridge to Malmo. Here we searched out the very odd fifty story Turning Torso apartment building. The more we looked at it, the odder it seemed. We also stopped at a very old City, Lund, with a cathedral even older than Roskilde's. Lund's narrow cobbled streets, old houses and long history as a university town made it interesting. It was also headquarters to a HiQ branch office, the company our host works for, so we drove by the office there. We crossed back to Denmark on a ferry at the point where the two countries are just two miles apart.
Fredensborg castle |
Back in the 1600s Denmark controlled both shores and used its vantage point to extort tolls from the many ships that wanted to go between the Baltic and North Seas. Copenhagen grew fat on tolls and trade until Denmark lost a war with Sweden and the tolls dried up. The city survived and eventually renewed itself on trade. Today Copenhagen continues to live largely by its wits. Much of the economy is based on academic pursuits and or a highly skilled service sector of health care, pharmaceuticals, software, corporate consulting and the like. Oil and natural gas from the North Sea also keeps the economy chugging along. What we saw there was a livable blend of old and new. High raise apartments going up near the airport, excellent trains for mass transit parks and green space and that fabled European design, where style seems a bit more important than in here in the world of Walmart.
Troll Forest |
We found European views and priorities often subtly different from ours. The “old” country continues to change and adapt and small nimble nations short on natural wealth can survive and even thrive. I suspect Denmark is making wise use of its momentary North Sea oil windfall as it invests and experiments with technologies for a sustainable future. There are certainly problems and pockets of poverty, especially for immigrants in a small racially homogeneous society such as this, ( And sure I'd hate to try to learn that language as an adult) and I'm sure not everyone is happy and content. It's not a perfect society but it is an interesting one. And very hygge.
Roskilde Cathedral |
Turning Torso tower in Malmo, Sweden |
Hamlet's castle at Helsingor |
Beachcombing on the north shore of Zealand |
Danish wooden yacht |
Thatcher at work |
Smoked salmon dinner at the Wonsilds |