Sailing and Blogging

Greetings!

Can't believe that I'm writing this from a ferry crossing from Denmark to Norway. Pat and I did the Carlsberg Glyptotek (he's the Pilsner Beer guy) today, and then boarded this ferry. What a museum this guy has put together. Mostly statues from all over Europe, but also some very classic paintings by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, and lot of others. The wouldn't allow many photos, but I did get a few of Pat wondering around in it.

We've only got a few more minutes, so I'll just concentrate on getting the photos up on picasa
Copenhagen Saturday.
See you tomorrow in Norway!

Gregory

Tired Feet in Copenhagen

Greetings!

Today's visits were to the National Museum, and then on a walking tour which incorporated most of the popular views in the downtown area. Thus, the title of this post. The National Museum was another great example of collecting and displaying a huge amount of what a country is about in a single building. The museum retained the walls of an old building, and gutted the inside to create a series of well-lighted, glass rooms which house seven unique collections describing the country's political, cultural, ethnographic, archealogical, architectural, and artistic past. It also contains some temporary exhibits on the Sami culture (northern Sweden), a toy museum, and a tasty restaurant.

We found one of the collections to be outstanding. It chronicled Danish life from 1600 to 2000, and was exhausting in its volume and detail. We had to sit down three times during that one exhibit.

After six hours of the museum, we walked across town to see some gardens near the Rosenborg Palace, and walk through an area which the city maps highlight as scenic. Pat also wanted to check out some flagship stores near the Royal Copenhagen Store.

But we're back now. I'm downstairs writing this and listening to the various guests try to negotiate better rooms, extra nights, getting in (it's booked and it's Friday night). Pat's come down after her nap, and has found out that we can store our luggage at the Ferry like last time. We'll soon be thinking of dinner.

The feet may be tired, but the spirit and the stomach are still eager.

No photos today. It was just not that photogenic.

Day trip by train to Roskilde

Greetings!

Pat hit another home run today with her suggestion that we take a day trip out to Roskilde. It's a small town 30-minutes west of Copenhagen by train. We're getting very good at using local transportation, and were in Roskide soon after breakfast. The town is home to a church, built in the eleventh century, where a long line of Danish kings were crowned, and later buried in ornate, marble sarcophogi in the basement and separate rooms of the church. I normally don't like paying to get into a church, but made an exception due to it's high rating in the tourist books. When do you get to see almost a thousand years of coffins? The furniture architectural value should be worth something.

Roskilde usually is known for its annual rock music festival (held two weeks ago), and we walked through a park area near town which held some of the events. It was cleaned up well,and lots of families were using it now.


The other reason for going to Roskilde was the Viking Boat Museum. Roskilde is located at the southern end of a large fjord. Long ago (1060 A.D.), during a time when the Danish King wanted to thwart the invasion plans of the Swedish King, the locals sank some of their old boats at a shallow chokepoint in the journey up the fjord to their town. In 1969, a section of the fjord was buoyed and the remains of five unique boats were excavated. It took decades of restoration work before the wood could be protected from deterioration, analyzed, and reconstructed. One of the largest warrior boats found, which turned out to have been made in 1042 in Dublin, was among those recovered.

The five boats are displayed in a museum which is located on the edge of the fjord, and in which the visitor can see reconstruction work contining on other,more recent finds. Next to the museum is a marina, where we had lunch and watched the locals deposit their sailboats in the water for use.

Here is a link to all of the photos we took today: Copenhagen Thursday

Copenhagen Wednesday

Greetings!

Hotel Absalon, and several other low budget faamily hotels, sits in what is referred to as the "erotic district". Getting in after dinner last night, I had bought Pat's comment that it didn't look like we'd be getting a breakfast. Seedy would be an upgrade to describing the neighborhood, and we didn't look very closely at the lobby and amenities. We were informed that the room we had reserved was "without facilities", which meant that the toilet and shower were out in the hallway. Pat urged an upgrade, and the addition of an extra day. For another $50/night and $180 for the final night, we got what we wanted, and hurried off to bed.

Then we read the hotel's guidebook in the room. Not only did they have breakfast, but wireless internet in the lobby. I went downstairs, got an extra pillow for Pat and a replacement light bulb for the desk lamp, and returned to the room. The lamp still didn't work, but we decided against making a pest of ourselves. I took the laptop downstairs, sat on a couch near the reception, and logged on. High broadband speed, and no logon problems.

This morning, with slightly less variety in the cereal ingredients, and really poor orange juice, we had the hotel breakfast. Pat had yogurt and sliced peaches, and then moved joined me in cereal. As she's been working on getting me to like almost every other food besides the five of six I fell into liking as a kid, I'm working on her liking milk. I have a long way to go.

Another beautiful day in Scandinavia. We decided that our previous strategy of taking a city bus and harbour tour was the way to go with Copenhagen. The only glitch we found was that the ATM said "card issuer unavailable" when we tried to get some cash out of it from our bank's debit card just before the 9:30am tour left without us. We walked around the city center area for a while killing time in the hope that it would become available for the 11:30 tour. We used an alternate strategy at 11:00, and got cash out of one of our credit cards. Later in the day, we found the ATM responsive again to our debit card.

While we waited, we visited the home store of Royal Copenhagen. The third floor contains their museum, and a working artist from their production line painting the ceramic dishes. I really did learn more than I thought I'd find interesting about this Danish commerical treasure

The other glitch was that we found the tour bus almost full when we got to it, and sat in one of the seats on the first level. On a tour which focuses on seeing buildings and dramatic views, looking out at the first floors wasn't exciting. We did see a troup of royal guards on the street, and got out to photograph the little mermaid statue near the shore.

The tour boat had much better views, and I was blown away by how much the city has done to convert its surplus navy and industrial properties into high-end housing, and sailboat-served summer apartments. It's also working on a new waterfront opera house and theater complex.



In the late afternoon, we just had to try the main tourist attraction in the city - Tivoli Gardens. What a ripoff. Unless you are nine years old, with a set of parents willing to let you lose your lunch on scary rides, and buy every possible souvenir imaginable, you'll be disappointed. I did get a closeup photo of the marching band. Later, we walked partt of one of the city's walking tours, before coming back to the hotel around 5pm. A good, long day in a vry pretty city. But tomorrow, we'll walk it.


Here is a link to all of the photos we took today: Copenhagen Wednesday

Stockholm Monday

Greetings!

Have you ever thought you could spend seven continuous hours in museums? Pat and I chose two of the best museums in Stockholm to fill our last full day here. The National Museum of Antiquities and the Vasa Museum display two very interesting collectons of Swedish life which held our attention, and kept us from thinking about our aching feet.

The National Museum of Antiquities holds the materials which were found in most of the archealogical excavations in Sweden. It also holds the collections which Swedish explorers brought back from around the world. There's an underground "Gold Room" that has 1,500 items which collectively weigh 100 pounds of gold and 500 pounds of silver. Among the standouts were: the only three existing gold neckwraps (seven continous hollow tubes of detailed fillagree gold bands, covering most of the neck); a bowl and crown combination in the shape of a head, studded with hundreds of priceless stones (which was taken as bounty after the 30-year war); hundreds of rings and other items so small you needed a magnifying glass to see them - which had details that defied the imagination as to how they could fashion them (remember they had no magnifying glasses). We saw three exhibits alone which focused on the Viking Period of Swedish history (700AD to 1050AD), a very large collection of Mediterranean and Nile excavations, and a very reputable Mayan collection.



The second museum was the Vasa Museum. Built just off the bay waters, the building holds the remains of the pride of the Swedish Navy in the early 1600's which sank less than an hour after it was launched. It appears that the mettling of the king in the design resulted in it being too tall and too thin (in order to house two levels of cannons), and that the ballast aboard was insufficient to keep it from rocking so much that it took in water through the lower gun ports and sank.

The museum building consists of seven floors of displays wrapped around the hull of this enormous, fully-restored ship. Because the waters of this bay are not as salty as most shipwreck sites, the worm which usually destroys ships this old was not around to do its damage. Even the extra ship's sails were recovered and are displayed (even though the ship is not rigged in the building). The effort to find, raise, and restore the ship is beautifully described in film and photographs. All of the recovered materials were used or are featured in exhibits. Outside the structure is an docked icebreaker used to clear the harbor in the winter.


This morning, we packed up, and had breakfast here for the last time. I believe I can say that the cereal portion of the breakfast at the Wallin Hotel in Stockholm is the best hotel breakfast cereal offering I've ever had. It was a very consistent mix of wheat bran, Special K, rice kispies, and corn flakes, with very fresh raisins and non-fat milk. Only a sliced banana would have improved it.

We hiked down to the train station, and waited for the X2000 train (their bullet train) to Copenhagen. Our seats were across a small table next to the window, and we alternately slept, read, and watched the Swedish countryside zip by at almost a blur. I continued to look for familiar birds, and spotted what I believe to be a great blue heron and a snowy egret. Since there was only one of each, I may have wished them into existence. They must be very lonely in this aviarian oasis.

Travels to Gamla Uppsala

Greetings!

"Beowulf is the editorial title of a long heroic poem considered the supreme achievement of Anglo-Saxon poetry because of its length (3182 lines) and sustained high quality. Briefly, it is the poetic presentation of a man Beowulf as the ideal example of Germanic heroic culture, treated for a Christian audience with an explicit symbolism of the conflict of man with the powers of evil. In its dramatic portrayal of moments of high adventure and tragedy in the life of its hero, it employs parallelism, contrast, and a kind of tragic irony through allusive echoes of Germanic heroic lays and historic traditions well-known to its listeners. It has something of the depth and tone of an epic but not the form and construction commonly associated with that ancient classical term. Through Germanic history, legend, and folklore in a style and diction that sustains the best qualities of 'classical Anglo-Saxon verse', it presents a universally appealing tragedy of the human predicament.

The chief human protagonists in Beowulf are Scandinavian peoples: the Danes, prominent in the earlier part of the poem, who endure the marauding attacks of Grendel until both the monster and its avenging mother are overcome by Beowulf; the Geats, of whom Beowulf afterwards becomes king and in whose defence he meets his death in battle against a fire-breathing dragon; and the Swedes, whose conflicts with the Geats are recounted in passages interwoven into the narrative in the later part of the poem."

So, why am I telling you of this poem? In the poem, one of the stories concerns a family and its ceremonial burial grounds which we visited today. The kings of the Ynglingar dynasty, in the middle of the Iron age's sixth century, were buried under three huge mounds about 40 miles northwest of Stockholm. Seeing it listed as one of the three recommended short trips outside of Stockholm in most of the guides, we boarded a speedy train, and were at the university town of Uppsala in 40 minutes.

Making our way out of the train station, and to a bus stop on a few blocks away, we encountered a friendly bus driver who dropped us off a few minutes later at the entrance to Gamla Uppsala (old Uppsala).

The museum contains two floors of exhibits detailing the history of the site, from its early history as a burial ground, to its eight hundred years as a place where kings, popes, and movement leaders have used it to inspire their followers.










Under each of the three main mounds is a large stone vault cairn, measuring about twenty feet on a side,and eight feet high. In the middle of the floor is a small clay urn containg the cremated remains of the person to which the mound was dedicated. What was found within each of the urns suggests that the persons were burned in an intensely hot funeral pyre while dressed and arranged with items which would accompany them to the next life. One of the urns indiccated the individual was resting on a bear skin, and accompanied by two hounds and a goshawk. Some quantities of a horse, pig, and domesticated hens no doubt come from the food supply with which the dead man was provided. The personal equipment included two bone combs, a belt loop, pieces of a board game, and glass beakers. Fragments of gold tinsel and bone figurines were also found. One mound is thought to contain a teenager and a woman, another a man and woman, and the third a single man. Stories abound which attempt to identify these people, but most agree they were members of the royal family of the Swedish empire at the time.

It was a very impressive place, comparing favorably with many other spiritual and archaelogical treasures which link cultural myths and legends with physical evidence and groundings.


On the way back to the train station, we stopped by the University, and visited a museum, saw some Rune stones, and had a great lunch at a restaurant along the river. Pat and I found it so nurturing to have a big hamburger, french fries (with Heinz ketchup), and a Corona. I'm glad to know that Swedish university students share my tastes in good food.


No links today, I've included all the photos we took today.

Slockholm Saturday

Greetings!

The sun came out early and brightly today, and so did we. Well, I still have a cold, so maybe brightly isn't the right word. With more than eight hours of sleep, however, we hit the breakfast line at 9:30am, and were out the door to the promenade a half hour later. Pausing momentarily to use the hotel printer to make copies of the confriming emails for the Copenhagen hotel and the ferry to Oslo (isn't the internet great?), we walked to the area of the central city where the tourists meet the tour operators (Gustav Adolfs Torg). A nice lady in a small red hut sold us tickets to the comprehensive tour (3 1/2 hour, bus and boat) and pointed to nice lady bus driver who advised us to find a seat on the top of the bus, but to come back outside until she could start up the bus and turn on the air conditioning.



Through headsets, we heard a gentleman in any one of fourteen languages tell us the history of the buildings and the bridges on the six biggest islands which constitute the core of Stockholm. The Royal Palace, the city hall, the churches, etc. Don't get me wrong, he was entertaining, and I learned much about the city. It's just that I was wondering how the audio system could be so good at delivering the messages written for each point of the route, given the inexactness of the commuter traffic, and the varying abilities of the drivers. I finally concluded that the driver must be signaling the system when we got to each point. Of course it could be that it's

Ending the bus tour after an hour, we were given a lunch bag down the gang plank to seats on a comfortable, covered launch. The lunch contained one of the best event sandwiches I've ever had, and a very tasty apple. I'm still getting used to paying for water, and this was a first to drink it from a can.


After the tour, Pat has some suggestions,and we decided to take the bus to a Swedish equivalent of the Open Air Museum we had seen in Finland (Skansen). Hundreds of houses from all over Sweden have been placed on a large central hilltop near the city center. Placed with it is a zoo, and lots of children's rides. I can't figure out any better formula to get families to go and see old buildings and their heritage. I was impressed with both aspects of the (amusement center?). They did a great job of preserving and bringing to life the Swedish past (characters and some traditional dancing), and I sure enjoyed the bears, moose, lynx, and reindeer. It's one of the most visited places in Sweden.




We tookthe bus back to the promenade, and walked backto the hotel. Pat's asleep, and I just wanted to add one more photo. This is the first time I've seen a statue of a horse in a major square that didn't have a general, or a politician on it. I didn't stop to find out its name, just wanting it to memorialize all the great horse that did all the hard work so that the rider could get the credit. Hooray for whoever it was.


Here is a link to the photos we took today: Stockholm Saturday