Scandinavia 19 Changing of the guard

At noon we witnessed the changing of the guard, a process which takes quite a while. Sometimes it wasn’t possible for us to tell if anything was happening. The formal guards wear the big black hats and look a lot like Buckingham Palace guards. There were one or two outside each of the 4 palace buildings, but a much larger contingent (about 40) were involved in the guard changing.
 There seems to be a lot of construction in Copenhagen involved with improving/expanding the metro. Near the Amalienborg Palaces is a construction fence around the side of the nearby church. Perhaps it has been adopted by an art school?
There were a series of foam panels covering the fence with a depiction of a colonnade or aqueduct with pictures in each of the arches. All were in a classical style, but some had modern anachronisms, such as the flying saucer in this idyllic scene. Another had a harbor scene with sailing ships and a helicopter and submarine added.
(to be continued)

Scandinavia 18 Danish royal family

 There seem to be some interesting museums to visit, and Tivoli Gardens is practically next door. Lots of bikes on the streets, including many with a compartment on the front for children, packages, etc. Bike lanes on almost all streets, and I have to remember to stay on the sidewalks and not in the bike lanes. The bike lanes tend to be asphalt, and the sidewalks are often cobblestones, and we are VERY tired of walking on cobblestones.
There are enough bikes in Copenhagen that bike congestion and tie-ups seem more common than automobile tie-ups.

 Today we took a Hop-On, Hop-Off bus to Amalienborg Palace. Actually, it is a complex of 4 palaces in a diamond shape. One is occupied by the queen when she is in town, one by the Crown Prince, one is for guests, and the 4th is part museum and part a residence for another member of the royal family.
   The museum was interesting. Many of the rooms are as they were when a particular person occupied them. Mostly very cluttered with art, photos, etc. The Danish royal family seem to be related to all the other royal families of Europe. And I think most of the kings have been named either Frederick or Christian. Nowadays the monarch (currently a queen) does not get involved in politics. It is mostly a ceremonial position, and the royal family also tries to be accessible to the people. There is evidently a debate among the Danes about the cost/sense of maintaining a monarchy, but that seemed to be an internal
Danish debate not to be discussed with outsiders — particularly not in the royal residences.
(to be continued)

Cranky Old Hag in Scandinavia Copenhagen

Tuesday, June 16
Finally got to Copenhagen about 2:30 or so, found an ATM, and found our hotel. It is an older hotel, very near the train station. Room seems fine. Front desk said there was a laundromat down the street, so we went to check. Further than I want to take laundry, so I’ll wash out some more stuff in the sink. Saturday we head back to the US. We did discover that the area down the street is, to use the word of the desk clerk, a bit “colorful.” We had sort of come to that conclusion by the time we strolled past the third adult “toy” store with multiple interesting window displays.
    In the opposite direction from the “colorful” section we found the Visitor Center, and booked a canal tour for the afternoon, while the weather is still good. We saw some interesting parts of the city, but it was very difficult to understand the guide’s English. Again, there are some very low bridges in Copenhagen. We also saw one very interesting moveable bridge. Maybe we can get another look at it later
.(to be continued)

Cranky Old Hag in Scandinavia Feskekörka

    When we left Maritiman, we headed for a museum on the Swedish emigration to America. Unfortunately, they were just closing. We also went to the Feskekörka, a fish market built like a church. That was closed on Sunday and Monday, our two days here.
We were getting pretty tired—too much standing, as usual. Finally found a place to eat—Bee Kök och Bar, with sidewalk seating. We shared a pulled turkey sandwich, with a couple of beers, and chocolate truffles for dessert—yummy!
Then back to the room for another early night. Guess we just aren’t party animals. But we had a good day.
Tuesday, June 16
 Another travel day. No problem getting to the station, but it took a while to find the right train. We had to switch trains in Lund, which should have been a 2 hour wait, but the second train was delayed almost an hour. So much for uneventful travel. We used up the rest of our Swedish kronor buying lunch to carry with us.
(to be continued)

Scandinavia 15 neutrality

In WW II Sweden was as neutral as a nation could be located next door to Nazi Germany and beside Norway — which the Germans occupied in a surprise attack early in the war. My impression was that Swedes regard their WW II “neutrality” as an embarrassment, and in reaction are making “neutrality” a positive. More power to them. Of course, as I realized later, our discussions were taking place on the deck of a retired destroyer that had aggressively represented Sweden’s sovereignty during the Cold War.) By the way, the destroyer was pretty heavily armed--both 53 and 57mm guns, anti-aircraft guns, torpedoes, mines, and cruise missiles!

We also toured a light ship (Like a lighthouse). The sub was smaller than other subs I have toured, and it had a good, simple video about ballast and maintaining trim and neutral buoyancy. They also had a “monitor” (like the Monitor from our Civil war), although it was basically an empty hull. The compartments were labeled as cabins, storage, galley, etc., but there was nothing in them, not even an engine.

(to be continued)

Scandinavia 14 Maritiman

Breakfast at the hotel offered good variety—egg, meats, cheeses, breads, and Swedish pancakes! By the way, Göteborg is pronounced yur-te-borry!

The only real plan I had for today was Maritiman, a collection of ships you can explore, including a Swedish destroyer, a submarine, and a freighter. Well, that was enough! I think we spent about 4 hours there!

We were poking around the destroyer, reading signs, when a young woman guide offered to help. We spent a couple of hours (!) talking with her. She has one year to go to finish her bachelor’s degree. She is just learning about the ships, especially English nautical terms, but she knows some Swedish history, and we had a good discussion. (L note: Her take on Sweden is that Swedes have embraced “neutrality” as their defining characteristic. They work, play, and befriend one another for what they are — not what they demand, or require, or even want the other person to be. 

 “Neutrality” is a good explanation for the Pride parade and the accompanying enthusiasm. Of course I asked about WW II and Sweden’s “neutral” role, which I had just learned about while in Norway.

(to be continued)

Cranky Old Hag in Scandinavia 13 LGBTQ

It continued for another hour—I think every group in the city participated—political parties, social clubs, you name it. You know how every one is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day? Well, everyone was showing solidarity with the LGBTQ (only here it seems to be HBTQ, I think) community. There were clubs, families, gay couples, hetero couples, children, drag queens, bands, Brazilian Carnival groups, African groups, Amnesty International, socialists, communists, Liberals, what looked like scout groups, a group from the police(!), and on and on. Surprisingly, we didn’t see any opposition. No backlash. Just a lot of people having fun, with some good music and good cheer. There was also a party/concert at the end, which we didn’t stay for (speeches in Swedish). We later found out it was the last day of a 5-day festival. Talk about serendipity!

When the parade was over we walked back to the hotel (through the city park) and checked in. It was Sunday evening, so most places were closed. We did discover that there seems to be no place nearby to do laundry. “We don’t do that in Sweden.” (You don’t do laundry?) We could put some items in a bag for the hotel to have cleaned for us. I was hoping to do a week’s worth of laundry. So I washed out a few things in the sink. That should keep us respectable as far as Copenhagen, at least.

(to be continued)