AFA - Copenhagen June 2009 Misc

There is much we could learn from the Scandinavians. Just like in Amsterdam, there were bicycles everywhere - but few wore helmets. People must be in great shape. This group was passing us on our way back to the hostel.

Check out the 'two seater'. I saw a couple of 'four seaters.'

Here's the famous statue of 'The Little Mermaid' in the harbor.




And yes, there were tons of beautiful, blue-eyed, blond, golden skinned men and women. More in Denmark than Sweden. I took a picture of one as evidence.

AFA - Copenhagen June 2009 Rosenborg Castle

Built by King Christian IV back in the early 1600's, it is typical of the Danish Renaissance style. The castles we saw in Scandinavia were all made of brick.

Another outrageous, over-the-top royal residence. This was another of those Italian / French influenced places with the unbelievable ceilings.

This is the great hall. Check out the golden lions in the left shot.

The crown jewels, hundreds of years old, used in the most recent coronation. But that was the last one, now the Prime Minister comes to the balcony of the palace and yells, "Long live the King / Queen" and that is sufficient. (no kidding - must be a cost cutting measure, the Danes are very frugal and smart with their money)
On the second row, left picture, the little golden oval boxes hold royal umbilical cords. (Ewwww!!! So much for 'smart with their money'.)
On the second row, right picture you see the elements of the coronation. You have to have the crown (above) plus the scepter and the royal orb. Check out that gigantic pink stone. the largest amethyst in existence at the time. (now it has probably plummeted to say... third - still worth a bazillion kroners)
Note the two necklaces in the center of the case. The upper is a British award given to some Danish royalty - I forget what the award is called ("Order of the Rose" maybe??), but it is the oldest necklace of its kind in existence and the British want it back. Badly. According to the guy at the museum, there was recently some very strong words from England expressing their desire for it.
The lower necklace is the highest honor given in Denmark, it is called .... wait for it ... "The Order of the Elephant" (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) No explanation for why it is called that, even looked it up on the internet - especially weird since there are no elephants in Denmark - voluntarily.

King Christian IV was quite a character, multiple wives and mistresses, fathered 26 children. Many, many evidences of him in Copenhagen even 400 years later. Ruled Denmark for 50+ years. We have been to bunches of castles but never seen anything like the pictures below.

This is the same picture from two angles. Look closely, you will see the ridges, in person it looks like an oriental fan that could be collapsed, accordion like. On one side the artist painted the woman, and on the other side the man.

This is King Christian IV in men's clothes on the left, and in drag on the right. (I told you he was quite a character!!) Probably just odd imperial dress.

On the left a magnificent wood and amber chandelier. Amber is very popular, it apparently washes up on the beaches.

On the left the ceiling is done as though they are looking down at you from a balcony. Very effective.

On the left, look at that gold & silver horse & rider. Check out how you can see our own 'Prince John' in the reflection. (okay, not intentional but cool nevertheless) Handsome boy!!

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That is a writing desk on the left. Wow!

Cathedral of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirche)

One of the things you find in all of Rick Steve's tour guide books is "walks." He suggests you start in a particular place in a town, and guides you from place to place, telling you about what you are looking at. It is a wonderful way to learn about the people and culture of a place you are visiting for the first time.
We were on one of his walks in Copenhagen when he guided us to this cathedral. In the guide book it mentioned that "...Mormons would recognize a statue similar to the one on Temple Square ..." Our antennae went up.
As soon as we walked into the sanctuary, we knew that something was different about this place. Bertel Thorvaldsen is the most famous sculptor in Sweden, he has his own museum of his work. But in this cathedral are 13 larger-than-life originals in marble, the 12 apostles and Christ - the original of the sculpture we in the LDS church call 'The Christus.' The feel of the place was peaceful, cool and quiet. The spirit could be felt, knowing that this was a special place.

As soon as I walked in the door I thought, "I know about this place." I remembered it being discussed on two occaissions, one I have excerted below. The other was over lunch with our
Stake President telling me about going to Copenhagen and visiting this church with our patriarch, and how spiritually refreshing and serene the place is.

The cathedral started as a Catholic church, but was confiscated by King Christian III when he converted to Lutheranism and took the whole country with him. It is very simple, but very beautiful.

An excerpt from a talk by Elder Boyd K Packer given in an LDS worldwide leadership conference. (also found in the May 2008 Ensign)

"...In 1976 an area general conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Following the closing session, President Spencer W. Kimball desired to visit the Vor Frue Church, where the Thorvaldsen statues of the Christus and of the Twelve Apostles stand. He had visited there some years earlier and wanted all of us to see it, to go there.

To the front of the church, behind the altar, stands the familiar statue of the Christus with His arms turned forward and somewhat outstretched, the hands showing the imprint of the nails, and the wound in His side very clearly visible.

Along each side stand the statues of the Apostles, Peter at the front to the right and the other Apostles in order.

Most of our group was near the rear of the chapel with the custodian. I stood up front with President Kimball before the statue of Peter with Elder Rex D. Pinegar and Johan Helge Benthin, president of the Copenhagen stake.

In Peter’s hand, depicted in marble, is a set of heavy keys. President Kimball pointed to those keys and explained what they symbolized. Then, in an act I shall never forget, he turned to President Benthin and with unaccustomed firmness pointed his finger at him and said, “I want you to tell everyone in Denmark that I hold the keys! We hold the real keys, and we use them every day.”

I will never forget that declaration, that testimony from the prophet. The influence was spiritually powerful; the impression was physical in its impact.

We walked to the back of the chapel where the rest of the group was standing. Pointing to the statues, President Kimball said to the kind custodian, “These are the dead Apostles.” Pointing to me, he said, “Here we have the living Apostles. Elder Packer is an Apostle. Elder Thomas S. Monson and Elder L. Tom Perry are Apostles, and I am an Apostle. We are the living Apostles.

“You read about the Seventies in the New Testament, and here are two of the living Seventies, Elder Rex D. Pinegar and Elder Robert D. Hales.”

The custodian, who up to that time had shown no emotion, suddenly was in tears.

I felt I had had an experience of a lifetime."

AFA - Copenhagen June 2009 (#1)

This is a temperature sign that I loved on the square in front of city hall. The thermometer runs up the side of the building. At the top are two golden ladies, one with an umbrella and the other a bicycle. On this particular day, it seems stuck between rain & sun - but the weather was spectacular.


The city hall and square were on Hans Christian Andersen boulevard. He is (obviously) from Copenhagen - famous for writing 'The Ugly Duckling', 'The Little Mermaid', and 'The Emperor's New Clothes' and others I can't think of right now.

Mom's Fallback Career with Archibald

Okay, we were walking down Stroget street in Copenhagen. Stroget is the street for shopping, sight seeing, people watching and street performers. If you go to Copenhagen, you will eventually end up on Stroget. Everyone does.

So we stop and watch a few performers, then there is this guy in a campaign hat and brown khaki shirt and pants running around like a crazy person, so we stopped to watch.

First the guy introduces himself as Archibald and asks for some help and grabs Brittany. As the family all knows, this produced a terrible conflict in her, because she is a performer and loves attention, but is very, very shy. But we encouraged her, and the guy was not to be dissuaded, so she went. He wanted her to help him with one trick, but she wouldn't, so he just popped her up on his shoulders and walked her around. Brittany was very brave, and we loved it. After it was over, I think she was glad she did it.

Look, no hands!

But then it really, really got funny. Archibald said, "For years, I've been searching for my mother." At that point, Mom later said she knew she was in trouble. Then he said, "At last I have found her!!!" And he grabbed Mom. Well, she was not conflicted at all, she is shy and does NOT want attention. Especially in front of a crowd on Stroget street. That's when I started laughing.

This is him pulling her out and introducing her as 'his mother.'

Then he gave her some spaghetti and had her hold it at arms length while he cut it in half with a whip. At first he just gave her the spaghetti and told her to hold it out - which made Mom pretty nervous - but then he had her wear an oven mitt to protect her hand - then we were all nervous. At this point, I couldn't breathe I was was laughing so hard. It went fine, the spaghetti was cut in half, no one was injured, Mom thought she was done and could relax. But noooo ....

Then he climbed up on his slack wire stand, and proceed to walk on it. At one point, he had Mom hand him unlit torches to juggle and his hat.

He made a mistake and dropped a burning torch. ("Mother, I dropped my torch, could you please?")

The performers take their bow, none the worse for wear. Mom was great, she laughed through the whole thing, despite the fact that she was totally mortified.

He really did have some skills, but without Mom & Brittany, the act was nothing.