Jetsetting in the 70's
with Ed & Nancy
In the 1970's "jet
age" you had to live fast to get your
money's worth.
Monday, May 11, 1970 -
Copenhagen, Denmark
Copenhagen is the capital
of a nation of four and a half million people. It
is one of the world's oldest capitals, in one of
the world's oldest kingdoms; it was founded in
the eleventh century by the Bishop Absalon,
who named the city Københaven.
The population of
Copenhagen is one million and it looked to me
like most of them were on the way to work or to
school by bicycle: men, well dressed, cigar in
mouth, ladies with shopping bags, or a child
sitting on a special rear seat, children, one
behind the other, pedaling through the traffic.
We arrived at the Absalon Hotel at
8:30 a.m., and thought it would be a good idea to
have a few hours sleep - to us it was 12:30
Sunday, midnight. Sleeping in the soft eiderdown
quilts was a beautiful beginning in Copenhagen.
After our rest, we decided
to spend the day walking around this fairy-land
city, alive with fountains and statues, small,
perfect parks and squares. White stands selling
fruits and sausages; a city with rococo castles
and palace guardsmen and legends that go back to
the pre-Viking days.
The heart of Copenhagen is
Tivoli ,
a truly unique amusement park, smack in the
middle of the Capital. It was established in
1843. It is a cleaned up and shiny Coney Island
laid out in a miniature Central Park.
We were only a few blocks
from the Royal Square, Kongens Nytorv,
with its sidewalk cafés, where we sampled our
first Smørbrød, an open-faced sandwich and
beer. Across from the sidewalk café was the Town Hall Square
(Raadhuspladsen), the center of the city's life
with flower vendors and sausage stands in front
of the towering red brick City Hall.
From Town Hall Square we
walked along a most fascinating street, the Strøget,
almost anything you want to buy can be found on
this street. It is full of pedestrians and free
from all motor traffic. It is a medieval, narrow
and winding thoroughfare and has the flavour of
old Copenhagen with cobblestone streets, bicycle
stands, with bicycles parked everywhere! We had a
light supper because we were going on a night
tour of the city which included a meal.
Copenhagen Night Tour
At Räädhusen (Town Hall)
we got on the Night Tour bus at 9:00 p.m. to see
Copenhagen by night. It is a glittering
metropolis, its people are gay and fin loving and
very friendly. Among the others, on this
particular bus tour were couples from Israel,
California, and Spain.
After touring the city, we
went to Larry's Cabaret, then Vin & Øgod,
which was loud and noisy with long wooden tables
and benches in a long row. While the orchestra
played, everyone sang and danced, some right on
the tables! We had a couple of dances, and
enjoyed watching the Danish people really
enjoying themselves. Most of the songs were in
English so we could all join in, and when they
sang Wonderful Copenhagen
the beer mugs were held high and everyone really
meant every word of that song.
We went to the Valencia
Club next, where we saw the floor show and were
served smørbrød, open-face sandwiches of many
different varieties, drinks and coffee. The tour
ended at 1:00 a.m.
While we were touring the
city at night, one stop was at Tivoli, which is
the main nightime attraction from May 1 to
September 15. It was beautiful at night! Crystal
chandeliers hang from treetops; necklaces of
colored lights are strung over walks; there is a
Persian Palace of a cabaret, a Chinese pagoda, a
pantomime theater, a concert hall, a dozen
bandstands, lots of carnival attractions, an
off-beat student beer hall, all in beautiful
lights, fountains with different colored lights
illuminating the water and changing from an
ordinary fountain, encircled in flowers, to a
beautiful sight.
Tuesday, May 12, 1970 -
Copenhagen Day Tour
You have not really seen
Copenhagen until you have experienced a boat trip
through the canals in the harbour. So today we
take the city and harbour tour. The touring bus
left at 9:00 a.m.
Most of the buildings we
saw were of ancient structure, dating back to
1167 A.D. Christianborg Castle
(Palace) is built on the site of the fortress of
Bishop Absalon, the founder of the city.
Nearby is the Stock Exchange,
a 17th century building with its twisted dragon
tail steeple. The Thordvaldsens National
Museum, ancient, but
beautiful with some of the best works of
Denmark's leading sculptors. You can climb a
circular ramp of the Round Tower and have a view
over the whole city.
Vor Frue Kirke
(Our Lady Church) is another interesting tower
with an exterior spiral staircase, is a Cathedral
which has a beautiful portico. Inside are twelve
apostles in white marble.
Amalienberg Palace,
the King's residence is a beautiful rococo
edifice, four symmetrical wings frame a spacious
square, with a statue of King Frederick at its
center. Changing of the guard takes place at
noon.
Rosenborg Castle,
is beautiful, created by King Christian IV
who gave Copenhagen so many noble buildings and
treasures, contains the Danish Crown Jewels.
At Kongens Have (King's
Garden) stands the statue of Hans
Christian Anderson
and many more sculptures.
The Royal Theatre has
a very classical front. Von Frelsers Kirke (Our
Savior Church) was built between 1682-1752 and
has a beautiful Baroque interior. Gefion Fountain,
The Little Mermaid,
Frilandsmuseet Museum
(open air museum) consists of buildings from
various parts of the country which had been
dismantled and rebuilt here, stone by stone with
everything accurately preserved with original
furniture and fittings. Next to Gefion Fountain
stands St.
Alban's Church,
an English church which is very old; the bricks
are black from age. The Museum of Denmark's
Persistence Movement of 1940-1945 is quite modern
in contrast.
Hamlet's Castle,
built in 1585 by Frederick II,
is at Elsinore where
we traveled across to Sweden in 20 minutes by
boat.
The residential district
has large homes and beautiful gardens; although
the west part of Copenhagen is a slum area, there
is very little evidence of poverty in the
downtown area, no beggars or unruly people. No
wonder Hans Christian Anderson was inspired to
write his fairytales there, with the
Venetian-like canals, magnificent fountains,
gardens, and handsome architecture. The most
beautiful amusement park in the world - Tivoli,
the famed Royal Danish Ballet,
and the horse-drawn cab through Deer Park at
nearby Klampenborg.
Wednesday, May 13, 1970 -
Daytrip to Sweden
From City Hall Square, the
coach drives to Dragor, a fishing village. We
crossed to Sweden by ferry, a one hour trip with
the port of arrival at Limhamn.
We met a couple from
Edmonton who had been in Amsterdam (which was to
be our next stop). Carrying my shoulder flight
bag with Vancouver, B.C. and a silhouette of the
mountains, shoreline, and skyscrapers Seemed to
cause a lot of interest. Many people from the
U.S. and Canada spoke to us and there were some
who wanted to know where B.C. was.
The coach took us to Malmo,
third largest city in Sweden. We toured the city
which is very clean and has many large modern
apartment buildings.
We stopped for lunch at
the Hotel Sankt Jorgens. We had the most
delicious food that we had ever eaten! The
smorgasborg was set up along one end of the room,
and it was not only appetizing to look at, it
tasted great! The omelet melted in your mouth.
There was everything I had looked forward to on
that long table, topped of with a great Swedish
dessert, fluffy almond tasting cake, piled high
with whipped cream and lots of good coffee to
drink.
There was time for
shopping after lunch, before the tour continued
to Lund. We found an SAS office and confirmed our
flight from Copenhagen to Amsterdam the following
day, so I had no time to shop, but I did go into
a large department store to get stamps and have a
quick look; besides I wanted to hear the people
around me talk Swedish, just to see if I could
understand them. I was originally from Sweden and
had emigrated to Canada as a child. I found many
words coming back to me and knew that if we made
it to Stockholm I would have a hard time making
myself understood! Of course, English is spoken
in many of the larger cities in Scandinavia.
We continued on our coach
tour, driving along country roads lined with
beech and birch trees to Lund and
to visit a cathedral with a famous medieval
clock, the Domkyrkan, which was
chiming on our arrival, because a funeral was in
progress. Everyone was dressed in black, the men
wearing top hats and the women long, black veils,
covering their faces. Everyone shook hands, which
is a custom in Sweden everywhere, on almost every
occasion.
At
Dally we saw the oldest Nordic stone church from
about 1065. We drove along a 22 mile long granite
shoulder to Romeleåsen, a landscape starkly
different from the surrounding flat and beautiful
fields. There were places where only two feet of
soil was above the granite and this was quite
visible as we drove along. The highest point was
600 feet.
We
next arrive at Björnstöp Castle, built around
1700, belonging to the Gyllenkrook family and
Häckenbergä, a large forest estate since the
17th century. It has today the largest undivided
forest of the district. The main building is from
the 1870's. Sväneholm,
the present castle is from the middle 16th
century, but was partly altered in 1700. We were
served refreshments in the dungeon-like hall.
It was a long and
interesting day. We arrived back at Copenhagen at
7:30 p.m.
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