København

…the Danish name for Copenhagen. It’s so close but we haven’t spent much time there yet! Now it’s the end of Sportlov (sports leave/permission) winter break. Many families go skiing this week, though it was originally implemented after WWII as a way to save energy by closing schools for a week during the coldest part of winter. It also interrupted the spread of cold and flu viruses and encouraged citizens to spend time outdoors, so it became a traditional part of the school calendar in Sweden. This year Bryant had a busy schedule and I had classes at Lund University, so we didn’t travel, but we thought we’d try to squeeze in a day trip across The Bridge. It was sunny with no wind and even though it was slightly cooler than normal, it felt pretty good for roaming around the city.

We did a quick trip through the botanic gardens but there wasn’t much to see yet and so we headed to Rosenborg , a Renaissance era castle which houses the Danish Royal Collection, the Crown Jewels etc.

The kids weren’t too excited to see more of the same, but I thought it was quite “accessible” compared to similar tours we’ve done. They did remark that they’ve seen the Crown Jewels of England, Spain and now Denmark, and Denmark was by far the most relaxed about it. We could get right up and look or even take photos, which is generally not allowed. The kids will never forget how uptight the Spanish guards were and how we got yelled at for walking on the grass and for taking this photo. We were impressed with Bryant’s daring act!

Here it was not at all crowded and we were able to linger, read or listen to the details and talk to the docents. I learned that the king had a speaker system to pipe in live music on demand, via musicians in the cellar. The royals could communicate through a secret channel from the main winter chambers down to the basement. It could also be used to spy on any meetings that took place. There was a hidden chair lift built into the king’s study, which could be raised to the second floor so the king didn’t have to interrupt his writing to walk upstairs under his own power.

He also had a prank chair which could trap an unsuspecting guest on the chair and soak the person’s seat with water, then make a farting noise when the victim was released from the chair. How ridiculous is that?! The chair looked normal but the mechanisms could be seen on the back. Also in the weird category, the king’s bloodstained clothes preserved from a battle in 1644 when he lost his eye, some of the world’s ugliest jewelry, the mirrored room, even the floor- ick, don’t think about it. I enjoyed seeing the Crown Jewels and vintage wine barrels from 1598 (stolen by Swedes in 1659 and then stolen back) Wine from these barrels- not stored in the barrels since 1982- is served once a year at the Queens New Years banquet. And it was interesting to think that Abe Lincoln was governing while monarchies still ruled most of Europe. American democracy really is amazing when you think of it! Lincoln’s envoy gave the king’s son a set of revolvers, newly invented and never before seen in Europe.

Quick look at the botanic garden…The palm house had an interesting bird’s eye view. We could appreciate how huge the foliage of the canopy really is…enormous leaves and branches up there.