Castles, kingdoms and peasants

Eve and I have been having some great time together visiting places while Sue continues her study.

One Monday we got on the train at Sorø then to Copenhagen and finally to Helsingor (Elsinore of Hamlet fame).  The tulip garden in town was sooo pretty (Eve loved it).

The castle there (Kronborg) is recognised as the finest example of a Rennaissance castle in Europe. The tour through it was wonderful. The castle had stood guard over the Kattegut seaway that connects the North sea with the Baltic. It was built in th 1500's and collected tolls from the merchant ships (in return for safe passage and protection from pirates) until some time in the 1800's when an American ship refused to pay and were not attacked by pirates. The stream of revenue then dried up overnight.

It was great to see fishermen on the shore outside the castle fishing and pulling in some mackerel.

 The land on the other side is Sweden.

The castle is made from brick as stone is not common here.

 Inside, yes they really knew how to live like kings (and queens). They were expected to eat 9 kg of meat each day (and the servants would come around with a bucket and goose feather for you-know-what).









The tapestries were amazing, the chapel so ornate, and overall a real eye-opener into life at the time.

This is Vild Boar Stew!

I have just returned to Denmark from the EUROPEA Agricultural Education Conference in Kaszo, Hungary. I set out at about 5.30 on a frosty Danish moning to catch the bus to Slagelse then the intercity express to Copenhagen airport (Kastrup) where I waited under the information sign in of terminal 2  to meet Henrik Dethlefsen who is the Danish Ag Educator I have been emailing. Henrik and I then travelled with Swiss Air to Zurich and then to Budapest where we met up with delegates from other European Countries and then went by bus more than 4 hours to the south east of Budapest (in the direction of Croatia), first on a major freeway then through small villages until we reached the end of the road in a Kaszo village (Kaszo Puszta). The village is a forestry town of about 300 people with a hunting lodge run by the forestry company. Walking into the lodge was amazing!

The stuffed animals were everywhere inside the lodge (except in the rooms - thank goodness). The delegates were from most European countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, France, Austria, Belgium, Spain (including the Canary Islands), Italy, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Romania, UK and of course Hungary). English was the common language and it is the  policy of Europea to use English even though many of the delegates struggle with it.

My impressions of the Hungarians? They are very proud people - proud to be a nation again after the years of Communism and very proud to be a part of EU. Most men are very strong and well built (they would make a great Rugby nation!). One day we were given lunch which was very nice. Many of the delegates commented to the hosts that it was wonderful to have an authentic Hungarian Goulash. The host replied that it was not a goulash but "Vilde Boar Stew", and for the next few days we had soup that had as its base the "Vilde Boar Stew". Entertainment was provided by local boys from the forestry school on violin, accordian and double base (with 3 strings) playing, singing and dancing traditional music.

On the last night a few of the local boys introduced the farewell dinner with a bugal call.

This photo shows the EUROPEA meeting with delegates from Sweden and France and the flags of Luxembourg and Denmark.



The owner and farm manager of the forestry company with their suits.



The team spent an afternoon at a forestry training school. It was good to see how they went about their practical training.

Boats, Flowers and Singers

Anzac Day was not well celebrated in Denmark except as Easter Monday (Paska Mantag) for which everyone had a holiday. We celebrated by going in to Copenhagen to the Tivoli Gardens. It is probably easiest to describe Tivoli as beautiful gardens with theme park rides, stages etc. The gardens were indeed beautiful with daffodils, tulips and many other types of flowers, however it was the Gospel Music Festival that was held at the main stage that really astounded us.  I've been trying to upload a video of the choir but I can't manage it yet.
Denmark is a European Country with a State sponsored Lutheran Church. The churches with a few exceptions in the larger cities are very traditional and not taken seriously by the society at large except for the traditions of baptisms, confirmations, weddings etc. We were surprised to see a Gospel Music Festival in the first place but even more surprised at the nature and content of it!

In the last decade or so there has been a mushrooming of community Gospel choirs around Denmark with hundreds of them in operation.The choirs we saw were having a heap of fun and making great music. I would love to be a part of that type of action! We recorded a little of the Crossroads Gospel Choir (they also have there own website).

Two days later we went in to Slagelse to see the Danish Cavalry do their weekly parade through the town square. They were led by the Drum Major followed by the drummer on a beautiful draft horse.

Slagelse town square with markets.Following the parade we took the bus to the seaside town of Korsor. There was a beautiful museum, a Danish Naval base and very upmarket housing. 

There was a wonderful Korsor museum. There was a photo of German warplanes over the town during the occupation of WW2 (which seems to be still resentedby many Danes).

Sunday May 1 we all went to Ringsted to the Dutch Windmill and Agricultural museum...

don't you love the cow! She gave my hands a workout they haven't had for many years,There was also a display about an archaeological excavation with two skeletons (the male had his arm around the female) along with the jewelry they were buried with from 250 AD, which is much later then the fortress walls here at Soro which are dated at 800 BC.

 

Anyway enough of ancient history, tomorrow I'm off to Hungary where the weather is forcast to be cloudy with showers and daytime temps up to 20 (as opposed to here where is beautifully fine but only 11 with an icy wind).

The First Week!

Eve and I had a long flight from Brisbane to Singapore, a long, long flight from Singapore to London, then a short hour and a half to Copenhagen. Sue met us at the airport which was fantastic, and we had our first taste of Danish cooking.

Then for the first time as a reunited family, made our way to our new home in Soro (pronounced SORyoo).
We have a room in the student quarters (however we are the only ones here for the Easter week).

Soro is a beautiful town with 3 lakes around old,old buildings and a culture of riding bikes everywhere!

The university has provided us with bikes to ride and we have made good use of these each day. The track around the big lake is about 9 km.... a good workout for an old fella not used to it. The weather has been unbelievably good. Although the week started out fine and cool we have ended up in short sleeves and even short pants!

Spring has been happening so fast. It is amazing to think that when we flew in from London we came over forests bare of leaves and wet with winter snowmelt. Daffodils were everywhere and the forests had a carpet of white flowers.

These photos were taken on Tuesday, however now it is Sunday, everything is different. The first daffodils are finished, the tree buds are bursting and life is everywhere around. The gardens of Ankerhus (the uni) are full of magnolias, rhododendrons and apple trees. The magnolias are in full bloom now, the apple trees are just beginning and the rhododendrons are a little behind them. C.S.Lewis' description of the end of winter in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is so real here.

Communicating has it challenges. While most people speak very good English and are happy to do so when you explain where you are from, bus timetables, train timetables and the like are generally only in Danish. The shopping centre had the little area for dogs while you do the shopping.

We went to Roskilde the ancient capital of Denmark. The Viking Museum was fantastic. The picture shows portions of boats excavated from the bottom of Roskilde fjord.

Eve even let Mummy dress her up as a viking!

Then Saturday we went to Sweden for the day (as you do)!

It was a bus tour from Copenhagen, north to Elsinore (Helsinor), across on the ferry to Helsingborg in Sweden and then through the ancient university city of Lund (where Carl von Linne...Linnaeus for the scientists, studied) and then to Malmo and back over the Oresund Bridge to Copenhagen. Agriculturally Sweden is very different from Denmark- the paddocks are much bigger and much more business-like to an Australian. There is a town called Dalby and the countryside even looks like the Darling Downs.

On the commentary we heard lots about the wars between Denmark and Sweden over the disputed territory of Skerne.

The buiding above is Kronborg castle at Elsinore, the setting for Hamlet. Apparently Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern were actual historical figures, and check out the Prince!

So that has been the first week in Denmark. There has been so much so far and so much more to see and do yet.