Having ditched the kids, since we were already in Europe, we
wanted to take advantage of the situation. We grabbed a flight to Copenhagen,
and on landing and hooking up with our bus tour mates, we immediately headed to
the world-famous Tivoli Gardens.
Opened in 1843, this amusement park and pleasure garden is
one of the most popular in Europe and the 2nd oldest amusement park
in the world. The park was originally authorized by King Christian VIII when
its founder told the King “when the people are amusing themselves, they do not
think about politics.” The Carlsberg
Family (Carlsberg Beer) are the majority owners of the Gardens. The Danes say there
is lots of documentation of visits by Walt Disney beginning as early as 1951.
Interestingly Disneyland opened in 1955.
In addition to the other normal things (cathedral, historic
buildings, etc.) we walked through the Freetown of Christiania. About 20 acres
in central Copenhagen, this area was former barracks for a military base which
was abandoned. With only a few on guard, squatters occupied many of the empty
buildings, and the occupants claimed the area was no longer part of Denmark.
Drugs were openly sold, and interactions with police were so tense that
eventually even the police would not enter the area.
Today Danish laws are enforced in Christiania, with the
exception that cannabis and hash are still openly sold from permanent booths.
The residents still do not consider the area as part of either Copenhagen or
even Denmark. We didn’t encounter any hostility on our stroll (other than to
our nostrils) and ignored the advice of the concierge at the hotel to not take
any photos.
We also learned that author Hans Christian Anderson was
Danish. Born in Odense on April 2, 1805, he published no fewer than 3,381
works, translated into more than 125 different languages. On a bay in the
Baltic Sea, we discovered the bronze Mermaid on an appropriate rock.
Our next stop was Stockholm, our only stop in Sweden. We got
there via the Oresund Bridge, the longest road and rail bridge in Europe
spanning nearly 10 miles. The capital of Sweden, Stockholm is set on 14
beautiful islands along the coast of the Baltic Sea – almost due west of St.
Petersburg Russia. It is the most populous urban area in Scandinavia, with
beautiful stone buildings to prove it. 
Our bus tour took us to the Blue Hall where the Nobel Prize
banquets are held each year. Established by the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel
with the fortunes he made from discovering dynamite. Many believe that his
focus on the Peace Prize was a result of compensating for the devastation his
invention caused on the field of battle.
We visited the Vasa Galleon, a Swedish warship launched in
1628. Built at the order of King Gustavus Adolphus to overpower Poland, it was
equipped with more cannon than any ship built to date. Being top-heavy with all
these extra cannons, it sank on its maiden voyage and was completely enveloped
in the mud in the bay. In 1991 it was found essentially intact since the mud
acted as a cocoon. 
We not only got to gander at this impressive nearly
400-year-old ship in nearly pristine condition, we even got to board her and
tour all the rooms below deck. We found the cabins that house both the officers
and enlisted men. The galley and the mess hall let us see what life might have
been like for a sailor in the 1600’s. There was nothing about this ship that
wasn’t interesting – there were 5 levels of decking in the museum so you got
the chance to see it up close and personal.
Our visits to Denmark and Sweden were awesome, but we had a
lot more Scandinavia to explore. This sign makes me think of the ones in Utah –
guns and beer – some things just go together!
Talk to you soon.
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