Visiting my heritage in Denmark

Back in elementary school, we had a project where we had to learn about our ancestry and research a country we have descended from.  Many of my friends knew exactly where their families immigrated to America from.  I, on the other hand, have a mother who was adopted – an ancestral dead end.  Though I often assume she/I have some Irish or Scottish heritage based on the red hair she gave me. I turned to my father’s side of the family, where we do have some knowledge – my great-great-grandma, Christine Søndergaard, emigrated from Denmark when she was a small child.  Ever since then, I have always wanted to visit Denmark.  20 years or so later, I finally made it to Copenhagen.

We arrived on Friday, and after navigating from the airport to the hotel, we were ready to set out and explore.  Our first stop was the Botanisk Have, otherwise known as the botanical garden.  I can only assume this place is amazing when everything is in bloom.  Unfortunately for us, we are just now in the first week or so of spring, so not much there yet.  

After just a little while, we decided it was time to move on to our next destination - Rosenborg Slot – just across the street.  The problem – the botanical garden is encircled by a fence with only one ‘official’ entrance, way at the other end of the park.  So naturally I began looking for place to bust out.  First try – dead end.  

No worries – just keep trying!  At our third spot we found a crack in the fence, and I sent Noah through first.  It worked!  Though he might have been slapped in the face by a branch.  Oops. 

Freedom!

Anyway, we made it to Rosenborg Slot to view the grounds and take some photos.

 Since we had tickets to the ballet Friday night (actually the New York City Ballet was the performance while we were there), we cut our sightseeing short and headed back to get ready.  Noah and I had not been to a ballet in our adult life (and as a child, it was something like Swan Lake or the Nutcracker), so we were excited to check out a ‘modern’ program.  The main lesson we learned – invest in a program so you know what is going on.  There were four performances, split up by 2 intermissions.  I am a theater girl – I know about the one intermission.  So when the second one came Noah and I gathered our stuff to leave.  Then we noticed everyone else leaving their coats at their seats.  Oh – this is another intermission.  This was also already 10pm, and we had been up and moving since 5am, so needless to say our impression was the actual ballet was wonderful, but the breaks were what did us in (though I bet the ballerinas needed them).

Can you see us in the reflection on the glass globe on the right?

The next day we set off for more sightseeing.  As we walked along the water towards Nyhavn (new harbor), we came across some trampolines built into the sidewalk.  Naturally we joined the small children and bounced around.

 Next stop – Nyhavn.  This is the typical shot of Copenhagen, and I can see why.  It is a beautiful canal filled with colorful restaurants and people.  I am sure at least 70% of the people there are us tourists, but who cares – it was a must see.

Further north there is a star-shaped island fortification of Kastelle.  This is a still-operative military structure, but us commoners are allowed to walk around the walking paths.  This is also right by the famous (but very over-hyped) statue of the Little Mermaid.  For those who only know the Disney version, you should check out the true ending of the Hans Christian Andersen tale (spoiler alert: the mermaid does NOT get the prince – no happy endings there).

We ended the day by walking around Assistens Kirkegård (cemetery) to see if we could find any potential ancestors.  After seeing where Hans Christian Andersen and Neils Bohr were buried, and looking at a few hundred gravestones (lots of Jensens/Pedersens/ Andersens), we did find one Søndergaard site. The timeline is also around when my great-great-grandma was born (1883), so maybe a distant cousin?

Sunday found us starting the day up in the tower of Vor Frelsers Kirke (Our Saviors Church). It was so windy up there we both had tears coming out of our eyes, but it was worth it for the amazing views of the city.

We then headed a few blocks east to the area of Christiana – basically a Danish hippie society of potheads.  Since I am writing this with no internet connection, you get my probably warped ‘facts’ about this place.  What I heard was a few decades ago, some people wanted to essentially leave society, and created this town within Copenhagen where marijuana was allowed.  They still have a ‘green light’ district that doesn’t allow any photos.  Hmmmm… wonder why?  

We spent the afternoon visiting the ruins under Christiansborg Slot.  This palace is built on the same spot where the Danes have been building castles/palaces since the 12^th century.  And (for a fee of course) you can tour the underside of the palace and see some of the original castle walls and structures.  We also watched an informative video of the various castles that have stood there.  Of the last four – they start with Copenhagen Castle, which apparently was viewed as dinky by international visitors.  There were quotes where ambassadors called this the saddest castle they ever saw, surrounded by a stinky moat.  Eventually the snobbish comments got to the Danes and they decided to tear this one down and replace it by the first Christiansborg. Unfortunately this one burned down, with 70 people dying in the fire.  The second Christiansborg was built with fire walls and modern (at the time) firefighting equipment.  Want to guess what happened to that one?  Yep, it burned down.  A combination of secret passageways under the floors that the firemen didn’t know of plus denied access to the Great Hall where the fire originated (the floors were recently polished) made all the fire precautions moot.  A few years later here comes the third Christiansborg.  Want to guess what happened to that one?  It burned down too!  Just kidding – this is the one still standing.

All in all both of us really enjoyed our long weekend visiting my mother father-land.  Our one complaint/piece of advice – watch your step!  We have never tripped so many times in one weekend.  A combination of uneven stones in the sidewalks, paired with raised doorways makes it a city that left our big-toes unhappy.  But the great food, nice people, and interesting city more than made up for this. 



My sweet 'tolle Farbe' shoes (according to the lady at the Munich airport)