Jesuskirken

Tuesday was memory lane day. We started in Valby, my mom's hood. Carlsberg brewery is here, and so is the church where my parents got married, Jesuskirken.

Jesuskirken was built by the founder of Carlsberg, J.C. Jacobsen, which makes it the church that beer built. It's probably the most ornate Lutheran church in all of Copenhagen--Bavarian-style Danish beer has done well for itself. Every column, pew, window, archway has been carved or sculpted in a different design. There's a bunch of marble and mosaic and a Neoclassical Thorvaldsen sculpture, as well as the first French Romantic pipe organ in Denmark (I can hear you oohing and ahhing from here). It's beautiful; definitely the kind of church people dream about getting married in.

We took some time to examine the designs on the end of each pew, and this is the first place we discovered a swastika. Then we realized it was everywhere.

My mom disappeared for a minute and returned with a gentleman who told us that Jacobsen took the swastika as his own symbol in the 1880s. The swastika is ancient, usually a symbol of peace, and was even used by vikings. 1880 was of course pre-Hitler, so Jacobsen couldn't have known the lasting effect it would have when he plastered them all over his church and brewery.

I didn't get a picture of the swastika, but here's another familiar symbol at the end of one of the pews:


This is a classic Masonic symbol, and actually, so is the swastika and the Star of David, which is all over, too. I have a feeling there may have been a lot of Masonic symbols we missed in here! The Masonic Order doesn't seem to be part of the church's lore, though.

My parents in front of Jesuskirken 43 years later:


This devil is off to the right as you walk up the church. Behind him in this picture is one of the many buildings in this neighborhood where some of my family used to live. Throw it up for Valby!


Next will be Valby and the Carlsberg brewery, but it's 3:45, so I have to hit the beach for a jog before it gets too dark.

Holte

Monday afternoon, my mom had a meeting with a Danish actor who was in her dissertation. My dad and I tagged along to explore the northern Copenhagen suburb of Holte. There are some sweet boutiques up there, so I tried on a pair of skinny jeans to get that out of my system. Decision made--I'll sit tight until that trend passes.

Suzanne and I find the "fart" signs around Denmark especially amusing, so Sister #2, this picture's for you. This sign isn't actually talking about bodily functions; it says that when it's warm, boat tours start here, on whatever this cold, dark, deep body of water is. Little rivers lace all around Copenhagen.

Afterward, we stopped a little further south at Langby to window shop for lighting fixtures and Scandinavian furniture. I'd have brought you guys back some awesome chairs and lamps and stuff if I had an extra zillion Kroner in my pocket.

Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, More Cousins, Brothers, Sisters, Fiancés and More Cousins

Pictures from the birthday luncheon for Mormor. It lasted from noon til seven at night on Saturday. Many of us haven't seen each other in over a decade. The pictures speak for themselves, so I'll just add names.


Here goes. Standing (l-r): Kirsten & Mike, Annett & Uncle Svend, my mom & dad, Aunt Marianne & Uncle Ole, Caroline & Peter, Bente & Franz; Chairs: Jim & Suzanne, Cousin Kirsten, Mormor, Anni, Pia & Chris (and I'm tucked right in there by Pia); Floor kids: Marcus, Camilla, Christina, Austin, Celine, Claudia, Mia, Gus, Christopher.


Top row: Cousin Peter's kids, Christina and Christopher holding Gus (my sister Kirsten's son) and Mia (daughter of Peter's sister, Cousin Pia); Bottom row: Cousin Kirsten and Mormor


My mom (she's the youngest) and her middle brother, Uncle Ole


Uncle Svend (my mom's oldest brother) makes a toast


Mia checks out the birthday cake

Sunday was more visiting. Was really great to catch up. Wish I lived closer to my cousins!


Cousin Peter, Christina and Christopher

We started with breakfast courtesy of my mom and dad. Afterward, some of took Uncle Svend's family's dog, Waks (I'm sure I'm misspelling that) for a walk on the beach. Claudia, Camilla, Marcus and Waks turned back early, but Peter, Caroline, Christina, Christopher and I continued to a harbor where they clean and filet the fish on the dock and sell it right away. Peter remembers a lot of experiences on this beach from growing up and sailing with my uncles.

Later, my mom, dad and I drove to a harbor to see if we could see some of Cousin Celine's sailing competition on Køge Bugt. There were some interesting boats there. Celine's competition just looked like white triangles (sails) on the horizon. We did see an enormous rabbit and a lot of cool boats. The catamaran is a popular boat type here. This one has cabins in each of the hulls. Uncle Svend lived on a tri-hulled catamaran for a while when I was little.



We also saw this sign indicating that you must apparently wear a porkpie hat to ride on the bicycle path. The guy in the background is not in compliance.

Roskilde

Friday, we all took different roads to the town of Roskilde, which should be about 30 minutes away. This was the original capital of Denmark and has a rich viking past. There's a neat museum here because in the 1950s, five viking ships were discovered under a pile of rocks blocking Roskilde Fjord. Twenty-five years later, the ships had finally been painstakingly reconstructed inside the museum.

Each ship was a different style and used for different purposes--trade, viking transport, war--and after they'd passed their prime, they were filled with rocks and scuttled to blockade the fjord and slow enemies. Outside the museum is a village of buildings that my pop said were where they reconstruct viking ships for exhibition using traditional tools. The main path has ships dry-docked on either side. The path is lined with small trees, each with a plaque describing how its wood was used in viking ships and which trees typcially hold elves. It's amazing how many different kinds of ships there are. This one looked like a dragonboat to me, except it holds 60 passengers, not just 22.

Inside, besides the five ships, you can watch a movie about the five ships, read about where the replicas are sailing these days, shop for viking wares like skins and swords and coloring books, and see how the vikings may have organized a battle around Roskilde Fjord. It's interesting how much their war tactics and culture must have inspired the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They had fire beacons for when war broke out, the naming conventions are similar, they have elves (living in Alder trees, apparently) and they talk about "middle earth," too. Funky!

All the same, it's difficult to view them as scary, mighty warriors when they may have looked like this:




Or this:



Ack! Never mind. That's very scary.

We shed our fur-lined cloaks and trucked up the hill to the Roskilde Cathedral. The Danes have been burying kings and queens here for centuries, but it's weird--most are not even in sarcophoghi. They just have ornate, above-ground coffins. My father challenged me to find Harald Bluetooth's grave, and I did. It turned out he was buried in one of the church pillars. Economical use of space. There are also parts of the floor in this cathedral where you can't walk without stepping on a grave.

Christian IV, whose castle we visited a few days ago, Rosenborg, has his own big chapel emblazoned with the C4 logo. He and his wife as well as his heir apparent and several others have lain here since the 1600s. The whole experience was a mixture of religion, art, sepulchral delights and choppy music from the pipe organ (someone was taking lessons).




Suzanne and two little devils :)