Y3W11 & W12 – Christensen Roots in Denmark
This last week and a half, my folks have been visiting. Ellyn and I have been saving our first choice venues for last. When we arrived, she named Rome as her must see location and I had wanted to see Scandinavia. The appeal of visiting the former home of our (Christensen) ancestors was enough to get my Mom and Dad over.
In order to avoid the horror of 8 to 10 hours in the car with Lleyton, amongst other things, we booked a night train with 6 beds. Leaving Köln around 10:30pm, we slept our way to Copenhagen, Denmark, arriving just before 10:00 am with the whole day in front of us. Wanting to see various parts of the country, we decided to visit København (Copenhagen) for the first couple days and then spend 3 days visiting various parts of the Denmark. Our family comes from two primary locations. Ancestors from both my dad and mom’s side come from the island of Fyn. We visited the largest city in the region named Odense. Additionally, the Christensen side of the family came from the northern most part of the Jutland peninsula. They were primarily from the city of Hjørring. Our travels were a delicate balance of seeing the things that one ‘needs’ to see, while trying to draw some connections to the past. The map below highlights the places we visited.
Copenhagen
For the girls, Copenhagen was all about Tivoli, Denmark’s oldest amusement park opening in 1844. It is a combination of restaurants, theatres, carnival activities, and amusement park rides. We spent the afternoon and evening of our second day at Tivoli. One thing that we particularly noticed was the fact that the park resides right in the middle of the city. From inside the park, you can look out and see the Rådhus just outside the park walls. It was a charming place with its Tivoli Garden Guard marching to the beat of drums. This group made up of 100 boys between the age of 8 and 16 has been a part of the park for 100 years. The girls loved the rides and gigantic cotton candy.
My folks were excited to see the original Christus sculpted by Bertel Thorvaldsen. Replicas are found on many Mormon Temple grounds and in visitor centers – most famously in Salt Lake City. The Christus is accompanied by individual sculptures of each of the apostles in the Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our Lady) in downtown Copenhagen.
Odense
From Copenhagen, we travelled to the northern tip of the country and the city of Skagen. On the way, we stopped in Odense. Odense is most famously known as the home town of Hans Christian Anderson. His house is now part of an impressive visitor’s center dedicated to his life’s work. It was of excellent quality and included some amazing artifacts attributed to his life. Bryn really got into hunting around for particular items (the museum gave the girls a card with pictures of specific items for them to find throughout the exhibit). It was a great chance to gain a better knowledge of his compelling life story and his remarkable journey from extreme poverty to becoming Denmark's most well known citizen.
Skagen
With our arrival in Skagen, we had officially traversed from Danish city life to small town living. Skagen, while still a harbor/fishing town now draws much of its income from the tourist industry. It is a quaint village on the northern most tip of the country. In Skagen, we visited the local Art Museum dedicated to the many 19th century artists who gathered in the region. We rented bicycles and rode around the peninsula, visited the very tip of Denmark, ate fish in the harbor, had classic Danish ice cream cones, and did a bit of swimming.
On our second day in the area, we hiked from our hotel to Den Tilsandede Kirke (the Sand Covered Church). The church was overcome in the late 1700’s by migrated sand dunes, and today only the church tower remains.
Our quick visit allowed us a couple hours in Kolding to have a good meal prior to the ride home and snap a final family picture before boarding the night train.
In order to avoid the horror of 8 to 10 hours in the car with Lleyton, amongst other things, we booked a night train with 6 beds. Leaving Köln around 10:30pm, we slept our way to Copenhagen, Denmark, arriving just before 10:00 am with the whole day in front of us. Wanting to see various parts of the country, we decided to visit København (Copenhagen) for the first couple days and then spend 3 days visiting various parts of the Denmark. Our family comes from two primary locations. Ancestors from both my dad and mom’s side come from the island of Fyn. We visited the largest city in the region named Odense. Additionally, the Christensen side of the family came from the northern most part of the Jutland peninsula. They were primarily from the city of Hjørring. Our travels were a delicate balance of seeing the things that one ‘needs’ to see, while trying to draw some connections to the past. The map below highlights the places we visited.
Copenhagen
For the girls, Copenhagen was all about Tivoli, Denmark’s oldest amusement park opening in 1844. It is a combination of restaurants, theatres, carnival activities, and amusement park rides. We spent the afternoon and evening of our second day at Tivoli. One thing that we particularly noticed was the fact that the park resides right in the middle of the city. From inside the park, you can look out and see the Rådhus just outside the park walls. It was a charming place with its Tivoli Garden Guard marching to the beat of drums. This group made up of 100 boys between the age of 8 and 16 has been a part of the park for 100 years. The girls loved the rides and gigantic cotton candy.
Ellyn and I were particularly impressed with the earlier part of that same day when we traveled by train 40 minutes to the north to the small city of Hillerød to see the Frediksborg Slot. After seeing so many castles (and churches), we find ourselves getting a bit numb to the sight of another 800 year old structure. This one however was so impressive it ranks up there with our favorites in all of Europe. It also houses an impressive collection of art including works by the artist Carl Bloch – the painter of many familiar Biblical pieces used frequently by our Church in their publications.
My folks were excited to see the original Christus sculpted by Bertel Thorvaldsen. Replicas are found on many Mormon Temple grounds and in visitor centers – most famously in Salt Lake City. The Christus is accompanied by individual sculptures of each of the apostles in the Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our Lady) in downtown Copenhagen.
Other interesting places included the Rundetårn, a tower dating from 1642 that employs a spherical ramp in lieu of stairs. Legend has it that the king, Christian IV, rode to the top on his horse during the opening ceremony of the tower. Years later, Peter the Great repeated the same ride when visiting Copenhagen. The girls also enjoyed seeing the Hans Christian Andersen character, the Little Mermaid, immortalized in bronze in the Copenhagen harbor. A local Danish woman asked us, while we were visiting the site, whether we were disappointed (the statue is quite small and apparently some of the locals don’t understand the hype). We simply replied that while the hundreds of tourists are a bit overkill, it reinforces the charm of Copenhagen.
Odense
From Copenhagen, we travelled to the northern tip of the country and the city of Skagen. On the way, we stopped in Odense. Odense is most famously known as the home town of Hans Christian Anderson. His house is now part of an impressive visitor’s center dedicated to his life’s work. It was of excellent quality and included some amazing artifacts attributed to his life. Bryn really got into hunting around for particular items (the museum gave the girls a card with pictures of specific items for them to find throughout the exhibit). It was a great chance to gain a better knowledge of his compelling life story and his remarkable journey from extreme poverty to becoming Denmark's most well known citizen.
Skagen
With our arrival in Skagen, we had officially traversed from Danish city life to small town living. Skagen, while still a harbor/fishing town now draws much of its income from the tourist industry. It is a quaint village on the northern most tip of the country. In Skagen, we visited the local Art Museum dedicated to the many 19th century artists who gathered in the region. We rented bicycles and rode around the peninsula, visited the very tip of Denmark, ate fish in the harbor, had classic Danish ice cream cones, and did a bit of swimming.
On our second day in the area, we hiked from our hotel to Den Tilsandede Kirke (the Sand Covered Church). The church was overcome in the late 1700’s by migrated sand dunes, and today only the church tower remains.
Hjørring
After our hike to the Sand Covered Church, we began to make our way back down the peninsula towards Kolding where we were to pick up our night train back to Köln. On our way, we stopped in Hjørring. Knowing in advance that wouldn’t be anything specifically attached to our ancestors remaining (our ancestors immigrated from Denmark to the Utah Territory in the 1850’s/60’s), we simply enjoyed walking the streets and looking at historical buildings and churches that were around at that time.
After our hike to the Sand Covered Church, we began to make our way back down the peninsula towards Kolding where we were to pick up our night train back to Köln. On our way, we stopped in Hjørring. Knowing in advance that wouldn’t be anything specifically attached to our ancestors remaining (our ancestors immigrated from Denmark to the Utah Territory in the 1850’s/60’s), we simply enjoyed walking the streets and looking at historical buildings and churches that were around at that time.
Back in Deutschland
The remaining few days with my folks in town were filled with a trip to Burg Eltz in the Mosel river valley...
The remaining few days with my folks in town were filled with a trip to Burg Eltz in the Mosel river valley...
and a visit to the Bundesliga home opener fussball game between FC Köln and VfL Wolfsburg.
Comments
I love that the "seatbelts" on the carnival rides look like climbing rope.
Really, Ellyn, nice job. Greg, your posts are only so-so.
JR