Denmark
An interview with my Dad
Let's talk about Denmark, OK? OK.
Were things very different there? Anything that surprised you a little?
Yes, the language, for one. The biggest thing I think was how easy it was to travel without a car. I mean, even though I couldn't understand the language, I could still figure out the train schedules. Otherwise it was mainly like the US.
What was it like to you geographically; was it different than you were used to, or pretty much the same?
I went in summer, and it seemed pretty normal to me. It was a bit different though, because it was very flat. It didn't have any big rivers to form valleys; it didn't have any mountains; it was mostly farm land and seacoast. It has an island capital city, and now there is a big bridge connecting Denmark to Sweden.
How did the people treat the environment there?
As a traveler it was hard to tell, but I didn't see and big polluted places and air. But, also, I only saw a little bit of the country. I do know that there are no major industries to pollute the environment.
What were you impressed by?
There was a Holocaust museum that I saw that I liked a lot. Denmark did a lot to fight Hitler. There was a history park, kind of like a theme park only this one focuses on history, where they had reconstructed a 2000-year-old village. They did a good job too, because of the lengths they went to, to get it right. They even cross bred animals to make them look like the old ones (they got the information on what the old animals looked like from the bones of the animals). There they farm using the same methods that the people used 2000 years ago.
Then there was an actual theme park named Tivoli whose theme was Denmark. 6:00 p.m. every day they had a parade with people dressed up as kings and flower girls. It was the Disney World of Denmark. It had circus performers outside. It had been going on for 100 years. Also I got to see my dad's cousin, and this was just a few years after we found out he had one.Then there was the Viking ship museum, which had a long shallow harbor near by. They had found many ships that had been sunk there, either by other people, or on purpose to block people from getting into the harbor. All the ships used to be underwater, and they were from 1500-1200 years old.
One of the things that I really liked in Denmark was the seafood. After all, when you have three coastlines to fish you get a lot of fish. One of the best dishes, for me at least, was flounder. Also I learned to like goat cheese there.
I got to see the castle that Shakesphere set the play Hamlet in, and I got to see a modern art museum, called the Louisiana. I loved it there in Denmark; it was friendly, quiet, not crowded, and above all relaxed. I will say that the language is hard to learn, and in my two trips there, I only picked up a little bit.
There are many reconstructed villages in Denmark, and they are very interesting. Even though there are a large number of them, each one is unique. There are two basic types of village. One allows you to learn more, the other allows you to do more. In some, you can watch actors play the parts of villagers from 2000 years ago; in others, you can be an actor yourself. Also you can try your hand at doing things Vikings did on a daily basis. You can find food in some of the villages, or just facts in others. There are several Viking ship museums, and all of them will have information on the Vikings, how they lived, and what happened to them.
Below is one of the ships that were found in the harbor near the museum. It has, of course, been remade and patched up.
One of the more interesting things you can find in Denmark are Viking museums. Many have old ships, and some even have Viking markers, above. Below is one of the recovered boats
