# Scandanavia



## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Glad to see the Mermaids haven't got you, and you've got good weather! Say hi to Yorrick for me.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Awww, thanks for posting the picture I asked for first.  It was great that a hotel computer let you in to KB chat today.  

Keep having fun and eating all the herring you desire!


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Gosh, I loved Copenhagen.  Been years since I've been there.  Fortunately, we're planning a return next summer.

Thanks for posting.


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## loonlover (Jul 4, 2009)

Thanks for posting. I always enjoy your travel reports.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Elsinore.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Yep, if I squint I can see the ghost!


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Fascinating


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

telracs said:


> Elsinore.


Love that shot, as well as the building, Scarlet. Thanks for sharing it.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

crebel asked me to post this one that shows that the mermaid is on a bunch of rocks, not just one big one.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

telracs said:


> crebel asked me to post this one that shows that the mermaid is on a bunch of rocks, not just one big one.


That is really cool!


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

You can't tell she is a mermaid from that angle, but I think the tower of rocks is so much more interesting!  Thanks for indulging me, telracs.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

Are you on a Europe tour?  Which countries are you hitting?  Nice pics.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Brownskins said:


> Are you on a Europe tour? Which countries are you hitting? Nice pics.


I was on a tour. Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki were over night stays. We stopped off in Gothenburg, Sweden (see below) and did a day trip to Talinn, Estonia.










On our way from Copenhagen to Oslo, we cut through Sweden. And stopped in Gothenburg. There is a large indoor market there, and 4 of the stalls gave us free stuff. I have given up meat, so I had yummy veggie stuff from the deli stand instead of the reindeer and boar my companions got. We also got this incredible raspberry dessert from another stand. Across the canal from the market was a park, and the picture above is the bridge across the canal that I took while eating my freebies.

eta: sorry, put an extra zero in the width field....


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Ahhh, now I can see it. Lovely.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I went to Copenhagen, Olso and Bergen back when I was ten years old (many _many!_ years ago) and your pics bring back memories for me - I very clearly remember going to see the little mermaid on the rocks. Glad you enjoyed your tour.


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## Brownskins (Nov 18, 2011)

telracs said:


> I was on a tour. Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki were over night stays. We stopped off in Gothenburg, Sweden (see below) and did a day trip to Talinn, Estonia.
> 
> On our way from Copenhagen to Oslo, we cut through Sweden. And stopped in Gothenburg. There is a large indoor market there, and 4 of the stalls gave us free stuff. I have given up meat, so I had yummy veggie stuff from the deli stand instead of the reindeer and boar my companions got. We also got this incredible raspberry dessert from another stand. Across the canal from the market was a park, and the picture above is the bridge across the canal that I took while eating my freebies.


Nice! I need to plan something similar for my family... love your pics


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

i've got most of my pics uploaded, so am starting this thread again from the beginning of the trip...

Copenhagen









these buildings reminded me of record albums and came in very handy as they were fairly tall and when I could see them I knew I was near my hotel.










I have to admit, in some ways, this map of Copenhagen almost looks like a flooded NYC to my eyes.










I warn you, there will be A LOT of pictures of buildings I found interesting. The architecture reminded me of Amsterdam (and parts of Brooklyn, and Pella, Iowa).


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

I love architectural details and photos of buildings, so bring 'em on.


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## MarkdownFanatic (Jan 14, 2014)

In the period where a lot of that classic architecture was built, all of Norway and a slice of southern Sweden were parts of Denmark, and Dutch painters and architects were quite popular with the Danish kings and merchants. So your intuition is perfectly correct - you'll catch a lot of Dutch vibes in Scandinavia


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, King of Sweden and Norway, Marshal of France, married to Desiree, former love of Napoleon. Desiree, not Bernadotte. Those Scandinavian countries seemed to switch borders/kingdoms quite a bit back then.


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## MarkdownFanatic (Jan 14, 2014)

Well, there's the same good story behind the Dutch architecture and the moving borders. It all began with the good King Christian IV (1577 -164 and his special skill at "consuming great amounts of alcohol, while remaining lucid", as Wiki so diplomatically puts it 

Since we're all story-lovers here, read on. 
.
Christian was Denmark's most talented and energetic King. He fought wars, organized explorations and colonies, started the Danish East India company, and, with two consecutive wives and three on-and-off mistresses, fathered twenty-four(!) children.

He became King at the tender age of 11. Until he turned 19, the country was ruled in his name by a very prudent and very careful regency council. They gave him a prosperous and peaceful country to rule -- and a very deep hunger for excitement and glory.
.
As soon as he'd been crowned, he began building up an army (and tripling the Navy's size while he was at it), and as soon as he was ready, he started a war with Sweden -- and won it. Feeling his oats, he promptly rebuilt his army and decided to join the fun of the Thirty Years' War. The council said 'no more wars, they're SO expensive', so he had to pay-and-play as Duke of Sleswick and Holstein (he was both King and Duke, things were complicated back then). 
.
Alas, according to legend, one fine morning shortly before the first major battle, Christian may have been lucid, but he couldn't stay on his horse, so he fell off it, and continued into a moat. Somewhat the worse for wear from the fall and the hangover, he was still the commander-in-chief when it was time for the big battle of Lutter am Barenberge.
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And the danes got their behinds handed to them.
.
The King lost his taste for war, went home and sought glory in building -- and building, and building, and building, until Denmark was effectively bankrupt. He started, and sometimes even completed, most of all those Dutch-style fortresses and mansions you see especially in Copenhagen. He also found time to lose a renewed war with Sweden, initiating the peculiarly Danish tradition of celebrating heroic defeats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chr_4_ved_h%C3%B8jen_mast_crop.jpg) since at least you gave the other side a good run for their money.
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He also started the process of reducing Denmark, lost province by lost province, since the Swedes took a few bites off his kingdom in exchange for peace.
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Christian IV remains a fondly remembered King. Since he began the process, Denmark has lost just about every fight she picked, and gotten rid of all the inessentials, eventually producing a small, peace-loving country with a beautiful architectural heritage that tourists celebrate each year, as in this post


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Thanks for that. I love a good historical story.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Dang, I skip this forum for awhile, and look what I miss.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

telracs said:


> ...


Is that all verdigrised copper (or brass) on top of the steeple/tower? Just curious, if you know. (Don't know why I'm curious, maybe I have some cat genes.)


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

It's aged copper.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Do you find the architecture to be similar to parts of New York?


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> Do you find the architecture to be similar to parts of New York?


yes, gertie, i said that a few posts back....


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

telracs said:


> yes, gertie, i said that a few posts back....


Sorry, senior moment.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

don't adjust your colors, i liked the bicycles in black and white and didn't reset my camera when i took the pictures of my hotel


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Tivoli is a nice place....I'll move in on Monday!


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Love the bike shot.  Good choice going with B&W on it.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

R. Doug said:


> Love the bike shot. Good choice going with B&W on it.


Me, too. Very artistic.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Christiansborg Palace


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

telracs said:


>


I thought you had an older photo thread that showed some of your Pella, Iowa photos and wanted to compare them. The architecture really makes them look like the same town (at least to me).


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

For her 50th birthday, the Queen of Denmark commissioned a series of tapestries (or someone commissioned them as a gift to her). they took 10 years to finish, and to my eyes, they are really weird looking.




























Can you find the beatles in the tapestry below?


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Weird is one word for it. I hope they at least have some personal meaning to her.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

telracs said:


> Can you find the beatles in the tapestry below?


Upper right above the buildings? These are all odd looking to me as well, I've never seen modern/impressionist looking tapestries.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

crebel said:


> Upper right above the buildings? These are all odd looking to me as well, I've never seen modern/impressionist looking tapestries.


Yes, and at the bottom, Mao, Stalin(?), Lenin, JFK, LBJ (?). Nixon, too, I think.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

crebel said:


> Upper right above the buildings? These are all odd looking to me as well, I've never seen modern/impressionist looking tapestries.





Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> Yes, and at the bottom, Mao, Stalin(?), Lenin, JFK, LBJ (?). Nixon, too, I think.


correct. the tapestry in question is the one about the 20th century so along the top and bottom are important figures from the 20th century.

The tapestries didn't really look woven to me and I found the colors bizarre and too "cartoony", but apparently the artist is some famous Danish dude, so...

Here's artwork more to my taste (ceiling in the tapestry room)


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

The ceiling art is more to my taste as well.  

Was there any sort of legend for the 20th Century tapestry?  We could do a whole where's Waldo thing with the various people represented.  I think that's Churchill to the left of JFK, Ghandi to the right, looks like Walter Cronkite just to the right of center at the top, maybe Ruth Bader Ginsburg 2nd on the left from center/top.  Would be interesting to know why individuals were chosen and displayed the way they are.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

crebel said:


> The ceiling art is more to my taste as well.
> 
> Was there any sort of legend for the 20th Century tapestry? We could do a whole where's Waldo thing with the various people represented. I think that's Churchill to the left of JFK, Ghandi to the right, looks like Walter Cronkite just to the right of center at the top, maybe Ruth Bader Ginsburg 2nd on the left from center/top. Would be interesting to know why individuals were chosen and displayed the way they are.


there's probably something on line, but i didn't really care enough to do any research.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

The ceiling art looks like God frowning down on the tapestries.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

the throne room. apparently, since the Queen is not a "ruling" monarch, she never is seen sitting on the throne.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> Yes, and at the bottom, Mao, Stalin(?), Lenin, JFK, LBJ (?). Nixon, too, I think.


And Hitler at lower center doing the Nazi salute in front of a bunch of soldiers in Fritz helmets. I definitely don't want it in my living room. Maybe it was part of a plan to ensure the tapestry would never be stolen?!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

The Hooded Claw said:


> And Hitler at lower center doing the Nazi salute in front of a bunch of soldiers in Fritz helmets. I definitely don't want it in my living room. Maybe it was part of a plan to ensure the tapestry would never be stolen?!


no, it was done to show that not all history is happy and that the past needs to be remember in all its aspects.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

telracs said:


> no, it was done to show that not all history is happy and that the past needs to be remember in all its aspects.


Never forget! Which I approve of. I'm still not sure this is where I'd have put those subjects. But it's not my country, and definitely not my throne room!


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Love the Guard "House".


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

The Little Mermaid


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

I like that closeup.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

Back up very, very carefully.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> Back up very, very carefully.


huh?


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

telracs said:


> huh?


Those boats are so tight together, it has to be difficult to back out of the space.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Next we move on to Kronborg castle, about 90 minutes north of Copenhagen. It is said to be the inspiration for Shakespeare's Elsinore (the town name in Danish is Helsingor). It is also strategically important, as it sits on the promontory at the narrowest point of the Sound between Denmark and Sweden (it is the point where we will cross from Denmark to Sweden in a couple of days). Because of the narrowness of the sound here, the Swedes were able to surprise the castle one winter and take all the furnishings back to Sweden. So the castle has no furniture (which was quite disappointing to me).

NOTE: The next few pictures are accidentally in B/W, I did not reset my camera from earlier shots.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake' said:


> Those boats are so tight together, it has to be difficult to back out of the space.


I thought she meant the photographer was standing on a narrow dock and would go in the water if backing up for a wider view!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I want to go see Kronberg/Elsinore for myself one of these days....


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)




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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I take it we are still at Kronenberg/Elsinore?


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