Elissa Goes Abroad: Denmark Diaries: Long Overdue

Hello everyone,

This is a post long overdue. My weeks have been busy. I've been working mostly, but also some exploring and traveling tossed into the mix. So let's start with the former:

Work has been really great. I've been designing a 80-something page employee handbook. Well, it was 80-something pages when I started, but now It's pushing 100 because of the documents people keep handing me. It's tedious, but for the most part pretty relaxing. Once I figured out the design, it is merely an act of putting it into place on every page. Now, certainly I spend most of my day fighting with InDesign, but in terms of the actual design, it's pretty routine and relaxing. I like that. There's lots of text to work with, but the biggest time-suck is actually the many many graphs, infographics, charts, and tables I have to redesign, work in, and format.

I've also been helping to update packaging files, sales packets, and a "Did You Know" internal campaign which has been fun so far. My first piece for that was actually sent off to print today, so I'll make sure to take one with me when I get one done.

I've had the opportunity to not only go on a photoshoot for the products at the studio (the guy had a Hasselblad--dreamy sigh), but I also go to take some pictures on another shoot too.

My coworkers are wonderful people, and they have made sure to include me in conversation and post-lunchtime walks. My boss/coworker Lars is really great. He's a pleasure to sit next to. He's a wonderful person and a fantastic designer, and is very easy to talk to. We talk about music a lot, sharing artists and songs often, and he has a great sense of humor to boot.

Middelfart Kirke is being
renovated, but unfortunately
for me I cannot see what is
under the scaffolding.

My family has also been amazing. The kids are slowly, but surely, improving their English, and my Danish slower still at improving, but happening all the same. It's definitely not an easy language to learn, that's for sure, but I just recently discovered a website that teaches you for free and that's been elevating my vocabulary level. We have ridden our bicycles to the beach. Christian and I went last week and we discovered a beautiful purple starfish. Sophie took me on another bike tour of the town, and showed me where she sings in the church choir. Middelfart Kirke (Lutheran, like most of the other Danish churches I have encountered), her church, is a beautiful brick church built sometime in the 1200s. There are ships hanging from the barrel vaults, a result of the name (or something of the like) of that particular part of the church being called a ship (or skivet). There were also some whale bones hanging on the back wall of the sanctuary, which had a sign that looked like it read that they were from a whale that was caught in the local fjord or something, but truthfully I forgot to look it up, and I'm too tired and/or too lazy to do it now.

I actually attended church with Sophie by myself last weekend (8/24) to hear her sing, which was an overall interesting experience. As an culturally Jewish American atheist with a Roman Catholic father, it was all sorts of different. Everything was in Danish, but there wasn't any Latin of any kind. At least I can sing along with Latin! Even the priest(?) was dressed differently from what I'd ever seen before. He was very "Shakespearean" I suppose, with the long black robe, buttoned up the front, white cuffs on the sleeves, and a collar that looked like it belonged to good old Billy himself, or on a dog. See my notes for a visual.

Something else I got to experience during that service that I had never done so before was a baptism. There were four baptisms that day. I wish I could have understood a little of what was being said, but it was nice all the same. I had a really nice time listening to Julie sing, listening to Danish, and just relaxing in a beautiful old building.

Koldinghus Palace (and evidently,
I need to clean my sensor)

The day before, on Saturday, the 23rd of August, Ella and Sophie took me out to Kolding and Koldinghus. While built in 1268 by the Danish King Erik Glipping to guard the border between Denmark and the Duchy of Schleswig, the oldest parts of the castle that are still preserved are from the 15th century. According to the pamphlet I'm stealing information from, the castle was rebuilt during the 1500s as a palace, with the tower added in 1600, and in the 1720s it was rebuilt again. In 1808, Spanish soldiers staying in the palace caused a fire that left the castle severely devastated. Reconstruction didn't begin until 1890, and today Koldhinghus is a museum for the castle's history, but also a stunning gallery and exhibition space that creates a dynamic juxtaposition between the ancient and the contemporary.

This past weekend I returned to Copenhagen for a couple hours. My friend Christina was returning from her internship in the USA (and living with my family for a couple of days in the beginning). Her parents invited me a long to welcome her home, but she didn't know I was going to be there. The surprise was wonderful and I got to spend the next day or so with her and her parents. Her parents, before her arrival, took me around Copenhagen to see the sights that I didn't really get to see on my last trip. They took me up to The Little Mermaid, which I only got to see from behind last time, and the Queen's Palace and the other residences of the Danish Royal Family. Christina's [step] father Carsten was a former member of the royal guard, so he knew all the tips and tricks and times that were important to the guard. It was funny for me, when he noticed that the flag was up and then there was not a very big change for the guard, he started asking why the flags were up if no one was home! (But then we saw the crown prince drive in...) He also teased a guard he had pegged as a new guy. The guy smiled at that.

Danish hot dogs, with all
the traditional fixins

After picking the very surprised Christina up, we went out to this hot dog stand behind the airport where you could watch the planes land and take off. I had made a statement earlier that day about how Danish hot dogs could not possibly be better than American hot dogs...but I was wrong. They were the best hot dogs I had ever tasted, and they were far superior to the Icelandic pyslur.

Regardless of our short trip to Copenhagen, it was great to see Christina again. Once back at her parent's house in Skivet (yep, there's the boat again), Carsten took me out to Jelling to see the home of Viking Harald Bluetooth. Here I saw where he and another Viking king, King Gorm, were buried under a giant mound of dirt with a Dannebrog mounted on top. Carsten told me that the the bluetooth [for your phone] was invented by the Danes, named after the aforementioned king, and that the symbol was taken from one of his runes.

The stone of the left is King Harald's
Rune Stone. The one on the right
belongs to King Gorm

Outside the Jelling Kirke (Church), built in 1100 (with an addition that seems to be built in 1813, although none of the literature I found actually mentioned this), there were two large stones that had runes made by King Bluetooth. I learned (did I learn or was it said by my boss Lars?) that they had an architecture contest to see who could build a nice display for the stones to keep them from being defaced, as they had been previously, and to keep them from being eroded by the weather. The solution was one that was definitely reminiscent of Danish design, but also functional. Surrounding this area were large white posts. These tastefully designed posts marked King Harald's palisade. In Viking times, they were three/four meter oak posts, standing side-by-side and totaling 1.4 km.

Following the brief trip to Jelling, Carsten took me to an other place I don't actually know the name of (was it Ravning Enge?). Here there was a partial reconstruction of a bridge the King Harald and the Vikings had built to cross the water that had covered the land when they ruled it. Because the Vikings were merchants (not just ruthless pillagers), this bridge was built for the purpose of trade. The bridge was showed in various stages of construction as it would have been built during the Viking times.

Hotel Haraldskær

After seeing the bridge, Carsten and I returned back to their house for a lovely evening of great food, friends, fondue, and fun. The next day, Christina, Christina's mother, and I went out for a walk to explore Skivet. Skivet appears to be one of Denmark's hillier regions, and it is quite lovely indeed. First they took me to the hotel where Christina's mother works. The historic building, called the Hotel Haraldskær, was built in 1763 (as indicated by the clock face on the front of the building). The basement area held that eerie 18th century demeanor and musty smell. There were additions added to the building around the year 1918, but they tried to maintain the integrity of the historic building. The historic parts of the building still had the 1700s decor and such in places. At the hotel, we stuffed our pockets with hazelnuts to crack at home. After the hotel, we continued on to the old church where Christina had been confirmed long ago. We didn't get to go inside, contrary to it being a Sunday afternoon and the rumor that all Danish churches are always open. But based on its exterior appearance, it was likely from the early centuries of the millennium, much like its other Danish counterparts.

My time this weekend with Christina ended with spontaneous duet of "Let Her Go" by Passenger. We recorded it on my phone without much practice, so it's full of ambient noise, flubs, and coughs, but you can listen to it here anyway!

Other observations about Denmark so far:

Wedding rings on right hand
Very few engagement rings
No colored walls. Only white walls, with color applied through paintings or other things attached to the wall
Calenders start on Mondays. After consulting some of my art friends in different countries, this is pretty much a European thing.
Everyone is named Lars or Carsten. Partially sarcastic comment here.