Back in Copenhagen

I have safely arrived in Copenhagen after a very un-full flight on which I still managed to not sleep, despite the two seats I had to myself. Darn you, jet lag! Nevertheless, I arrived in Copenhagen on a cloudy and snowy day - which was pretty much what I hoped for. I love the weather here. I know I'm a freak, but I'll take an overcast day over a sunny one, anytime.

So far we've accomplished everything I specifically wanted to do in Denmark - my list wasn't long. The only thing I didn't do while here the last time that I REALLY missed out on was visiting Kronborg Slot, also known as Hamlet's Castle. It is not near the city, and I never took the time to get up to Elsinore. In any case, yesterday, Jørgen (Maggie's husband), Maggie, and I trekked up there to visit. A couple of observations: I expected it to be out by itself on a peninsula. All the pictures I've seen seem to portray it as such, but it is really just an extension of Elsinore. Also, I thought, "Hey! Hamlet's Castle! Must be a big hulking thing!" Definitely not. It is, as most Danish buildings are, modest. Probably only 5-6 stories tall. The courtyard area is very large, however, and the castle is undergoing some reconstruction, so the roof has not had a chance to change over to the greenish tint that all castles, etc, have here.

In any case, I'm happy to say I went, but don't think that I will need to go again. I also fear, after hearing the story from Jørgen, that Holger Dansk is poised at any minute to come surging up from the dungeons to protect Denmark's honor. I think I'd rather not be around for that, thank you very much.

Moving back down the coast, we visited the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, somewhere I had been before with the Brissons (Maggie & Jørgen). We had a fabulous Danish lunch buffet complete with boiled potatoes and herring. Let me also be clear that I didn't eat any herring. The last time I was here, I made it a point to try everything at least once. Suffice it to say that I tried my herring when I was here (in several forms, may I say) and cannot to this day eat it. So - Jørgen had herring, Maggie and I had pork (she is a fellow herring-fearer), and we were all happy.

We then went to look at their temporary installation, something to do with Women Deconstructionists. It was interesting, but not quite my cup of tea. These women were very brave, though, often defying social norms in the early 1900's in order to join artistic fraternities to perpetuate their art. So, that's that. The last exhibit we visited was my favorite. Massive photographs (probably twice as tall as me) had been taken of seemingly normal things. One in particular was this massive dance celebration in Pyongyang with probably 100,000 dancers in neat lines, perfectly outfitted in cheerleading uniforms (complete with pom-poms). Very surreal and disturbing to think of the cost of such an event in a country that cannot feed its population. Additionally, the photographer had a gorgeous print of a cross-country skiing event somewhere picturesque and mountainous (the Alps, perhaps?) where by the looks of it, thousands of participants were cross country skiing at once.

Yesterday was capped off by a cozy dinner and a movie. Just the kind of Friday night I like! Today promises some interesting stories as we are having a spring-frokost (spring lunch) with some of Maggie and Jørgen's neighbors. We will have all sorts of traditional Danish foods complete with the Brisson's homemade snaps (Danish liquor). Yes, Danes drink liquor at lunchtime. Sometimes I worry about my liver from my year of living here, but then I comfort myself by looking at some old Danes still racing around on bicycles well into their eighties. I figure if a lifetime of liver punishment hasn't caught up with them, then a year probably won't kill me!

In a last and unrelated note, my Danish is coming back to me. I was dejected after arriving and conversing with Maggie, as my Danish was in a bad way, but today, Maggie told me almost an entire story in Danish and I managed to keep up! Ja, Tak!

Farvel!