In Transit

August 22, 2006-History on the Fly
(photos:Kronenberg Castle,
Thatched cottage-Gilleje,
"bath" & toilet)

The stolen purse didn’t arrive, but the passport did. Yves is trying to find out what really was recovered. Ida joined us again as our city guide, but today we headed up the coastal road and to the countryside. Ida told us a bit more about her family. She has a son in L.A. who is studying to be a rabbi. According to her he’s outdoing the Chabadniks. Even his children wear sheitels (wigs). She’s not happy about his fundamentalism.

She enlightened us with more information about life in Denmark. There’s 180% tax on automobiles and boats. Many Danes would prefer to have a boat than a car if they cannot afford both. A middle class two-bedroom apartment costs $650,000. There’s a 13-year wait for rentals and it costs $100/year to get on the waiting list for each building.

Danes have brewed beer since the Vikings lived here from 800-1100. Tuborg and Carlsberg are the biggest with Carlsberg fighting the new microbreweries to keep the lead.

In 1972 Denmark joined the EU. They aren’t sure it was worth it but cannot quit now. They hate the regulations and red tape imposed by some nit-picking standards. Apples must measure a certain circumference or are discarded. The amount of fish taken from the sea is likewise limited and surplus is thrown back. They voted not to adopt the Euro and the krohn is stronger than ever. The Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish krohn is the oldest in Europe. One denomination of coin has a hole in the middle reminding them of the time Vikings wore their money on thongs around their necks.

Unions are very strong but not compulsory, although getting a job without being a union member is near impossible. Union dues are $200 a month; there’s a thirty-seven hour work week; after one year at a job vacation is six weeks (not cumulative); the average wage is $18 /hour: minimum wage is $13/hour; people retire at age sixty-five and get a taxable state pension of $3,000/month; university students are given a $500/month stipend; new mothers get one year paid maternity leave; new fathers get six weeks paid leave. Surveys say Danes are the happiest people in Europe.

The royal family gets a salary of thirty million a year that includes the queen, her consort, and the prince. It’s not taxable and they don’t pay a VAT tax on purchases. The royals are responsible for upkeep on the palace interiors and the state pays for the exterior. It’s like condo living.

Our travels today took us past the home of Karen Blixen , author of Out of Africa, and Victor Borge. Borge was a Danish Jew who couldn’t afford passage out of the country when the Nazis entered. He bartered his way on board a ship in exchange for playing the piano every day. His wife preceded him in death and was cremated. He kept her ashes at home with him in Connecticut. He too was cremated and their ashes were mixed. That’s how they rest, half and half in Connecticut and Denmark.

We went by the American Embassy, which for some reason unknown to Ida is located in a cemetery. It was in a neighborhood far from the other embassies surrounded by glamorous private homes that had been turned into offices. As we got farther from Copenhagen summer homes appeared. There are no private beaches in Denmark so it’s conceivable that someone living in a million dollar ocean front home could wake up to a family having a cook-out on the beach in front of their house.

Shakespeare’s Dane

We arrived at Kronenberg Castle in Helsingor the alleged site of and inspiration for Shakepeares play Hamlet. We call the town Ellsinore. Scholars are now pretty sure that Shakespeare, traveling as a storyteller, did in fact visit that location gathering inspiration for more tales. There’s a yearly Hamlet Festival and there were no restrictions on the license allowing the productions until a nude ballet was presented outside on the ramparts in the rain. The dancers were slipping and sliding and it closed in two days. All the old black and white movies of Hamlet were filmed here. The newer ones had to be shot in Great Britain due to cost.

The Kronenberg Castle is only a mile and a half from Sweden and was a formidable fortress when built in 1584. It’s a four-sided stone castle/fortress built around an enormous courtyard. The castle controlled the waters of the sound and charged tariffs to passing ships. Ida explained that a castle is more basic and is for men while a palace is for showing off and parties.

King Fredrick who built the castle was 45 years old before he married. He was a carefree bachelor until he was told he had to choose a bride. He didn’t want to bother so one was chosen for him. She was fifteen-year-old Sophie, a German princess. They had a rocky beginning but eventually grew very fond of each other and produced six children four of whom lived. One of them was Margaret I. She was widowed early but convinced the church that she would be a caretaker until her young son assumed the throne. He never did but while in power she acquired half of Sweden and all of Norway for Denmark. She was called the “king without pants.”

There’s nothing new under the sun and bulimia was alive and well among the aristocracy of old Denmark. Women were expected to have huge wardrobes of glamorous gowns and were also expected to attend frequent banquets where they were served twenty pounds of food. How did they keep their girlish figures? The solution was disgusting. Unlike Romans there were no vomitoriums. Women were served ten pounds of food, given feathers to tickle each others throats, given bowls in which to vomit, and fed ten more pounds of food. In order to impress the commoners the purged material was fed to the pigs. In this way royals showed the hungry peasants they had enough food to waste. The royals were totally revolting in their habits and expectations of their servants. They did not use chamber pots but used a corner of the room as a toilet. Servants were expected to clean up after them. Even dogs can be paper-trained.

That aside, the tapestries commissioned in the 1500's that still hang in the halls were impressive. Then we learned that the king made the Flemish women he had imported work around the clock in his rush to have the tapestries completed. That resulted in many of the women going blind.

Maritime Culture

We continued along the Baltic looking at Sweden and passing through forests. When settled 10,000 years ago Denmark was covered with trees. The forests are depleted now and serious re-forestation is taking place. Ida said there were deer in Denmark but only the occasional moose that wander over the ice or swim across the water from Sweden. They usually got lonely and returned home.

Our objective was Gillelje. On April 9, 1940, Hitler invaded. Denmark wanted to stay neutral to preserve its buildings and save its people, but they were unprepared and were overpowered. The resistance grew strong and everyone participated in it, even children who carried messages in book bags. The Nazis took fuel, food, and clothing, but the Danes wouldn’t let them take its citizens. All Danes wore yellow Stars of David.

In 1943, in a desperate move, Hitler issued orders to round up all Danish Jews in Copenhagen for transport to concentration camps. The plan was to arrest them on Oct. 1 and 2nd on their way home from High Holiday services. An aide leaked the plot and the Danes intercepted the Jews and hid them in their homes. The Jews were transported out of the city to the summer homes then hidden in church attics until it was safe for them to go aboard fishing vessels and be taken to Sweden. Some were hidden under fish. Of the 8,000 Jews in Copenhagen, 500 went to concentration camps. Of that number 472 lived. Five thousand were saved from Guillelje alone.

The Swedes housed and schooled the Danish Jews for three years before they could return. When they came back to Denmark they found that their homes and all their belongings were intact. The names on their bank accounts had been changed to sound less Jewish but were still theirs. Ida explained that Danes don’t care about religion. It’s a private matter. There was no way they were going to capitulate to a power coming into Denmark and singling out Danish citizens because they talked to God differently.

We walked past the church that had hidden the Jews and through a cemetery along the path the Jews had taken to the boats. To us there seemed to be a lot of men named Fred buried there. Fred is Danish for “peace.” Cemetery plots are free. Families pay for the gravestone and maintenance. Coffins are wood and graves are re-used every hundred years.

Our walk took us through the fishing village where thatched roofs were common. They last fifty years and cost $17,000 to replace. When moss starts growing on a roof it’s time to start saving for a replacement. They cost more to insure against fire but are perfect insulation for all weather. Bugs aren’t a problem since they claim to have none here. I don’t know what those flying things were that we killed in our room.

We did a drive-by photo-op at the queen’s summer palace built in 1722. There was no queen in residence. She’s having knee replacement surgery. All forty-five of us marched off the bus, dutifully took our photos, went potty, and climbed back on. We’re a well-oiled machine by now. All we need is a rope to hold onto as we march along behind our guide and we could pass for an over-sized pre-school class on the move.

On the Ferry

Lunch was fish cakes eaten under a gray sky at picnic tables overlooking the sea. It was cozier than the dinner we shared on Pearl of Scandinavia, the 2,600-passenger luxury ferry taking us to Oslo. We had what we call a grand buffet. Here it’s called a smorgasbord. I fell in love with curried herring and David loved it too. Who would have imagined? Unfortunately wishful thinking left him with not a plate of fried onion rings but with fried calamari.

We celebrated Yves 55th birthday and he bought us wine. He sat at our table for dinner and piqued our curiosity as to his background. We think he’s from a prominent French family. He won’t tell us what the family business is.

We land in Oslo tomorrow morning and immediately start a city tour. No rest etc…

Toby