My trip itinerary was so intense and fast-paced that I never had a chance to completely finish up many of the guidebook chapters I researched. I’ve spent the last two days doing exactly that.
I just finished editing my chapter on Copenhagen. It’s important for good writers to diligently “kill your babies.” That means don’t force your favorite little factoids into a chapter or article if they don’t fit. No matter how much you like them, throw them out rather than mucking up a well-designed bit of writing.
I had to kill a little stack of Copenhagen babies. Then the happy thought hit me: I can blog them back to life by sharing them with you. Here are a few Copenhagen factoids that will not be in the new edition of my Scandinavia book:
The Danish weather blows through. Don’t be fooled by sun in morning. Leave your hotel prepared to layer it.
Copenhagen ruled Scandinavia essentially from 1397-1523. During that time, it put the three Nordic crowns on its seals. Even today, it still clings to the three crowns notion as you’ll see the three crown emblem all over town. During its golden age, Copenhagen bottled up Baltic Sea trade.
Copenhagen suffered lots of 18th century fires. That’s why the city center is distinctly 18th century: no timber, only bricks, lots of neoclassical blocks, wider streets and corners snipped off so fire trucks could zip around in a hurry when necessary. Modern buildings keep the snipped-corners motif to this day.
Prostitution is legal, so most prostitutes are now off the streets and work as call girls. The only prostitutes remaining on the streets are drug addicts and immigrants, mostly Slavic.
Denmark is a beer-drinking nation. As late as 1921, state schools started the student’s day with a nutritious glass of beer. Until recently, Swedes came to Denmark to get drunk. But with Swedish membership in the EU, their beer is now cheaper. These days, it’s the Norwegians coming to get drunk on relatively cheap Danish beer.
There, I feel like my babies dodged a bullet.
Hi Rick. I have loved reading your comments this summer. I’ve never craved a trip to Eastern Europe, but I found that those chapters of your blog were the ones I enjoyed the most. I hope you enjoy your time at home, and I hope you will share more tidbits like these as you hone your guidebooks for next year. It gives us blog-o-philes a way to get a travel fix when we need it. Since I didn’t win the Powerball yesterday I’ll have to save up for my next trip, and this has been a fun mental escape for me all summer through a difficult time at work. Cheers!
Thanks for the note on the Danish weather. I was just in the Netherlands and it is just the same – was a big shocker. I got soaked in a rain storm ona day that started out nice and sunny. Oh well, I’ll chalk it up to another fun travel tale!!!
A joy of travel is to find something that you never heard of, that few citizens have heard of, and you can find none who have visited.
The Metéoro monasteries in Greece are a fantastic set of buildings. Twenty-four monasteries, huge buildings, many thousands of square feet, several stories high, were built on huge columns of rock, straight up and down. Four can be visited.
At Mount Solmissos, above Ephesus, Turkey, we visited the last home of the Virgin Mary. Our taxi driver had been wounded in a war, the wound would not heal, so he walked and hitchhiked across Turkey, managed to visit “Mary’s House,†did something with this water, and his leg healed.
We drove to Wieliczka, 6 miles southeast of Kraków, to visit the old salt mine and the Chapel of Blessed Kinga, located more than 300 feet below ground. Several bas-reliefs (maybe 20 feet by 30 feet), especially the one of da Vinci’s “Last Supper,†that includes the spilled salt shaker, were carved on the wall.
It’s so nice to have the “inside scoop”…we know we have those few extra tidbits that everyone else is missing out on!!! Great fun to follow along all summer, kinda like being in your back pack. I’d keep reading all winter if you can come up with things like this you remember and want to share with the rest of us or pass along the good lines that have to land on the cutting room floor. I just hate to see it end…
Happy Travels! Looking forward to the new shows.
I’m with Sali. I’d love to see the blog continue with tidbits that turn up in your brain! :) My husband sometimes remembers things months after he returns from a trip across the seas. They are sometimes the most choice tidbits of information!
Beer in Demark is OK, but very light when compared to ther countries. I enjoyed Copenhagen and its main pedestrian street Strøget. The new harbor area, Nyhavn, was also nice with its outdoor cafe’s. In the evening we visited Tivoli. The weather in July was great. Warm days and cool evenings. I am ready to travel again.
Although your life may seem boring the rest of the year I encourage you to continue to blog your “babies” and other things. We would love to have you share your thoughts with us throughout the year
As we arrived in Denmark, the customs man stamped our passport. While he was trying to get the stamp to work he said there is plenty of food in the markets in Denmark, but the government can’t afford to give him a workable passport stamp machine.
We walked through Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, stopping to watch the rides. For dinner we ate some odds and ends at various food places. Had especially good popcorn. They have what appears to be small-time gambling, expensive restaurants, band concerts, and entertainment acts of many kinds. A really interesting place. Wonder why no other city has something similar to Tivoli Gardens.
Stopped in the town of Arhus and visited the outdoor museum where they have moved houses from various parts of the country for display and preservation. They have one or two each, of several different types, all located around a small lake.
We saw Hans Christian Anderson’s home in Odense.
Rick, hope my comments were just fine with you!
I have resolved to post only once per Rick’s blog post. Otherwise it seems like I’m trying to dominate the conversation. Cheers all!
That last comment proves that liars can post a comment — that was not me. Rick, while you are home, let me know do you like my posts, or should I stop. I am not competing with you, just adding some extra info, here and there. I certainly enjoy Rick’s postings and watch his TV program all the time. I have thousands of pages on my web site, and enjoy writing, but at my age I have enough problems getting from the bedroom to the computer. I got an early start in travel, I spent my 18th birthday on a troopship in Singapore, near the end of WWII, and have enjoyed traveling extensively with my Beautiful Sweetie, until she passed away two years ago.
Jim, I personally have enjoyed your perspective and saw things that many of us never will, through your eyes and the photos you’ve posted. You have a travel log few of us can ever hope to match. Please understand, though, that most of us follow the blog almost religiously, and therefore have read every post. You would probably have the same impact and fewer detractors if you posted each comment only once–we would all have read it the first time, and there is no need to repost it under a new blog entry. It gets redundant. But I see nothing wrong with learning about a location from an additional perspective and through a second set of eyes. If you can hold your exuberance in check and not repeat your comments, I would welcome your additional insight.
Well Karl,
And the others who have noticed the same thing, I am sorry for the duplications. I just counted and was shocked to see I had Posted over 85 times. I had no idea. But I glanced and saw just a few duplications, so hope that was not too bad.
It is quite obvious that the best part of my life were the 55 years and 13 days with my Most Beautiful Sweetie. Other than that, I loved traveling with her, reading about travel, viewing photos and video about travel, talking about travel, and as you might guess, writing about travel.
I have conducted dozens of meetings in several Senior Centers, Libraries, and elsewhere, talking about Travel in Europe, but never for money, always just for fun.
I await the most important comment about my efforts, a comment from Rick himself. His office has my Email address, and my Web Address, but I won’t post it here.
Jim – Keep posting. Your thoughts and comments consistently add to the exchange of ideas on the Rick Blog. I’m sure you savor your years of travel with your wife, and enjoy sharing those memories with others. Although I am a newlywed (married only 26 years), my wife is my favorite travelling companion, and I hope some day we have as many wonderful experiences as you and your Sweetie. The cranky naysayers can easily skip over your postings, if they find them so offensive. As to the redundancy issue, how many postings of “I/we love you Rick, keep up the good work” have we read through this summer? Who cares? Its just a travel blog. Lighten up, people.
The best beer I had while in Denmark and Sweden was in Malmo at a place called the Moose Head Pub. I had a Moose burger, too. Not bad. The beer (I believe Swedish) started with an S… but for the life of me I can’t find any evidence of its existence since returning to the States.
Jim, I noticed you wrote a comment on each of Rick’s blog. However, it is a travel blog and you are well traveled. If you were married to you dear wife for 55 years +, that makes you somewhere around 75-80 years old. I think it is marvelous you have such wonderful travel memories and want to share them. Many people your age cannot or do not have the abilities or interest to continue to share their experiences. Thank goodness you do. Whatever it takes to keep you healthy and happy, please follow that path. Thanks for sharing!
Jim, Keep posting. I enjoy reading everyone’s comments, regardless of their content. Diversity is good. You have a perspective, and it’s nice to hear. I hope in 55 years to be posting on a travel blog about all my travels with my wife. If I’m doing that . . . we can safely say I’d have had a good life.
Well just to let you know, this summer was the wettest and coolest in decades here in Denmark. I know, as I have lived here for over 30 years. Anyone visiting the Copenhagen area is recommended to take a day trip to southern Zeraland and Møn (Moen) lovely gently rolling hills, beautiful sea and skyscapes and lots of historical interest. Happy to live in Denmark! All the best – Allou
Royal Copenhagen’s figurines of children and babies are loved all over the world because they capture the innocence and imagination of happy children nd babies in a very special way. chat