August 27, 2016 - Amsterdam
Got a good early start and everything went
well, our flight was delayed an hour, but we took a train into the
city, walked 15 minutes and got to our hotel. Saturday evening and all
of the drunks and others come out, Amsterdam has got to be the Sodom and
Gomorrah of our times. Wall to wall people downtown and the majority
drunk. All of the other cities we have been in seem very tame, but not
here. We are going to Church in the morning and boarding the ship in
the afternoon. This ship was just commissioned in April of this year
and is the biggest in the fleet.
Sunday, August 28, 2016
"Over the hills and through the woods to Great great grandparents house" -- favorite Viking song
August 26, 2016 - Vejle /Borregard
Former is cemetery of great great grandparents, just too long ago. We have been very impressed with how nice they keep their cemeteries. Have some good pictures. Borregard is in the northern part of Jutland, more rolling hills and pine trees, beautiful. Janis's grandfather was born here, just a country village, but she and Karen got a good feel for the country their ancestors came from; and that was the purpose of our staying in Denmark. Put over 900 miles on the "Beamer", and I am really tired of shifting!!!
Former is cemetery of great great grandparents, just too long ago. We have been very impressed with how nice they keep their cemeteries. Have some good pictures. Borregard is in the northern part of Jutland, more rolling hills and pine trees, beautiful. Janis's grandfather was born here, just a country village, but she and Karen got a good feel for the country their ancestors came from; and that was the purpose of our staying in Denmark. Put over 900 miles on the "Beamer", and I am really tired of shifting!!!
Viborg
Temple Day
August 25, 2016 - Copenhagen
I chose a town close to the freeway, but far enough out so that we could find parking. Wrong! All the commuters got there before we did, but fortunately there was a shopping mall right across the street, so it worked out well. Got an all day pass on the transportation system and headed for the temple. They were doing some renovation work on the outside, but it still looked great. Met one of the temple workers outside, and got some good background on temple operations and layout. Apparently, the new videos have not been translated into some of the languages, so they primarily use the old ones. The chapel was just a block away, missionaries were having a District meeting, so we got to talk to a couple of them. We hiked up to the top of a tower (the church Bishop was an astronomer, so they constructed this big tower on the end of the church), great view of Copenhagen. Went to the Church of our Lady and saw the original "Christus" statue, then to Thorvalsen's museum. Absolutely amazing how prolific he was.
I chose a town close to the freeway, but far enough out so that we could find parking. Wrong! All the commuters got there before we did, but fortunately there was a shopping mall right across the street, so it worked out well. Got an all day pass on the transportation system and headed for the temple. They were doing some renovation work on the outside, but it still looked great. Met one of the temple workers outside, and got some good background on temple operations and layout. Apparently, the new videos have not been translated into some of the languages, so they primarily use the old ones. The chapel was just a block away, missionaries were having a District meeting, so we got to talk to a couple of them. We hiked up to the top of a tower (the church Bishop was an astronomer, so they constructed this big tower on the end of the church), great view of Copenhagen. Went to the Church of our Lady and saw the original "Christus" statue, then to Thorvalsen's museum. Absolutely amazing how prolific he was.
Copenhagen Denmark temple
© LDS.org
FOR RENT: One Viking burial plot, roommate with Otis, Astrid and the Møller twins, BYOF
August 24, 2016 - Svendborg/Maribo
We found the sexton early this morning in the Svendborg Cemetery, who located the point of burial of Janis's uncle for us. However, it turns out that if the family has not prepaid or continues to pay the upkeep fees, then head stones are removed and the plot is rented to someone else. The burial spot for Janis' uncle is currently under a row of hedges. We then went to Maribo to see if we could find ancestors there (1850's vintage). Same situation, too old, everyone has been so helpful. This trip to Maribo required a ferry crossing; these people are good at running ferries. Interesting country side, big grain producers and hog farms. They also have some great bridges. Has taken me a little while to learn the speed limit routine. However, it is the same as in Utah (I.e. Normal travel is 10% over the posted speed limit).
We found the sexton early this morning in the Svendborg Cemetery, who located the point of burial of Janis's uncle for us. However, it turns out that if the family has not prepaid or continues to pay the upkeep fees, then head stones are removed and the plot is rented to someone else. The burial spot for Janis' uncle is currently under a row of hedges. We then went to Maribo to see if we could find ancestors there (1850's vintage). Same situation, too old, everyone has been so helpful. This trip to Maribo required a ferry crossing; these people are good at running ferries. Interesting country side, big grain producers and hog farms. They also have some great bridges. Has taken me a little while to learn the speed limit routine. However, it is the same as in Utah (I.e. Normal travel is 10% over the posted speed limit).
On Hasmark Strand
Hasmark Strand
Vikings Punch the Clock at 3p
August 23, 2016 - Odense/Svendborg
We got to the the Fyn Island archives, and found the death records of Janis's uncle, who was born and died (6 mos. old) in Denmark; which was actually an opportunity to find records for other family members who we believed were buried in Svendborg. It was later in the afternoon when we got that information, and decided to drive down there and see if we could locate anything. It was about 3:00 pm when we arrived at the cemetery, and the only person we could find was the guy who did the cremations. He suggested we come back the next morning when someone would be there to help us. We have learned that things start closing down around 3:00 pm in Government offices here. So we went into the main part of town, walked around and had dinner. Nice, smaller town. Our experience is, that like all countries, generally, the smaller the town, the more orderly and neat it is.
We got to the the Fyn Island archives, and found the death records of Janis's uncle, who was born and died (6 mos. old) in Denmark; which was actually an opportunity to find records for other family members who we believed were buried in Svendborg. It was later in the afternoon when we got that information, and decided to drive down there and see if we could locate anything. It was about 3:00 pm when we arrived at the cemetery, and the only person we could find was the guy who did the cremations. He suggested we come back the next morning when someone would be there to help us. We have learned that things start closing down around 3:00 pm in Government offices here. So we went into the main part of town, walked around and had dinner. Nice, smaller town. Our experience is, that like all countries, generally, the smaller the town, the more orderly and neat it is.
Odense
Svendborg
Church in Svendborg, most are brick
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Looking for ancestors, but end up eating pastries
August 23, 2016
- Hasmark Strand, Denmark
Finally figured out how to run the washing machine (remember our experience when we picked Dan up ;)) and got some washing done, hung it out on the line, and it has been raining since then :(. So the house looks like a Chinese laundry. We now are regular shoppers in the little REMA 1000 grocery store in Otterup, of course it doesn't take much time to cover the whole store, but we have been able to find what we needed. We eat breakfast here (I'm the breakfast cook), and find a restaurant about 3:00 pm; and then there are the pastry shops :). We are all going to have a weight problem when we get home. We spent yesterday in Odense trying to find out where Janis and Karen's great grandparents were buried. Found the cemetery, but the Sexton only had digital records back to 2003, so he sent us to the City Cultural offices (thank goodness for GPS - but the real problem is finding a parking spot), who then referred us to the City Archives. Naturally these offices close at 4:00 pm, so we are headed back there today to see what we can find. Everyone has been very friendly, nice and helpful. We were right in the neighborhood of Hans Cristian Anderson's home, so we stopped by thinking we would just take a look, right - nope, wall around everything, a big museum and a $40/person charge to get in, so we passed on that one (took that money and bought more pastries :) ).
Finally figured out how to run the washing machine (remember our experience when we picked Dan up ;)) and got some washing done, hung it out on the line, and it has been raining since then :(. So the house looks like a Chinese laundry. We now are regular shoppers in the little REMA 1000 grocery store in Otterup, of course it doesn't take much time to cover the whole store, but we have been able to find what we needed. We eat breakfast here (I'm the breakfast cook), and find a restaurant about 3:00 pm; and then there are the pastry shops :). We are all going to have a weight problem when we get home. We spent yesterday in Odense trying to find out where Janis and Karen's great grandparents were buried. Found the cemetery, but the Sexton only had digital records back to 2003, so he sent us to the City Cultural offices (thank goodness for GPS - but the real problem is finding a parking spot), who then referred us to the City Archives. Naturally these offices close at 4:00 pm, so we are headed back there today to see what we can find. Everyone has been very friendly, nice and helpful. We were right in the neighborhood of Hans Cristian Anderson's home, so we stopped by thinking we would just take a look, right - nope, wall around everything, a big museum and a $40/person charge to get in, so we passed on that one (took that money and bought more pastries :) ).
Vikings travel in style when they leave the ship.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Vikings don't climb stairs and Swedish teenage boys make donuts in the middle of town
August 20, 2016 - Helsingborg, Sweden
No docks deep enough for our boat, so they ferried us from the boat into the town. The town information center provided us with a little walking tour guide, so we followed that and had a very enjoyable time. Primary point of interest was an old fortress, 367 steps to the top. Janis and I were going to give it a try, but it cost $8/person to do it, so we used that as an excuse not to climb all the stairs. We were about a block from the Main Street when we heard this roar and commotion along the Main Street, smoke billowing up. It was 4 or 5 young guys in their souped up cars spinning their tires, doing donuts, etc. No police ever showed up, so we figured things must be a little laid back here. One elderly Swedish lady but us seemed to be indicating this wasn't the first time it had happened, and she didn't like it. Beautiful day, interesting little town.
No docks deep enough for our boat, so they ferried us from the boat into the town. The town information center provided us with a little walking tour guide, so we followed that and had a very enjoyable time. Primary point of interest was an old fortress, 367 steps to the top. Janis and I were going to give it a try, but it cost $8/person to do it, so we used that as an excuse not to climb all the stairs. We were about a block from the Main Street when we heard this roar and commotion along the Main Street, smoke billowing up. It was 4 or 5 young guys in their souped up cars spinning their tires, doing donuts, etc. No police ever showed up, so we figured things must be a little laid back here. One elderly Swedish lady but us seemed to be indicating this wasn't the first time it had happened, and she didn't like it. Beautiful day, interesting little town.
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