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City-websites:
http://www.destination-roskilde.dk
http://www.roskildedomkirke.dk/dk
Adam and I took the train from Amsterdam last night to
Copenhagen. It was a night train, and we got a great night’s sleep
on the couchette train. Slept with four other people all on bunks.
We met some nice people... two young college aged guys, one from
Chicago and one from Australia. Adam had a good time talking to
them. We were scheduled to get to Copenhagen around 9:30 am,
but the train was delayed two hours…
Not really sure why. At any rate we made it in before noon and
checked in early at our hotel. We hung out to rest a bit, and then
hit the town to see the sites.
It is cold and overcast here today, with a light rain off and on. This
seems to be a very cosmopolitan city, very modern and
progressive. There are palaces and castles all over the place. My
understanding is
The Church of Denmark is the official church here, just like the
Church of England in the UK. Very impressive large churches with
very TALL spires. The churches look like they were built to impress.
Unfortunately the rain has put a damper on our sight seeing for the
day, so we found shelter in an Internet cafe close to the train station.
This is the only country on our trip that doesn't use euros they use
krones. I guess 670 of them would equal about 100 Euros....
needless to say this messes with my math challenged brain. Our
Burger King supper
cost about 114 krones, which roughly equals... almost $20 USD,
TOO MUCH MONEY!! The cost of living must be very high here.
Tomorrow we will go to Rothskilde to church to hear the organ. The
Viking Ship Museum is also in Rothskilde.
17 July 05
Today is Sunday, so I woke up early this morning and got dressed
for church. Then I walked to the train station at hopped a regional
train to Roskilde. I landed at Roskilde about an hour and a half
before the church service began, so I walked around town and
headed to the harbor where the Viking Ship Museum was located.
The weather was cool, almost cold and overcast, but it was still a
beautiful day. The cool temperature felt good. I got some great
shots of the ships, and enjoyed the scenery, it's on fjord, and then I
headed back to the Roskilde Domskirche. The official church is
The Church of Denmark, quite similar, I think to the Church of
England. Not only does the church house a historic organ, but also
the tombs and sarcophagus, of many Danish royalty.
The church service was wonderful, in fact it reminded me a great
deal of a Presbyterian service, except of course, it was in Danish.
(Danish doesn't sound as much like German as Dutch sounds...
more of the Scandinavian influence, I guess.) There was a small
choir singing from the balcony with 12 or so members, they led all
the liturgical responses as well as the hymns...no anthem as such.
The great organ was situated on the wall on the right side of the
church.
the church in Roskilde
great picture. ...Can’t send email from
my phone here, but when I can I will
send it along. The church was Gothic
with huge ceilings. The people were
very kind and welcomed me to their
service, there were only 50 or so in
attendance. There was a translation in
English they gave me, so that I could
follow along. Interestingly enough, the
prelude and postlude were both a part
of the actual service.... not like in the
US where people walk in during the
prelude and walk out during the
postlude. A matter of respect, I
guess. Once again I find the people
here to be very polite and respectful of
others.
After lunch Adam and I spent the
remainder of the day at Tivoli, the
oldest amusement park in the world.
It is situated in the middle of town, right
next to the train station. It is basically
a part of the royal gardens, adjacent to
the royal Danish Palace, where the
king, queen and two young princes
reside. I guess you could call it the
original Disneyland, except that
instead of Mickey Mouse Cartoons, the
theme of this park revolves around the
stories of Hans Christian Anderson.
Plays, ballets, music and rides all
center around those famous fairy
tales. I saw shows, heard the
Copenhagen Chamber Orchestra
perform, and saw the Copenhagen
National Ballet Company perform, while
Adam checked out the rides. We both
had a great day! They had fireworks
at 11:45 pm but we didn't want to stick
around that late, so we headed to the
hotel at 9pm. We relaxed for the rest
of the night preparing for our trip to
Berlin tomorrow.