Traditional Danish Christmas Dinner

I had a chance to have a traditional Danish Christmas Dinner,  I took pictures of the all the food so that everyone can see what I had for dinner.  The host of the dinner was a past employee of the facility and she has a huge house enough room for all of 20 people.

A beautiful center piece

In Denmark it is tradition to drink "schnapps" -- which is a really stiff alcoholic drink. They are put in these very small cute glasses.  I had one and lets just say -- that one drink is all I had.  It tasted good but it was a very strong drink.

The first course of dinner was fish. We had fried fish fillets with something similar to a tartar sauce called remoulade.. Two different types of pickled herring, one type was mild with just vinegar and onions; the other type was spicy with curry.  The pickled herring is placed on rye bread, with onions and sauce.  I tried the mild type on rye bread and sauce, it was not that bad, kind of like a type of sushi.  Then there was also smoked salmon, which was served on white bread with red onions, capers, and dill sauce.  I tried everything expect the spicy pickled curry.

The next course was meat, we had pork and beef meatballs, with roast pork, and liver pâté with bacon and mushrooms. There was the fixings: cooked red cabbage, and canned beats.

The last course was cheese, grapes, cookies and traditional Danish Christmas dessert. By this time I am so full!! But I really wanted to have some dessert. The dessert is called Ris à l’amande with cherry sauce, which is basically rice pudding with cream, vanilla and silvered almonds and then topped with warm cherry sauce.  Oh it so good!!!  People were telling me that it a tradition to put one whole almond in a large bowl of Ris à l’amande, and the person that found the whole almond got a prize. And that some people would actually find the almond but hind it under their tongue so that people had to continue eating the Ris à l’amande with cherry sauce until it was gone.

 

Dinner was great and I was so full when I left.  It was a great night and I had a lot of fun. 

 Merry Christmas to all my friends and family!!

National Museum of Denmark

I was quite surprised when I woke up on Nov 21, that my feet or my legs did not hurt, considering how much (E) and I walked the day before. Since we had such a hard time on the train to Copenhagen the day before, we agreed to try to get on a early train so that we can see everything we wanted to see. Plus now we knew exactly where we want to go; since we got off at the wrong station and then went to the wrong museum.

We arrived at the museum right when they opened at 10am, and we started to work our way through, this place was huge!! We did not even see all the exhibits after walking in the National Museum for 3 hours!!

This a few pictures with detailed descriptions, I took about 50 pictures but I not posting all of them.  Just all the cool ones.  

The subject of this altarpiece is Judgement Day. Above the Trinity is enthroned; in the centre Christ is depicted as the Judge presiding over the saved, who are lifted up to Heaven, and the damned, who are being cast down into Hell. Inthe foreground the donor of the altarpiece, King Christian II (1513-1523), is kneeling, together with his 13 year-old-queen, Elisabeth. The portraits of the royal couple were altered, when the altarpience was still quite new. X-ray photos reveal that they were originally looking at each other, and that the King's head was uncovered. The altarpience was made in the Flemish style ca. 1514-1515.  St. Mary's Church, Elsinore

The Gunhild cross

Carved in walrus ivory. The front of the cross once carried the  figure of Christ. Symbolised on the front of the upright: Life and Death,  on the cross-piece: the Old and New Testaments (the Synagogue and the Church). On the back: Christ enthroned on the rainbow, and Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom.  In the roundelterminals of the cross-piece: the Blessed and the Damned.  According to the inscription the cross is carved by Liutger for Helen,  also call Gunhild, the king's daughter. The name Gunhild is repeated in runes.  She may have been the daughter of Svend Grathe. The cross belonged to Sphine Brahe in 1646.

The Clausholm bed

Bed from ca 1650, oak, carved by Peder Jensen Kolding. Served as a symbolic bridal bed at wedding within the nobility. Decorated with biblical scenes: on the footboard, the Annunciation; on the  headboard, the Adoration of the Shepherds - suitable subjects for a  bridal bed. The headboard depicts the virtues Charity and Justice, the footboard depicts Hope and Faith, originally flanked by the Apostles Peter and Paul. The four Evangelists carry the canopy, which originally hadan inscription from the Song of Solomon, about a bride's longing for her lover. On the top of the canopy Christ with his banner of victory. All the textiles are new. The bed was purchased from a farm in Eastern Jylland in 1842, but it originates from the manor of Clausholm.

Painting of a nobleman's children from ca. 1620. The children are dressed like small adults. The painting probably come from Nakkebølle Manor on Fyn.

Chest with carvings in Renaissance style, ca 1620. On the front the four virtues Faith, Hope, Charity, and Peace are depicted, together with a poem: "Where Faith is in mind/where Hope does win/where Charity's within/there Peace you'll find." The chest comes from East Jylland, where it was probably made.

These marble lions, purchased in Marseille, stood in the grounds of Fredensborg Palace from 1764. Later they flanked the main entrance to the palace. The construction of Fredensborg Palace began in 1720, theyear Denmark declared peace in the Great Northern War. Frederik IV's country seat was called Fredensborg, which means palace of peace, to
commemorate the end of the conflict.

The lurs - the wind instruments of the Bronze Age - were masterpieces of casting. They were created between between 1200 BC and 700 BC. The oldest lurs are shaped like ox-horns. Soon the tube became curved and the ornamental disc at the top grew larger, becoming a sun symbol. Deep booming  notes surged from the disc as if the magical sound was coming from the sun symbol itself. After the lurs had been used in sacred rituals, they were sacrificed in pairs in bogs. In rock carvings one sees men with horned helmets blowing lurs. 

This stone was placed as a tombstone, this is what was carved on the tombstone: "Asråd and Hildvig (or Hildulv?) raised this stone in memory of Frede, their kinsman (?). And he was then bafainkuaiRa (the terror of men?); and he died in Svitjod (Sweden) and was fursifrikisiapi (the foremost of Frigge's host?); and then: all vikings."

Christmas in Tivoli

On November 20th, after (E) and I saw all we could see in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum we walked over the Tivoli.  Even though my feet so much from standing and walking I was really looking forward to seeing Tivoli.  I was told by many people at work that Tivoli is the place to go to for Christmas. After seeing the place I understand why. Tivoli truly was a Christmas light wonderland.

Originally on the 20th we enter the Tivoli gardens in one of the side entrances and you can tell when you walk in this place was going to be amazing.  When you enter you go down a small flight of stairs and you see all these amazing lights and Christmas shoppes.

Side entrance, with shops and Chrismtas light everywhere. The ball of lights on the top left was in the shape of snow flakes.

shops and walk way, notice all the tress have lights on them

These lights were everywhere and some were in different colors. 

 *The following day Nov 21st, (E) and I came across the main entrance of Tivoli and we took a few pictures since were in the area.  The main entrance is quite nice, however (E) and I were disappointed that a few of the sign lights were not light.  You would think with Christmas one of their busiest time - they would have all the lights lite up.

Once inside Tivoli gardens our amazement did not end. We come across the Tivoli Hotel which one of the focal points. It is hard to describe so I will let the pictures do all the talking. But I must mention that if you want to book a hotel room or a reservation at the hotel restaurant you have to schedule it almost a year in advance and be willing to shell out a lot of money.

All over the Tivoli Gardens there were many different types of tree wit lights and other decorations.

 

Also in the Tilvoli Gardens, there are many different rides. This includes roller coasters, swings and a beautiful carousel.

There was also a very unique Chinese area, with a cool lite up dragon and building. I found out later that there is a Chinese restuarant inside the building.

In Tivoli there is also a play house, they were showing Mama Mia! when (E) and I were there. But the way they lite it up it was great.

Another really neat thing about Tilvoli is that every walk way had unique lights above it.

In Tivoli there 80 different restaurants or snack shops, plus a whole bunch of gift shops.  If you come to Copenhagen you have to come by Tivoli Gardens.

Adventure to Copenhagen and the Wrong Museum

On Saturday 20th (E) and I made a trip to Copenhagen. However, before I tell you the adventure in Copenhagen I must tell you about the adventure getting to Copenhagen. The first train we wanted to take was canceled, so we decided to get some Danish pastries so that we can get them on the next train. Of course, since the previous train was canceled the next train was packed and there were no seats. So for the majority of the one-hour trip we were standing, as we traveled some people got off and even more people got on.

Since there were some many people on the train I could not hear very clearly what train station we are stopping at, the majority of the announcements are in Danish. But as you get closer to Copenhagen, the announcements are in both Danish and English. So as we are nearing Copenhagen, I hear the words “Central Station” which is the main station in Copenhagen. So I thought the next stop was the main station and (E) and I get off, in our excitement we did not even realizing where we really got off at the wrong station. We got off at the Valby Station, South of Copenhagen, and after about an hour of wondering around and thinking why can’t we find all the museums or Tivoli Gardens we realized out mistake. So we just hopped on the next bus to central station and finally made it to Copenhagen.

Since (E) was here on vacation and I am now living here I felt it best that she decided where she wants to go with one condition, I really wanted to see the Tivoli Gardens. So our first stop was the SUPPOSED to be the National Museum, and we came across a museum and figured it was the one we wanted. 

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

www.glyptoteket.dk

Anyways we entered, put our coats and other belongings, and paid for our ticket.  This is when we realized we were at the wrong museum, because the National Museum is free, but since we were already there we decided to go ahead a have a look. 

This particular museum contained an extensive collection of statues. 

 

The museum also had a large collection of Egyptian artifacts.

They do have this unique stairway down stairs in the Egyptian exhibit, which lead to another exhibit that was designed like a Egyptian tomb. 

Stair case leading to the Tomb like exhibit.

There was much more to this museum, many paintings, but they were repairing the heating system in that area so it was closed.  I plan to visit again in the spring to get see the other exhibits. After visiting the museum we walked over the Tivoli gardens, and I took so many pictures it deserves a blog post of its own.