Royal Copenhagen

When I was walking through the Haderslev museum with Susanne, I made some comment about how a lot of Danish kings seemed to be named Christian. "That's because all Danish kings are required to be named either Christian or Frederik," she said. Yep, it's true. There's a queen on the throne right now, but her son, who is next in line is Frederik. Frederik has an infant son named, you guessed it, Christian. If another son is born, he'll be a Frederik. Way to go Denmark; keeping it simple.
Ok, my preoccupation with the naming practices of the Danish Royal Family doesn't really have a lot to do with Copenhagen. Except I did have a little laugh when the tourguide at Christiansborg Palace pointed to a random painting of a Danish king and said, "Who can guess the name of this king? Go ahead, you have a 50/50 chance."

Pictures: Evening in Tivoli Amusement Park, Canal and harbour tour, Christiansborg Palace

"I sought trains; I found passengers." -Paul Theroux

This post will probably be most interesting to people related to me, but bear with me.

My great-grandpa Krey emmigrated from Denmark during the first World War to avoid being drafted by the German army. After the war, he married my great-grandma and brought her to the U.S. Great-grandma Krey had two brothers. One died in France during WWI (they never found him). The other brother survived the war, stayed in Denmark, and raised a family. And his family still lives there today-many of them in Haderslev, Denmark, the same town where great-grandma Krey was born and grew up. I had never met any of these relatives ...until this trip, when I said, "Here's looking at you, Grandma Krey," and made a little pilgrimage to Haderslev.

So after a (rather long) train ride from the Netherlands, I stepped off the train in Denmark and there were my Danish relatives smiling and waving the Danish flag. And that was probably one of the best parts of my trip so far.

Let me just say how ironic it is to think about my great-grandparents leaving familiar Denmark, coming to the U.S. and trying to learn the language and customs. And now here I am in Denmark, not knowing any Danish, thinking of home back in the U.S.

Luckily for me, I have probably the nicest, most generous relatives in the history of foreign visits, so I ended up getting a little taste of what it's like to feel at home in Denmark.

Pictures
1. Family
(back l-r : Mikael, Soren, Poul Henning. front l-r: Ole, Pernila, Gudrun, Svend, Susanne)
2. Church in Haderslev where great-grandma was baptized, confirmed, and married.
3.Original 18th Century baptismal font at the church.