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Published: September 5th 2018
After our breakfast we walked to the Aalborg Museum of Modern Art for some culture. Unfortunately the museum wasn't for us, bit too "modern" if you know what I mean. We then walked to the bus stop and boarded and hopped on the number 1 bus to Nytorv near the waterfront in Aalborg to go to the Utzon Centre. This is a museum dedicated to the Danish architect Jorn Utzon, born in Aalborg in April 1918, famous in Australia for designing the Opera House on Sydney Harbour.
We've been very impressed by the level of service from our bus drivers, all very friendly and very good drivers to boot. We've also been impressed with the technology of the buses, with their air bags dropping to make for a very small step for the less mobile to disembark. Another interesting thing with the buses here is the free newspapers on board the bus, no good for those of us who speak absolutely no Danish. The buses as well as always being on time are always spotless, nobody leaves rubbish on the bus when hopping off and there are no damaged seats or graffiti anywhere on them.
On the walk to
the Utzon Centre we stopped an Italian espresso pop up street vendor. The best coffee we've had since leaving Australia. The little Italian barista didn't speak much English but gee he knew his way around an espresso machine. After our coffee we saw an interesting building and stopped for a few photos. The building is actually known as Aalborghus Slot (Aalborg Castle in English), building commenced in 1539. The castle is now used as council offices. It was now time to cross the road and on to the Utzon Centre.
The displays in this museum make it a must see for any Australian, in our opinion, visiting the area. There are details of the reasons why he never visited Australia to see for himself first hand the finished product of his outstanding design of this world renowned landmark. While visiting the museum's gift shop we were talking to the shop attendant who was amazed we'd travelled so far. On explaining Wayne's dad being born in Aalborg she suggested, very politely insisted, we visit the migration centre which sits in a complex with The Church of Our Lady less than 500 metres from where we were.
Upon finishing the
walking tour of Mr. Utzon's museum we headed off to the migration centre. It is housed in a beautiful building right next door to the church. We didn't go in to the old church as they were preparing for a funeral and out of respect we continued on our way. We were greeted by two lovely ladies, one in particular could not help us enough. She was scrolling through old books and computer entries and then she and Wayne came across what they were searching for. We found Wayne's dad's birth registration at a church West of Aalborg. On the registration was Wayne's grandparents names, dates of birth and also their marriage date. Exactly what the lady then needed to dig further. She was able to find Wayne's grandparents address when his dad was born and then she searched the records of the 1940 Danish census and also found that his grandfather had an apprentice working for him that was also declared in the census. Also in the documentation were the addresses of the church his dad was baptised in as well as the address his dad lived at from birth and also the address this dad's family lived in
Forecourt leading to the Migrant Centre
This is where we reflected on the journey of discoveryat the time of the 1940 census. This was a very emotional time for us as it really cemented to us Wayne's heritage to this beautiful part of the world. Very much like our own personal episode of the show Who Do You Think You Are.
Like we said this was a very emotional and draining experience and it was nice to sit in the garden outside the migration centre and reflect on the twenty or thirty minutes we were inside and what we had discovered. It was now time to wander again and get some lunch. Once again we found ourselves at the café next to the Salling department store. We were going to try somewhere else but we've found the food and service great here so why not? After lunch we walked the department store and found they have a grocery store under the same roof. We organized our dinner for tonight and then caught the number 1 bus back to the B&B.
Tonight we pack for another travel day tomorrow. We fly from Aalborg to Copenhagen to Edinburgh where we are catching up with Vicki's brother, sister and her family to celebrate a 50th birthday.
Till then, bye for now.
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Annella Wheatley
non-member comment
Very moving
Wow, that must have been quite a moment for Wayne. What a wonderful experience for you both. Gorgeous place too.