The True Spirit of Scandinavia Elderhostel Tour

---

Day 9 - Tuesday, June 9, 2009
This morning in our Danish history and culture presentation by Professor Dochweiler we learned that in 1536 King Christian III took over the Catholic churches and monasteries confiscating their money and treasure. He then announced to his subjects that they were now protestants!
Denmark became a democracy in 1848 when a new constitution was written based on and inspired by that of the U.S and France but most of all by the constituion of Belguim! Since the country was now a democracy the citizens needed to be educated and thus folk schools were extablished.
Denmark was neutral in WWI and was invaded by the Germans in WWII who ignored their treaty with Denmark. Denmark had 6000 Jews and the people of Denmark were able to save almost all of them by transporting them to Sweden in small fishing boats. Sweden was neutral and the Jews were not bothered by the Germans there.
After a break we had a short presentation and lecture on art by the professors wife who is an artist. They live in Skagen, the area on the tip of Northern Jutland known for its clear northern light off the sea and is sought by many artisits. There was a group of artisits called the Skagen artisits and she presented slides of some of their paintings.
In the afternoon we had a field trip to the city of Kolding where we visted the Castle Museum-Koldinghus, a royal castle, restored ruin and museum. The castle was built in the middle of the 13th century and was one of Denmarks most improtant royal castles.
The artistic and unique restoration was done in such a way that hardly any of the new structure touched the old brick walls except for a few supports. Tall pillars supported a roof and walls and several added rooms for exhibitions. Suspended floating stairways led here and there to various exhibitions such as historic paintings, china and silverware, various styles of dining room chairs, and aniques toys. Another travelling exhibit was composed of various types of clothing ranging from magnificent evening gowns by some of the top designers to an unique evening dress made out of newspapers! There were also some futuristic type of men and womenøs clothing all on mannequins. After seeing everything we climbed the 145 stone steps of the original tower and had a terrific view of the town and the harbor.
From the castle we rode a few kilometers to the Trapholt, a museum of modern art. Gene and I strolled through the lovely flower gardens and enjoyed the gardens more than the art.
After dinner back at the folk school we attended a concert at the school performed by a visiting musical group consisting of 2 guitar players, an accordian player and a violinist. The leader of the band, a slightly disheveled young man, wrote the music based on letters of an immigrant, Daniel, who was from the village where our folk school is located, Askov. Daniel after many years of working on ships and travelling the world eventually ended up in Askov, Minnesota. He explained to us in English what each of the songs were about and how they described Daniels life. And then the group played and sang in Danish.
It was a very enjoyable day and evening. Good night from Askov, Denmark. Phyllis and Gene

---