Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Yesterday was a super short day at the temple with another texture layer for our Venetian Plaster…two hours in and out and then we were free to sight see by 10am so we headed to town to see the Rosenthal Castle and the National Museum of Art.
It was so cold and rainy and we’d all wished we’d brought more winter clothing. 39 degrees with a wind chill of 33 and we were out walking in it and, of course, had forgotten our umbrellas, which made the cold even more biting. The castle itself was also bitter cold as these old buildings had no heat except for the large wood burning fireplaces, which are no longer in use. As we toured these rooms that were “over detailed” with pictures and stuff on every square in of walls and ceilings, I was thinking how oppressive this would have been. Everything was also very dark, which doesn’t make for great pictures, either. We also wondered if these people ever got tired of having everything in their lives “all about me.” Self portraits hung everywhere, in every room, in duplicate and triplicate and more with every material collection and show of their wealth on display for any and all to see. It would be interesting to visit their time period and really see what life was like back then. I’m thinking I wouldn’t have liked all the classes and separate distinctions between the people. Afterwards we ran through the rain to reach the National Museum of Art to see originals from Leonardo DaVinci as well as other famous authors. As in all European art, after a while you get tired of seeing so many naked figures in the paintings. They loved the human body, that’s for sure.
Some thoughts about Denmark. You need a college degree to ride a bike here. Bikes are as plentiful as the cars and don’t even think about stepping into the bike path, or you will get run over. They are serious about pedestrians staying out of their lane. And then when you come to a stop light, you can see green, green, yellow, yellow and red all staring at you at once. Confusion…which one is mine? There are stop lights for the cars, separate lights for turning right, separate lights for the bikes and for the pedestrians all at once. And, all can be a different color at the same time going in the same direction so you’d better know your lights before you hit the road.
Danish people on the street aren’t polite and don’t wait in line. If you are in line for anything and you stop to wait for something or someone, the others will pass you by. It’s almost like you are in their way. And yet the people we’ve talked to and worked with seem super easy going and not like those following the rat race out in the city. A little unclear on this one.
Today was a “long” day at the temple…5 hours of backfill. I could get used to these kinds of “long” days. We are almost finished and it looks beautiful so far. They are polishing the marble floors in the baptistery so we have to play leap frog as we go in and out of the area.
After troweling the plaster, we head downtown to the “Church of Our Savior” which has a great spiral staircase to the very tip of the spire. Of course, we paid the $6 USD to climb it. Because it was a cold, rainy day, there were very few people there. Climbing in circles up and up in this old building from the 1600’s was pretty cool especially as you passed the inner workings of the huge metal bells with a pulley system for the chiming. Huge, thick giant beams were the frame work of the walls as we climbed the well-worn wooden steps inside, which turned into slippery, copper steps in the rain outside. But the view was breathtaking! From the top you could see all of Copenhagen in every direction. Definitely worth the $6! Afterwards we went inside to listen to the organ concert. I’m thinking the pipe organ in the conference center has nothing on this one. It was so ornately carved with the date of 1698 on it. And the music was so beautiful.
Tomorrow we leave the temple patron housing when the job is complete and head over to the apartment we rented for the next four days. This cold, winter/spring adventure continues!
Today it rained so much we started the day by leaving Finland guess where we ended up en Estonia
We are staying with a Sister from the ward who is older and has a really old home with antiques. We went to the opera and she made us all wear these long dresses that she had in her home. Very funny. 
We left early to go to the castle at Frederiksborg. Yes, another castle, another day filled with mouthwatering pastries, great sandwiches and cakes and the original Carl Bloch paintings in their home. Here at Frederiksborg are many original Carl Bloch paintings of the Savior, many of which we know very well. They were not under glass and we were able to get “up close and personal” with the paintings. The man at the castle explained that Carl was commissioned to paint these after the original paintings for the church had been destroyed in a fire. While they were interviewing painters and deciding on who to hire to duplicate the original themes depicting the life and times of the Savior, Carl Bloch pulled out a series of sketches he had made of the original room in the chapel at Frederiksborg with all the original paintings (in a lot of detail) just a few months prior to the fire, which enabled him to get the job. I’m thinking it was no “coincidence” that he took the time to sketch out the room and the scenes of Christ while he was there visiting. Today these Carl Bloch paintings are very well known. Although we had seen several of the paintings when they were on display at the Museum at BYU a couple years ago, it was super cool to see them in their home (and be able to take photos of them).
After visiting the chapel with the paintings first, we toured the rest of the castle. Frederiksborg is so different than Kronborg in that it is a dedicated museum with everything restored to it’s period state along with the artwork. Kronborg was mostly a large empty building with a few pieces of artwork and furniture, but mostly it was just the old building that you were looking at. While at Kronborg yesterday, a catering company was setting up for some kind of dinner in the grand ballroom. So if you ever need an event venue, and have lots of money, we learned that the Kronborg Castle might just be the place. They have also filmed a lot of movies at Kronborg as well.
After the castle we were starving and found a highly recommended little café on tripadvisor that was near the castle. It was called “Andres Café” and it was a great find! The sandwiches were huge and so delicious, but what the place is famous for is their cakes and pies. Andre, the chef and owner came out and introduced himself. He was down to earth and told us the cakes were all gluten free, which surprised us all since they were so good. He is publishing his recipes in a cookbook that comes out in a few months here in Denmark. We’re hoping to help him get the recipes published here (so at least we can cook a few delicious cakes).
We only had an hour before the church closed, but really wanted to go see Vor Frue Kirke (Church of Our Lady). Here stands the original carved statue of Christ that is so familiar to all of us. In addition were the Twelve Apostles also carved from stone that I understand will be replicated for the Rome Temple. Six Apostles are on each side of the church. Each Apostle had an angel watching over him from above and Christ had a beautiful angel near him as well. This church had a very good feeling about it…not dark and dreary like the churches and cathedrals we saw in Mexico or El Salvador. It really represents well the resurrected Savior instead of the dead Savior on the cross like so many churches from Mexico and Central America. It was a sweet experience.
