Oh, we are having so much fun! Our training is going very well, with good caamaraderie and learning. But the touristing is the real highlight. So, today, Sunday, I started very early with a walk through very old sections of Copenhagen with my friend Marianna. The weather is perfect and the streets were quiet. The age and beauty of the narrow streets, the multi-colored buildings, the towers and courtyards — it is enchanting.
Our training group ended early today so that several of us could make it to the Queen's Residence to witness the Changing of the Guard. And, yes, it was a group of very serious, undistractable young men in 2 foot tall black fur hats, with blue pants, shiny shoes and rifles. I wish I had a way to put my pictures into the computer, but I look forward to showing them to you all later. One aspect of the Queen's Residence that is interesting is that there are 4 very big buildings that are identical to each other — for the queen, the prince, etc. There is a tremendous emphasis in Denmark about equality. People refer to the "tall poppy rule" — the tallest poppy is the one that gets mowed down.
On the other hand, we went from there to the Summer Palace of Christian IV (from the 1600's). This place was ALL ABOUT pomp, circumstance and being impressive. It is a beautiful castle with a moat around it. Each room was dazzling, often with every surface painted or sculpted. The top floor was an immense "audience room" with the King and Queen's thrones at one end, guarded by 3 life-size golden lions. In some of the downstairs rooms, there were huge fireplaces with large silver things in front of them. These things had 18" silver balls which would be filled with water, left to warm up by the fire, then pulled into other rooms which did not have fireplaces to provide radiant heat!
Christian IV was very influential: half of the buildings we see were built by him. The downside was that he spent the country into financial ruin. At the time of his death, Christian IV's crown had been pawned off. Thankfully, it was recovered later, and we got to see it today. There was an exhibit of the crown jewels in the treasury next to the castle. This was like seeing Disneyland crowns and swords and necklaces — except the jewels and gold were real! This was my first taste of genuine royalty and all the glitter that accompanies it, and it was genuinely impressive.
Tomorrow we have more training, a visit to a youth treatment center and, if the weather continues to bless us with blue skies, a bicycle ride along the coast. What a blast!
Love to you all, Cynthia
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