Travels with my aunt

The 'Seat' of Danish 'power'

Actually, the aunt featured in the book is not dissimilar to my own and while I had literally aged another year by the time she arrived, NQDII and I had to work hard at keeping up with the seemingly limitless energy of a woman in her sixties. We had lots of fun but by the time I dropped her back at the airport on Thursday morning for her to take the plane back to Singapore, I felt like I had jet lag myself!

She was the first family member we’ve had come to visit, so we were pretty excited about her arrival and keen to show her the highlights of this small but ancient island. I had worded her up not to expect the grandness of London or Paris because while Copenhagen has some very lovely buildings, they’re comparatively compact compared to those of the big cities of Europe.

Okay, so twelve guards and a local bus isn't quite London...

She didn’t seem perturbed and keenly embraced every bit of information about Copenhagen and Denmark she picked up on certain tours. By the end of the five days, she considered herself an expert, although I fear the phrase, ‘a little bit of knowledge is very dangerous,’ could be appropriate, as she coined her own expression, ‘It was a Danish Tragedy’, after listening to certain aspects of Denmark’s history.

There were quite a number of ‘Danish Tragedies’ to which my aunt was privy from various tours:

“Nelson almost levelled Copenhagen in an attack to disable and capture the Danish Navy”

Aunt: “Oh how awful, how tragic.”

“Christiansborg Palace burnt down three times”

Aunt: “What a shame, rather a Danish Tragedy.”

“Danish soldiers were rationed on 10 litres of beer, per soldier, per day”

Aunt: “Oh, well, tragic but they must have been the happiest army in Europe.”

“King Christian and Queen Louise manage to marry off their daughters to the heirs to the British and Russian thrones.”

Aunt: “Oh that was good.”

“But they could not afford to attend the wedding.”

Aunt: “Oh, what a Danish Tragedy.”

“During the German occupation in WWII, King Christian rode out on the streets of Copenhagen to boost the people’s morale”

Aunt: “Oh, how lovely.”

“…until he was one day thrown from his horse and ended up in a wheelchair.”

Aunt: “Oh how awful. What a Danish Tragedy.”

The lake at Fredensborg

And then we had our trip to Fredensborg. We left early one morning with NQDII as he made his way to work (he takes three trains and rides the bike he leaves at that end the rest of the way!). We arrived early at the palace, about 9.15am. So early, there was no one else around.

Out of nowhere, I heard a car coming so went to stand out of the way. I looked up, and there was a Rolls Royce coming towards us.

“Look, it’s the Queen.” I said.

Sure enough, it was.

My aunt was busy talking to a rubbish bin at the time (seriously) and only just looked up to catch the Queen exiting the palace gates at great speed. She was suitably impressed.

“Although, I’ve heard you do see the royal family all the time here.”

(Umm, yes, like everyday – not!).

Then we went for a walk around the park of Fredensborg.

It really is quite beautiful, lots of space and a fantastic lake.

One of the ‘highlights’ was the pier or jetty built for Prince Henrik, the Queen’s husband for his 70th birthday or something. Unfortunately, part of it had collapsed.

Aunt: “Oh dear, another Danish tragedy.”

Poor Henrik's recent 'tragedy'

A couple of days later, we had a three hour walk around Djurehaven - an enormous old hunting ground with herds of wild dear. It was spectacular. Including walking from the station, it only took us half an hour from Frederiksberg to get there.

3 hours of walking in the wild and only 15 mins from town