The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.2008, Blaðsíða 28

166
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 61 #4
unbelievably great. It’s probably the pork
capital of the world. Why is there no foul
odor? We, in our city, are discussing the
problems of pig smell. We are probably
spending a lot of money discussing it. Why
don’t we look to Denmark for advice?
They must be doing something right.
I was intrigued with all the windmills.
That’s one thing we are doing right.
Windmills can be seen springing up right
here in Manitoba.
Then there were the WWII bunkers.
Still there, serving as a grim reminder of the
disaster that was, and how bad things could
have been today. Peace and freedom are
too important to all of us.
I was amazed to see so many Viking
burial mounds. Untouched, they made me
realize how important respect for the dead
is. I hope we give our Aboriginal sacred
burial grounds the same respect.
Our trip to Gutenberg, Sweden was
first by train, than by ferry. We went on a
guided tour of the town, that turned out to
be very enlightening.
Since we were among our people and
no one could tell the ethnic origin of anoth-
er person I began to understand more
about my own upbringing in an ethnic
community. Each ethnic group is different,
but share pride in just being Scandinavian.
We are progressive, admire our ancestry,
yet, we are not stuck in the past. We are not
trying to impress the world; we just want
to live peacefully in it. There is such a beau-
tiful equality that is shared between
women, men and children, unprecedented
by any other nation of people. Our equali-
ty is so clearly demonstrated in our way of
dancing.
We were taught a lot of different types
of dances. Most of them I was able to com-
prehend, but some seemed beyond my
capabilities. Wow! Could our European
cousins ever dance! I used to think I was a
fantastic dancer, but these people changed
my opinion on that.
We had two memorable meals while in
Sweden. One was a steak, I believe, that
was the best I’d ever eaten. The other was
the funniest. Jane and Emma each had a fish
the size of a whole salmon. Karl’s was the
size of, well, have you ever had one half of
a salmon steak? Watching him eat that
thing was priceless. We were laughing so
hard no one thought to snap a picture. I
believe his was more expensive as well.
After a week of cramming our heads
with dozens of dance steps we were on our
way back to Denmark. The train ride was
amazingly quick.
When we got back to Copenhagen we
decided to spend time at Tivoli. You can-
not drive either a car or a bike into Tivoli.
Outside the front entrance were two or
three layers of bikes parked. There are
bicycle lanes on every street in
Copenhagen and the same is true for all of
Scandinavia. Tivoli is entertainment per-
sonified. We split up into groups so we
could fully enjoy the activities of our
choice. Believe me when I say, “There’s
nothing like this place.” A must see.
Ah! Hamlets Castle (Kronborg) was
established in the 1400’s and had it’s own
magnificent church. We were taken on a
guided tour of the castle, including the
underside, where prisoners were kept at
one time in history. There is a larger than
life sculpture of a brave Viking guarding
I>jodraeknisfelag Islendinga \ Vesturheimi
PRESIDENT: Gerri McDonald
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