Sentimental Sunday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip - Back Into Germany

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 14, Monday – Road  between Kolding, Denmark, and Soltau, Germany

After breakfast of ham & eggs, left for border.  Had to make 2 detours (Danish word Omkørsel*) before border.  No trouble through customs except that I caused quite a stir in German customs because I was left-handed.  They were quite amused about it.  Ate lunch in a Ratskeller in Neumünster (very good lunch for about $3 for all of us).  Drove through Hamburg with no difficulty and on to Soltau where we found hotel rooms.**  Room was so cold forced to go to bed.

* Omkørsel actually translates to "diversion."

** According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Meyn Hotel in Soltau, Germany this night.

Vierländer Brunnen (1953) in Hamburg / eigene Arbeit [own work], Ernst Hanssen
 / GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0

Hamburg - Vierländer Brunnen [30 June 2009] / Dietmut Teijgeman-Hansen / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

At left is something my mother might have seen in Hamburg-Altstadt (old town) - the Vierländerin Brunnen (Four Countries Fountain).  It was constructed at this site in 1878 on the Meßberg Marktplatz.  In 1922-1924, the Chilehaus (behind the fountain) and Meßberghof (to the right) were built, part of the Kontorhausviertel. This area of reinforced concrete buildings with brick facades and Expressionist architecture details suffered some damage in World War II bombings, and the fountain and Meßberghof had recently been restored when this photo was taken in 1953.  The photo below shows more detail of the fountain, moved to another site in 1978.

......This is the 38th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip: Denmark's Hans Christian Andersen

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 13, Sunday – Road between Copenhagen and Kolding, Denmark

Went to Mass--drove out to see "The Little Mermaid."  Came back and checked out of pension--went to a hotel to eat--was American breakfast (scrambled eggs).  Drove to Korsør where we waited for ferry to Nyborg (last ferry ride, thank goodness).  When we landed we drove to Odense where we ate lunch and saw H[ans] C[hristian] Andersen's house.  Drove on to Kolding and had a job trying to get through a celebration local people were having in honor of children.  Found rooms* and walked around town a little bit.  All of us bathed since we hadn't for 2 nights in Copenhagen.

* According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Kolding Hotel in Kolding, Denmark.

Fairy-tale author Hans Christian Andersen's childhood home in Odense on Fyn in Denmark [16 September 2007] / Kåre Thor Olsen (Own work) / GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0

Den lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid) [Copenhagen, Denmark, 30 April 2007]
/ Pierre Phaneuf / CC BY 2.0

Above and to the right respectively are Hans Christian Andersen's childhood home in Odensee, where he lived from 1807 till the spring of 1819 (from the ages of 2 to 14), and the Little Mermaid statue in the Copenhagen harbor.


This is the 37th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip: Copenhagen

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 12, Saturday – Copenhagen [Denmark]

Got up early, ate, and went shopping.  Bought a silver pin & earrings to match,* a demitasse cup for Mother,** and some personal shopping for myself.  Went to palace at noon and saw the changing of the guard.  Went shopping afterwards and bought Mother a Royal Copenhagen ashtray and myself an inexpensive salt & pepper shaker set.***  Came back to hotel & fooled around until dinner.  Met a fellow American named Bill Dillingham who spouted his views on diff. between American & European females.  Didn't go to dinner since he didn't leave until 9 P.M.

* According to the "PURCHASES" section of the trip diary, my mother bought the silver pin and earrings at Den Permanente in Copenhagen, a Danish cooperative founded in 1931 for the exhibition and sale of "the products of Danish handicrafts and industrial design."  It was dissolved in 1981.  She spent 71 Danish kroner on these.

** The demitasse cup was purchased for 7.25 kroner at Ove C. Bjerregard in Copenhagen, a company that is still in business today.  "Mother" refers to my maternal grandmother, Sara Wolfe Guokas Archibald.

*** The Royal Copenhagen ashtray and salt & pepper shaker set were purchased (for 14.3 abd 7.9 kroner respectively) at an unnamed (in Mom's diary) porcelain factory in Copenhagen, which was probably that of the Royal Copenhagen company, and pictured below.

changing of the guard [Amalienborg palaces, Copenhagen, Denmark, 28 April 2006] / klndonnely / CC BY 2.0 

Former [until 2004] Royal Copenhagen porcelain factory, now factory outlet [20 April 2009] / Niels Elgaard Larsen (Own work (own photo)) / GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0

[Royal Copenhagen] Stempel, Wandteller von 1917 [stamp, wall plate from 1917] / Holger.Ellgaard (Own work, 2007) / GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0

This is the 36th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal. 


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip - Tivoli Gardens

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 11, Friday – Road between Kungsbacka [Sweden] and Copenhagen, Denmark

Had difficulty starting car - eventually it worked.  Drove to Helsingborg where we caught ferry to Denmark (20 min. ride).  Ate in Helsingor [Denmark] and then drove to Copenhagen.  Hotels crowded but managed to get rooms in a pensional.*  Went downtown to eat and then walked through Tivoli which is an amusement park lit with beautiful lights and lanterns.  Think I will like Copenhagen and someday would like to come back.  No difficulty through customs.  Had some real good beer - Tuborg Gold Seal.

* According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Juul Jensen Pensional in Copenhagen, Denmark, this night.

Here are some photos of Tivoli Gardens:

Copenhagen - Tivoli [Entrance, 26 August 1963 / Roger Wollstadt / CC BY-SA-2.0

Lanterns in Tivoli Park [28 April 2012] / Reuben Degiorgio / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

This is the 35th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal. 


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip: Ferry from Denmark to Norway

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 5,  Saturday – Between Hirtshals, Denmark, and Kristiansand, Norway

After breakfast, drove down to boat where we went through customs and immigration.  On the boat* I promptly lost my breakfast, which you might know would have to happen after I had done so well.  After docking and going through Norwegian customs, we went to railroad station to eat.  The Olsons joined us there.  After we ate, we went to the hotel** and checked in  They took us down to restaurant where we had wine and then coffee.  They are wonderful people, fellow Americans from Forest Hills, Long Island, & they certainly did take care of us.

* This was probably the M / S Jylland [Jutland] of the Kristiansand Dampskibsselskap (KDS) line.  Although the photo below indicates that today's ferry ride is a little over four hours, it was probably a lot longer in 1953 with a slower ferry boat.

** According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends spent this night at the Hotel Ernst, Kristiansand, Norway.


The map at left shows the rough route from Hamburg, Germany (on September 2), to Hirtshals, Denmark, while the map below shows the approximate route of the ferry boat across the North Sea from Hirtshals to Kristiansand, Norway.



This is the 29th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Those Places Thursday: Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip - Denmark

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 4, Friday – Road between Vejle and Hirtshals, Denmark

Drove up to Skanderborg where we took a side road to Øm.  An old Cistercian monastery is there which was recently explored.  We saw many old bones and skeletons of people who had all sorts of diseases.  We don't know what they died of since we couldn't read Danish.  We went on to Aarhus where we ate lunch.  I couldn't read menus so drew a fish for waitress.  She had a big laugh for their word for fish is fish.  From Aarhus we went on to Aalborg--a few miles from there we stopped to see an old chalk quarry, "Thingbæk Kalkminer" where we got the caretaker to let us in to see the chalk models of a sculptor named [Anders] Bundgaard.  It was real cold in this place and he had sculpted beautiful faces and heads and figures in chalk.  Very impressive.

We drove on to Hirtshals where we found rooms in a hotel* where there are 2 fellow Americans (the Andy Olsons of Forest Hills, Long Island).  They were very helpful which was lucky since the people at the hotel do not speak English and they promised to give us a route through Norway which would show us fjords, etc.

* According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends spent this night at the Missionshotel Skagarak, Hirtshals, Denmark.

Here is a picture of the interior of the Thingbæk Kalkminer (Thingbæk limestone mine) - you can see some of Bundgaard's original plaster models for his sculptures:

Minegang i Thingbæk Kalkminer [My times in Thingbæk Chalk Mine, 24 October 2012] /Lars Rigborg  / CC-BY-SA-3.0

This is the 28th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip: Vejle, Denmark

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section:

September 3, Thursday – Road between  Steinburg, Germany, and Vejle, Denmark

A strong gale started during morning hours.  Arrived at border around 1 p.m.  At German, couldn't get anyone to answer.  Finally got through both with no difficulty whatever, again.  Ate in Tønder--some youngsters all came over and got our autographs--felt like a celebrity.  Drove on to Vejle where we found nice rooms* at very inexpensive price.  Things are looking up.  Rained almost all the way here, but country is still beautiful and looks very neat.  Decided to go on to Norway and Sweden.

* According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends spent this night at the Hotel Royal in Velje, Denmark.

Here is a picture of the hotel in 1955, to the right of the Velje Town Hall:

Vejle Rådhus og Rådhustorvet [Vejle Town Hall and Town Hall Square], 1955, Vejle Stadsarkiv B-701128, Historisk Atlas - the Hotel Royal is on the right. During World War II, there was a bunker in the center of the square.

This is the 27th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.