Our Scandinavian portion of our trip was in full-gear. We were excited to be in Denmark, which is where the Stephenson Family has its roots.
Day 1
We left London on an early flight and were in Copenhagen by mid-morning. After checking into our hotel early, we just relished in our view from our hotel windows!
Nyhavn (New Haven)
View from Hotel
We met our tour guide, Greta, in the hotel lobby, where she told us ‘the plan’ for our day. Mom and Dad had Greta give them a tour 4 years ago when they came to Denmark so she came highly recommended.
Heather, Haley, Mom, & Greta
We got a lot of history as we were walking. I wish I could remember more, but I do remember that Greta told us Denmark has the oldest royalty line, going all the way back to the 900’s. They were all named either Frederick or Christian so if you can remember those two names, you’ve got it made. However, they now have their first queen (Margrethe), who the people love.
Outside the Church
One of our first stops was the Cathedral of Our Lady to see the original Christus statue – the one that the LDS Church patterned theirs after in Salt Lake City.
Inside the Church
Along each wall, leading to the Christus, are the 12 apostles. The one closest to the Savior is Peter, holding the Keys of the Kingdom.
Peter
It was a neat experience to be at the original Christus.
THE Christus
We ended up walking with Greta for 3 hours, seeing all the sites and hearing all the stories that we could.
Queen’s Audience
Walking in the Pelting Rain
Library Built on Reclaimed Land
Royal Bakery Sign
One of the things that I thought was so remarkable was how accessible the queen and the royal family is. When we walked by the building where Queen Margrethe holds her audiences, you can basically walk up to the door.
Queen Margrethe’s Residence
At the royal residences, there are a few guards, but no gates. It was definitely not anything like walking around Buckingham Palace’s large iron gates.
The split Denmark flag can only be flown by royalty or government.
One of the Prince’s Homes
The only complaint we had about Greta’s tour was the weather. It was very chilly when we arrived – I wore my winter jacket, hat, and gloves. But, as we continued on the tour, it rained and became very windy, adding to miserable weather to be walking in.
Huddled under a Tree
Greta took us to the Little Mermaid statue, from Hans Christian Anderson fame. We were all surprised how small it was.
Little Mermaid Statue
The St. Alban’s Church is often referred to as the English Church, as it was built for the ever-increasing British population who passed through Copenhagen.
St. Alban’s Church
In front of St. Alban’s Church is the largest monument in Copenhagen, the Gefion Fountain. The legend behind the fountain refers to the mythical story of how Denmark was created.
Gefion Fountain
According to legend, the Swedish King, Gylfi, promised Gefjun the amount of territory she could plow in a night. She turned her four sons into oxen and set to work.
Having been in Amsterdam and other places where bikes are the main mode of transport, I was surprised to find that Copenhagen has quite a bike population as well.
Bike Parking
Street-side Bike Parking
Once our tour was over with Greta, the weather cleared right up – it was amazing! The sun was quite welcome!
We were on the hunt for the Kristina statue we had heard about during Elaine S. Dalton’s last General Conference Talk.
The Kristina statue was placed here as a tribute to the many LDS saints who left this harbor as they emigrated to America in the 1800’s. The artist named her Kristina after his great-grandmother, Kristina Beck Peterson, who came to the US in 1868 with her family. They traveled 52 days across the Atlantic. On that voyage, 12 people, including Kristina’s younger brother, died.
Kristina
At Kristina’s feet are about 200 bricks with the names of some of the first Saints who left from this pier, who contributed to the building of the statue. I found it interesting that the stones are of the same material as the Salt Lake Temple.
We walked back to the pedestrian shopping area to do some shopping. ‘Lego’ started in Denmark so we made sure to go to the Lego store. In Danish, LEGO stands for ‘Leg Godt’, which means ‘play well.’ In Latin, ‘lego’ means ‘to collect or to build.’ Either way, they got it right.
Lego Biker & Haley
After a bit more shopping and souvenir searching, we made our way to a place called Tivoli, the first amusement park in the world. We got to see rush-hour, cars and bikes.
It was quite the scene seeing all those bikers head home.
Tivoli
Tivoli was beautiful. It began in the 1800’s and is attributed to Hans Christian Anderson. They had lots of rides, shops, restaurants, gazebo concerts, pantomimes, etc.
Tivoli Gardens
We hadn’t eaten most of they day, so we sought out the restaurant Greta had told us about – Grofton. I ordered the Skipperlabskoos, which in English is “Skipper’s Labscouse.” It’s basically a stew that is cooked all day with potatoes and veal.
Skipperlabskoos
When it came, it didn’t look like much . . . maybe mashed potatoes. They also brought us bread, butter, beet pieces, and a number of sauces (ketchup, HP sauce, & worcheshire sauce). The waiter told us to mix the beets in the mash, add a little bit of butter, and whatever sauce we favored. It really was tasty . . . and it was ‘all you can eat’!
Outside of ‘The Flying Tale’
After dinner, we did some window-shopping and then sought out one ride – The Flying Tale. This is what Disney’s ‘It’s a Small World’ ride is patterned after.
Haley & Heather Inside
As you rode/flew through the ride, there was a narrator briefly telling you the story of each scene. Each scene was, of course, a story from Hans Christian Anderson.
Princess & the Pea
Day 2
Early the next morning, Heidi flew in from Singapore, ready to tour! We were so excited that it all worked out for her to be there in time for the actual family history portion of our trip.
Good Morning, Nyhavn!
We checkout out of our hotel and got a taxi to the rental car place. The taxi driver was really nice and found out how Heidi had just flown in to meet us, missing our city tour the day before. So, he made a few stops along the way – the Christus and The Little Mermaid.
Mom, Heather, and Heidi with Rental Car
Once we got on the road, with Haley braving the driving, we found our way to Fredricksburg Palace, the queen’s summer palace.
Fredricksburg Palace
View of the Gardens from Inside Palace
The grounds and palace are open to the public, again with no large gates or huge amounts of security.
Gardens
Wet Paint
Palace Entrance
Although, I’m sure the parts of the palace we saw weren’t the living quarters, as they were purely set up as a museum.
Deer Antlers in the Entry
The Grand Hall
It was actually the chapel that we were most interested in seeing. We wandered around awhile, looking at all the beautiful art work and architecture, running into many guided tours, not finding what we were looking for.
Chapel
We finally asked a security man who worked there, who happened to be standing in the hallway. He asked if we were Mormons, because ‘they are always looking for the Carl Bloch paintings’. He laughed when we said we were, and showed us to a little alcove room off of the chapel.
Sermon on the Mount
The room was beautiful and had quite a collection of Bloch’s paintings – those I have seen and others that I hadn’t.
The Nativity
As a tour group came and left, the security guard came back in and showed us a neat ‘trick’ that the security glass unintentionally created with two paintings, on the bottom right (The Crucifixion and The Resurrection).
When you look at the glass, the reflection shows Christ’s triumphant Resurrection overcoming the Crucifixion, with the angels kneeling where grieving family and friends were. Pretty neat indeed!
Reflected Pictures
After the palace, our plans were to head to our bed and breakfast. However, there were a number of ways to do that, both involving ferries at one point or another. Mom had mapped out one route, but our GPS mapped out another. Once we realized we weren’t on Mom’s route, we had to follow the GPS and hoped we could figure out the ferry system, ultimately meeting the larger ferry at our pre-booked time.
Ferrying Across Peninsulas
We got on the little ferry to the next peninsula. We left the car (first one on, first one off) to sit in some benches upstairs to watch our progress. When the sun was out, it was a pleasant journey, but when it went behind the clouds, it was quite chilly.
Ferry View
Everything worked out in the end. We got to the bigger ferry before our scheduled time, but there was room on the earlier ferry so we were able to get loaded and arrive earlier than planned. After grabbing a quick bite to eat at a local mall, we headed to our bed and breakfast.
Danish Countryside
We drove through some beautiful countryside on our way, and arrived safe and sound at our B&B, ready to be out of the car for an extended period of time.
Svanfolk Bed & Breakfast
Day 3
As we got up the next morning and started driving, we continued to notice beautiful yellow fields. We ended up looking them up and found they were ‘rapeseed,’ which is what they use to make canola oil. They were very pretty as we drove along.
Rapeseed Field
Our first stop of the day was Rebild National Park. Mom had found information online about a monument there that was dedicated to LDS families who left Denmark for America, similar to Kristina in Copenhagen.
Rebilt National Park Entrance
Sure enough, just inside the entrance, on the right hand side is ‘Familien’ or ‘Family’.
The statue itself was quite pretty, as it showed a family looking ahead to their new country. It could have represented any number of families that left Denmark for America at that time.
Familien Front
But, on the back side, there is a grandmother, who is looking back on the land she is leaving and her husband she is leaving behind for this new life.
Familien Back
The back of the statue really touched me as it portrayed the heartbreak, trials, and uncertainty that encapsulated those decisions. I imagine faith had a big part of those decisions.
All around the statue are engraved paving stones with names and dates of those who left Denmark for America, their hometown, and the year they left. We found Thomas Christian Stephenson’s stone, the Stephenson’s ancestor who made the decision to leave Denmark and join the saints in America.
Thomas Christian Stephenson (year should be 1862)
The little detour was a perfect intro to our stop at the Stephenson Homestead, Bogenshoved.
House Name
Before our trip, Mom had tried to get a hold of the current owners, but had no luck. We decided to just drop in and were surprised to find that it was for sale!
For Sale?!
As luck would have it, the owner, Lars, was outside painting and was more than happy to see us. He and his wife are very welcoming to any descendants of Thomas Christians’ who stop by. They actually started keeping a book with descendants’ pictures in it to keep with the history of the house.
The Courtyard/Barns
Old Well
Lars gave us a tour of the old barns . . .
Barn Entrance
Length of Barn
It’s so great that he has taken pride in the property’s history and keeps a little museum, as it were, inside.
Old Farm Equipment Display
As we got to a side room in the barn, Lars told us that is where Thomas Christian and his family had to stay after he sold his farm to his brother. I guess they weren’t on the best of terms, and the family’s comfort wasn’t his brother’s first concern.
Barn’s Side Room
Even though we assured him it was okay, Lars insisted that we see the inside of the house. I loved it! It has completely been remodeled, but he has kept a lot of history with the house, such as the ceiling beams.
Bleeding Rack in the Back Entry
Beams in Kitchen
As we were preparing to leave, I picked some daisies in the yard to bring home for each of the kids. As a second thought, I snapped a picture, just in case they didn’t make it all the way home after I pressed them in my journal (they did – and I’m working on a project for them).
Bogenshoved Daisies
As we were preparing to pack up, Lars came over and asked if we were interested in seeing the entire property. I’m sure he was thinking we could be potential buyers, but we were still touched.
Walking Behind Property
The hill continued to get more step and rustic, . . . .
. . . . but the view was amazing!
Lars told us that many meetings were held on that hill, before Thomas Christian and his family left for America. I’m sure the decision wasn’t an easy one as he looked down at his farm and the country that he loved.
Pretty Weed from the Hill
Of course, we couldn’t leave without Lars getting a picture for his descendant’s book. We’ve made our mark on history!
Girls at the Stephenson Homestead
On our way out of town, we stopped at the local church (in Jerslev). This is where Thomas Christian and his wife, Maren, were married. Maren was later buried here, but we couldn’t find a headstone for her. The grounds were very beautiful.
Jerslev Cemetery
We were so grateful to have the time at the homestead. It really was the true reason for our trip, everything else is just ‘extra.’ The Stephenson family has a rich heritage and it is humbling to have the responsibility to pass that on to our children.
The homestead completed our trip to Denmark and we were off to Sweden.
Sign at Aalborg Airport
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