Den Gamle By

[jteneyck]

Nope, not a spelling error; it's a great open air museum in Aarhus, Denmark. My wife and I spent a really interesting half day there and could have spent much longer. There are many buildings from the 1500 - 1900's, and period dressed staff who help explain various facets of life back then. There were a couple of buildings dedicated to several facets of woodworking - joinery, windows, buildings, even caskets. Being an apprentice woodworker back then got you 12 hour work days with a boss who did his best to make your life miserable. If you worked hard you got a small, spartan place to sleep and enough to eat to work another day. On a lighter note, the methods used back then to join wood are still very much how we do it today. So while the work conditions have progressed substantially the processes for turning wood into useful items has stayed fundamentally the same.

If you are ever in the area it's worth the effort to visit. Christmas time is said to be really special. And virtually everyone in Denmark speaks English (seemingly as well as we do), so language is not a problem.

John

[DaveR1]

Cool! Doesn''t look like half a day would be enough time.

[AHill]

Pretty cool, indeed. Here they have their "Colonial Williamsburg" so-to-speak, but it's depicting life up to 400 years ago vs. Wiliamsburg's 250+ years. It's amazing how many people in Europe speak excellent English. Even in the 80's, it was mandatory for German students to take English starting in elementary school. I'm assuming it's similar for Danes. Their grammar and spelling are often better than ours. They also get a lot of US and British TV shows in English. Plenty of native English speakers to practice with as well.

[Scoony]

I have been to a similar one in Detmold Germany many years ago. That one focused on different styles of homes as well as windmills.

[jteneyck]

Yes, I watched a US show on TV in Sweden in English with Swedish sub titles. I immediately thought no wonder their English is so good. In Denmark I was told it's the same way. In Germany US TV shows are dubbed into German with no sub titles. Most young people still speak English, but I think it' more universal in the Scandinavian countries. My German wife could read English pretty well when I met her in the late 70's, but she struggled to speak it for months. Of course, I'm still struggling with German 35 years later.

John

[Ken Vick]

Looks like a very interesting museum. I love these museums that recreate the past. One of these days I am going to have to visit the north countries to touch base with my Viking ancestors and I will make sure we see this.

Although I studied German in college, after 50 years, I can't get much beyond "Wo ist die Post?". My work has taken me all over the world and I have thought many times how blessed those of us who live in English speaking countries are; having the universal language be our first language. I was watching the BBC last night and watching a clip of the refugee issue in Hungary. The Hungarian official was speaking to the refugees in English. Ken

[Steve N]

I love seeing history through craft, and architecture.

[Yetloh]

Probably more Americans come to the UK than Denmark but few seem to depart the beaten track of London, Stratford (Shakespeare), York and Edinburgh for a dose of Scottish history. Don't get me wrong, those are great places but if you are interesed in how people lived and industrial history there are lots of places like the one in Denmark over here. Beamish in our north east is fantastic and Ironbridge Gorge is a great industrial museum spread across several nearby sites in the cradle of the industrial revolution, and not far from Stratford.

Jim