Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North — John Shaqi
Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian NorthPfeiffer, Ida
History
Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North
Pfeiffer, Ida
Iceland -- Description and travel; Old Norse poetry -- History and criticism; Scandinavia -- Description and travel
The Exchange is a curious ancient building. It is very long and narrow,
and surmounted by nine peaks, from the centre of which protrudes a
remarkable pointed tower, formed of four crocodiles' tails intertwined.
The hall itself is small, low, and dark; it contains a full-length
portrait in oil of Tycho de Brahe. Nearly all the upper part of the
building is converted into a kind of bazaar, and the lower portion
contains a number of small and dingy booths.
Several canals, having an outlet into the sea, give a peculiar charm to
the town. They are, in fact, so many markets; for the craft lying in
them are laden with provisions of all kinds, which are here offered for
sale.
The Sailors' Town, adjoining Copenhagen, and situated near the harbour,
is singularly neat and pretty. It consists of three long, broad,
straight streets, built of houses looking so exactly alike, that on a
foggy night an accurate knowledge of the locality is requisite to know
one from the other. It looks as though, on each side of the way, there
were only one long house of a single floor, with a building one story
high in the middle. In the latter dwell the commandant and overseers.
The lighting of the streets is managed in Copenhagen in the same way as
in our smaller German towns. When "moonlight" is announced in the
calendar, not a lamp is lighted. If the lady moon chooses to hide behind
dark clouds, that is her fault. It would be insolent to attempt to
supply the place of her radiance with miserable lamps--a wise
arrangement! (?)
Of the near walks, the garden of the "Rosenburg," within the town,
pleased me much; as did also the "Long Line," an alley of beautiful trees
extending parallel with the sea, and in which one can either walk or
ride. A coffee-house, in front of which there is music in fine weather,
attracts many of the loungers. The most beautiful place of all is the
"Kastell," above the "Long Line," from whence one can enjoy a beautiful
view. The town lies displayed below in all its magnificence: the
harbour, with its many ships; the sparkling blue Sound, which spreads its
broad expanse between the coasts of Denmark and Sweden, and washes many a
beautiful group of islands belonging to one or the other of these
countries. The background of the picture alone is uninteresting, as
there is no chain of mountains to form a horizon, and the eye wanders
over the boundless flats of Denmark.
Among the vessels lying at anchor in the harbour I saw but few
three-masters, and still fewer steamers. The ships of the fleet
presented a curious appearance; at the first view they look like great
houses with flag-staves, for every ship is provided with a roof, out of
which the masts rise into the air; they are besides very high out of the
water, so that all the port-holes and the windows of the cabins appear in
two or three stories, one above the other.
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