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Speaker 1: You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope

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Speaker 1: and iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Guess what, Mango?

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Speaker 1: What's that? Will?

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Speaker 2: So? I think we've established by now that you and

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Speaker 2: I are fans of the Muppets. Actually, as i'm thinking

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Speaker 2: about it here, it's probably been a minute we haven't

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Speaker 2: talked about the Muppets in mint. So let's go and

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Speaker 2: established at Mango. What do you think about the Muppets.

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Speaker 1: I'm into them, I'm a fan.

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Speaker 2: You're in favor, you're in favor of the Muppet. I

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Speaker 2: love the Muppets as well. So we have now established it.

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Speaker 2: But here's one thing I actually never knew before this week.

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Speaker 2: It's that the Swedish chef wasn't born in Sweden. This

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Speaker 2: guy has been living a lie this whole time. We

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Speaker 2: actually should have talked about it in our big episode

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Speaker 2: on lies just last week.

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Speaker 1: This feels like such a scandal. So what do you

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Speaker 1: mean he's not from Sweden?

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Speaker 2: Well, if you were to make the mistake of asking

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Speaker 2: a real Swedish person what they think about.

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Speaker 1: The Swedish chef, they would tell you.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure, with a great deal of annoyance, that there

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Speaker 2: is nothing inherently Swedish about the character. So most Chef's

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Speaker 2: dialogue is just a bunch of made up nonsense words

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Speaker 2: that sound I guess vaguely Scandinavian. And according to Swedes,

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Speaker 2: the character sing Songish accent is actually much closer to

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Speaker 2: that of Norwegian or Danish. Actually, I'm curious whether that's

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Speaker 2: true or whether they're just like trying to pass it

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Speaker 2: off from somebody else. But you know, it's much more

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Speaker 2: like those two dialects than it would be, you know,

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Speaker 2: speaking with with Swedish inflections.

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Speaker 1: So when he's saying like york and bjorky byork, that's

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Speaker 1: not a that is a Swedish secret or not.

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Speaker 2: I mean, here's what's funny to me is that in

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Speaker 2: the Muppets books and screenplays that word b york is

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Speaker 2: is almost always spelled with a special Scandinavian vowel that

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Speaker 2: looks like an O with a slash through it. You

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Speaker 2: know what I'm describing there telling me that vowel doesn't

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Speaker 2: exist in the Swedish language, but it does in Norwegian

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Speaker 2: and Danish. And even though a lot of people think

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Speaker 2: that the chef sounds Norwegian, all the hard evidence points

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Speaker 2: to him hailing from Denmark.

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Speaker 1: I love how serious we're taking this. So what is

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Speaker 1: the hard evidence you're talking about? You?

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Speaker 2: Well, I got a little confused because I thought this

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Speaker 2: whole episode was on the Swedish Chef, so I had

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Speaker 2: done a whole lot of research. But anyway, for starters,

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Speaker 2: the co creator of the Swedish Chef Muppet Show head

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Speaker 2: writer Jerry Jewel, was of Danish heritage himself, and he

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Speaker 2: wrote all the Chef's dialogue.

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Speaker 1: Which I guess explains how that Danish letter wound up

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Speaker 1: in all those b Yorks.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly right. It also explains why the German version

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Speaker 2: of the Buppet Show renamed the character the Danish Chef.

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Speaker 2: The voice actor in the dub thought Henson's accent sounded Danish,

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Speaker 2: so he wrote new dialogue incorporating Danish words and mimic

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Speaker 2: the accent of his Danish friends.

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Speaker 1: So did Henson or Jewel ever acknowledge that their Swedish

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Speaker 1: Chef sounded, you know, more Danish.

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Speaker 2: Not directly, but someone on the team seems to have

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Speaker 2: realized the mix up, because in nineteen eighty five, this

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Speaker 2: was ten years after the character's debut, the studio finally

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Speaker 2: went on record about the Chef's origins. According to the

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Speaker 2: gatefold cover of The Muppet Review VHS. You probably still

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Speaker 2: have a copy of this, and I quote few people

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Speaker 2: know it, but the Swedish Chef was actually born in Denmark,

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Speaker 2: but his parents moved to Sweden when he was just

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Speaker 2: a baby.

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Speaker 1: I am so glad we got to the bottom of

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Speaker 1: this mystery. But we chose Denmark to kick off our

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Speaker 1: new travelog series. I did not think that we'd start

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Speaker 1: by talking about the Swedish Chef.

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Speaker 2: No, I didn't either, but here we are. I know

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Speaker 2: we'd be excited to go to both locations, but today

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Speaker 2: we are focused on Denmark, and I like to keep

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Speaker 2: you on your toes, so it was fun to kind

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Speaker 2: of bounce around there. But I do think the story

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Speaker 2: shows that despite the many points of overlap between Scandinavian

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Speaker 2: language and culture, these countries are much more distinct than

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Speaker 2: many of us realize, and lumping them all together just

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Speaker 2: makes us look a little bit silly. So in the

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Speaker 2: spirit of not mistaking all of Scandinavia for Sweden, let's

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Speaker 2: take a trip to Denmark, the land of little mermaids,

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Speaker 2: salty Licorice, and then not so Sweetish Chef let's dive in. Hey,

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Speaker 2: their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will

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Speaker 2: Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend

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Speaker 2: Manges Shot Ticketer. And on the other side of that

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Speaker 2: soundproof glass showing some Danish pride with his Danish flag

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Speaker 2: coffee mug. That's our friend and producer Dylan Fagan. He's

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Speaker 2: actually got the whole studio decked out in red and white.

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Speaker 2: They say it's crazy, it's impressive. It's impressive, a lot

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Speaker 2: of red and white. They're Danish flags hanging from the ceiling,

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Speaker 2: another one in front of his desk. He's even got

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Speaker 2: a little paper one flying from his Danish pastry. It's

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Speaker 2: feels a little bit overkilled to me. But like you know,

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Speaker 2: you said, Danish people would probably be on board for this,

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Speaker 2: right mango.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so Dylan is obviously hitting the mark perfectly once again.

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Speaker 1: But the Danes are actually much bigger fans of their

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Speaker 1: national flag than most people of most countries. Like they

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Speaker 1: liat for all kinds of occasions, including things like birthday parties,

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Speaker 1: graduation ceremonies, funerals, and even at Christmas time. And it

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Speaker 1: might sound strange, but for many people in Denmark displaying

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Speaker 1: the flag as a way to express festivity rather than nationalism.

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Speaker 1: And that's because the design of the flag has been

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Speaker 1: ingrained into Danish culture for centuries, even before it was

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Speaker 1: officially adopted as a state symbol.

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Speaker 2: I kind of love that for it to mean something

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Speaker 2: even bigger than you know, just borders. So how far

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Speaker 2: back does it go? Exactly?

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Speaker 1: So, all the way back to June fifteenth, twelve nineteen CE,

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Speaker 1: at the Battle of lund Enisa, And that's when, according

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Speaker 1: to Danish legend, the country's red and white flag fell

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Speaker 1: from the sky as a sign of God's favor. Some

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Speaker 1: people think it's a miracle banner. It just arrived in

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Speaker 1: the nick of time, and it happened when the Danes

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Speaker 1: were currently locked in a losing battle against the Estonians. Now, luckily,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't just soldiers on the battlefield that day. There

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Speaker 1: was an archbishop Dunissan, who had accompanied King Valdemar the

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Speaker 1: Second on his crusade Estonia, and when he saw how

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Speaker 1: badly the Danes were faring, he raised his arms to

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Speaker 1: the sky and began to pray for some heavenly assistance.

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Speaker 1: Now suddenly this red lambskin banner bearing a white Nordic

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Speaker 1: cross began fluttering down from the sky, and King Valdemar

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Speaker 1: takes up this flag. He waves it about his head

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Speaker 1: and he urges his troops to fight on. And now

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden they believe that God's on their side.

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Speaker 1: The Danish forces rally at the side of the flag,

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Speaker 1: and they go on to win the day. The banner

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Speaker 1: that had changed their fortunes became known as the dannabr

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Speaker 1: the cloth or banner of the Danes, and soon after

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Speaker 1: it was adopted as a royal symbol, and then as

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Speaker 1: a trading banner, a military end sign, and finally, in

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Speaker 1: the early nineteenth century as an official flag of Denmark.

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Speaker 2: That is a pretty cool history there, and it's no

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Speaker 2: wonder the Danish people love their flag so much if

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Speaker 2: there's a bunch of like cool lore surrounding it. But

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Speaker 2: I am guessing not not to put too much down

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Speaker 2: on it. But I'm guessing there's not much historical evidence

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Speaker 2: in support of this whole story though, right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So, Denmark's victory that day was likely due to

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Speaker 1: reinforcements sent in by allies and not the divine intervention

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Speaker 1: of this heavenly flag. But that's not to say there

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Speaker 1: wasn't a falling flag at all. Red white flags with

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Speaker 1: crosses were frequently used by European crusaders between the eleventh

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Speaker 1: and thirteenth centuries, and the motif was a symbol of

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Speaker 1: Christianity rather than the specific nation or the people. So

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Speaker 1: if you think about that, it's totally possible that a

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Speaker 1: flag was there during the battle and it maybe even

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Speaker 1: fell onto the battlefield from like a castle nearby and

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Speaker 1: it helped boost the troop spirits. But like I said,

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Speaker 1: for many Dans today, the flag represents more than just

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Speaker 1: the government or nation of Denmark. It's this symbol of

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Speaker 1: the Danish spirit in general, the people, the history they share.

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Speaker 1: It sort of like pulls all of that together. And

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Speaker 1: Gabe pointed me to this interview with a Danish professor.

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Speaker 1: His name's Torbin Kier's gar Nielsen, and he says the

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Speaker 1: different perceptions of the Danish flag are exactly what makes

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Speaker 1: it such an effective national symbol. As he puts it,

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Speaker 1: everyone uses and interprets the Danish flag in their own way,

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Speaker 1: and paradoxically, this is what makes it a uniting symbol.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that does seem like a pretty unique relationship. Actually,

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Speaker 2: speaking of Danish symbols of solidarity, have you heard about

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Speaker 2: Denmark's protest pigs? Is this something on your radar?

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Speaker 1: I feel like I've heard the friends, but I don't

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Speaker 1: know what it means.

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Speaker 2: So, yeah, protest pig. So it's actually a special breed

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Speaker 2: of pig. I'm gonna show you a picture here that

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Speaker 2: was bred specifically to resemble the country's beloved flag. What

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Speaker 2: do you think?

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Speaker 1: I love it.

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Speaker 2: That's pretty, it's pretty wild, and you would think that

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Speaker 2: it would have bright red or that maybe what's your

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Speaker 2: picturing and the white that's on it, but de fers

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Speaker 2: a little bit more of a copper color, and it

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Speaker 2: only has one vertical white stripe, so you know, the

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Speaker 2: Nordic cross is incomplete. But as far as breeding a

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Speaker 2: pig that looks like your flag, I'd give them an

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Speaker 2: a for effort on this one.

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Speaker 1: Uh huh.

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Speaker 2: Of course it does help that Denmark's flag is fairly basic.

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Speaker 2: Just imagine trying to breed a pig with fifty stars

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Speaker 2: on it. You know, I think somebody out there now

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Speaker 2: is going to try, but it's not amazing.

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Speaker 1: So and of course like all the stripes too, But

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Speaker 1: you call this a protest pig. So what exactly is

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Speaker 1: it in protest of.

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Speaker 2: Well, this is something that goes way back, and this

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Speaker 2: goes back to the eighteen sixties when Denmark was wrestling

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Speaker 2: with Prussia for control of the southern Jutland peninsula. So

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Speaker 2: Denmark wound up losing the war, and when Prussian authorities

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Speaker 2: took control of the area, they instituted new laws banning

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Speaker 2: public expressions of Danish pride, including raising the country's flags.

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Speaker 2: Of course, we just talked about how important this flag

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Speaker 2: is to them. That did not sit well with the

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Speaker 2: Danish farmers who lived in that disputed southern region, so

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Speaker 2: in a clever act of defiance, they began cross breeding

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Speaker 2: their pigs to make them better resemble the flag of

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Speaker 2: their homeland. I love this so much, so the program

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Speaker 2: succeeded and producing a red pig with a vertical white

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Speaker 2: belt across its shoulder. Now only a few dozen of

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Speaker 2: those two tone pigs are still alive today, but pork

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Speaker 2: remains closely tied to Danish politics, and Denmark's national dish

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Speaker 2: is fried pork vllley, served with boiled potatoes and a

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Speaker 2: bechamel sauce, and it's traditional to eat the meat on

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Speaker 2: election night. According to Scandinavia's standard quote, the practice of

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Speaker 2: eating valflesk or election meat, is a tongue in cheek

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Speaker 2: reference to the over promises made by politicians on the

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Speaker 2: campaign trail.

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Speaker 1: That's so funny and so snarky. I really love it saying.

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Speaker 1: But now that we've talked a little bit about Danish history,

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Speaker 1: we should probably get our bearings by covering a few

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Speaker 1: of the basics, so for starters. Denmark is a Nordic

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Speaker 1: country in northern Europe. It consists of the Jutland Peninsula,

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Speaker 1: which you obviously mentioned earlier, and a string of more

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Speaker 1: than four hundred islands in the North Sea. It shares

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Speaker 1: a southern border with Germany, which still controls the bottom

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Speaker 1: third of the peninsula, and to the north. Just across

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Speaker 1: the sea are Denmark Scandinavian siblings, so Norway and Sweden.

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Speaker 1: Denmark is the smallest of the Scandinavian countries, with an

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Speaker 1: area of just sixteen six hundred square miles, or a

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Speaker 1: little less than twice the size of Massachusetts, but it

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Speaker 1: actually has the second highest population of the three country trees,

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Speaker 1: with five point nine million people compared to Norway's five

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Speaker 1: point five and Sweden's ten point five. And Denmark also

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Speaker 1: has the most temperate climate of the trio thanks to

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Speaker 1: the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

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Speaker 2: You know, I actually always forget that Denmark is technically

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Speaker 2: an island nation. But it does explain why Danish vikings

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Speaker 2: got so good at sailing, you know, they had lots

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Speaker 2: of nearby places to practice.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and really, the only part of Denmark that isn't

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Speaker 1: an island is the large, flat Jutland region, because it's

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Speaker 1: the part that juts out of Germany. It's home to

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Speaker 1: the city of Alborg in the far north, which is

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Speaker 1: often ranked as the happiest city in Europe, as well

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Speaker 1: as to Denmark's second largest city, Arhus, which is a

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Speaker 1: lively cultural center on Jutland's east coast. But even though

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Speaker 1: Jutland is the largest land mass in Denmark, no matter

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Speaker 1: which part of the country you visit, you're still never

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Speaker 1: more than thirty two miles from the sea. Isn't that

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Speaker 1: a movie?

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Speaker 2: Oh that's wild? Yeah, yeah, it was interesting as Jutland sounds.

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Speaker 2: I do have a feeling that most people forego a

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Speaker 2: trip to Denmark's quote second city in favor of visiting

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Speaker 2: its first, which is of course Copenhagen, located on Zealand,

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Speaker 2: the largest island in Denmark. The capital city of Copenhagen

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Speaker 2: started out as a fishing village. Now this was during

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Speaker 2: the Middle Ages, and in those days most of the

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Speaker 2: residents made their living by fishing for herring. So for

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Speaker 2: the first one hundred years or so, the coastal fishing

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Speaker 2: town wasn't really of much strategic importance for the Danish

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Speaker 2: crown there. But when a wave of pirate attacks began

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Speaker 2: to pose a threat to Danish sovereignty, one of the

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Speaker 2: king's advisors took control of the town and started building

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Speaker 2: these fortifications in this kind of protecting the inner harbor there.

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Speaker 2: With his added security, this harbor town grew into a

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Speaker 2: flourishing trade center and eventually renamed Copenhagen, which means merchant's harbor.

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Speaker 2: So the city's transformation from a humble fishing village to

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Speaker 2: a bustling seaport culminated in thirteen forty three, and this

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Speaker 2: was when King Valdemar the fourth declared it the capital

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Speaker 2: of Denmark.

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Speaker 1: Which is quite the glow up and it sounds like

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Speaker 1: this is all kind of thanks to of band of pirates.

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Speaker 2: Right in a roundabout way. Yeah. Actually, that's great that

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Speaker 2: I said that, because speaking of roundabout, we'd be remiss

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Speaker 2: if we didn't mention that Copenhangen is, of course the

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Speaker 2: best city in the world for bicyclists, which is fascinating.

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Speaker 2: But more than half of the city's six hundred and

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Speaker 2: forty thousand residents commute to work or school by bike.

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Speaker 2: Think about that. That's more than three hundred thousand people

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Speaker 2: in the city that are traveling cumulatively eight hundred thousand

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Speaker 2: miles every single day. And they do all that pedaling

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Speaker 2: along Copenhagen's two hundred and fifty miles of dedicated bike lanes,

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Speaker 2: which pedestrian tourists are advised to keep well clear of.

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Speaker 2: Cyclists actually have the right of way on those lanes,

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Speaker 2: so if you try to walk through them, you're liable

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Speaker 2: to get clipped, verbally shamed, or maybe even both.

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Speaker 1: It's amazing to see how dominant cycling is in Copenhagen.

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Speaker 1: And I even saw that they have angle trash cans

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Speaker 1: throughout the city now so that people can toss their

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Speaker 1: garbage while biking. It's amazing.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the Nanes took to cycling culture from

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Speaker 2: the moment bikes arrived in the eighteen eighties. They were

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Speaker 2: viewed as an equalizing force in society, providing a fast,

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Speaker 2: low cost means of transportation to people of any social class,

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Speaker 2: and because of the country's terrain being mostly flat, bikes

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Speaker 2: were useful nationwide whether you're commuting to work in a

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Speaker 2: city or just tooling around in the countryside for fun.

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Speaker 2: So the past time has had its ups and downs

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Speaker 2: over the last century or so, but in recent decades

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Speaker 2: cycling has made a massive comeback, to the point that

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Speaker 2: nine out of ten Danes now own at least one bicycle.

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Speaker 2: In fact, reports say there are now more bikes than

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Speaker 2: people in Copenhagen and five times as many bicycles as cars.

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Speaker 1: That really is incredible and probably big reason why Copenhagen

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Speaker 1: often tops the world's list of greenest cities.

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Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, you know, while I don't want to dissuade

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Speaker 2: any listeners from renting a bike during their visit, it

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Speaker 2: could be pretty intimidating to hop on a busy bike

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Speaker 2: lane when you really don't know your way around. So

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Speaker 2: with that in mind, what do you say we run

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Speaker 2: through a couple of our favorite places in Copenhagen that

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Speaker 2: are perfectly accessible without a bicycle.

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Speaker 1: I love that, but first, let's take it quick.

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Speaker 2: God break, you're listening to part time Genius and we're

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Speaker 2: sharing our muscy stops when touring Copenhagen. All right, mango. So,

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Speaker 2: Denmark's largest city has no shortage of iconic sites, from

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Speaker 2: the dizzy and corkscrew spire of the Church of Our

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Speaker 2: Savior to the famous Little Mermaid statue honoring Hans Christian Anderson.

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Speaker 2: But if you had just one day to visit Copenhagen,

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Speaker 2: where would you spend it?

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Speaker 1: So this might sound strange, but my pick would be

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Speaker 1: the Tivoli Gardens amusement park. It is like this compact

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Speaker 1: little island of whimsy right in the heart of the

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Speaker 1: city and it's just a few steps from Copenhagen's central station.

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Speaker 1: And as that prime location might tell you, this is

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Speaker 1: no cut rate carnival. It was inspired by the parks

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Speaker 1: and gardens of other European cities, most notably the Tivoli

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Speaker 1: Gardens and the Vauxhall Garden in London. So there's a

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Speaker 1: big focus on manicured flower gardens and outdoor entertainment like

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Speaker 1: live music and pantomime plays.

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Speaker 2: So this is more sort of like an old school

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Speaker 2: pleasure garden than a modern theme park.

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Speaker 1: I guess, definitely. But Tivoli does have its fair share

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Speaker 1: of mechanical rides too. A lot of them are newer editions,

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Speaker 1: but some of them have been there since the early

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Speaker 1: days of the park. For instance, Tivoli's oldest and most

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Speaker 1: popular ride is a nineteen fourteen wooden roller coaster known

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Speaker 1: simply as Rutschenbannen or roller Coaster. It's one of just

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Speaker 1: a few left in the world that still features a

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Speaker 1: live breakman on board of every trade.

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Speaker 2: That's a great word for roller coaster. I'm going to

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Speaker 2: try to commit that to memory. But I also love

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Speaker 2: that roller coaster breakeman is a viable occupation in Denmark.

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Speaker 2: It's like every middle schooler's dream job. But all right,

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Speaker 2: so the oldest ride is from nineteen fourteen. But how

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Speaker 2: old is the park?

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Speaker 1: Well, the grand opening of the park goes way back

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Speaker 1: to eighteen forty three, which makes it the second oldest

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Speaker 1: operating amusement park in the world. The other one also

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Speaker 1: happens to be in Denmark.

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Speaker 2: Really Okay, yeah, well, they're in some old parks I'm

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Speaker 2: honestly impressed I've been able to hold on to such

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Speaker 2: prime real estate for that long. I mean, most European

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Speaker 2: capitals don't exactly carve out space for a sprawling amusement

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Speaker 2: park right in the middle of their downtown.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, to be fair, of the park wasn't

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Speaker 1: ever meant to have such a central location. Tili Gardens

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Speaker 1: was founded by this guy named George Carstensen, and he

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Speaker 1: fell in love with Pleasure Gardens while traveling abroad and

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Speaker 1: wanted to bring his own park on the edge of

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Speaker 1: the Danish capital. It was kind of a tough sell

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Speaker 1: at first, but he eventually won the Danish kingover by

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Speaker 1: telling him that you know, when people are amusing themselves,

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Speaker 1: they're not really thinking about politics. So Carsonsen's charter allowed

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Speaker 1: him to use roughly about fifteen acres of land just

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Speaker 1: outside the Copenhagen city limits. It's an area that i'd

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Speaker 1: once been the site of the city's old fortifications. But

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Speaker 1: the park didn't stay outside the city for long, and

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Speaker 1: that's partly because Copenhagen continued to expand throughout the nineteenth century,

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Speaker 1: eventually growing around the gardens and making it part of

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Speaker 1: the city.

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Speaker 2: Proper. I mean, it definitely sounds more fun to have

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Speaker 2: a roller coaster in the center of the city than

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Speaker 2: a bunch of rundown for it. So good.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's pretty smart. And when Tivoli Gardens

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Speaker 1: opened in eighteen forty three, the locals were amazed by

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Speaker 1: just how much the familiar grounds had changed. Like these

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Speaker 1: used to be barren fields, and they were turned into

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Speaker 1: these lush gardens that were filled with like exotic plants

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Speaker 1: and flowers. The crumbling ruins were replaced with pavilions modeled

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Speaker 1: after foreign architecture, and the park was almost something like

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Speaker 1: from a fairy tale. That was especially true at night,

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Speaker 1: when thousands of colored lamps would light up the gardens.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of fairytales, one of the park's earliest and most

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Speaker 1: famous proponents was none other than Hans Christian Anderson. Now.

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Speaker 1: He visited Tivoti Gardens during its very first season, and

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Speaker 1: his favorite part was the Chinese pavilion. Anderson was so

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Speaker 1: inspired by his visit that he wrote an original fairy

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Speaker 1: tale set in China called The Nightingale, and he used

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Speaker 1: the Tivoli Gardens pavilion as the model for the Emperor's

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Speaker 1: Palace and in later years, the park returned the favor

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Speaker 1: by incorporating Anderson's fairy Tales into its attractions, so guests

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Speaker 1: that Tivoli Gardens can now watch a stage show based

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Speaker 1: on the author's work, and even board a dark ride

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Speaker 1: called the Flying Trunk, which takes riders on a whirlwind

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Speaker 1: tour through thirty two of Anderson's fairy Tales.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting because one of the few things

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Speaker 2: that I'd heard about Tivoli Gardens before doing this episode

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Speaker 2: is that it helped inspire the Disney theme parks, which

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Speaker 2: of course have their own rides based on Anderson's stories.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So Walt actually took a trip to Tivy in

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one, so just four years before he opened Disneyland,

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Speaker 1: and he went there with his good friend and TV

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Speaker 1: star Art link Letter, and the two of them spent

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Speaker 1: the day gathering ideas to use in Walt's future park.

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Speaker 1: According to link Letter, Disney took notes on every aspect

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Speaker 1: of Tivli Gardens, And we've heard this about Disney before

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Speaker 1: that he was just obsessive. So he wrote down notes

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Speaker 1: on everything for the rides, to the foods, to the

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Speaker 1: number of trash cans they had. So while Tivoli is

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Speaker 1: very much its own thing, you can find traces of

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Speaker 1: its influence all over the original Disneyland and in other

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Speaker 1: theme parks as well.

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Speaker 2: All right, Well, as fun as this place sounds, amusement

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Speaker 2: parks aren't exactly for everybody. I don't quite get it,

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Speaker 2: because I love amusement parks, and the thing is, though,

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Speaker 2: you do have to pay to get in. So I

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Speaker 2: guess I'll go in a slightly different direction from my pick,

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Speaker 2: and I'm going to recommend heading to a different part

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Speaker 2: of the city that's just as colorful and unique as Tivili,

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Speaker 2: but with no admission fee. It's called Freetown Christiania, and

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Speaker 2: although it's just a short walk from the trendy waterfront

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Speaker 2: area of Kniehound, it feels worlds apart from any other

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Speaker 2: neighborhood in Denmark.

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Speaker 1: I should think. I read about this place like it's

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Speaker 1: a hippie micronation right in the middle of the city, right.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, So Christiania was founded in nineteen seventy one

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Speaker 2: when a few hundred young squatters took up residence in

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Speaker 2: this deserted military barracks area. And this is less than

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Speaker 2: a mile away from the seed of Danish Parliament. Now

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Speaker 2: you might call them hippies or nonconformists or idealists, but

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Speaker 2: whatever the case, they wanted to experiment with a different

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Speaker 2: way of life when it was more laid back than

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Speaker 2: the conventional city living. So it had this motto translated

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Speaker 2: into English that was live life. Artistically, only dead fish

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Speaker 2: swim in the current. So this was pretty good. So

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Speaker 2: with that in mind, they used the land and the

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Speaker 2: existing infrastructure to set up an autonomous commune, or freetown

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Speaker 2: as they described it, which they claimed was politically distinct

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Speaker 2: from the surrounding city and from Denmark itself. So in fact,

434
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 2: when you enter the area today, there's actually a sign

435
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,680
Speaker 2: announcing that you're leaving the European Union, even though the

436
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,880
Speaker 2: Danish government has never recognized Christiania's independence.

437
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,560
Speaker 1: So I'm so curious because like, how does a place

438
00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 1: like this exist, Like you think the city would have

439
00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:51,639
Speaker 1: shut it down if it's really kind of a rogue

440
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:52,640
Speaker 1: state or whatever.

441
00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely been threatened before, especially in

442
00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:58,200
Speaker 2: the late nineteen seventies when the place became a hub

443
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,440
Speaker 2: for drug dealers as well, but so far the city

444
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,000
Speaker 2: has mostly looked the other way and left Christiania to

445
00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,000
Speaker 2: its own devices. So, for example, the commune has its

446
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,640
Speaker 2: own flag, its own common law, and even its own

447
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,640
Speaker 2: system of government, with all the decisions being made jointly

448
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:15,800
Speaker 2: at these monthly meetings that they have. So the residents

449
00:22:15,800 --> 00:22:18,840
Speaker 2: don't pay rent for their homes the storefronts either. Instead,

450
00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,120
Speaker 2: they pay a monthly user fee which kind of helps

451
00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,480
Speaker 2: pay for the communal infrastructure and building projects and stuff

452
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:25,840
Speaker 2: like that.

453
00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:29,880
Speaker 1: I love the idea of a user fee for your talent. Yeah, yeah,

454
00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:32,640
Speaker 1: that sounds so wild. So how many people actually live there?

455
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,680
Speaker 2: So there's just under one thousand people. There's about two

456
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,560
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty kids, seven hundred and seventy adults or so,

457
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,920
Speaker 2: including one hundred or so who are still there from

458
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,040
Speaker 2: the original takeover. Actually wow.

459
00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:45,600
Speaker 1: And so what can you do there if you decide

460
00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:46,600
Speaker 1: to visit, Well, the.

461
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 2: Best way to make sense of what you're seeing is

462
00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:50,959
Speaker 2: to take a guided tour from a local so they

463
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:54,440
Speaker 2: are offered daily during the summer. Otherwise, visitors are free

464
00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:57,159
Speaker 2: to wander the seventeen acre grounds that are there, and

465
00:22:57,520 --> 00:22:59,800
Speaker 2: there are tons of public art displays to check out,

466
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:03,280
Speaker 2: a bunch of eclectic shops selling handmade crafts, and there's

467
00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,199
Speaker 2: always some kind of concert or live performance going on.

468
00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:09,080
Speaker 2: You can also just take a walk along the winding

469
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,359
Speaker 2: forest pathways or stroll along the lake that borders the community.

470
00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:14,800
Speaker 2: It's definitely not your usual tourist fair, but if you're

471
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,080
Speaker 2: interested in alternative lifestyle, a trip to Freetown deserves a

472
00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:19,440
Speaker 2: spot on your itinerary.

473
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 1: That sounds fascinating, But I'm curious about the drug trade

474
00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:24,919
Speaker 1: that you mentioned. Is that still a problem there, because

475
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 1: you know, I'm just kind of wondering, is this the

476
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,400
Speaker 1: type of place you take kids or don't take kids?

477
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,880
Speaker 2: Well, that's the thing. So for decades now, the most

478
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:35,680
Speaker 2: notorious part of Christiania was this touristy main drag called

479
00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,520
Speaker 2: Pusher Street, and it was lined with all kinds of

480
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,959
Speaker 2: stalls selling souvenirs and junk food. But in one particular stretch,

481
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,920
Speaker 2: known as the green Light District, vendors would openly sell

482
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,360
Speaker 2: marijuana and hash and those are illegal in Denmark actually,

483
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 2: and in truth, the activity divided the community. Some residents

484
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,240
Speaker 2: even took it upon themselves to dismantle the stalls to

485
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 2: avoid a government crackdown. But you know, no matter how

486
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,960
Speaker 2: much backlash they faced, and no matter how many police raids,

487
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,920
Speaker 2: their community was subjected to the stalls and the dealers

488
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:04,920
Speaker 2: just kept coming back.

489
00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:07,679
Speaker 1: I mean, that's got to be so frustrating for the

490
00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:10,320
Speaker 1: families that are just trying to live around there and

491
00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:11,399
Speaker 1: raise the kids in that area.

492
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:15,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it also created a really paranoid atmosphere, I guess,

493
00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:18,200
Speaker 2: so the visitors were discouraged from taking photos, were told

494
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,880
Speaker 2: not to run out doors because, as one sign put it,

495
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,679
Speaker 2: it makes people nervous. And sadly, there have been some

496
00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 2: violent incidents in the past few years. But the good

497
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,120
Speaker 2: news is that these tragedies spurred the community to take

498
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 2: real decisive action, and in twenty twenty four, residents voted

499
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,560
Speaker 2: not only to shut down Pusher Street, but to actually

500
00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 2: rip it up piece by piece. So on April sixth

501
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:42,360
Speaker 2: of last year, residents held a community wide celebration as

502
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,680
Speaker 2: they dug up the cobblestones of the one hundred meter

503
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,760
Speaker 2: long alley. They tore down the Pusher stalls once and

504
00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,159
Speaker 2: for all, and the plan is to use the space

505
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,679
Speaker 2: to build a new communal housing development, which Copenhagen government

506
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,400
Speaker 2: has agreed to fund. Now that the drug trade has

507
00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 2: been squashed, but despite any controversy over the years, Free

508
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 2: Time is actually one of the most popular tourist destinations

509
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:06,200
Speaker 2: in the entire city, and with these recent shakeups and decisions,

510
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:08,199
Speaker 2: now that's probably the best time in decades actually to

511
00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,600
Speaker 2: go check it out. I mean, it sounds fascinating.

512
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:13,199
Speaker 1: Okay, So now that we've seen a few of the

513
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,560
Speaker 1: sites of the Danish capital, let's talk a little more

514
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,480
Speaker 1: broadly about what to do while in Denmark. But before

515
00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 1: we get into that, let's take another quick break.

516
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 2: Welcome back to part time Genius. All right, Mango, So

517
00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 2: you're traveling abroad in Denmark, you're hitting all the tourist hotspots,

518
00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:44,639
Speaker 2: but what's something you can do to really feel like

519
00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:46,639
Speaker 2: a local, Like, what would you say is your must

520
00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 2: try Danish pastime?

521
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 1: Well, aside from election meet which we definitely have to try, right,

522
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 1: we haven't really talked about Danish cuisine yet, so I'd

523
00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 1: say that if you really want a taste of true

524
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 1: Danish culture, you have to try in one of the

525
00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:05,359
Speaker 1: country's signature dishes, and open faced sandwich called smur brought

526
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:09,679
Speaker 1: And the name itself comes from the Danish words for butter,

527
00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 1: s'more and bread broad and at its heart, that's.

528
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:13,919
Speaker 2: What the dishes.

529
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,919
Speaker 1: It's like a buttered slice of dense Danish rye bread

530
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,720
Speaker 1: which you then pile high with a variety of toppings.

531
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:22,960
Speaker 2: You know, I do love that your travel advice is

532
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:25,520
Speaker 2: to eat a sandwich, because I think that's a pretty

533
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 2: pretty safe one for most people when they travel. So

534
00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:29,040
Speaker 2: tell me a little bit more.

535
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if you want to know about a

536
00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:34,879
Speaker 1: place eat, it's sandwich, right right. That's an old slogan

537
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,120
Speaker 1: of mine. But of course, like this actually isn't any

538
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,479
Speaker 1: old sandwich. This is a lunchtime institution in Denmark, and

539
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 1: there are these really strict customs around which toppings go

540
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,920
Speaker 1: together and the order in which you should eat them.

541
00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:50,480
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, so we're describing a tightly regimented sandwich. I

542
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 2: do feel like that changes things here.

543
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,080
Speaker 1: I know it sounds odd, but trust me, it's way

544
00:26:55,119 --> 00:26:57,399
Speaker 1: stranger to go to Denmark and not eat one of

545
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:01,000
Speaker 1: these smur brots. But it's a meal that served just

546
00:27:01,040 --> 00:27:04,359
Speaker 1: about everywhere, from street market stalls to Michelin starred restaurants,

547
00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,760
Speaker 1: and with so many topping options and price points, you

548
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 1: really have no excuse not to try it.

549
00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,200
Speaker 2: I'm curious tho, how did they get so ubiquitous, because

550
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,439
Speaker 2: an open face sandwich doesn't exactly scream like fine dining

551
00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 2: to me.

552
00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's funny because when it first rose to prominence,

553
00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,080
Speaker 1: it was very much a food of the people. This

554
00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:26,520
Speaker 1: is late in the nineteenth century when factory workers began

555
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: to break from tradition by eating their midday meals away

556
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:31,399
Speaker 1: from home. So of course they needed something cheap and

557
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:34,439
Speaker 1: filling that didn't require much prep time, so they started

558
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 1: piling leftovers onto bread and whil this whole culinary tradition

559
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,760
Speaker 1: was born. But presentation is a big deal. With smar brought.

560
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:45,919
Speaker 1: All of the ingredients are supposed to be arranged in

561
00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,920
Speaker 1: a way that highlights their different colors and textures. So

562
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 1: the thin toppings that go on first, then the bulky ones,

563
00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 1: and finally the garnishes. And it sounds kind of pedantic,

564
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 1: but remember this is an open faced sandwich, so you

565
00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:01,520
Speaker 1: can't just hide everything under a second slice of bread.

566
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:04,479
Speaker 2: All right, So what kind of toppings are we looking at?

567
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:06,520
Speaker 2: So that I know we're talking about Denmark here, so

568
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,240
Speaker 2: I imagine pickled herring has to be in the mix somewhere.

569
00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,920
Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, the go to classic is marinated harring, onions

570
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,680
Speaker 1: and capers, but foreign pallets might want to offer for

571
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: something a little more familiar, like roast beef with pickles,

572
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,480
Speaker 1: onions and horse radish. If you're vegetarian, one of the

573
00:28:21,520 --> 00:28:25,520
Speaker 1: few meat free combinations is of boiled potatoes, fried onions,

574
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:29,240
Speaker 1: and crem fresh and these sandwiches are especially popular in

575
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 1: the summer when Danish field grown potatoes are in season.

576
00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:34,160
Speaker 1: Another thing to keep in mind, though, is that people

577
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:36,640
Speaker 1: often eat multiple of these sandwiches in a single meal,

578
00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:39,120
Speaker 1: and if you do that, there's a proper sequence to

579
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:42,520
Speaker 1: follow in terms of ingredients. So traditionally your first course

580
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,360
Speaker 1: is the herring, followed by any other fishy sandwiches like

581
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 1: shrimp or mackerel. Then you move on to a meat

582
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:51,680
Speaker 1: based sandwich, your roast beef, liver, pete, and chicken salads,

583
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 1: and then to round things out, you finished with a

584
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: cheesy sandwich for dessert. And probably the most important thing

585
00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: to remember is that even though these are sandwiches, they're

586
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,800
Speaker 1: absolutely meant to be eaten with a fork and a knife.

587
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,120
Speaker 1: You were going to get shocked looks from Danes if

588
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,640
Speaker 1: you just use your hands and pick one up. So

589
00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 1: be sure to do that at your own peril.

590
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 2: All right. Actually, have you ever had pickled hairing before, Mengo?

591
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,560
Speaker 2: I have not, have you. You know, when Georgia and

592
00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:20,880
Speaker 2: I travel, we try to do a good job of

593
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,440
Speaker 2: eating some of the local favorites. And we were actually

594
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:27,520
Speaker 2: in Sweden when we did this, and we tried really hard,

595
00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 2: and there were some of it that tasted okay. But

596
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:31,960
Speaker 2: it's one of the first times I've ever seen her

597
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:36,160
Speaker 2: with like true eyes watering, like really just trying to

598
00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:38,840
Speaker 2: make it work. But you know, when you're there, you

599
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,040
Speaker 2: got to try it. I feel like that's just part

600
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 2: of it. But as for this, I can't decide if

601
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,320
Speaker 2: I love or hate how complicated they made eating a sandwich,

602
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 2: but I do want to try one, all right. So

603
00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,600
Speaker 2: after you've gorged yourself on pickled herring and rye bread,

604
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:53,760
Speaker 2: you'll probably be in the mood for a little fresh

605
00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 2: air and maybe even some exercise. And one of the

606
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,120
Speaker 2: best ways to get exercise in Denmark is to have

607
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:01,440
Speaker 2: yourself a treasure hunt. I don't know if you saw

608
00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 2: that one coming, but I don't mean shopping for souvenirs. Instead,

609
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 2: you're going to want to rent a metal detector and

610
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 2: make your way to the nearest open field that you

611
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:12,040
Speaker 2: can find there. The more rural, the better.

612
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: I really thought you were gonna say, like, get a

613
00:30:14,800 --> 00:30:17,360
Speaker 1: snow globe, get a baseball, get.

614
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:21,239
Speaker 2: No, nope, that is not what I was going for.

615
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:23,720
Speaker 1: I'm amazed by this. So tourists can actually just like

616
00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,640
Speaker 1: dig holes in search of buried treasure around the city.

617
00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:29,840
Speaker 2: I mean, as long as it's on public land, they're

618
00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,240
Speaker 2: allowed to do this. This is thanks to a century's

619
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,200
Speaker 2: old Danish law, where citizens and visitors alike are free

620
00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 2: to dig wherever they want, so long as they hand

621
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 2: over any objects of value that they come across.

622
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:43,959
Speaker 1: And who do you hand them over to?

623
00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is not obvious so anyway, that the so

624
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,320
Speaker 2: called treasure trove of law was passed in twelve forty

625
00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:54,200
Speaker 2: one CE by King Valdemar the Second, So back then

626
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 2: you were supposed to give it all to him. But

627
00:30:56,600 --> 00:30:59,560
Speaker 2: these days an ancient treasure you find in Denmark is

628
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,720
Speaker 2: required be taken to a local museum, which will then

629
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,800
Speaker 2: hand off the goods to the National Museum in Copenhagen.

630
00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:07,840
Speaker 2: I think this is just so silly and delightful.

631
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's pretty amazing. And I guess everything's just on

632
00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:12,480
Speaker 1: the honor system, or is there like a reward for

633
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 1: doing this work?

634
00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 2: Spoken like a true American, the big reward. But there

635
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,680
Speaker 2: is a reward system, and it's actually been in place

636
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:23,760
Speaker 2: since seventeen fifty two, and anyone who's find is determined

637
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,720
Speaker 2: to be of historical interest receives a small sum of money,

638
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,120
Speaker 2: actually typically around six hundred kroner or just over eighty

639
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,880
Speaker 2: dollars US. Now, it might take a couple of years

640
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 2: for the museum to pay up, as they tend to

641
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,440
Speaker 2: receive about eighteen thousand objects every single year. Can't I

642
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 2: matge how many holes are sitting there throughout the city.

643
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:43,920
Speaker 2: But the weight is well worth it, because, in addition

644
00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 2: to the bounty, the museum also sends the finder a

645
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,560
Speaker 2: letter detailing everything they've learned about the object, including when

646
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,880
Speaker 2: it was made, who it may have belonged to, and

647
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:54,680
Speaker 2: what it might have been used for. One of the

648
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 2: most frequent finds are these mysterious gold foils called guid goober.

649
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:01,479
Speaker 2: I believe that's how pronounced that. I actually I don't think

650
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 2: that's at all how it announced, but that's what I'm reading,

651
00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,280
Speaker 2: which is a Swedish term that means a little man

652
00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:09,640
Speaker 2: of gold. They're these small thin pieces of hammered gold

653
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:12,480
Speaker 2: that kind of look like postage stamps and they're embossed

654
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 2: with these images of people. And a few thousand gold

655
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,160
Speaker 2: gubber have been found all across Norway, Sweden and Denmark,

656
00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:21,760
Speaker 2: and while archaeologists believe that they were made during the

657
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,239
Speaker 2: Iron Age, no one is exactly sure what they were

658
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:24,680
Speaker 2: used for.

659
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,200
Speaker 1: That's interesting because I know a lot of countries have

660
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,520
Speaker 1: cracked down on metal detecting for fear that people might

661
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,719
Speaker 1: start looting all the historic sites. But it sounds like

662
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,480
Speaker 1: Denmark found a way to use that hobby to everyone's advantage,

663
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 1: Like people are finding things of real historic value and

664
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:42,440
Speaker 1: the city's kind of outsourcing the work.

665
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,800
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I mean, there's lots that's unknown about Danish history

666
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,280
Speaker 2: prior to the vikings and artifacts found by metal detectorists.

667
00:32:49,480 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 2: You know, they're helping to fill in some of those gaps. So,

668
00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 2: for example, one of the most illuminating finds came in

669
00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one when I first time detectorists discovered a

670
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 2: stash of fifteen hundred year old gold old jewelry. This

671
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,120
Speaker 2: was in central Jutland. Archaeologists think it may have been

672
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,520
Speaker 2: buried to keep it out of the hands of invaders,

673
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:10,280
Speaker 2: or possibly as a last resort offering to the Norse gods.

674
00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:12,800
Speaker 2: But what's really interesting is that some of the pieces

675
00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 2: appear to be based on similar Roman jewelry, and a

676
00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:17,960
Speaker 2: few of them are actually gold coins from the Roman

677
00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,160
Speaker 2: Empire that were converted into these wearable medallions.

678
00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:24,760
Speaker 1: That is insane, and it feels like like for a

679
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 1: rookie detectriss to come out there and just like on

680
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 1: their first like then you go around come up with

681
00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:31,680
Speaker 1: all these coins.

682
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:32,959
Speaker 2: It's some believe pretty awesome.

683
00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:35,840
Speaker 1: So does that mean someone in the pre Viking society

684
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,959
Speaker 1: had contact with the Romans? Like, is that how this

685
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 1: stuff got there? You know?

686
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 2: Probably not, since the Vikings themselves never made it to

687
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,160
Speaker 2: Roman territories. But the presence of the coins does suggest

688
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,920
Speaker 2: that people who lived there before the Vikings had a

689
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 2: much more extensive trade network than the researchers had previously guessed.

690
00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 2: And again, this is something we now know because a

691
00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 2: random guy decided to buy a metal detector and got

692
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:00,160
Speaker 2: super lucky on his first.

693
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,360
Speaker 1: That is wild. So I love that ordinary citizens are

694
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:05,520
Speaker 1: out there doing some of the like work for archaeologists,

695
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:07,480
Speaker 1: it really does feel like a win win.

696
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,040
Speaker 2: It really is, and especially when you consider that many

697
00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,279
Speaker 2: of these artifacts would have wound up being destroyed by

698
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:15,560
Speaker 2: farming or development if someone hadn't come along and dug

699
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,000
Speaker 2: them up first. It's very much a race against time

700
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 2: to find whatever else might be out there, and that's

701
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:23,360
Speaker 2: why museum curators are quick to thank the public for

702
00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 2: their help. So, as the National Museum Curator put it,

703
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,400
Speaker 2: these citizens spend a lot of time doing this and

704
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:32,520
Speaker 2: that's time we as professionals would never have in the field.

705
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,719
Speaker 2: We're writing our history together in a way where everybody

706
00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:36,520
Speaker 2: can participate.

707
00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:40,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's pretty wonderful. It reminds me of what we

708
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:41,960
Speaker 1: were saying earlier about Danes taking so much pride in

709
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 1: their flag, Like there really does seem to be a

710
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,520
Speaker 1: sense of unity in their society, not long any like

711
00:34:46,680 --> 00:34:49,680
Speaker 1: hard political lines, but just in the sense of a

712
00:34:49,719 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 1: shared history and culture.

713
00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly feels that way. And actually, speaking of refreshing,

714
00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,680
Speaker 2: if you want to know what else is refreshing, an

715
00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:01,279
Speaker 2: ice cold can of facts. Condi, beloved Danish soft drink

716
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:03,879
Speaker 2: and official sponsor for Today's Fact off.

717
00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:07,200
Speaker 1: I've been waiting for an official beverage sponsor. Are they

718
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:08,360
Speaker 1: really a bever sponsor?

719
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:11,200
Speaker 2: No, not really, but the name does sound a little

720
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 2: like facts, and it does taste pretty good. It's kind

721
00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:15,960
Speaker 2: of like seven up, but marketed as a sports drink.

722
00:35:16,800 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: Well, as long as it doesn't come and pickled Harrying flavor,

723
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:20,840
Speaker 1: I'm totally on board.

724
00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 2: All right. Well, here's one more stop for your Copenhagen itinerary,

725
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:33,840
Speaker 2: the world's largest collection of unopened beer bottles. The collection

726
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:37,040
Speaker 2: began as a hobby for Danish engineer Laif Son. This

727
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:39,840
Speaker 2: was back in nineteen sixty eight, and he started with

728
00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:42,600
Speaker 2: European beers because they were easy to find, and then

729
00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:45,759
Speaker 2: he widened his net to include beers from around the globe.

730
00:35:46,120 --> 00:35:49,319
Speaker 2: By nineteen ninety three, Son had amassed more bottles than

731
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,799
Speaker 2: his house could comfortably hold, and so he arranged for

732
00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:55,120
Speaker 2: the whole collection to be moved to the Carlsburg Brewery

733
00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:58,240
Speaker 2: in Copenhagen. Back then, there were about ten thousand unique

734
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,240
Speaker 2: bottles in the collection, but under Sun guidance, the catalog

735
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,319
Speaker 2: has continued to grow. As of twenty twenty five, it

736
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:08,280
Speaker 2: now includes twenty two thousand, six hundred and ninety two

737
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:11,200
Speaker 2: different bottles and counting pretty incredible.

738
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,520
Speaker 1: So like twenty two thousand bottles of Viera on the

739
00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:16,359
Speaker 1: wall and none of them are ever going to get

740
00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:18,560
Speaker 1: taken down or passed around.

741
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,000
Speaker 2: Thank goodness, because that would be a very long song.

742
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,560
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of Danish behavior, that doesn't quite make sense.

743
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 1: If you ever find yourself in Denmark on New Year's Eve,

744
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 1: be prepared for everyone to climb on top of their

745
00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,799
Speaker 1: chairs just before midnight and then leap off at the

746
00:36:34,840 --> 00:36:38,040
Speaker 1: stroke of twelve. According to an old tradition, it's good

747
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:40,399
Speaker 1: luck to jump into the new year, and bad luck

748
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:43,120
Speaker 1: if you forget to. So when the countdown begins, head

749
00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:45,400
Speaker 1: for the highest armchair you can find and try not

750
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:47,759
Speaker 1: to hit anyone else on your way down. Doesn't that

751
00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:48,279
Speaker 1: so fun?

752
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:52,000
Speaker 2: Does sound pretty fun actually? And loud for that matter.

753
00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:55,120
Speaker 2: All Right, Well, here's another Danish tradition that might raise

754
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,960
Speaker 2: a few eyebrows. So every February, Denmark celebrates the holiday

755
00:36:59,040 --> 00:37:02,000
Speaker 2: of fasta Layman or Carnival. Now it's kind of a

756
00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:04,799
Speaker 2: mash up between Halloween and Marty grass I guess, and

757
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,640
Speaker 2: one of the staples of the celebration is this game

758
00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:09,680
Speaker 2: called knocking the cat out of the.

759
00:37:09,600 --> 00:37:13,320
Speaker 1: Barrel, which sounds rough for the cat.

760
00:37:14,200 --> 00:37:17,840
Speaker 2: Well, you know, the modern version is really kid friendly

761
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 2: and parents fill this wooden barrel with candy and they

762
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,160
Speaker 2: decorate it with a picture of a black cat and

763
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:25,640
Speaker 2: let their kids take turns hitting it with a bad

764
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:28,600
Speaker 2: kind of like a pinata. And traditionally though, the custom

765
00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:31,560
Speaker 2: had religious connotations and was done in preparation for Lent

766
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,960
Speaker 2: and Easter, so the idea was to beat out the evil,

767
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:37,439
Speaker 2: and the evil in this case was an actual cat.

768
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:40,319
Speaker 1: I love it. I love that, Like you're supposed to

769
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:42,960
Speaker 1: beat out an atal cat, but they replaced it with candy.

770
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 2: Candy makes sense.

771
00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:48,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, so obviously hats have this sort of evil connotation.

772
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:51,720
Speaker 1: But you should also keep an eye out for stray

773
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:55,840
Speaker 1: piles of cinnamon in the streets. And this may appear

774
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:58,400
Speaker 1: to be a random amount of spice, but it's actually

775
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:01,839
Speaker 1: evidence of another long story in Danish custom. This one

776
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:04,840
Speaker 1: says that when someone turns twenty five and they're still unmarried,

777
00:38:05,160 --> 00:38:07,239
Speaker 1: all of their friends and family get to drag them

778
00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:10,240
Speaker 1: into the street and dowse them head to toe in cinnamon.

779
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 1: And sometimes they'll also splash you with water or even

780
00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:15,520
Speaker 1: raw eggs. So that the cinnamon will stick better.

781
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,440
Speaker 2: So I'm curious that is the idea to sweeten you

782
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:21,240
Speaker 2: up to find a partner or something.

783
00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:23,719
Speaker 1: Maybe, but I think it's more that cinnamon is just

784
00:38:23,800 --> 00:38:26,480
Speaker 1: relatively cheap and plentiful and also kind of hard to

785
00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:29,720
Speaker 1: clean off. So the prevailing theory is that the custom

786
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,360
Speaker 1: dates back hundreds of years to a time when traveling

787
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:36,919
Speaker 1: spicemen were notorious lifelong bachelors and people start referring them

788
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:41,160
Speaker 1: as peppers VENs or pepper dudes, and eventually the term

789
00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:43,279
Speaker 1: was also extended to single women, who were known as

790
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,680
Speaker 1: pepper maidens. Now the cinnamon dowsing prank grew out of

791
00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:49,399
Speaker 1: this association, and if you're wondering why they don't use

792
00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,600
Speaker 1: pepper instead, it's because that's the spice that's reserved for

793
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,760
Speaker 1: a single person's thirtieth birthday.

794
00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:58,920
Speaker 2: Okay, good, it's good to differentiate there. So do most

795
00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 2: Danish people get married right out of high school to

796
00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:02,640
Speaker 2: avoid being shamed with cinnemon or what?

797
00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:06,520
Speaker 1: So? That's actually the most unusual part of this is

798
00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:08,840
Speaker 1: that the average age that men get married in Denmark

799
00:39:08,920 --> 00:39:11,440
Speaker 1: is thirty four and for women it's thirty two. So

800
00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:14,680
Speaker 1: a decent chunk of the population goes through the spicy

801
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:17,560
Speaker 1: custom before they find their way to betrothal.

802
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:21,520
Speaker 2: That's very interesting, all right, Well, the moment is here, Mango.

803
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:24,600
Speaker 2: We've actually been very disciplined today and not derailing the

804
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,360
Speaker 2: show to talk about Lego, which is of course a

805
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,919
Speaker 2: Danish invention. We've held back. I don't know how we've

806
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,200
Speaker 2: held back with Gay being involved in the research. This

807
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:35,200
Speaker 2: as much of a huge toy fan as he is.

808
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:38,160
Speaker 2: But here we are. But a few years ago we

809
00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 2: actually devoted an entire episode to the history of the

810
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:43,359
Speaker 2: little plastic bricks. So we decided not to say too

811
00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,000
Speaker 2: much today. But since it's illegal to talk about Denmark

812
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:48,799
Speaker 2: without at least mentioning the brand, I do have a

813
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,760
Speaker 2: fact here about the world's first Lego Land theme park.

814
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,000
Speaker 2: So it opened on June seventh, nineteen sixty eight, in

815
00:39:55,040 --> 00:39:58,680
Speaker 2: the company's hometown of Billund, and the park's main attraction

816
00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 2: those days was an area called Miniland, which features highly

817
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,600
Speaker 2: detailed cities and other real world locations modeled in Lego bricks.

818
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:10,160
Speaker 2: Guests were encouraged to tour the manicured grounds while admiring

819
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:13,120
Speaker 2: examples of the architecture from places they might never get

820
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:16,280
Speaker 2: to visit in person, so kind of the same ideas

821
00:40:16,360 --> 00:40:20,280
Speaker 2: like Tivoli Gardens, I guess. And amazingly though, Manyland's elaborate

822
00:40:20,320 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 2: city scapes were designed almost entirely by one single employee.

823
00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,760
Speaker 2: Her name was Dagny Holme and she was the niece

824
00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:31,560
Speaker 2: of Lego founder Old Kirk Christiansen. Now, in the end,

825
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:34,800
Speaker 2: she and her team used more than twenty million Lego

826
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:38,440
Speaker 2: bricks to construct these detailed, scaled down versions of famous

827
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 2: landmarks throughout Denmark and the rest of the world for

828
00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:44,520
Speaker 2: that matter. Now, this wasn't entirely static in its display.

829
00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:48,239
Speaker 2: Lego cars and trains powered by electricity were there to

830
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:51,560
Speaker 2: move their way through these intricate scenes, and Lego boats

831
00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:53,680
Speaker 2: and the mini harbor appeared to move on their own,

832
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,480
Speaker 2: and this was all thanks to a clever underwater police

833
00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:58,879
Speaker 2: system that they had set up there. Now you fast

834
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,439
Speaker 2: forward almost sixty years and there are ten Lego Land

835
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,439
Speaker 2: parks spread all across the world. And while each park

836
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:07,280
Speaker 2: is a little bit different, the biggest similarity they share

837
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:10,600
Speaker 2: is that every one of these has its own sprawling miniland.

838
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:13,319
Speaker 2: This shared feature is one of the main things that

839
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,319
Speaker 2: sets Lego Land apart from other modern theme parks, and

840
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 2: it never would have existed without the imagination and talent

841
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:20,479
Speaker 2: of Dagny Home.

842
00:41:20,960 --> 00:41:25,080
Speaker 1: I mean, first you kick this off with a Muffets

843
00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:27,200
Speaker 1: fact and then you end it with a Lego fact.

844
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:29,560
Speaker 1: It feels like you're just gunning for the wind this week,

845
00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:32,359
Speaker 1: so I think you have to take over the trophy.

846
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:37,000
Speaker 2: This was all really really planned out, so I appreciate it,

847
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,240
Speaker 2: and that's going to do it for today's Part Time Genius.

848
00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:41,520
Speaker 2: If you enjoyed this episode or just want to share

849
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:44,160
Speaker 2: what we missed about visiting the great country of Denmark,

850
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:46,880
Speaker 2: hit us up on Instagram. Our handle is of course

851
00:41:46,960 --> 00:41:50,480
Speaker 2: at part Time Genius, but from Gabe, Mary, Dylan, Mango

852
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:52,200
Speaker 2: and me thank you so much for listening.

853
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:07,720
Speaker 1: Part Time Genius is a production of Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio.

854
00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:12,239
Speaker 1: This show is hosted by Will Pearson and Me Mongash Heatikler,

855
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:17,080
Speaker 1: and research by our goodpal Mary Philip Sandy. Today's episode

856
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:20,120
Speaker 1: was engineered and produced by the wonderful Dylan Fagan with

857
00:42:20,200 --> 00:42:23,680
Speaker 1: support from Tyler Klang. The show is executive produced for

858
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:27,479
Speaker 1: iHeart by Katrina Norvell and Ali Perry, with social media

859
00:42:27,520 --> 00:42:31,640
Speaker 1: support from Sasha Gay Trustee Dara Potts and Vinny Shorey.

860
00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:36,800
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

861
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:53,320
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.