Before we get started, I just realised that – hey – my very first post – “Mind your language!” – here on this particular blog also featured an elevator. The one at “Hovedbanegården” (Copenhagen Central Station) with the sign that says “I fart”… Yep, always a cheap laugh and never gets old! 😉
But today I want to share another whimsical, curious, strange type of Danish lift. I first came across this type of elevator when we moved here in 1998. But forgot all about them until this week, when I started a new evening class (Swedish, in case you’re wondering) at the VUC building, Vognmagergade number 8. That’s the street just across from Rosenborg Castle, the one with the giant clock…
In you walk and there it is, in all its old-fashioned glory. A hop on, hop off, continuous loop elevator! (Or paternoster, if you want the official term.)
Not for the faint of heart. Pretty scary stuff – you need to time things right, take a deep breath and jump on! Though the clanging, banging noises are strangely comforting and hypnotic. (Apologies if the video is shaky – I was a tad nervous, the last time I used one was probably at Frederiksberg Town Hall in 1999!)
And what’s even scarier? Um, when you have to jump off… It might help to think of Doctor Who and shout “Geronimo”! But what if you leave it too late? And the worst happens, and you miss your last chance to disembark? Well, keep calm, stand still and wait for the darkness. Because the elevator continues down, down, down and then moves…sideways! Sort of like the one in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 😛 After a pretty tense couple of seconds, you are back on your way up again. Whew!
Aren’t they brilliant? Three cheers for extreme elevators! And three cheers for those crazy Danes, for preserving these beautiful machines and blowing a big raspberry at ‘health and safety’!
Have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!
Diane 🙂