Kitty's Corner

Next year it will 100 years since the unsinkable passenger liner Titanic struck an iceberg and ended her maiden voyage at the bottom of the sea.

It is and always has been a fascinating story. I think it's because that 1,517 people lost their lives to the sea that April night. 1,517 people's destinies were sealed. Men, women, children. Rich and poor. Some of them travelling in hope of finding fortune and a better life. Some of them taking a vacation, or travelling just for the pleasure of it and enjoying the trip.

It would of course be appropriate to blog about that specific ship in April 2012 when it's exactly 100 years ago the ship went down. So why do I blog about it now, you may ask. I'll tell you. It's because there's an exhibition travelling around the world. It was founded 35 years ago and has been 25 different cities around the world so far. And right now it's in Copenhagen.

So we decided to go and see it. I absolutely love the movie Titanic from 1997. I've seen it several times and I cry just as much much every time.

(Deck for 2nd class passengers)

Anyway - I was interested in seeing the exhibition. It was a bit pricey to get in: 95DKK (12.75EUR). At the entrance we got each a mp3 player, and they came in several languages. That's pretty clever. What wasn't quite so clever was that the speaker in Danish and the one in English didn't speak for equally long periods of time. Apparently the English dude spoke either slower or had more to say about each item, and that meant that Flarin listening in English would have had to skip several endings to keep up with me, listening in Danish. And taking pictures wasn't allowed

(The man in the right side of the pic: Edward John Smith, captain on Titanic)

Anyway - the exhibition is a mix of photos, letters and items that used to belong to some of the victims, ship's artefacts, people's jewellery, and reconstructions of cabins. There's also a big 3D reconstruction of the main staircase, which is impressive. We also learn about the construction of the ship, the materials and techniques involved, and the working conditions - what it was like for the crew, from the Captain down to the Stokers in the engine rooms (and man, they had a hot job!) The dude on the mp3-player told us about each item or photo: who's in it, what we know about them, and so on. The coolest thing (literally) in the exhibition was a big iceberg. It wasn't as big as the one Titanic hit, but it's big. It's there so you can put your hand on it and see how long you can stand there before it gets too cold for you. It's to illustrate why so many people froze to death in the cold water, and so quickly. You can only hold your hand on it for a minute or two before it hurts too much - we were told the average person can last up to 20 minutes in water that cold, and I think even that seems a long time!


(postcard advertising for Titanic and the sister ship Olympic)

Generally I liked the exhibition. It was interesting to hear the facts about the ship, and to hear about some of the passengers and crew that were on board, and their families. It was also very interesting to learn of the huge differences in accommodation and comfort between 1st and 3rd classes. The dining rooms were amazing too, and even the 3rd class passengers didn't seem to do to badly there, although of course without any of the luxurious frills of 1st class. There were also things I found less interesting, however. For instance, there was a bit of wood, by itself, in a glass case - it wasn't even from the Titanic, but from either her sister ship or one of the ships that rescued the survivors. There was also a telescope that had once belonged to one of the Titanic's crew. It had never actually been on the Titanic though, so why it belonged in this exhibition was a mystery to me.

The story of the collision, the drama that followed, and the subsequent rescue is factually told, with many personal stories of those who survived and those who didn't, woven in. It's interesting, and chilling too in the inevitability of it all, as you walk around and approach the final exhibit and last narration, knowing what we know, and how it ended for so many.

Anyway - I enjoyed the tour. It lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes (would probably have lasted 5-10 minutes longer had we both being listening in English), and I think it was worth the money.

I'd recommend it. But once you've seen it, you probably don't have to go see it again.