Mary visits Vollsmose

Today Crown Princess Mary has visited Vollsmose, a multi-ethnic part of Odense. Mary has spent an 'ordinary working day' in Vollsmose to bring some light to the life situations of the people in this area which has had a troubled reputation in recent times. The visit has been a happy occasion with many local residents turning out to greet Mary. There has been a strong media contingent following Mary in Vollsmose, including Turkish CNN, an Australian magazine and Danish media.



You can check photos here in the Fyens Stiftstidende photo gallery
Also check the TV2/FYN photo gallery.

Added: DR.dk photo gallery (this has the most and widest selection of photos)

ADDED: Princess Mary shows she's got the maternal touch in Hello! magazine

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported:
Danish students 'crown' Princess Mary
August 29, 2006 - 9:54PM

Students gave a cardboard crown to Australian-born Crown Princess Mary as she met with residents of one of Denmark's best known immigrant neighbourhoods.
Resident Leyla Haji Yusuf from Somalia and Odense mayor Jan Boye guided the popular princess as she walked and rode a horse-drawn carriage through Vollsmose, a suburb west of Odense, Denmark's third-largest city.
The visit was organised at Mary's request. She wanted to meet residents in a less formal way than two years ago when she and her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, toured the city and stopped by the neighbourhood, 160 kilometres west of Copenhagen.
More than 60 per cent of Vollsmose's 10,000 residents are foreign-born, and many receive welfare benefits.
Mary stopped several times to shake hands and talk with residents.
Students at a school named for Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, a native of Odense, had made cardboard crowns and gave one to Mary, who asked whether they also had one for her husband, Danish TV2 reported.
The 34-year-old princess had lunch with the Jomaa family, of Palestinian origin.
Kalil Jomaa and his wife Jawaher Othman who fled to Denmark in 1990 from Lebanon, served kebabs, falafel, humus, among other Middle Eastern delicacies. All of their seven children were present at the lunch on the sixth floor of the housing block where they live.
After lunch, Mary was to visit a community house chiefly used by immigrant women and their children and a cafe, operated by a Christian church, where Arab men gather.
At the end of the visit, Mary will meet briefly with local dignitaries and MPs, Christian and Muslim clerics and social workers.

Same report also at ninemsn
Click here for Jyllands-Posten netavisen video clip (2 mins 30 secs)
DR.dk online report on the visit. It is in Danish but has photos and a map which shows the progress of the various places Mary was shown.
TV 2 video clip (2 mins)
TV2/FYN video clip (29 secs)
B.T. (article in Danish) says Mary was received very enthusiasically in Vollsmose amidst a lot of good humour. Mary had many to meet during the day-long packed program so she went along at a cracking pace. Mary visited the H.C. Andersen School which has 400 pupils and they sang a welcoming song for her and presented her with crowns for herself, Frederik and Christian. Mary was told that Vollsmose has 79 nationalities living in the area. At the end of the busy schedule Mary finally had a meal with the Jomaa family.