On our way back from Romania to the US we have a stopover for a couple days in Copenhagen to visit the capital of Denmark about which we heard only good things from people who have visited before us. The budget airline that we take from Romania takes as to Malmo but fortunately it also provides, at a cost, a bus towards Copenhagen that we decide to take. As we arrive early in the morning (we are at the airport in Romania at 4 AM) we are quite tired and sleep most of the bus ride to the Central Copenhagen train station.
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| Our bus from Malmo airport | Inside the bus - a lot of sleeping |
From there we walk to the hotel which is 15 minutes away and leave the bags in the luggage storage (check in hour is still far away) and then return to the railway station to find something to eat. There are a few open places and in the end we stop at a supermarket and eat there at the provided tables a few croisants and a sandwich and energize ourselves with some good coffee.
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| Inside the railway station | Our breakfast |
From the train station we decide to walk towards the downtown area past the brown buildings and Tivoli Gardens - an amusement park that we do not have time to visit this time but seems quite popular.
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| Typical Copenhagen buildings | Most buildings are in industrial brown color |
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| Passing Tivoli Gardens | The entrance - a wedding and lots of tourists |
The first tourist attraction on the way is the Town Hall Plaza with the majestic Town Hall anchoring it from one of the sides. It is quite a good place to try to take a 360 picture so enjoy :).
Besides the town hall proper and the period buildings surrounding it the plaza has a few other attractions including the zero kilometer stone for Denmark from where all the distance are measured and a cool Dragon Fountain.
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| Radhus Plaza and zero kilometer stone | Dragon Fountain |
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| The Radhus (Town Hall) | Decoration on the Radhus |
The townhall can be entered for free and during our visit had an interesting exhibit about immigration which is a hot button issue in Denmark similarly to other European countries. The room itself is quite beautiful with balconies surrounding the large interior courtyard. In a side room there is a more permanent exhibit, the World Clock which we had some difficulty deciphering but looked quite interesting.
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| Jens Olsen's World Clock | Exhibition inside |
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| Inside the Town Hall | Quite a beautiful building |
From the Town Hall we continue on Stroget the main pedestrian street in the downtown area which is full of locals and tourists shopping or just enjoying their weekend. There are quite a few boutique shops along the way however the prices are out of our reach so we just do some window shopping before turning towards the next attraction Christianborg Palace.
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| Another view of the townhall | Stroget - main shopping street |
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| Everyone seems to be concentrated here | Caritas fountain plaza |
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| Hanseatic league looking house | Another interesting medieval house |
Christiansborg Palace is one of the three major Royal palaces in Copenhagen and the seat of the Parliament and the Prime Minister as well as the Supreme Court. Part of the complex is the Palace Chapel used for baptisms, confirmations and lying in state by the monarchy. It has been rebuilt in 1997 after it burned to the ground in 1992 which likely is one of the rasons that it looks so austere. After exiting the Chapel we spend some time looking for the Palace entrance as there are multiple ones and finally after leaving our backpack at luggage storage and putting on shoe coverings to ensure that we do not dirty the floor we enter the palace.
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| Looking back towards Stroget | Walking towards Christiansborg Slot (Palace) and Church |
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| Inside Christiansborg Church | Quite austere for a royal church |
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| Where is the entrance to Christiansborg Palace? | Lots of kings lived here |
In fact we buy a ticket that covers entrance at four exhibits and we start with the most important one - the Royal Rooms. We start in the Alexander Room which is named after the frieze of Alexander the Great entering Babylon which frames the hall under the ceiling. The tour continues through the Queen's Library where the book collection of the Danish Royalty is held including many signed first editions.
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| Alexander room | Queen's Library |
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| Lots of decorations | Birds are quite commonly used |
We continue our tour through multiple rooms stopping and admiring them along the way. Some of the are more impressive including the aptly named Great Hall used for gala dinners and the Velvet Room which is covered in 300 metres of velvet woven in India.
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| Dining Hall | Beautiful paintings above the door |
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| The Great Hall | Tapestries on the wall |
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| The Velvet Room | With some special patterns |
After exiting the Royal Rooms it is time for a quick trip underground to the second exhibit - "The Ruins under the Palace". As you would expect this exhibit covers the ruins found beneath castle which relate to the previous 3 castles that sat on this site. The ruins are interesting but what we enjoy most is how the previous castles were viewed by travellers - it seems that this was the least liked palace in Europe at that time.
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| Multiple castles were here | Some of the building foundations |
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| And some walls | Canalization maybe? |
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| Not the most liked castle... | ...even that may be an understatement |
The third exhibit that we visit off the interior courtyard are the castle kitchen. It is a relatively small exhibit but gives as a good idea of the scale on which the cooks here were operating.
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| Interior courtyard view | The castle kitchen |
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| Some of the pots | Not real unfortunately |
The last exhibit and the one that we have a bit of difficulty finding is the Royal Stables. Inside there is an interesting exhibit related to Royal Horses and lots of interesting carriages used by the Danish royalty during the last 300 years.
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| The Royal Stables | One of the carriages |
After finishing our visit at Christiansborg we are both famished and tired so we decide to walk towards the hotel and stop on the way to eat lunch. What we find out is that lunch is quite expensive in Copenhagen and even if you find something the portions might be....small. Still the food is good and with some of the energy restored we continue towards the hotel.
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| Our lunch... | ...not a lot |
On the way we see quite an interesting contraption a beer-bike (or whatever the name would be). While the women are drinking beer at a central bar they also bike the whole contraption through the town - very weird. Maybe we imagined it as we are quite tired at this point but no - we have the photo:). After finally checking in we relax for the rest of the day and plan our next day.
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| Ok this is something new | Our bedroom |
Today we wake up early as we have a long visiting day ahead of us and also we are hungry as the hotel has no breakfast and unfortunately there are no standalone breakfast places close by. So we decide to first walk towards the downtown area looking for an open cafe. The streets are empty this early on a Sunday as we pass the Glyptotek (an art museum housed in an impressive building) and the Tivoli Gardens and are getting more and more discouraged as everything seems closed.
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| Our hotel - an endless corridor:) | Street from hotel to downtown |
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| The Glyptotek | View from the side |
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| Tivoli Gardens in the distance | Austere building on the way |
Finally near Christiansborg Palace we find a couple open cafes and we chose the more cozy one which is a good choice as the coffee is quite good even though the breakfast portion is small which seems to be a common theme in Copenhagen (price is double for half the portion :)).
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| Breakfast place | Inside the cafe |
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| Smiley coffee | And the breakfast (not a lot compared to the US) |
Now it is time to take the ferry to the most famous attraction in Copenhagen - the Little Mermaid. We had no idea that it is that far away but after looking at the map we decided to take the ferry there and return on foot. So from our breakfast place we walk down past the Palace towards the canalside where we hope that we will be able to find the ferry station. It is actually quite easy as it is located close to another Copenhagen landmark, the Black Diamond", which is actually simply the Royal library. Now we just have to wait and people watch everyone passing on the canal including quite a few people eating a champagne breakfast it seems.
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| Canal buildings | National Museum - not open today |
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| Black Diamond library | Waiting for the ferry |
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| Looking down the canal | That is they way to eat breakfast :) |
The ferry arrives on time according to the timetable and after paying the ticket we are treated to a cool ride along the canal passing Nyhavn, the Opera and the Royal Navy base arriving at the Kastellet ferry station from where we plan to walk the rest of the way.
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| Our ride is arriving | Inside the ferry |
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| Nyhavn from ferry | The Opera House |
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| Warship defending the harbor | View across the bay |
Suddenly we are surrounded by lots of tourists and we are surprised as there weren't that many on the ferry but we solve the mystery soon - this is where the tour buses stop for the Little Mermaid. We pass next to the Kastellet moat and decide that when returning we should probably pass through it as it is very serene looking for a war fortress. On the way we also see quite a few birds enjoying the more natural habitat, mostly wood pigeons and magpies.
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| Gefion fountain | Kastellet moat |
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| Wood pigeon | Magpie |
As we approach the Little Mermaid we see in the distance the reason for many of the tourists mobbing the mermaid - there are two cruiseships in the harbor and the closest attraction is of course the mermaid. What surprises us most is how close to the shore the mermaid is, this makes taking a photo quite difficult as people are even entering the shallow water to get at close as possible.
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| Seems cruise ships are common in Copenhagen | Everyone is at the little mermaid |
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| View from front | Little mermaid from the side |
Close by, less popular but arguably as interesting as the Little Mermaid is the Genetically Modified Little Mermaid. Situated in a sculpture garden of other contorted statues it is intended as a counterpoint to the more traditional Little Mermaid and likely to attract attention to environment pollution.
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| More modern sculptures | Genetically modified Little Mermaid - fun |
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| All of the sculptures are genetically modified - I think | This one certainly is |
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| Another mermaid - very popular | And a bear for good measure |
Returning we pass through the Kastellet as we planned - it is quite an impressive star-shaped fortress surrounded by a moat built to protect Copenhagen. Now you can enter it freely and wander through the barracks and pass martial looking buildings as we walk from the back entrance to the front entrance.
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| Entrance to Kastellet | Invader at the gates:) |
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| Barracks | Main building |
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| The church | Likely the officers building |
The front entrance as expected is quite impressive with a double gate and the moat here is larger, almost a lake covered with water lilies which is quite picturesque.
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| Main entrance (exit for us) | View of fortifications |
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| Quite peaceful | Lots of water lilies |
From here we have a short walk to the next attraction, the Design Museum. But on the way we stop an admire an unusual wavy house that we initially even suspect to be the Design Museum - it was not.
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| That is an unusual design | Near the Design Museum |
The Design Museum is dedicated to the design of everything from bicycles to common household items, clothing and of course furniture.
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| Bicycle design varies too | Common household items design |
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| A cool table | Lots of weird designs |
One of the major areas of focus are chairs including the gallery of 100 chairs - it is interesting to see how this seemingly common item can be designed in so many different ways even though we are not certain if all of them are actually comfortable to sit in.
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| Recyclable household | Those are some weird forms - are they ok to sit in? |
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| The chair room | Quite a few design ideas of the same object |
And what is a design museum without clothing design? In fact the temporary exhibit is about Erik Mortensen and haute couture and it is quite interesting especially the tidbits about what lies behind each design.
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| Clothing is designed too :) | And some pottery |
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| Erik Mortensen - temporary exhibit | Some haute couture designs |
There is also a small Eastern design section which we find interesting and then we exit to see the interior courtyard while also noticing an interesting inscription nearby claiming that the famous philosopher Kierkegaard lived here - quite cool.
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| Japanese design section | Typical Japanese print |
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| Interior courtyard | Famous people lived here |
Next we walk towards Amalienborg however on the way we stop at two interesting churches on the way - the Orthodox Church that cannot be visited and Frederik's Church that we enter to admire the unusual round layout of the church.
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| Orthodox church | Frederik's Church |
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| Inside the church | Not a typical shape |
Amalienborg is the home of the Danish Royal family and one of the three major palaces in Copenhagen. However after visiting another palace the day before and planning to see another a bit later today we decide to look at Amalienborg only from the outside (it is also quite expensive to visit). It is quite austere in our opinion similar to Christiansborg but this aligns with our feel of Copenhagen's architecture in general with a few exceptions of course.
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| Amalienborg courtyard | The palace |
From Amalienborg it is time to go towards the third major castle, Rosenborg which sits it the middle of a green area, Kongens Have Park. The park is full of Danish people enjoying the beautiful sunny Sunday which is likely not a common occurence here :). Soon we see Rosenborg Castle for the first time and it is the first of the Royal castles that looks like a castle and not like a leisure palace.
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| Kongens Have Park | Lots of people are out today |
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| First view of Rosenborg Castle | Side view |
While our plan was to visit it unfortunately we are scared away by the line of people waiting for a ticket that is our time-marked so even if we get the ticket we might have to wait for a couple hours which is something which we don't want to do. So we decide to retreat for today and come back early the next day and see how it works out then.
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| Can we even enter it? | Close up view |
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| Quite a long line for tickets | The gardens |
We are also quite hungry so returning to the downtown area we stop to eat a few sweets from a bakery and energized we make our way to Nyhavn the last major attraction for the day.
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| Trinitas Church | With the round tower |
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| Eating some late lunch | Lots of people outside in the downtown area |
Before entering Nyhavn (a canal with some beautiful painted houses on one side) we finally find a street vendor that is selling something that we wanted to eat since we came here - a Danish hot dog. We buy two hot dogs in the bun and they are quite yummy and then it is on to Nyhavn. To our surprise Nyhavn is so full of people that you can barely walk - we expected a lot of people of course but this is quite crazy. However while the side with the beautiful painted houses is packed the other side is much better so we decide to start there which is a great idea as we can get some good photos of the picturesque side before wading in the middle of the people to return back towards the downtown area.
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| Nyhavn - tour boats are common | Nyhavn - colorful houses as far as the eye can see |
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| Lots and lots of people in Nyhavn | Interesting decorations - lifevests |
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| You can enter and visit this ship | Not this one - but still looks cool |
Before returning to the hotel we stop at a few malls and enter a few of the boutique in the downtown area to compare prices (which to us seem crazy). After that we are quite tired and with the shops and almost everything else closing down for the evening we return to the hotel for the night.
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| National Theater | Inside a (luxury) mall |
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| Town Hall under the sun | And the plaza |
Today we are leaving Copenhagen but our plane is only during the evening so we basically have one more day in Copenhagen. And it is a weekday so there are things open that we couldn't see during the weekend like the National Museum and we also hope that other attractions like Rosenborg castle are less mobbed by tourists.
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| Rooftop garden near hotel | With some berries |
We start on what now seems the usual route for us in Copenhagen - downtown following Stroget to the Caritas fountain however from here we decide on a slightly different route to get at the castle.
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| Walking through Copenhagen | Flowers for sale |
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| Copenhagen Courthouse | Caritas fountain |
The route takes us past the Copenhagen Cathedral, a historic church who has a much more modern appearance than its age due to the fact that it was burned down by the English at the beginning of the 19th century and had to be rebuilt in 1829. It is an interesting visit with the basement having a small collection of surviving artifacts from the older churches and the balcony having an exhibit on the transition from Catholic to Lutheran as well as the royal private balcony and toilet that was likely quite useful during long sermons.
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| Copenhagen Cathedral | Inside the cathedral |
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| View from altar | Cathedral basement |
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| View from the gallery | Royal bathroom for long sermons |
Next to the cathedral is the university and we pass through it admiring the few buildings at this location before continuing towards the Rosenborg Castle.
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| Copenhagen University | University building |
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| Protected synagogue | Pedestrian area |
We are surprised to see a commotion right in front of the castle - lots of tourists waiting and looking around, police standing at attention, what is going on? We find out soon that the changing of the guard is just starting - the guards are leaving here and going to Amalienborg for the exchange.
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| Changing of the guard | Still a way to go - do they need to be protected?!? |
This time the line is smaller and we have the time so we decide to enter Rosenborg which is quite different than the other castles - it looks somehow lived in (even though royalty hasn't lived here for some time of course). The informational brochures are also quite detailed and each room has something interesting to see.
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| Christian IV’s Winter Room | Is that real or not? |
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| The King's Toilet | Wall detail |
The museum is split on three floors (and a basement) with the ground floor consisting mostly of individual rooms of kings and queens, living rooms, bedrooms, meetings rooms and so on. Some are exorbitantly decorated and some are more subdued even though still looking royal.
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| Marble room - lots of people | Christian V’s Hall |
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| Secret speaker | Interesting decoration |
On the first floor the decorations change a bit with tapestries being more common like in the Christian VI room where they represent Alexander the Great which was a common topic for Danish royalty it seems. The Mirror Cabinet is also quite interesting - supposedly it created quite a few problems for women in skirts due to the mirror in the floor which was no accident.
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| Christian VI’s Room | Interesting decoration idea |
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| Mirror cabinet | Medal collection |
The second floor major attraction is the Knights' hall, which was the last castle room to be furnished. It was originally intended and used as a ballroom however its functions changed around the year 1700 and was mostly used for audiences and banquets. The name “The Knights’ Hall” was attached during Romanticism.
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| The Knights’ Hall | Ceiling detail |
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| Lions protecting the coronation chairs | Wall tapestries |
Also on this floor is the Porcelain collection - porcelain was very valuable and most kings had their own collection.
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| The real porcelain collection... | is quite extensive |
And then it is time to enter the basement and visit the treasury spread across a few rooms. As expected everything here glitters and shines with lots and lots of gold objects and precious stones.
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| The treasury | Golden army men |
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| The Royal treasury room | Everything is gold |
The attraction of course are the royal crowns and jewels and they do not disappoint. Contrary to popular belief royalty was wearing the crowns only at coronation not during every audience and meeting as in the movies and given this it is interesting how much work and wealty went into creating these rarely used objects.
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| The signs of office | Golden box |
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| Every king needs his own crown | Christian IV’s crown - beautiful |
From the castle we are planning to return towards the hotel and visit the National Museum on the way. However before that we have to stop for lunch where we decide to try the famous open faced sandwiches which are quite good as a snack:).
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| Cannonball embedded in the wall | Our lunch place |
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| Romantic interior | The food - open faced sandwich |
After our lunch it is a short walk to the National Museum which is quite empty which makes the visit a lot more enjoyable. We try to follow the logical path going from prehistory through the classical and medieval period to the modern age. In the prehistoric part the most interesting exhibits for us by far are the bog people exhibits with skeletons and the different objects found near the burials.
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| That looks scary in an empty museum | Stone age tools |
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| Burial rituals are explained using the exhibits | Bog people find |
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| Clothing of bog people | Stool found in the grave |
As we continue there are a lot of interesting objects like the golden chariot and the runestone room with probably the most interesting being the viking longboat (fully enclosed in glass for protection) that was found relatively close by.
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| Famous golden chariot | Lots of lurs(horns) |
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| Saved runestones | Viking era bowl |
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| Well preserved ship | Viking burial |
Next is the gold room with a lot of golden objects including a weird (for us) collection of golden horns. When would those be used we wonder and what is the story behind them?
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| Golden horns | Golden bracelets |
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| Viking gold | Very delicate |
Afterwards we continue through the medieval section which has exhibits which are more common from weapons to Christianity related objects....and of course more horns:).
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| Medieval times section | Period clothing |
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| Cool finds | Horns are popular throughout time it seems |
From here we change floors to the modern section which is a bit more interesting for us as it shows the history of Denmark through the last two hundred years with which we are not that familiar. There is also a lot of focus on how the typical home and expectations about the role of the state have changed during this years which makes for some interesting reading.
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| Changing the level and the time period | Those are quite huge |
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| Modern museum section | Lots of information |
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| Typical room furniture | Getting close to contemporary times |
Continuing we visit the Egyptian section spread over two rooms that exhibits the expected items, sarcophagi, mummies and other objects from ancient Egypt.
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| Egyptian section | Lots of sarcophagi |
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| Interesting objects - how were they used? | Temple facade reconstruction |
Similarly the Greek-Roman section covers the beautiful Greek pottery and stone artifacts and statues from the Roman and Greek times.
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| Greek section | The decorations are always impressive |
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| Stone carvings | And a statue |
More intesting but exhibited in an almost uninteligible jumble for us are the sections covering the rest of the world. While we can see and guess where the items are from there is very little information regarding them including when and where they are from, what they represent and so on.
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| Quite a busy room | Polynesian I guess?! |
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| Australian area based on the boomerangs | And this is Hawaiian |
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| Japanese typical house | And lots of Far East objects |
After this it is time to exit the museum and return to the hotel to pick up our bags and then return to the train station for our train to the Copenhagen airport. It is a nice and relatively short ride and the check in process is effortless. As everything went so smoothly we still have some time and decide to use it by doing some shopping to get rid of our remaining Danish krona. That includes one more hotdog for the road and a few souvenirs before the plane arrives and we have an uneventful flight back home.
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| What should we eat? | Maybe a hot dog? |
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