Day IV - København

Sunday, 12 June, 2011 - My second day in Copenhagen was a continuation of the first as I didn't even begin to see all of the 'main sites' on Saturday; in fact I really hadn't made it very far beyond central Copenhagen the first day. The morning was relatively tame and consisted of more street roaming which, might I add, was considerably more difficult than usual. I rather fancy myself as an accomplished map reader, but the previous day I'd had a little trouble. I chalked it up to the map I was given at the front desk - I had decided to leave my guidebook in the room and just make note of the things I wanted to look up/learn more about as my first day was more of a reconnaissance day anyway. It seemed that there were mismarked (or completely missing) streets on that map, and they turned and changed name not in accordance with what I was actually encountering as I walked around. So Sunday I brought my guidebook, but I ended up with the same problem. Granted, the map in my book was marginally more accurate, but there were still places where I would stand on a street corner and things were marked accurately going in three directions but the street sign I was looking at down the fourth street did not say the same thing as the road on my map. I mean, the streets look pretty easy to follow, right?

The lone building in the center is home to Cafe Norden and the spire to the right is of Nikolaj, a renovated 16th century church which now exhibits Danish and international modern art

Okay, trick question. This was one of the main streets, Amagertorv, but even that changes names four times within a mile stretch (at least according to the map)! I don't think it was an issue with period changes, either (e.g. in Venice some of the streets are marked with their 'original' names while others have been given more modern names). Whatever the reason, I had slightly more trouble than usual navigating. My biggest failure was in finding the place I had wanted to eat at for lunch. It was supposedly "situated in a small maze of streets just south of the university," according to my guidebook, but when I looked at the section of the map that it referenced the street wasn't listed at all. But I didn't give up hope! I was going to find lunch one way or another, by golly! Thus I took a moment to gather my inner strength before powering on. After another fifteen or twenty minutes of searching, I must say I was pretty pleased with this little discovery:

After lunch I decided it was time to add a little culture to my day, so I headed to Christiansborg Slot, the palace that used to house the royal family. This is actually the fifth building on the site and the third Christiansborg Slot. There was a 12th century fortress there which got torn down and replaced by Copenhagen Castle in 1369. That was replaced by Christian VI who had the first Christiansborg Palace built, but it burned down in 1749. It was rebuilt, but again damaged by fire in 1884. The palace as it stands today was completed in 1928.

I figured it was worth doing a guided tour and was greeted by the Hall of Giants as I went inside to get my ticket.

I definitely wouldn't mind having an entrance hall with six French limestone telamones. Beyond here I wasn't supposed to take pictures, but the website on the Royal Reception Rooms has some pictures you can reference. The first picture shows the King's Staircase (still named such despite Denmark currently having a queen) which is built of Italian marble and is the further entrance to the Royal Reception Rooms. It's a bit difficult to distinguish, but the Danish Flag, Dannebrog, is in the middle of the shot. Legend has it that during the Battle of Lyndanisse, where the Danes were fighting the Estonians in 1219, the Danes were struggling and defeat seemed imminent. Just as all hope was lost the flag floated down from heaven and was grasped by the king before it could touch the ground. Taking it as an omen, he waved it around, rallying his troops, and led them to victory. The flag was thenceforth adopted as the flag of Denmark. There's a neat fresco depicting this on the ceiling of the throne room.

The Great Hall (second picture) is clad with 17 tapestries that show the past 1000 years of Danish history. They're conspicuously modern and were completed in 2000 by Bjørn Nørgaard as a birthday gift to Queen Margrethe II from the Danish business community. They were woven in France by Les Manufactures des Gobelins.

courtesy of www.gt-online.pl (no idea why they would have a picture of this tapestry, but it was my favorite one so I'm not asking questions)

The tapestries basically looked like this, except the color was about twelve times more vibrant. I wasn't a fan of this particular style (but I'm just not captivated by most modern art), though of all the tapestries in this hall I liked the subject matter of this one the most. It showed the Viking period and the first kings, including Harald Bluetooth - the figure on the right with the dark grey face, as well as many of the Æsir in Norse mythology. Thor, God of Thunder, is in the heavens on the far left wielding his hammer, while Odin, his father, is a little further right with his eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. Speaking of Odin, his more traditional name is "Wōđanaz", and he was such an important figure in mythology that he had his very own day named after him - Wednesday. I bet you can figure out which god Thursday was named for... 

The table in the third picture of the SES website is in the dining room. When Christiansborg Slot burned for the second time, Russian troops were stationed in the city. They caught wind of the fire and came running to help. The fruits of their heroic labor in the flames that could have been their death? They saved the Queen's staircase. Not quite knowing what to do with these mahogany planks, it was decided that their best use would be as the new dining table for the next rendition of the palace. Sadly, despite all of the Russians' hard work, the royal family has not yet dined at this table.

There was a great manner of other fun tidbits and neat inclusions in the palace, such as one room which had inlaid squares of particularly dark oak which had been taken from a Danish ship that had been sitting at the bottom of the ocean for over a decade. The Velvet Chamber had flowers on the ceiling and stars inlaid in the floor. There was also a large portrait in one room of the Fredensborg family centered around King Christian IX and Queen Louise, often referred to as the "parents-in-law of Europe" because they married all of their children into prominent families from a majority of Europe's prominent countries. Also in the portrait is young Nicholas II, last Czar of Russia; I had no idea that his mother, Princess Dagmar, was Danish! Oh, and there was also a room which had a ceiling ringed with elephants (see, I wasn't making the Order of the Elephant up).

After the guided tour was over I circled back to browse through the rooms again at a more leisurely pace and cane across two women making the rounds for the first time. I overheard one of them asking about something that I happened to have heard during the tour, so I volunteered the answer and we started talking. Our chat eventually turned into me re-doing the tour, except this time leading it (which I was happy to do as it helped solidify a lot of the information I had just heard) for the women, Cindy and Sandy. After we were ushered out as the palace was closing (luckily just as I was finishing my tour), we decided to stick together and go to the Botanisk Have (Botanical Garden). They were from Illinois and in Copenhagen for a few days before setting out on a cruise around the Baltics. Sandy was a high school mythology teacher, so it was neat having her to point things out,

such as this Hermes, as we walked through the city. Copenhagen really liked Hermes; there were a lot of statues of him. As we were heading to the gardens we passed the Rundetårn, a 17th century astronomical observatory.

It is part of the Trinitatis Complex which at the time also contained a university chapel, library, and the Trinitatis Church. To get to the top you have to climb a cobbled spiral ramp which winds around seven and a half times.

Supposedly during its opening in 1642 Christian IV rode his horse up the spiraling pathway to the top. In 1716, Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, apparently repeated the feat while his wife, Czarina Catherine II, followed in a carriage drawn by six horses. Alas! I didn't bring my noble steed on this trip so I couldn't also ride to the top in style, but the view from the terrace was great all the same.

Looking North from the top of the Rundetårn, you can see Rosenborg Slot in the middle - copper roof - Kongens Have (King's Garden) to the right, and the sea on the horizon

Unfortunately by the time we got down and over to the Botanical Gardens they were closed, but the Rosenborg Gardens were still open so we strolled through.

That little copper speck that you can barely see at the end of this manicured tree-lined path is a statue of Hans Christian Anderson, famous Danish fairy tale writer.

 Rosenborg Slot

 Cindy

After this I parted ways with Cindy and Sandy as they were getting hungry and I wanted to explore North Copenhagen. We said our goodbyes then I set off for the northernmost point I was interested in seeing, The Little Mermaid. I passed some noteworthy things along the way...

solid Danish architecture

Marmorkirken

Geese in a park - don't get me started on my hatred of Geese

Sankt Albans Kirke

Gefion Springvandet, complete with a fine spray emitting from the nostrils of each ox

Gefjon, another Norse goddess, was promised as much land as she could plough in one night by the king of Sweden. Of course the logical thing for her to do was to turn her four sons into oxen and harness them up. By the time the new day dawned, she had ploughed a sizable chunk of Sweden which she subsequently picked up and threw into the ocean, creating the island of Zealand. The remaining hole became Lake Vänern, which actually resembles the island quite a bit.

Not far beyond this was The Little Mermaid, a small statue sitting on a rock gazing wistfully at the passing ships.

This statue was inspired by the ballet version of The Little Mermaid, which itself was based on H. C. Anderson's fairy tale. We all know the Disney story: mermaid saves a drowning prince, falls in love, trades her voice to a sea witch in return for legs... well, H.C. Anderson's original gets a little darker. Although the Little Mermaid will now have the most beautiful legs in the world and dance as no other has ever danced, she will constantly feel like she is walking on sharp swords and her feet will bleed most terribly. Also, if the prince marries anyone but her, she'll die. Not surprising, the prince eventually is wed to another woman. The Little Mermaid's sisters trade their luxurious long hair to the sea witch for a knife which if the Little Mermaid uses to kill the prince before dawn, she can turn back into a mermaid and live the rest of her life. However, she can't bring herself to do it and throws herself into the sea.

By this time, as some of the pictures indicate, the clouds had broken up a bit and it was a really nice time to take pictures (especially since dusk was so drawn out being so far north), so I made my way back along the harbor, passing by Amalienborg Slot along the way. These four buildings situated around a square are now the winter home of the Danish royal family.

The other three buildings look similar to this one. They're also watched over night and day by guards complete with bearskin hats.

Almost directly across the harbor is the new Operaen, the Copenhagen Opera house which opened in 2005.

Continuing south I came across Nyhavn, a long canal lined on both sides with colorful houses and great restaurants.

There was also an ice cream place where you could look in the window and watch a guy making all of the cones fresh.

I can also verify that the ice cream was quite tasty. Or maybe I was just getting hungry at that point. My tour nearing completion, I continued south to the last thing I really wanted to see, Børsen 5, Copenhagen's former stock exchange building. Not that I was wildly enthusiastic about seeing the building itself, but the tower, I knew, was certainly worth having a look-see. By sheer luck (or really brilliant planning and timing on my part by saving it for last with some nice dusk lighting), I got there at an ideal time.

It's a little hard to tell, but the spire is carved to resemble the entwined tails of four dragons. That more or less wrapped up my evening saunter, so I went back to Nyhavn for dinner before calling it a night.

Though, while we're on the topic of dragons, I had seen another one earlier in the day...

I suppose this wasn't the type of thing I pondered when I was a lil'un, but who knew that Lego was a Danish company?

Day III - København

Saturday, June 11, 2011 - I had a great first impression stepping off the train into Copenhagen station, perhaps because I was near delirious in my sleep-deprived and starving state, but likely also because it actually was a charming old station that had been built in 1911.

(Apparently it had originally been built in 1847 but was all wood because it was outside the main fortification and those buildings weren't allowed to have foundations - that design did not serve its purposes long.) The hotel I was staying at was conveniently close to the station in South Copenhagen, so I consulted my map and set off, duffel bag, purse, and painting in hand. As it was before check-in time when I got there, I dropped my things off and asked the fellow at the front desk where he recommended for lunch. He sent me to a Cafe Norden near Kongens Nytorv, a relatively central location in the city. He also sent me right into the midst of a parade route. The cafe that he sent me to was two stories, and although the ground floor was packed I was able to get a table next to one of the open windows upstairs (which was decorated with mounted deer heads of various species and had furs draped over some of the benches - I felt very at home despite being 5,051 miles away as the crow flies... though I don't think crows fly that far), which provided a great vantage-point for enjoying the festivities.

Not to mention the food was really quite savory! I stuck with a simple open sandwich of kapers og laks med røræg og salat (capers and smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and salad). I'll go ahead and say it now: I was thoroughly impressed with all of my meals while I was in Denmark! I never thought that the Danes were particularly well known for their food, but I was surprised (and pleasantly so) to learn something so unexpected; everything I had was truly delicious!

After lunch I did my typical new-city-acclimating by just wandering down whatever streets looked interesting. One of the interesting motifs I kept passing was a large painted fiberglass elephants. They were seriously rampant (sorry, Andrew, I don't mean rearing up with forepaws raised -linked for anyone who doesn't know the heraldic stance - in this case), and quite vibrantly painted.

Elephant 33: Censor
 

Of course I wasn't going to let this go un-sleuthed, so here's what I found out: The mission of The Elephant Parade is to become the world's largest Asian Elephant financial support organization. During the summer of 2011, Copenhagen and Frederiksberg are hosting a large (103 elephants large) exhibition to raise public awareness of and support around the globe for the cause of Asian Elephant conservation as their population was declined 90% in the past 100 years; today there are less than 35,000. If you want to learn more, you can check out their website. Or, if you would like to buy your very own elephant to take home today, you can do that, too. You may also be wondering why Denmark is concerned with the continuation of the Asian Elephant. It may have something to do with Elefantordenen, The Order of the Elephant, which is the highest order of Denmark and has its origins in the 15th century. I heard that everyone in the royal family used to own an elephant, but I'm not certain what time period that "used to" would fall into...

Shamefully, though, my endurance failed me. Around 3:30 I was starting to nod off so I figured it was time to consider a little siesta. Walking back to the hotel I passed Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, a great art museum that has, most notably, a whole room of Rodin works - apparently the largest collection of his works outside of France, paintings by van Gogh and many other Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, and a lot of Danish Golden Age paintings and sculptures. There is also a quiet garden out back

complete with flaming facade.

I had wanted to go to Turandot at the Opera House that evening, but it was the last performance and tickets were rather hard to come by. Thus I figured my second best option for a Saturday night was to check out Tivoli, "part amusement park, part cultural venue, part wonderland," - Eyewitness Travel, Denmark guide - (and quite close to the hotel).

A pretty apt description, all things considered. I traversed the grounds for a bit, taking in everything Tivoli had to offer from open air Chinese stage

to Nimb, a palatial Moorish-style restaurant.

I brought a book to read while waiting for dinner, and after I finished eating it was so nice out that I decided to keep reading until it got dark. After what seemed like a pretty long time (I got through many a chapter), the light was vaguely beginning to fade. I checked my phone. It was 10:30. I had been reading for almost two hours. It slipped my mind how far north I was and that the days were significantly longer. I had been wondering why I was getting sleepy again... It was high time to turn in for the night and again try and catch up on the sleep I had missed out on during my little train ride.

A few other pictures to give a glimpse of Copenhagen: