Copenhagen, Denmark 03.07

After sightseeing in Hamburg, we headed off in our car for Copenhagen. We had calculated the distance and time to get there, online, but we hadn't twigged that this route involved taking a ferry. We were a bit surprised when we ended up in front of the ferry station. Thankfully, it only took us about 45 mins until we could get onto the ferry.

The ferry was small, but it was pretty cool. We wandered up on the top deck, but Loren had trouble with her skirt and the wind, so she ended up going back inside. Shortly after, she figured out a solution to the problem, and tied her jumper around her legs, to keep the skirt down. It worked well, looked a bit weird, but at least she could enjoy the deck with everyone else. There were duty-free shops below deck, and lots of little restaurants and cafeterias. After our explorations, we had a hot tea in one of the cafes.



Matchbox Hostel
Eventually, we made it to Copenhagen, and found our hostel. It was an unusually clinical type building, and we were shocked at the size of our rooms, they were the smallest we'd come across in our travels. They were literally matchbox size, with a toilet/bathroom that was so small, you almost had to be sitting on the toilet to use the shower. Thankfully we had booked a slightly larger room for Artur's parents, but we put emphasis on the 'slightly'.



Western Dinner
We were pretty hungry by this point, and eager to leave our matchboxes behind, so we went in search of a restaurant. We couldn't find much in the area, so we settled on one of our few choices. It turned out to be a restaurant decorated in the style of an old Western film. Even the seats around the bar were actually old saddles!


We enjoyed the food, and were thrilled to try our first Danish beers. We had Tuborg and Carlsberg, 'Probably the best beer in the world', as the slogan goes. After our food, we walked back to the hostel, and admired the buildings we passed. They were all so stately and huge. Each building was similar looking, and took up an entire block. In the centre, most of them had a garden area or a courtyard, but from the outside, they just looked like enormous solid buildings. We just loved looking at the beautiful architecture of the old buildings. It wasn't hard to picture horses and carriages trotting around these buildings.


The next morning, we had breakfast in the hostel cafeteria. It was pretty huge, and crowded with people. Obviously they can fit a lot of people into their building, when they only give people a tiny amount of living space each. The food was pretty simple, but good. We were most fascinated by their cheese cutting machines. You had to turn the handle in a circle, and it would make the blade go lower bit by bit, making it slice through the cheese as it grazed its surface.

Cycing in Copenhagen
We decided that the best way to see Copenhagen, would be by bike, so we walked to the main train station, where the bike rentals were located. Soon we were all on our own bikes, with Artur as our tour guide. He interpreted the map and lead us along a sightseeing route that was recommended on the map.


Artur was the most confident on the bike, which meant it was hard for us to keep up sometimes, especially when he decided to run red lights. The bike lanes in Copenhagen were excellent, but none of us were used to riding in the city like Artur was. We were all fairly independant too, which frustrated Artur to no end, as we sometimes just rode off in our own direction, convinced that we knew where we were going. We managed to work together in the end though :)

Rathaus Our first stop was the Rathaus, in the centre of the city. We admired the huge square in front of it, and the surrounding buildings, which were beautiful and old.

Inside the Rathaus, we saw an enormous hall, with beautifully sculptured ceilings. It was several stories high, with balconies overlooking it, and lots of flags and shield symbols hanging from the walls.
There was a special room near the entrance, which had an intricate clock on display. The case around the clock was glass so you could see the mechanisms working. The clock was extremely precise, and even displayed the date according to the Roman calendar, and the Gregorian calendar. There was a section that showed the temperature and the air pressure on the barometer. It was pretty cool to see! Artur's dad loves clocks, so he enjoyed looking at the mechanical pieces working at the back.
We were very lucky, because there is a tour of the Rathaus Clock Tower, only twice a day, and we managed to show up just as a tour started. It wasn't really a tour, it was more of an escort to the top. We didn't mind though, we just wanted to see the view from the top! It was beautiful up there, especially because Copenhagen is such a lovely city. There were so many monuments and old buildings to see.

Parliamentary Buildings After this, we rode to see another church, which was connected to the Parliamentary buildings. These buildings were quite beautiful, and we were considering taking a tour through them. We decided to do a cruise on the the canals which conflicted with the tour, so we didn't end up seeing inside those buildings.

Flea Market
We arrived at the waters edge a bit before the cruise was leaving, so we decided to have lunch beside the water. There were a lot of little cafes serving food outside, and the pavement nearby was filled with stalls from the local flea market.

We had a wander through the market while we waited for our food. There were some cool old hats and an old clock that Artur's dad considered buying. Loren liked a string of pearls that she found in one of the stalls, so we bought them.

Canal Cruise After lunch, we went on our ride through the canals. It was really beautiful everywhere they took us. Our tour guide was quite impressive, as she gave the tour in several languages, one after the other. I think there was English, Danish, German and Spanish - pretty good!

They took us out to a bigger stretch of water, where we could see the opera house. It was a very modern building, that was even bigger than it looked. It was actually 11 stories high, but 7 of these levels were built beneath the ground!
They also took us near the little mermaid sculpture, which is on a rock at the beach, but we couldn't see much of it from where we were. We had heard it was small though, so we didn't expect to, They also took us close to where Amalienborg Palace is, where the Royal family live when they are in Copenhagen.

We also loved touring the little residential canals, and seeing the new waterfront apartments, and the old houses that had been there for years. One section was a newly fasionable area, where old boat houses were being turned into restaurants and shops.

Nyhavn
After our cruise, we headed to a street called 'Nyhavn', which is very popular with the locals. There is a canal along the centre of the road, where lots of yachts and little boats were docked. Along the edges of the canal, people sat near the water, enjoying a beer or three in the sunshine. The bars along the street were packed with people, and it seemed like the people sitting along the water were the overflow from the full pubs.

There was a busy icecream place on Nyhavn, that was selling traditional Danish icecream. We were definitely up for it, so we sampled a few flavours and joined the locals by the water. The icecream was divine, and we had to eat it quickly as it was melting in the beautiful afternoon sun.
Amalienborg Palace After Nyhavn, we went to see Amalienborg Palace. It looked even better from up close, not to mention familiar, after all the media coverage in Australia of the Australian girl who became a Danish Princess. The palace was actually made of 4 separate palaces, joined by a walkway above the ground. The four palaces were curved and formed a large circle, with an enormous courtyard in the centre.
A big monument was in the centre, and it served as a kind of roundabout. Posh black cars drove through the courtyard from time to time, scattering the tourists that had stopped to gaze at the beautiful buildings.
The Palace wasn't open when we got there, so we decided to return to have tour of the state appartments the next day. There was an enormous church located just beyond the Palace, and it had a huge green dome roof. We decided to see this on our return, seeing as we were coming back anyway.

The Little Mermaid
Next we rode toward the beach, where the little Mermaid could be found. We found parking spots for our bikes, and had a look at the sculpture. It wasn't very exciting as a tourist attraction, but most people wanted to be in photos with it.
As usual, trying to take a photo of a monument without an Asian tourist in the photo was very difficult. They seem to arrive in tour groups and take turns one by one having photos with the monument. This process can take up to half an hour, so it's rare to get a good personless photo in these circumstances. We have even seen this in galleries and museums, where they stand in front of the picture they're being photographed with, and end up covering it completely so that the majority of the painting doesn't even show up in their photo. One wonders what the point is really. You might as well just photoshop yourself in front of every monument at home and not bother travelling at all.
After seeing the mermaid, we rode back into town. The path took us to a road between several long buildings that kind of looked like barns. They were actually old army barracks, but they were big and red. There was also a big flagpole there with the Danish flag flying.

King's Gardens We rode through the 'Kongens Have', or King's Gardens, which were absolutely beautiful. There were lots of people relaxing and lying around on the grass, under the sun. There were some pretty archways made of flowering plants like roses. In keeping with the bike culture of Copenhagen, there were also a few bicyles with side or front carriages for carrying kids in! We were quite impressed by them.

Buffet
We rode back past an old Evangelical church, but it just closed as we got there. So we decided we'd done enough sightseeing for the day and found a place for dinner.

The place where we ended up was one that was recommended by Lonely Planet. It was an extremely popular all-you-can-eat place, with a big buffet of mediterranean and middle eastern style food. The problem where the men were concerned, was that there was no meat! The girls didn't mind, and in fact, Loren didn't even notice. The guys ended up a little hungry as the food wasn't to their taste.

Christiania
We all went back to the hostel, and took a little time to wind down. Artur and I headed out soon after, as we wanted to check out the 'Christiania Commune'. This commune used to be army barracks as well, but once the government deserted it, they let the hippies take over. It became a place for 'free love' and drugs and everything else that the 60-70s brought us.

We rode off on our bikes, not sure what to expect from the place. When we arrived, we saw a big sign, high in the air like an archway, saying 'Welcome to Christiania'. On the other side, to read as you left, it said, 'You are now entering the European Union'. The implication being that while you are in Christiania, you are exempt from the rules that govern countries in the European Union. However, pretty much the only law that they flout there is to smoke marijuana.

We wandered inside, and saw a big run-down building on our right, with lots of painting and graffiti on the walls. All around the yard, there were old pieces of metal and junk that had been left lying around. It had a very recycled, industrial feel to it, if you know what I mean.


Loren decided to take a few photos, even though she'd been told by people in Copenhagen that they don't let you take pictures there. However up to that point there had been no signs indicating that. She got a few of the area that is described above, but then two little boys told her 'no photos'. As we walked in further, there were signs indicating that, so we quite happily restrained ourselves from then on.

We hadn't seen much life yet, so we were starting to think that maybe Christiania was just a collection of old buildings, not a living place. Not too much further, we saw some food stalls serving pancakes, sausages etc, and a bar on our left inside a shed-like building. The bar seemed to be filled with people, and there was overflow of people to tables outside. Everyone had either a drink or a joint or both.
We decided to wander a bit further, and take the whole place in before settling down for a drink. Further along, we saw a huge area with lots of little bars sprinkled around the place. There was a lot of seating areas outside, with groups of people gathered together, chatting and laughing. We worked our way through the crowd to check out the bars, and then decided to head back to the first one we'd seen.

Instead of going straight there, we took a detour through a path we hadn't been on before. We found ourselves near a little carpark kind of area. We decided to cut through it to get back to the bar. Just as we jumped over the embankment, we found ourselves in front of a little stall selling marijuana in every shape and form. We had heard that they sold drugs openly, but we were kind of expecting it to be in the bars. Instead, here in front of us, we had a couple of guys behind a push cart, like something you'd sell peanuts from at the zoo. Spread out on the counter top, were glasses filled with joints, like pencils in a jar. There was also a cutting board with sections of hash cut into squares. Each product was priced according to how much hash or weed there was in it.


After checking out the stall, we wandered back to the bar, and bought ourselves a beer each. It was a bit crowded inside, so we went outside to the picnic tables. There were no free tables, so we just asked to join some other people. The people we were sitting with were a bit dopey, drunk or high, and weren't very talkative, but we had a few little conversations. They were from a little town in Denmark, not from Copenhagen, and they often came for a visit. They told us that there weren't many locals there that night, because the Roskilde music festival was on at the time. The Roskilde is similar to the Glastonbury music festival, and lots of great bands come and play, while people camp there and party.

We got sick of attempting conversation with these people however, and soon moved on to one of the other bars. This one was open to outside on one wall, and there were pool tables and couches. There were signs saying 'No Hard Drugs Allowed Here'. The commune has its own rules about what is acceptable. 'Soft drugs', like marijuana, are ok there, but not chemically manipulated drugs like heroin etc.

Soon we started to feel pretty tired, as it had already been a long day. We headed off on our bicycles, a little wobbly but happy. We found our way home quickly as it was cold, but we didn't bother with maps, as we were pretty sure of the roads by now. It was fun to just ride, and not have to worry about checking directions.

Rosenborg Slot The next morning, we got up early for some more sightseeing in Copenhagen. First we went to visit Rosenborg Slot (castle), because somehow we missed it on our ride the day before. Also, a friend of our from Copenhagen recommended it to us. We arrived at the Castle through the King's Gardens and where a jazz band was playing for the crowds on the lawns. There was a jazz festival happening in Copenhagen at the time, so we assume it was part of that.


Rosenborg Slot was very impressive in stature. It was very tall, but quite skinny. We walked over the moat on a little bridge, and watched the swans go by underneath. One tourist way trying to touch a swan and got pecked.

Not surprising, swans are pretty but they still have a similar temperament to geese, and if you've ever encountered a grumpy goose, you'll know what I'm talking about.


We decided to visit the Royal Treasury first, because it sounded very exciting. It's always exciting to see things that belong to a living monarchy. The most exciting were the crowns, which were embedded with jewels, some of which were enormous. There was a lot of weaponry and jewel encrusted swords, but they weren't that interesting.

Loren really liked looking at the jewelry though. There were several sets of necklaces with matching earrings, and tiaras. They were gorgeous, but no doubt they are out of fashion according to the royals, or they wouldn't be there. None of the crowns or jewelry that the current monarchy use, get kept in displays for the general public.

After seeing the treasury, we saw the rooms of the castle. There were lots of paintings of the different kings and queens on the walls, and in one main hall, there were two thrones on display. One throne at each end of the hall.

The other rooms were decorated in the Dutch Renaissance style, with gilded mirrors, big tapestries and marbled and carved ceilings.


Amalienborg Palace Tour
Soon we headed back to the Amalienborg Palace, for the tour of the Staterooms that we'd missed out on the day before. We arrived once again in the enormous central courtyard, with the 4 enormous palaces surrounding us. We were told that these palaces were built by four very rich men. Their palaces looked similar, but they decorated the inside of them how they wanted. The Royal Palace in Copenhagen burnt down in a fire, so the Royal Family decided to borrow the palaces at Amalienborg. They ended up redecorating them to suit their tastes, and staying there.

We were only allowed to see one palace, where state guests stay, because one of them is used as a museum and the other two are the residences for the Royal Family. The Queen lives in one of the Palaces, but they also have many other homes all over Denmark. She prefers not to be in Amalienborg during the summer, because other houses in the area can see into the courtyards and gardens in the Palace. This way she can also escape the noise of the city when it is most populated by tourists.

The Australian-born Princess Mary and her husband Prince Frederik, are preparing one of the Palaces for themselves and their child. The Palace is is the process of redecoration and restructuring. So unfortunatley we didn't get to catch a glimpse of either Princess Mary or the other Royals.
We were taken throught the many rooms in the State Apartments, but I think we were a little disappointed. We wanted to see how the Royal family lived, and what their Palaces were like, but this one was for guests only. The Palace was redecorated to look like it would have a few centuries ago, so it really didn't give us a glimpse into the lives of a living monarchy, just of the ones in the past. We had seen many rich houses and palaces before, but the drawcard here had been that the people who lived in these palaces were still living. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more like a museum.

There was one connection to the Royal Family though, and this was to the Queen herself. The Queen is extremely fond of interior design and she has an artistic streak. When she decided to redecorate the Palace that we toured through, she made the plans and the colour schemes herself. She was so specific in her designs that she had to make drawings herself and instruct the craftsmen. It was a very beautiful Palace that we saw, but it's hard to say if the Palace we saw was anything like the one she lives in.
After Amalienborg, we went to visit the huge church just down from the Palace. It had the most enormous cuppola or dome roof, which was a beautiful green colour. Inside the church, the walls were covered in detailed patterns and a band of blue ran around the whole church, with latin writing in gold leaf. It was very pretty and had an airy, bright atmosphere.

To see the photos from the post in slideshow mode, click on on the link below:
Copenhagen pictures