Copenhagen Part 1
Copenhagen – 14th May
Today we went by train to the northern part of central Copenhagen to do a self-guided walking tour of nine attractions. Copenhagen is too large to walk the whole city in one afternoon so we hope to return later in the week to do some more.
We got off the train at Norreport Underground Station which is serviced by metro, regional and long-distant trains. Norreport Station is the most air-polluted place in Denmark; they are currently trying to fix this because they are such a clean green country, more on that another day. The photo is of just one of the bike stands at the train station, there are several of these areas, bike parking should be encouraged because they are quite menacing to unsuspecting tourists.
Our Walking Tour of Copenhagen
Torvehallerne: Two market halls have been revived from old. They sell fresh fish, meat, fruit & Vegetables, flowers, deli goods, and many more food and drink items. They also have wine bars, coffee outlets and lunch bars. We went naturally for the French filled baguettes and not the traditional Danish open sandwich; there was just too much raw onion and unidentifiable items in the Danish sandwiches. I would liked to have tried their fresh oysters but as you may be able to see in the photo they were NZ$9 each or NZ$96 a dozen. That should stop the Bluff oyster fans complaining about the price back home. The different names listed on the counter glass are where they come from. If you are shocked at the price of oysters, the best Rib Eye Steak costs over NZ$200 a kilo.
The University Botanical Gardens: Ten hectares of gardens and a multi level glass palm house. The photo above is of one of the rock gardens, which were well laid out and all plants identified with small signs.
Ostre Anlaeg: Another park that is built on the old medieval town and once had a fortification system of ramparts and moats. We will have to take their word for it as we could only find a lake and a playground.
Nyboder: Nyboder is an historic row house district of former naval barracks built for the Danish Royal Navy a long time ago. The yellow colour of the houses now has become a official colour and is known as Nyboder Yellow, the original houses were, however, red and white. There are still Naval, Air Force and Army personnel living in the houses today.
Kastellet or the Citadel: Believed to be one of the best preserved fortresses in Northern Europe. The buildings still house military personnel, they were guarding the gates with rifles but let us in. The pentagon shaped citadel is surrounded by a moat and is across the waters from the Naval Base. We walked around the perimeter, visited the church and fountain and then bought a Danish ice cream, NZ$8 a scoop.
The Little Mermaid: The contentious statue is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale of the same name. It is not too dissimilar to Napier’s Pania on the reef, except this statue has a mermaid’s tail and is regularly defaced for political reasons. The damage and defacing includes; sawing off body parts, drilling holes in her, blasting her off the stone, climbing on her, painting her, dressing her up in clothes and writing graffiti on her such as ‘racist fish’. We completed a geocache or attempted to while the poor mermaid was being swamped by Canadian tourist and the Kiwi by Asians.
St Pauls Church: we went there just to do a geocache. There are numerous churches in this area of Copenhagen, but none however are as inviting as French churches; the big steel doors are always firmly closed with no welcoming mat left outside.
Kongens Have or Kings Garden: this is a lovely park area of green grass, trees and lots of people enjoying the beautiful Spring weather.
Rosenborg Slot/Castle: another geocache place for us and a photo of a cannonball shot into a wall. In 1807 Denmark was war neutral and preferred to stay that way, however they had a big Navy and both the French and English wanted it.
Because Denmark didn’t want to upset trade with either country they stalled making a decision so Britain bombarded the city of Copenhagen destroying buildings and leaving cannonballs embedded in walls.
Not on the list was the George Clooney Nespresso coffee house to get some pods for the machine in the apartment. The photo is of the oldest cafe shop in Denmark, but even that claim to fame couldn’t entice Roger to go in and sample some filtered coffee.
We should have visited Amalienborg Palace, the main residence of 9 homes of the Danish Royal family. My error it was in the fold of the guide book, we could see the prominent dome but thought it was just another church. It will be put on the list for the next visit as Queen Mary, being Australian, is sure to be a relative.
All of the above took four hours of walking a combination of cobbled or dusty paths, sniffing flowers, ducking and diving from annoying cyclists, scoffing at exorbitant prices and trying my best not to crown a tourist.
Today’s ABBA tribute is one line ‘it was like shooting a sitting duck’ from their song ‘Lay all your love on me’ (1981). Unfortunately Copenhagen is a major stopping point for tourists, and there were hundreds of them, especially those annoying ones that push in front of you at the attractions or stand in front of you while you are clearly taking a photo. One of those cannonballs would have come in handy; there was so many of tourists I couldn’t miss “it would be like shooting a sitting duck”. Today’s closing photo continues with that theme.