Woolly says – After an early night I was up and about with the lark, well there weren’t any larks but if there had been I would have been up with them. Having breakfasted at the hostel and consulted the humans tablet we seemed to have a very early start on our hands, that was until Jo went to check what the actual time was only to find out that we were an hour behind, still on British time! I raced towards the metro in the interests of catching up with ourselves. I have to say I was rather impressed with my carer who managed to buy tickets and get us on and off the right train and to the starting point of our day only to find that it didn’t open for another hour and a half, I wonder who forgot to check the opening hours!!
After a brief discussion we climbed back onto a train and headed to what should have been our finishing point of the day. The train dropped us in Osterport and having asked several people for directions we headed into a rather nice park. As we strolled along wondering if we would ever find our destination, I realised that a number of coaches were dropping people off not far away and that a crowd were all heading in one direction which could only mean one thing, we were on the right path.
Rounding a corner, we arrived at the sea in what looked like a very industrial area of the city, it was however home to one of the most iconic pieces that Copenhagen had to offer.
The Little Mermaid is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting a mermaid becoming human. The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade standing at 1.25 metres (4.1 ft) tall and weighing in at 175 kilograms (385 lb), so not so little at all. Based on the 1837 fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen it was unveiled in 1913and has had a lifetime of vandalism, including being blasted off its base, having its head sawn off and being stolen.
It was rather fetching and as Jo snapped away, I hoped that the lady could finally be at peace and that no one else would cause her any harm.
With one of our extremely long list ticked off the human refused to follow my walking trail to the next place insisting that having already clocked up three miles we would never get to see anything if we walked it all. So back to the metro which this time took us back into the centre of Copenhagen and we set off to find the round tower.
The Round Tower, formerly Stellaburgis Hafniens, is a 17th century tower and one of the many architectural projects of Christian IV of Denmark, built as an astronomical observatory. It was a lovely building but not one that we would see the inside of as given our limited time in the city it was going to be impossible to see everything it had to offer, having taken the required pictures we hurried on once more.
I was already starting to flag and decided that a cold drink would help, popping into a handy supermarket I collected my drink paid and then found that I couldn’t exit the shop, I stood for a moment wondering if I had gone the wrong way and there was another exit at which point a shop assistant arrived and showed me how to scan my receipt and bingo the gate opened and I was released, what a great way of stopping shoplifting.
Woolly says – Having shared the cold sugary drink we headed off towards some trees in the distance. Arriving in a rather splendid park which had once been the Kings Garden, we wandered past all manner of statues and along shady avenues of trees before spotting our next stop.
Rosenborg Castle was built as a pleasure palace by one of the most famous Danish kings, Christian IV, in the 17th century. The beautiful castle came complete with a moat and a very fine tower.
As we navigated our way towards the entrance my eye was drawn to a number of guards in the parade ground with their furry bearskins it reminded me of London except, they were in blue and the British guards of the palace wear red.
Having paid for our ticket and put our bag in the lockers we headed inside, the first room was amazing with walls covered in portraits and the ceiling painted in in cherubs. A large golden statue of a man riding what appeared to be a unicorn glinted brightly in the sunshine.
Passing through into the next area we found that this time the cherubs had been made out of plaster and put onto the ceiling, even better was a small room or closet off it that was heavily tiled and led us to a rather fine toilet that my bestie Sion would have enjoyed.
The next room had even more paintings on the ceiling.
The stone corridor led us past a beautifully painted genealogical chart of the kings which would make anyone proud.
Upstairs was even grander with gold tables and coats of arms above our heads, you had to give it to the Danish former king he really knew how to decorate in style.
We arrived on the second floor which was one humongous room known as the great hall. It would have taken me a week to walk from one end to the other, so I let Jo do the walking whilst I just looked at the stucco ceiling and the mammoth tapestries that covered the walls depicting the Kings victories of war. At one end stood a single throne
While at the other end several football pitches away sat two further thrones, one for the King and one for the Queen which had been made from silver and narwhal tusk. They were guarded by three large silver lions made in 1670.
As we headed back down and back outside, we watched the soldiers for a few moments before heading into the basement.
It was insane, I have never seen so much amber, silver, ivory and gold before. A completely gold war game set belonging to the king filled a case, once he had used these small figurines for planning his battles.
Even more was to come as we arrived in the treasury which blew our minds even more. We have seen the Crown jewels in the Tower of London but that was quite a distance and without the ability to take photographs, this was the complete opposite, and I was able to press my trunk right up against the incredibly detailed crown dating from 1596.
A couple of steps down and we stood in awe of the two crowns of the Absolute Monarch, one from 1671 and the other later addition from 1731.
A beautiful sword and all number of other pieces of jewellery and grandeur were equally accessible.
Finding ourselves back outside we both agreed that it was a brilliant palace and well worth seeing, and we both apologise for having people in the shots, but it was dammed difficult not to.
With aching paws, we headed back to where we had meant to start our day. Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park and pleasure garden opened on 15th August 1843 and is the third-oldest operating amusement park in the world.
Tivoli’s founder, Georg Carstensen (1812 – 1857), obtained a five-year charter to create Tivoli by telling King Christian VIII that “when the people are amusing themselves, they do not think about politics”. The monarch granted Carstensen use of roughly 15 acres (61,000 m2) of the fortified glacis outside Vesterport (for an annual rent and it’s still going today.
This was a place I have always wanted to visit and unknown to us both it was celebrating Halloween into the bargain.
It was pumpkin mad, I stopped counting how many there were after the first minute and just came to the conclusion that thy must have bought every pumpkin in Denmark to put on display.
All manner of rides surrounded us from the very old and original ones put there by the founder to much newer ones.
With us both flagging we sat for a while with coffee and chocolate coated churros watching the people go past and listening to the screams from customers who had decided to fly through the air upside down on the rides.
Having been thoroughly wiped and hopefully all traces of chocolate removed we headed into the aquarium for all things fishy only to find that they had bigger fish then expected. They were huge.
A tank filled one wall from floor to ceiling for these gigantic members of the sea, as I tried to capture an incredibly large eel or prosperity my small companion stood at the piranha tank banging his tusk on the glass.
Our walk continued round the park with even more pumpkins and areas that were themed around China and India with rides made to look as though the fitted in.
A large lake had mini junks and koi carp that would feed a whole nation.
As we rounded a bend, we found ourselves in front of a stall selling chestnuts and mulled wine known as glogg, Jo needed no encouragement although she would deny this if asked to head straight to the counter, we sat and munched away happily. Only one more place to see and then we would have to stop for the day, we had already walked over ten miles and the battery on the camera was flashing red, I consulted the map and looked around me, pointing out the building just outside of the park.
It seemed a good choice as we headed through the exit and crossed the road.
Woolly says – Set on Copenhagen’s City Hall Square, this beautiful building was built between 1892 and 1905, designed by the architect Martin Nyrop with inspiration from Siena City Hall in Italy. In recent years, the City Hall has been featured in a number of Danish hit TV series’’. It was lovely with a large golden statue on its front and three strange looking creatures guarding its doors.
Inside was rather lovely with its domed glass ceiling and flags flying. A number of people were dressed in wedding finery, and it certainly made a great place to get married.
As our tired legs walked the last half mile back to the station, we passed a large bronze of the cities most famous writer Mr Anderson and managed to take a last picture before the camera battery went dead.
I was impressed with Copenhagen in fact I was that impressed I would consider living in the beautiful city, everyone had been so helpful and friendly, and the city had so much to offer I really couldn’t wait to come back but for longer.