The town was not yet awake. We had absolutely no Danish Kronor, so we were looking for a hole in the wall. We walked out Købmagergade, past the Rundetårn (the Round Tower, and out to Nørre Volgade, a big open street where there is TRAFFIC, a Metro station, a McDonald's — and Danske Bank, which satisfied our currency requirements. So, after visiting the bank, and McDonald's — cashed up and caffeined up — we wandered back to the Rundetårn. By the way, after this McDonald's, Suzie has a new addiction — scrambled egg, bacon and cheese bagel!
The Rundetårn is a fascinating place. It is attached to the beautiful 17th century Trinitatis Church, almost anonymous from its outside, but delightful within!
The tower was purpose-built as an observatory, completed in 1642. Although Tycho Brahe had fallen out of favour and had left Denmark by this time, he is still commemorated within the tower. After all, it was largely due to his painstaking, and phenomenally accurate work that astronomy had advanced further in Denmark than virtually anywhere else by this time.
The tower is interesting in that you reach the observatory not by a stairway, but by a helical ramp, built so to allow a horse and carriage to reach the observatory — King Christian IV rode his horse to the top; his queen, more demure, took a carriage! The tower is used for exhibitions — last time we were here, it was one of marionettes. Today, however, they were in the process og changing the displays, so we could only watch as they pushed trolleys up the steep slope! (These days, the trolleys are power-assisted — must have been much harder work in the past!)
Another feature of the Rundetårn, near the top, is a magnificent orrery, originally built in Paris in 1680, but reconstructed in 1742, and renovated again in 1928.
The top of the tower offers superb views across the old city, and even across to Øresundsbron.
That's Vor Frue Kirke in the foreground
From the tower, we went back to a cafe on the corner of Højbro Plads. While we were there, we heard the sound of an approaching band. It was the band of the Royal Guard, marching through the city towards Amalienborg Palace for the canging of the guard ceremony. We didn't exactly follow them — we walked down through Nyhavn, along the waterfront past the Playhouse Theatre and opposite the Opera House. We then turned up to Amalienborg, to find that the changing of the guard was just taking place. The band had not yet marched into the square — so we stayed for the show. Apparently the changing of the guard happens without music, unless Queen Margarethe is actually in residence, when you get the whole performance. The guards themselves looked like toy soldiers, and the ceremony was most entertaining.
The unmistakable tower of Vor Frelsers Kirke
(The Church of Our Saviour)
Old warehouses have been converted into luxury hotels
Looks like the Admiral Hotel is prepared to repel boarders!
Passed an Aussie traveller in port
After this, we walked up Frederiksgade to the Marmorkirken (The Marble Church) - Frederiks Kirke. This magnificent Baroque Lutheran church is circular in form, capped with a huge dome. Inside we found two organs, one a superbly ornate Baroque organ, the other a starkly modern, but beautiful in its simplicity.
From here we continued northwares up Bredgade, past the ornate golden domes of the Alexander Nevsky Church, the only Russian Orthodox church in Copenhaven, and up towards Kastellet (The Citadel). We walked through the parkland around the Citadel, calling in on St Alban's Church, the only Anglican Church in Copenhagen, It was largely built with the support of Princess Alexandra, the Danish-born consort of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII.
'Hojatoho!'
'Hojatoho!'
Outside the church is a magnificent Gefionspringvandet (The Gefion Fountain), depicting the Norse goddess Gefjun, who (according to Heimskringla) turned her sons into oxen and with them plowed the land from the Swedish lake Lögrinn, and with it created Zeeland — Danish Sjælland, the largest Danish island, on which København is situated.
From here we went round to what is arguably the most famous statue in Copenhagen — Den lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid) — by Edvard Eriksen, presented to the City of Copenhagen in 1913 by the Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen in honour of Hans Andersen.
We came back from here through the Citadel — it's a fully-functioning army barracks, so we could only walk the main street between the buildings — and this can only be done when the flag is flying — it's out of bounds at lights out!
It was beginning to rain at this stage, so we made fairly quick progress back to Nyhavn, where we stopped for a late lunch at the restaurant "Leonore Christine", which happens to be at Nyhavn 9, the oldest house in Nyhavn, built in 1681! By now it was raining quite solidly, but we were comfortable under the restaurant's large umbrellas — and the blanket provided with each seat!
The rain was easing, so we decided to walk along the Strøget towards the Town Hall Square at its other end. On the way, Suzie spotted a camera store in a side street — we needed to call in, as one of Warren's two batteries for the camera has failed and needed replacement. No worries — they had one in stock and, even better, it was the original Nikon brand! (The one that had failed was a 'generic brand'.)
We got to the Town Hall Square, only to find it virtually non-existent. Copenhagen is in the process of building a new ring Metro line, the M3 Cityringen, and the main station will be beneath this square — so the whole place has been dug up! They are proposing to carry about 80,000 people per day in the new line once it is opened. One of the reasons for this is the intersection just by the square carries 80,000 cars per day.
Hans Christian Andersen Fountain to Charity
We dropped in to a bookshop on the corner, where Suzie found some more books to allow her to continue her journal, and then we started walking back to Højbro Plads to catch the 6pm bus back to the campsite. On the way, we dropped in to the Lego store, just for fun. They have some superb models set up in there — one of part of Nyhavn, another a virtual tapestry of Copenhagen — and a great dragon coming out of the wall!
Segway invasion!
Finally, our day done, we caught the bus and went back to our van for the night.
Distance driven — today, nil; to date, 26,648 miles ( 42,888 km )
Thanks so much. What a lovely day. Best photo I have ever seen of the little Mermaid and you were right about the toy soldiers, lt looks a great place to be. Love Cathy
ReplyDelete