København
August 24 -> August 26, 2001
After many years of dreaming about going to Denmark, I finally made the trip to
Copenhagen. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark, and it's located on the east
coast of the island of Zealand. Denmark is located just north of Germany, and
has more than 5 million people -- over a million of which live in Copenhagen.
It's a very interesting place to visit. The people in Denmark are the nicest
that I've met in my travels so far this summer, and I won't even begin talking
about the gorgeous women. Everyone in Denmark seems to speak English, and
they speak it like a native English speaker too. That certainly made the trip
a little easier for me. I had a great time in Denmark and definitely plan to
go back. I'm thinking about returning next summer and biking around the entire
country for a week or two.
Here's my weekend trip with pictures.
My trip started by catching the 6:15 AM flight from Galway's tiny airport to
Dublin where I caught another flight to London and then a third flight to
Copenhagen. I finally arrived in Copenhagen around 2PM where I caught the train
to Copenhagen's Central Station. When I walked out of the train station, I was
immediately convinced that what I had read was true -- the Danes love bicycles.
Don't believe me? Check this out.
More bikes than you can count
And there were more bikes there than I could show in the picture too! They ride
bikes everywhere which I think is very cool.
After checking into my hotel, I begin to wander the streets as I'm known to do.
I walked towards City Hall Square (Rådhuspladsen) where there is a nice statue
above the main entrance. The statue is of Bishop Absalon who founded Copenhagen
in 1167.
Bishop Absalon statue at Rådhuspladsen
I then walked down the Strøget (the longest pedestrian street in the world
I'm told). It's full of stores, restaurants, bars, and street performers. Here
are a few pictures.
Strøget
Strøget 2
Fountain along the Strøget
Building along Strøget
Further wandering led me to the canals which run through the city, to another
statue of Bishop Absalon, and other interesting buildings.
Canal and canal boat
Canal
Bishop Absalon statue near a canal
Interesting building
Nyhavn
Our Savior's Church
Closer picture of Our Savior's Church
Next was Cristiansborg Palace. It's currently the home of the Danish Parliament,
but this site used to be the home of the Danish royal family. This is the fifth palace
to be built here dating back to 1167 when our old buddy Bishop Absalon built the
first one. The royal family moved out in 1794 after a fire. The guy on the horse
is King Frederik VII who signed the Danish constitution in 1849. After signing the
constitution and abolishing the absolute monarchy in Denmark, Frederik VII supposedly
proclaimed, "Finally I can sleep as late as I want." In Danish I'm sure. That's my
kind of King.
Cristiansborg Palace and Frederik VII
Cristiansborg Palace courtyard
After walking around all afternoon and evening, I headed to the Copenhagen Jazzhouse
to enjoy some Danish jazz. Believe it or not, Denmark is nuts about jazz. The
Copenhagen Jazzhouse is a great venue for live jazz, and it was very entertaining
evening.
Saturday morning I walked around a bit more and then decided to catch a hop-on hop-off
tour bus to drive me around to places that weren't within easy walking distance. Here
are some pictures from around town. The first pictures are from Amalienborg Palace
which is where the Queen lives. Also, I've got some pictures of the nearby Marble
Church, and the much photographed symbol of Copenhagen, The Little Mermaid statue.
Amalienborg Palace with Marble Church in background
Amalienborg Palace
Queen's Life Guard
Fountain near Palace
Statue of King Frederik V
Marble Church
Statues at Marble Church
The Little Mermaid
Harbor near The Little Mermaid
Cool Windmills
My favorite goofy little cars
That evening I made a trip to Tivoli which is an incredibly pleasant amusement
park in downtown Copenhagen. The are lots of rides and the usual carnival games,
etc, but the best part to me was the constant musical performances from marching
bands, jazz bands, and any other type of music you can think of. It is a really
fun place that seemed to have more adults than kids. Here are a few pictures.
Tivoli lake
Tivoli lake
Tivoli fountain
Tivoli flower garden
Sunday morning in a moment of inspiration, I decided to jump on the train and head
outside of Copenhagen to the town of Helsingør which is about an hour away by
train. I had no idea what might be there, but it seemed like a cool thing to do
at the time because it was about as far north as you can go on the island of Zealand.
Well, the ride through the Danish countryside was very nice, but the highlight of the
trip was the arrival in Helsignør where I discovered Kronborg Castle which is where
Hamlet is based. Here are pictures from the castle and a couple from the town.
The first picture is my first view of Helsignør after leaving the train station!
Kronborg Castle
Kronborg Castle
Kronborg Castle
Kronborg Castle gate
Kronborg Castle courtyard
Kronborg Castle
Inside Kronborg Castle gate
Kronborg Castle moat
Helsingør street
Helsingør flower garden
I wanted to spend more time in Helsingør, but my flight was leaving from Copenhagen
in about 3 hours, so I had to catch the train back.