Hi all!!!

 

I thought that it was about time that I went on another tour of the city.  I've been here for what... a couple of months and have only spent 3 hours doing some sightseeing (see All things Danish for my previous tour).  Another reason that I wanted to go was because the weather was sooo good and that wouldn't last.  So it was pretty much my last chance to go sightseeing.  Ann (HK girl studing in Scotland on study exchange at CBS) came with me.

 

We started at Nyhavn (New Harbour) which was orginally built to attract trade and leads up to the Kongens Nytorv (New Royal Market).  The area was transformed into a narrow canal lined with brightly painted town houses (H.C Anderson lived in a few of them) shops, restaurants and bars.  Its a great place to enjoy a meal and a beer during the summer months.  Apparantly when you go to Lego Land there are exact replicas of Nyhavn.  So i will take photos to compare.

 

From there we walked to Amalienborg (Amalia's Castle) which consists of four Rococo buildings arranged symmetrically around a large cobbled square with the imposing equestrian statue of Frederik V.  The buildings house some of the Royal family since 1784.  The Queen wasn't home (I knocked on her door and she didn't answer) so the Changing of the Guards (nooon daily) was a small ceremony with only a few soldiers.  The odd thing about the changing of the guards is that there are Police present to guard the guards who guard the royal family from the people?!?!?  From there we saw Marmorkirken, a white marble church which has one of Eurpope's largest domes, inspired by St. Peter's.  Directly opposite this is the Queen's garden and across the harbour is the Opera House.  The Opera House reminds me of a ninja... don't ask me why... you can look at the pictures to see for yourself.

 

Walked along the harbour and saw some interesting sights: submarine, cool wooden building, Mærsk HQ, cool lampost, a Medieval church and a cool statue.  The story behind the statue is that the Danish/Viking Gods told the guy that what he could plough in a day, all of that land he would own.  So he got four bulls and ploughed all day which turned into the island of Funen.  Walked inbetween the harbour and Kastellet & Frihedsmuseet to find the Little Mermaid.  The subject of many postcards, the Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue) sits on a stone by the promenade at Langelinie and looks out over the Øresund.  She looks smaller than i expected and she was sculpted by Edvard Erichsen in 1913.  The mermaid has suffered over the years at the hands of mischievous pranksters!!!! She lost her head and arm!!  You can see one of the tourists taking some "liberties" with her =)

 

We then entered the grassy grounds of the fortress built by Christian IV in the 16th century, Kastellet and Frihedsmuseet.  The place is awesome for strolling around or a picnic, I took a lovely autumn picture of the moat that surrounds the fortress.  The Danish army still uses the buildings and were were lucky enough to stumpble into some sort of veterans day with the Army displaying some of their weapons, recuiting and applying camoflauge to kids' faces!! hehehe.  Kastellet houses the museum of the Danish Resistance Movement (Frihedsmuseet) which charts the German occupation of Denmark in WW2 and the growth of the organisation that helped save more than 7,000 Jews from the Nazis.

 

From there walked to Rosenborg Slot which was orginally built by Christian IV as a summer residence in 1606-7.  Which is really really weird because summer houses are usually some distance from your normal home right?  And Rosenborg Slot is 10min walk to Nørreport Station which is 15min to the old Palace (Christiansborg Palace, which now houses the Danish Parliament).  Anyways... Rosenborg Slot is inspired by Renaissance architecture of the Netherlands, its discribed as a "playful version of a fortress".  Rosenborg Slot houses porcelain created by the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain factory as well as some of the Crown Jewels (hence the guards.. although there were only two there... hmmm $$$$ hahahahaha

 

After that we walked to the station and caught the train back to my place and just crashed.... sooo tired after sooo much walking!!!

 

Enjoy the pictures!!!