Denmark
While in Denmark, we visited Copenhagen
September 2nd and 3rd, 2002
Since I don't have pictures of this trip due to camera problems, I have attached a website of Copenhagen Tourism Photos.... Just click here to go to the website. www.copenhagenpictures.dk
Monday evening, we arrive in Copenhagen around 8 pm and head for the guest house that I had the insight to book ahead of time. Since we were getting in late (had to take train to town center and then bus to guest house), the guest house said to just let ourselves in and there would be a note instructing us as to which room we would occupy. Well we got into the entry way of the place and we cannot find a note anywhere! We go upstairs and look around too, but no note!!! As we're looking around, we notice in the entry way that there is a chain saw and other work stuff, so of course we are joking about it being the "Bates Motel". Anyway, we have to decide if we are going to try to wake the housekeeper up or try some of the doors upstairs to see which is still open (only 5 rooms upstairs). Since we have no idea where the housekeeper is staying, my sister's fiance tries one of the door handles "room 2" and finds it unlocked and empty. The only problem is that it's a two person room instead of a triple! Well we figure that's better then nothing and start brushing our teeth for bed. Suddenly, we hear some people coming up the stairs and so we stop them to ask if they know if all the rooms are full. They tell us that as far as they know the rooms are empty. So I tell them the story and they start laughing. They go "ohhhh, so the note was for you!" The note just said "Dear English People, you will be in room 4 tonight". Well the guys were English and already had room #3 and thought the note strange, but took it with them anyway! So, we quickly transferred our junk to room 4 and went to sleep.
Tuesday morning, the housekeeper comes up and wants to know why we were messing around in room 2 when we were supposed to be in room 4. We try to explain, but due to the language barrier she is confused and we finally give up. So after a shower, we start out walking for our first view of Copenhagen by daylight! Copenhagen is a very clean and pretty place. The majority of people ride their bicycles to and from work instead of driving. The bicycles actually get their own lane on a lot of streets (like a car lane) to ride and whole hordes of them go by at "rush hour"! As a bicycle rider, I was quite impressed with the respect that they give bicyclers on the rode (not like in Texas where they honk at you as they run you over).
Anyway, the first thing we came to is the major shopping street called Stroget! Now the interesting thing about Stroget is that it's not an actual street name, but instead a term used to describe a long line of streets that lead through the central part of the city. We walk down this street, restraining ourselves quite well I think, and pick a place to stop for lunch.
I had been told that the water tour bus is the thing to do in Copenhagen, so after lunch we set out to find the departure point. It was definitely the "easy" way to see the sights. On the tour we started at Nyhavn, the oldest part of the city. This canal was dug between 1669 and 1673 in order to draw traffic and commerce into the heart of the city and allow the merchants to build their houses along the wharfs. There is still a house there which displays 1681 across the front of it and is owned by an 11th generation descendant of the Baron of Rysensteen (builder of the canal). Most of the small houses dating from the 18th century still stand and offer bars and restaurants on the bottom floor with outdoor tables to watch the sunset. Hans Christian Andersen lived in three different places in Nyhavn (1835, 1848-65, 1873-75).
Next on the tour we saw The Little Mermaid statue which was given to the city by Carlsberg's famous brewer Carl Jacobsen, the buildings of the old naval base (which has a crown on top of a little spire on the building), and the Borsen (old stock exchange building with Dragon Steeple). Several times on the tour we could see the spire of "The Church of Our Saviour" towering over the city. The unique thing about this spire is the way the architect built the spiraling staircase up to the top on the outside of the building (400 steps to top). The church was erected in the 1680's but the tower spire was not added until the middle of the 18th century. My sister and I both decided that we were going to go see it as soon as the tour was over. Well we immediately set off in the direction of the spire, half following the map and half just following the spire in the sky. Well wouldn't you know it, as soon as we got there it was closed!!! They are only open 11:00 to 3:30 (pretty nice hours, huh?). So disappointed, we went and found a little bar on the canal to relax at and have a beer in the afternoon sun... Copenhagen is home of the Carlsburg Brewery after all! Anyway, as evening approached we found ourselves back at Nyhavn for a relaxing dinner on the patio.
The
End
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