The rest of Copenhagen

Well, the luggage arrived, as I believe I said in the last episode, and the sun came out too, making Tuesday a much better day on the end than on the start.

Before I get into current events, let me tell you something I forgot. Pamela and Ralf are getting married this year. Twice. Once on a significant day, 20-07-2007, and in an airplane, to boot. That will be the civil ceremony. Then on 15-9-2007, they'll be married in the church. Congratulations to both of you.

Wednesday started out pretty dreary, so I decided it would be a good day to go museum hopping. And hop I did. First stop was the Throvaldson museum. He's Denmark's patron saint of sculpture, or at least the most revered sculptor they've had. But for me, it didn't do much, compared with my memories of Athens, Rome and Florence. Part of it was simply the lighting, which was poor, and part was that all the statues were very grimy. He did a great deal of work, though.

Next stop was the Danish history museum, which I enjoyed more than Thorvaldson. The bad part was that the section I was most interested in, the pre-history and pre-middle ages in Denmark and Scandinavia was closed for refurbishment. But the parts I saw were pretty interesting.

Then the Danish Jewish museum. A lot I didn't know came to light. The Danes really helped the Jews get out of Denmark. Only around 4 to 5 hundred were sent to a camp. The rest were, for the most part, smuggled to Sweden. Which surprises me, as I thought the Swedes were on Germany's side during WWII.. Something to ´look into someday. The part I didn't like was the design of the museum. The architect played a lot of games trying to make it unique, and made it difficult to enjoy the exhibits as a result. With the exception of the design, that was the most interesting museum of the day.

Then, after a late lunch, I went to the Christiana section of Copenhagen. It's sort of on the fringe of the hippy/druggy area of town, but has some of the high rent sections as well. Hard to figure. There is a church with an outside staircase circling the steeple which gives a pretty good view of the city. So I climbed the inside of the steeple to where the circular stairs started on the outside. Chicken me, I just circled the platform, but didn't attempt the staircase, after trying the first 10 or so steps. Came down instead and had a Danish pastry. Sure beats Sara Lee.

Then I went to the Rosenburg castle. Did my little pantomime of 'Would you like me to take your photo together?' to a couple taking photos, and found the folks spoke perfect American English, as they were from Eau Claire, WI. We chatted for a while, then went our separate ways. Turns out the castle closed while we were talking. So I went to the Botanical Gardens and took photos with an overcast sky.

On the way back from the Botanical gardens, passing through the city square, I noticed a lot of Politi (police) around. Then heard a lot of noise. Turned out to be a big number of young folks running into the square for some sort of demonstration. Truck, sound system, obscene singing in American, with frequent use of the F work. Not sure what it was about, but the Politi sure did keep a watchful eye on them. Watched for a while, and decided I wouldn't be able to figure it out, so headed on to the hotel.

That evening, I went to the Tivoli amusement park, one of the worlds first, and still going strong. An old fashioned amusement park. I wanted to kill two birds with one stone, as there's a restaurant I wanted to try inside Tivoli. Tivoli is quite a place, and everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves. While looking around, I heard someone call my name. The Fischer's from Eau Claire!! So we sat and talked for quite a while about our travel experiences, as they are pretty well traveled, and really like it. They are presently on a cruise. I found the restaurant, a Croation one named Herzogovina. The food wasn't that bad, a buffet, but as I was pretty late getting there the pickings were somewhat slim. Not great, but not terrible either.

On Thursday, I decided if I was going to be in Copenhagen, I had to take a ride on the canals, so I did. A one hour narrated tour, under a bright sunshiny day. Not too bad, but it's hard to keep up when the narration is in Danish, then English, then German. Cruised past the Little Mermaid, but as we were in a boat, and she faces the shore, from not very far out, we only got semi-side and rear views. Someone stole her head some years ago, and the one now is a replica. Now there's something you've all been dying to know!

After a nice outdoor lunch, huge sandwich, I headed for the art museum, and Rosenburg castle. On the way I stopped at the Rundetaare (round tower), built for astronomical observation a few centuries ago. the way up is on a spiral ramp on the inside. Quite a hike. Don't have the details, but the tower is several hundred metres high, and the ramp circles the tower about 7 times, if memory serves (It often doesn't) Even better views of the city than from the church spire yesterday, and the sun was out.

When I got to the Rosenburg, I found parts were closed, so I did a mental coin toss and the Art museum won. First went to the sculpture area, where some modern favorite sun was on display. Maybe I'll add his name later when I look through my notes. His work is somewhere on a line between obscene and grotesque. In layman's words, YUCK. The art part of the museum was really nice. Very well lit, and very well organized, That part I liked.

From there I went again to the botanical gardens, as it was a sunny day. It will be interesting to see the difference in photos from yesterday when it was overcast. Ain't digital cameras great? I've already filled three CD's with photos on this trip. Of course, 5mp per shot it takes up a lot of space.

Yesterday was the best in Copenhagen, and it wasn't in Copenhagen. I took the train to Hillerod, about 45 minutes away, to see Fredricksborg castle. That was worth it, let me tell you. I spent as much time just walking around the outside and enjoying the views as I did inside seeing the exhibits. You'll just have to come here to appreciate it. Inside the castle was the King's own church, a huge grand ballroom, and much more to see, Everything was really ornate. I particularly liked the various pieces of furniture with the intricate inlay work. Most of the castle was reconstructed in the 19th century after a fire destroyed a good portion of it. The upper two floors were portraits of both historical and modern Great Danes (pun intended).

From there, I walked around the town, sat down a few times to people watch, a sport I find I can do anywhere with a great deal of skill. I found a trio in a mall playing chello, violin and flute, so I had a beer and sat down to watch. They finished the tune, closed up their instruments and shut down for the day. So much for my cultural experience. Something must have been going on in Hillerod, s there were a lot of folks wandering around, many in some form of costume, and a brass band wandering the town square. Didn't figure that one out either.

Today the plan was to take the bus to Malmo for a day trip. Waited at the bus stop for a while after it should have been there (right stop, too, by the map, the sign and the directions I had). As it was beginning to drizzle, and the bus was late, I decided that 'Malmo in the Mist' (is there a movie title there?) wasn't the thing to do today, so I just took it easy wandered around a bit and relaxed. I'll be back through Copenhagen in August, so maybe I'll do Malmo then.. Tomorrow is travel day, to Kalmar, Sweden.

In my wanderings today, the city square was filled with cows. No, not real ones, but life size whimsical statues. Reminded me of the same thing while I was in Florence, but there they were around for the entire time of the visit. These were gone when I passed through a bit later. And there was also music and dancers.

My impressions of Copenhagen, for what they are worth: I't not a clean and pristine as I had imagined. There is graffiti, litter, and in general a grimy appearance. In reality, I probably had expectations that were a bit high. This must be the bicycle capitol of the world. I swear I've seen more bikes in the few days here than I've seen in the rest of my life. And that may be true of just the square near Tivioli last night. It was wall to wall parked bikes! The hustlers were out in force on the pedestrian mall today, with a shell game, or rather ball in which box game. There were at least 5 in just one block. I was pretty good, but didn't risk any money. I think that was a wise decision. I'm pretty good at forecasting the Copenhagen weather. I have a system: If it's sunny, it will be dreary tomorrow. If dreary, it'll be sunny tomorrow. Worked every day but one. That's as good as the National Weather Service, I think.

Next edition will be from Stockholm, as I'll only be in Kalmar for two days.