Copenhagen

After our 'three castles and a museum' tour, we all ended up quite tired and of course late at he house of our friends. Everybody was up very late, watching Sound of Music and I think the Danish girls were surprised that we knew and sang every song in the movie. We woke up early though, but everybody else was sleeping in, so we spent more time with the bunnies. Anna, who did not come on the tour the day before, got to decide what to do with the day and opted for swimming. There was a slide and how much fun we had with that. Logically, we ended up in Copenhagen pretty late, so there was not too much time for sight seeing or doing a tour. And so we decided to just walk from the main station to Nyhavn and in a round about way along the castle back to the station.

Walking out of the train station, the first things we encountered were Hard Rock cafe, Build-a-bear, McDonalds and Burger King and promptly I was asked, if we really needed to come to Copenhagen for that. Turn a corner and you see the city hall, with its tall spire, surprisingly it is actually only a little over 100 years old.

City Hall is a very appropriate place for lunch. The girls absolutely fell in love with the Danish Hot Dogs (with remoulade, roasted onions and thinly sliced sweet pickles in a bun).


Now if you think of quaint Danish streets and fresh temperatures, you are well off, it was hot, hot, hot and VERY crowded. For some reason it must have been a very popular week, to me it seemed as if anybody vacationing in Europe was in Copenhagen that day.


St. Nikolaj church


The Royal Danish Theater


Finally we reached Nyhavn. I only got the children this far, because I lured them with icecream, but one we got there, it was about 3 times the normal price and not even for good icecream, that even they thought we should wait. Sometimes children can be reasonable, always when we least expect it :) Nyhaven, which means 'new harbor' is despite its name the oldest part of Copenhagen's harbor and was built in 1670 by Christian V. Today it is a hot tourist spot since it is just so picturesque and it is lined with cafes and restaurants and most waterbound tours start here.


Another very interesting renaissance building is Europe's oldest stock exchange (Børsen), built by Christian IV from 1619 - 1640. The unusual spire are four dragon tails twined together. I wish I would have a better picture, as it is quite a remarkable building, but a quick tour in the summer heat cannot always produce good photos.


We walked through Christiansborg Palace, which seemed very boring compared to the what we saw the day before. I love the palace Amalienborg, but we had not enough time to go and spend time, we had gone by on Monday, but without a photo opportunity, so sorry, just a picture of the gray Christiansborg, which was partially under construction. I looks serious, quite appropriate, since it houses the executive, legislative and judicial power in Denmark, the only place in the world to have them all in one building.


For some unknown reason, Johanna is very afraid that we will miss a train and so we always end up too early at the train station, which is not a bad thing anyway, because it left time for the very deserved ice cream and watching other travelers. I love people watching and to imagine stories about all the people I see. The Copenhagen main station is very beautiful I think.

Just sitting in the train and relaxing on the sunset was a welcome change.


A five hour train ride goes by rather quickly, if there is a ferry part involved. It is quite amazing to have a train drive into a ship one way, cross the water and drive out the other. People are not allowed on board the train during the ferry ride and so we had some dinner and spent the rest of the time watching the sun over the water and the other boats and ships.

Compared to Copenhagen, Hamburg seemed less busy, partially, because it was night by the time we arrived. I like evenings in the city when it is not completely dark yet and the deep blue sky and the golden lights produce such cozy colors.