Europe 2015: Copenhagen

From Ivalo, we fly to our next destination - Copenhagen, Denmark. We arrive in the late afternoon and make our way by train into the city. Arriving at the bustling Copenhagen Central Station, we are immediately taken aback by the crowd of people as we had already become accustomed to the much quieter Helsinki and the solitude of the Guesthouse Husky. Our hotel is a short walk from the station and making our way over, there is already a sense that we are not in the best neighbourhood.

Nonetheless, we check in, drop off out bags and head to the world's second oldest theme park - Tivoli Gardens. Opened in 15 August 1843, Tivoli Gardens feels somewhat like an old Disneyland, and it should - apparently Walt himself visited Tivoli when he was in the planning stages of his very own park. As we enter the park, little shops line the pathways with winter treats, mulled wines and Christmas trinkets. There are restaurants all around the park but we settle for the more casual dining option of hot dogs and chips. After dinner, we skip the rides (though we've been told after that one of the roller coasters is still operated by a driver) and close off the meal drinking hot chocolates over a coal stove to keep warm. One of the cool things they have at the park are machines that collect your used cups and return you a deposit of 5 DKK (approx. 1 AUD). This encourages recycling and minimises waste scattered in the park.

Tivoli - where Walt Disney got all his ideas from

Keeping warm with a hot chocolate and standing by the coal pit

The next day, we join a couple of free walking tours as the fastest way to get oriented while also learning a bit about Copenhagen. On our first walking tour, we discover that Copenhagen is somewhat a "fire magnet" and these fires are the main reason that so much of Copenhagen's medieval history has been lost. The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen beginning in the evening of 20 October 1728 burning for 3 full days. The fire destroyed approximately 28% of the city, left 20% of the population homeless and it took 9 years for the city to be fully reconstructed (1937). Then on 5 July 1795, a second fire hit, this time lasting 2 days, still displacing approximately 6,000 of the 100,000 residents of Copenhagen.

While visiting Helsinki, we learned a bit about Finland's role in WWII when we visited the Mannerheim Museum. On our walking tour, we also learned an interesting fact about Denmark. For much of WWII, Denmark was German occupied and on 01 October 1943, it was ordered that Danish Jews were to be arrested and deported. However, the Danish resistance movement (an underground insurgency to resist the German occupation), with the assistance of many ordinary Danish citizens, managed to evacuate 7,220 of Denmark's 7,800 Jews, plus 686 non-Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby neutral Sweden, resulting in 99% of Denmark's Jewish community surviving the holocaust. Three cheers for Denmark!

One of our stops along the way is the Christianborg Palace. The Palace is currently used for Parliament, the PM's Office, the Supreme Court of Denmark. Parts of the palace are also used by the Danish monarch (Hi Mary!), such as the Royal Stables. While we are there, we are lucky to see the horses out for a stretch. Before Christianborg Palace, the first castle on this site was the Bishop Absalon's Castle in 1167 - Bishop Absalon is seen as the Father of Copenhagen and there is a statue of him in a square nearby. In 1369, Copenhagen Castle was built before being torn down in 1731 for the first Christianborg Palace to be constructed. Unfortunately, Christianborg I was burnt down by a fire in 1974 and the palace was then rebuilt (Christianborg II) in 1828, before it too burnt down in 1884 (Are you seeing the trend here?). The third and final Christianborg Palace (whew) is what is currently on the site and has a tower which allows for great views of Copenhagen - when it's not raining.

Christianborg Palace with the horses out front doing some laps with the carriage for exercise.

Great weather for starting our tour at Copenhagen's City Hall, unfortunately it didn't last all day.

Commemorating Denmark's founder - Bishop Absalon

During the walking tour, we do take a stop for food and try the Ristet Hotdog so highly recommended by our guide. We also have a chance to walk through Nyhavn, a 17th-century commercial port where trading ships would dock and weary sailors would go to for drinks at pubs and alehouses or visit their favourite ladies of leisure. Nyhavn has since been cleaned up and has a history of housing prominent artists, including Hans Christian Andersen.

Chomping down on a Ristet Hotdog and sights of Nyhavn

Just before our first tour ends, our guide takes us to Amalienborg Palace - the home of the Danish Royal Family, including Princess Mary. While Mary and Frederick aren't home to welcome us with a cup of tea, we do catch the changing of the guard. A much more impressive, up close and personal affair than that at Buckingham Palace.

Getting up close and personal with the Changing of the Guard

Before we join our second tour for the day, which will take us through Christianshavn, we visit the obligatory Little Mermaid Statue. There is nothing special about the statue itself but there are a number of people gathered around to take photos with her. It's very much the Mona Lisa of Copenhagen. Something a bit more interesting is the statues of Agnete and The Merman, a series of 8 status of a merman and his sons who have been left to mourn for their wife / mother who abandoned them for a life on land. Below is a crappy shot we took, but follow the link above for a much better image. Apparently during the winter, if water levels are low and the canal freezes over, emergency services do get calls when the hands of the statues poke through.

Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid

Agnete and The Merman

For our next tour, we walk around Christianshavn - mostly famous for the Church of our Saviour and the small neighbourhood settlement of Christiania.

Church of Our Saviour is most famous for its helix spire with an external winding staircase that can be climbed to the top. The black and golden spire reaches a height of 90 metres and the external staircase turns four times anticlockwise around it. Usually, most towers are built for the purposes of defence and so their staircases spin clockwise so as to facilitate the right-handed nature of sword fighting. As a result, there is a story that the architect threw himself out of the tower when he discovered that the rotation of the stairs was wrong. This is of course all a farce and the architect confirmed the intention of the stairs rotating anticlockwise was because it was not a tower for defence but rather a symbol of the ascent into heaven.

Christiania was established in 1971 when a severe housing crisis resulted in Danes squatting in a the barracks of the military area. The neighbourhood houses about 850 residents in 34 hectares (84 acres). Authorities in Copenhagen regarded Christiania as a large commune and the cannabis trade, though still illegal in Denmark, was largely tolerated until 2004. After 2004, the legality of the community and led to raids and arrests. The government has again become more tolerant and there is a roaring cannabis trade in Christiania. When visiting Christiania, there are a few rules to follow: (1) no photos; (2) no running - literally because if someone is running is usually indicates that there is a police raid about to take place. The most interesting thing about Christiania is its intolerance for any hard drugs. They are not only frowned upon, residents found to be on hard drugs are either forced to get clean in rehab, or are kicked out of the commune.

The entrance of Christiania and upon exiting - "You are now entering the EU".

Finally, on our last day in Copenhagen, we take the train out to visit Kronborg Castle in the town of Helsingor (pronounced Elsinore). Built between 1574-1585 Kronborg Castle is most famous as Hamlet's Castle. Each summer, the play is still performed at the castle. Aside from Hamlet, Kronborg Castle also has a Danish legend attached to it - a Danish king known as Holger the Dane, was taken to Avalon by Morgan le Fay. He returned to rescue France from danger, then traveled to Kronborg castle, where he sleeps until he is needed to save his homeland. His beard is said to have continued growing in his slumbers. Beneath the castle is a statue of what is supposed to be Holger the Dane. After visiting the castle, we plop ourselves down in a small cafe within the castle grounds for some lunch (great pumpkin soup and beef goulash) and to warm up yet again. After a busy couple of days in Copenhagen, it is now time to head over to where Cannabis is actually legal - Amsterdam!