Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen

After a very long term we finally reached the one week off.  A few months ago Ingrid booked flights to Copenhagen so off we went.  A few weeks after we had booked we caught up with our good friend BD and she was telling us about the World Trade Fair she was off to see in Shanghai and was excited to tell us that "even Denmark are sending The Little Mermaid there".  Needless to say I was not impressed.  She has been in the same place for 97 years and for the first time is absent and back a couple of weeks after our trip!  That's ok - plenty more to see!!  Well Tivoli Garden was closed and even the Tourist office was closed.  This was getting a bit much so we decided to rename it Close-enhagen.  As it was further north it also got dark earlier (around 4pm).  We did get to see the spot where the Little Mermaid usually is (they had a video link to her in Shanghai) and to walk around the ramparts of the Kastellet (fortress).

On the second day, not to be deterred we got up and being a weekday the city had much more of a buzz to it.  We went on a fantastic harbour cruise and got to learn a lot more about the city.  We went to Crown Princess Mary's city palace in the full knowledge that as a fellow Aussie she would make us welcome but she was not home.

   

We wandered through the city, stopping in beautiful furniture shops to see the renowned Danish design, as well as having traditional Danish smørrebrød (open sandwiches with great toppings).  We also went to Christianhavn and had a quick visit to Christiana which was a hippy/squatter's enclave set up in the 1970s.  We did not spend much time there as the smells and ambiance were not really our thing!  But we did get to visit "The Black Diamond" which is a modern extension to the old library which was a fantastic design inside and out.

The next day we visited Jen Olsen's astronomical clock, the town hall, the beautiful Danish Design Centre (much better than the Danish Design museum, which we also saw), Rosenborg Castle and the Round tower.

We did see lots of statues and references to Hans Christian Andersen as he lived most of his adult life here.
On the last day we took a bus out to Frederiksberg Castle and grounds.  This was beautiful and it was a shame we only had a short time to see this before our flight as it was a beautiful area to walk around.  The colours of Autumn were very beautiful.

For more photos click here.