You've got to admire the pluck of a people who would choose to build it back a third time, but that's exactly what the Danes decided to do. And in doing so, they found a hidden treasure. While excavating for the third incarnation of Christianborg Slot, they found the ruins of the original fortress built by Bishop Absalon when he founded Copenhagen in the 12th century, as well as the later Copenhagen Castle built after the Hanseatic League decided to tear down most of Absalon's place.
You can go down on a wonderful tour below the current Christianborg Slot to see these ruins, in a very nicely put together museum that not only gives archeological insights into the ruins, but provides a timeline history of all the palaces built on the location.
Next we went above ground to see the current palace, at least the rooms set aside for royal receptions and the like. Since Christianborg Slot houses the Parliment, the judiciary, and the royals, it is enormous, and the tour is lots of fun. They do hand out baggies for your feet so the marble extra shiny, too.
For lunch we went to a place recommended to me by a friend and in the guide books, Ida Davidsen. The food is unbelievably good here. A favorite of Denmark is the open-faced sandwich, but the ones served here seemed to exist on a different plane from everything we'd tasted so far. We each had two--one seafood and one meat, and the combination of flavor was exhilarating to say the least. The chef walked us through the choices up at their counter, but I have a hunch anything we would have picked would have been heavenly. The best place we ate in Denmark, hands down.
Next was the (free!) Statens Museum for Kunst. Containing not only Danish works of art but paintings and sculpture from around the world, this is a museum full of works that I wish I had hours to study. Again, highly recommended!
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