Last Day in Denmark

On our last day, we headed to Århus, a city a bit to the southeast of Aalborg. They have the world's first open-air museum there, Den Gimle By, a collection of buildings that range from Renaissance times up to the early 1900's. (In fact, they are currently planning an extension up to the 1970's.)


They also have a collection of posters advertising other such museums, including Colonial Williamsburg and Sovereign Hill.

Århus itself is a very old city at over a thousand years old. We headed downtown to see the Cathedral, but it was closed for Sunday services. They did have an excellent photo exhibition sponsored by a group trying to raise money to slow climate change in the courtyard, though, so that was fun.

So that was it: a week of the top sights in Denmark! I want to thank Jesper Møller for inviting me to Aalborg in the first place, and Robert Wolpert for humoring me in the Viking Ship Museum and accompanying me on the trip. Safe travels!

To be or not to be

The next day we headed north to Kronborg Slot, in Helsingør. This Renaissance castle was the inspiration for the Danish castle of "Elsinore" in Shakespeare's Hamlet. It was built in order to successfully levy taxes on shipping entering the Baltic Sea, but remains a gorgeous sentinel by the sea.


The tour of the royal apartments covers about half of the castle, including the enormous ballroom and collection of tapestries that tell the history of Denmark. There is also an underground tour where you can view the casements underneath the castle. The chapel was one of the few things to survive an early fire, which meant the intricately carved and painted pews survived as well.

After a picnic on the grounds, we then headed southwest towards Roskilde and the Viking Ship Museum. Five ships that the Vikings sunk in a sound to protect the harbor have been retrieved here, in surprisingly complete condition.
They have rebuilt the ships as well, and experimental archeologists have sailed them as far as Ireland and back to learn more about how well they operated in northern Europe. But the most fun was the room were they keep the Viking outfits and weapons. Being a Viking is fun!

Under Copenhagen

Okay, so Copenhagen has had extremely bad luck with their royal castle. During the time of absolute monarchy, they built a lovely new castle: Christianborg Slot. It burned down. Undaunted, they built another. It burned down.

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!

Moving at a palacial pace

The next morning we started with a little more walking. First past the Little Mermaid by the water again, and then down to a victory monument.

But the big thing was Amalienborg Slot, the current royal residence. Fortunately, it consists of four palaces, so while one is home to Queen Margarethe II, another serves as a museum to the royal family that covers from the 1860's up to current times.


Next on the list was Frederick's Church, popularly known as Marmorkirken: the Marble Church. It's not hard to see why. The dome is visible from around the old town, and inside it is indeed something special. That effort to complete it (it took about 150 years owing to funding difficulties) paid off.

Finally we rode the tour bus some more and ended up at the eclectic Nationalmuseet. Sure they covered the Vikings, but they also had an extensive collection of ancient pottery, statues and mosiacs, and a great history of Denmark as a country told through artifacts of the time, right up to modern times.

Copenhagen

At last it was time to hit the big city, Copenhagen!

Copenhagen is a walkable city, in many ways similar to Paris. Both offer excellent and easy to use mass transport, both have world class museums and a fascinating history that draws you in at every corner.

So naturally, faced with the daunting task of unraveling Copenhagen in three days, I took the easy way out by getting tickets for the hop-on hop-off tour bus. This was actually a good idea, and a better one was buying the add-on ticket to make it a two-day, all four lines ticket. Of course, the line that I had initially bought, the "Mermaid" line, did hit most of the highlights, the other lines also have some cool stuff on them, especially when it is pouring down and you don't feel much like walking anyway.

But I get ahead of myself! The first day the sun was shining and it was a great day to see the statue that is inextricably linked to Copenhagen: The Little Mermaid. Isolated from shore by a few feet of water (cuts down on the "stealing her head" type of events, apparently,) she patiently sits and gazes outward from the harbor while (again like Paris) nearby vendors try to sell small copper replicas.

After finishing the Mermaid line of the bus, Robert and I were oriented, and headed off on a winding route through the Old Town towards treasure. Our first stop was the Rundataarn, or Round Tower, a lovely way to view the city. The distinguishing feature of the tower is that there is a wide (about 15 feet) ramp all the way to the top, so the inside is one continuous space.

Next up was Vor Frue Kirke, the cathedral of Copenhagen. An airy and spacious interior that caught the sunlight and spread it out over wonderful statues of the apostles made this an uplifting place. Turns out they were the work of Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, and I was to get to know his work very well over the next few days.

Finally we made the main event of the day: Rosenborg Slot. This started as a getaway for the king outside the city. Now of course it is smack in the middle of Copenhagen, but ended up being the royal residence for a number of centuries. In the mid 1800's the king decided to turn it over to become a museum, and so the interior covers the history of the monarchy up until that point. In the chambers below the castle lie something even more interesting: the Crown Jewels of Denmark. In fact, they have several sets and a wealth of treasure down there for viewing. Definitely the highlight of the day!

But, being only 4:00 in the afternoon, there was still plenty of day to go! First, we wandered over to Nyhavn, which two centuries ago would have been the place you didn't tell you Mom you'd been to. Today, it's pretty touristy, but that's because sipping a Carlsburg by the water and watching the people go by is so much fun.

For dinner we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe and I expanded my collection of T-shirts by one. There was two reasons for this: first, its harder to find a good burger in Denmark than you might think. Second, it was next to our final stop for the evening: Tivoli Gardens.

Tivoli goes back about a century and a half. Designed to keep the Copenhagen residents from rioting, today it has well tended grounds befitting its name, some very cool rides, and entertainment throughout the day. We listened to both the orchestra for a while and the Big Band music. There was also a Pantomime show, carnival games, and a vast array of restaurants for fine dining and snack shops for not so fine. The day ended with "Illuminations", a laser light show down by the fountain, and then we took the S-train back for the night. Whew!

Okay, so there's more pictures than I can fit into my entries at this point. For those wanting to see more, check out http://markhuber.shutterfly.com/.

"I will not waste chalk."

The next day found us searching for a church, and led to the most blatant error I've ever seen in an Eyewitness Travel Guide. Robert and I had located the village where the guide said the Fanefjord Church was located. However, after stopping in at a local bank to ask directions, a loan officer kindly informed me that in fact it was on an island on the other side of the water, and that the ferry could take me there.

Okay, so I've never had the Eyewitness Guide place a tourist site on the wrong island before. Undaunted we headed over there (taking the bridges) and it was worth the hunt.

You see, this church had two sets of frescos covering the interior. One from the 13th century, and another set from the 1500's. Both were then later whitewashed over, and only rediscovered in the 1930's. They are quite detailed and beautiful.


The second stop of the day was Møns Klint, graceful chalk cliffs that rise hundreds of feet above the sea. The wooden stairs up and down to the rocky beach let you know exactly how tall they are, as well. They have great trails around the area, and it is one of the those very rare natural phenomena that are just breathtaking up close.

Monday, Monday

So after visiting Legoland, we stayed the night in Odense. I hadn't realized when booking the hotel, but Odense is the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen.

So you know the next morning I was all like: "Let's go see where Hans Christian Andersen was born!". Ah the adventurous life of the vacationer!

Except of course, it was Monday. And in a cruel twist of fate, Hans Christian Andersen's birthplace (and museum!) was closed Monday's until June. Okay, maybe not as cruel a twist of fate as happened to many of the characters in his stories, but it was sad nonetheless.

Still, downtown Odense also has the Saint Canute's Cathedral which is totally cool. Besides the gorgous interior and incredibly old and detailed alterpiece, it has the skeletal remains of Saint Canute and his brother Benedict are out in the open for visitors. I have to admit, this was a first for me.


After leaving Odense, we headed for the grounds of Egeskov Slot. The castle itself serves as a museum, but their are also a variety of other museums around the grounds. A car museum, motorcycle, even one dedicated to the private company Falck that runs much of the rescue operations in Denmark.

In addition, there is a walk among the tree tops, and several hedge mazes. Winding fun!