Copenhagen - July 2022

In late July, Mary Ann and I made a tour of the Scandinavian capitals (except for Oslo).  We flew from Manchester on the ever delightful Ryanair to Copenhagen.  In Copenhagen it was an easy train ride into the city and a short walk to our hotel the Skt Petri (St Peter in English). 

The Round Tower, Copenhagen

After check in we went for a late afternoon walk around the city.  The Round Tower was nearby the hotel and we walked up to the top to get a good view of the city below.  The Round Tower has a most impressive helical ramp up the interior that would allow horses to be ridden up to the top.  It makes 7 ½ complete turns on the way up and there’s a nice view once you reach the top.

Copenhagen City Hall - Rathaus

We continued our walk through the pedestrian streets to the City Hall, the Rathaus.  The square and the Town Hall are the focal point for all visits to Copenhagen.  The Town Hall itself is quite impressive with its clock tower and gilded statue of Absalon above the entry.  The square is also a great gathering place for all occasions.  On that Sunday night there was a girl singing - an Adele song if I remember correctly - she was very good but her sound system was not so good.

Hans Christian Anderson

At the edge of the square is a statue to Hans Christian Anderson and across the street is the entry to the Tivoli amusement park.

Tivoli

We spent a good amount of time looking for a restaurant before finally deciding on a French Restaurant with outside dining in the square.  

Rosenborg Castle

The next morning we walked across town to the Rosenborg Castle or the Rosenborg Slot as they call it (slot = castle).  We bought tickets for the interior of the castle and marveled at all the fine things - furniture, paintings, ornaments, clocks - so much beautiful stuff.

Frederiks Church

We stopped back at the hotel for a break and then set off again heading towards the harbor and the Little Mermaid statue.  On the way we visited Frederiks Kirk, a beautiful domed church with a beautiful, if a little restrained, interior - the Lutherans are always more restrained than those Catholics. Not far from the church is the Queen’s Palace of Amalienborg.  We didn’t go in but we witnessed the changing of the guards in the square. 

Changing the Guard at Amalienborg Palace

It was then a short walk over to the Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue).  The poor little statue was mobbed by tourists as if that were the most important site in the city.  In a new development not far from the Little Mermaid is another statue, the Genetically Modified Mermaid.  This was not mobbed with tourists at all and it actually was a much more interesting sculpture.

The Little Mermaid

The Genetically Modified Mermaid

We stopped by the waterfront for a gin and tonic and a little snack and then walked over to see the Church of our Saviour - the church with the spiral staircase on the outside of the spire. 

Church of the Saviour

Not far from the church is the Christiania commune.  This started with a few squatters on an old military base in the 1970’s and it is now a more formal commune of some 1000 people on the 20 acre site.  It is infamous for its open selling of pot on the streets.  Pot is illegal in Denmark but the police seem to turn a blind eye to it in Christiania.  If the area is peaceful and crime free then they do not intervene in the selling of pot. There were dozens of small temporary stands where the owners were selling their product. 

Christiania

Christiania has become a bit of a tourist attraction in recent years. 

In the evening we dined at an old traditional Copenhagen restaurant, Den Lille Apotek.  We went all out and had the 5 course traditional menu - three types of herrings - fried, pickled and curried, Plaice, Salmon, Pork and finally cheese - a lot of food.

Frederiksborg Castle

The next morning we took the train out to Hillerod and visited the Frederiksborg Slot.  This is a beautiful old castle sitting on the side of a lake.  The exterior is impressive and the interior, particularly the chapel, is even more impressive. 

Frederiksborg Castle Chapel

 We walked back to the Hillerod train station and caught another train out to Helsingor.  This is the location of Helisingor or Elsinore Castle of Hamlet fame.  By then we had had enough of castle interiors so we skipped the inside and walked around the outside of the castle on the edge of the inlet that separates Denmark and Sweden.

Helsingor Castle

Back on the train again we went to Humebaek next and visited the art gallery and sculpture park known as Louisiana.  This was a delightful gallery with some lovely pieces (we particularly liked Asger Jorn’s work).  The grounds are filled with wonderful sculptures - a few Henry More’s, some Calder mobiles, a Jean Dubuffet.  The art gallery there had some nice works too.  We both loved the works by Asger Jorn who I had never heard of before and there was also a nice exhibit of Diane Arbus photographs.

Alexander Calder Mobile

One of the Henry More's

Back in Copenhagen we found a wonderful restaurant for dinner that was also quite a large bookstore (Paludan Bogcafe).  In the evenings it seems to be more of a restaurant and bar than a bookstore but it was a very nice environment to enjoy a meal and a beer.

The Grim Reaper

In the morning I took an early walk around the hotel - there was an old church yard where there was an interesting statue of the grim reaper stealing away with a young mother’s child - there was also a plaque on the wall of an University building commemorating Orsted who was a professor at the University of Copenhagen and who discovered the link between electricity and magnetism.

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

We again walked through the city to the Town Hall Square where they were getting ready to welcome Tour De France winner Jonas Vingegaard back to the city - lots of yellow everywhere.  We visited an Art Museum - the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.  This art gallery houses the collection of the son of the Carlsberg Brewery founder.  There was an exhibition of the works of French painter Suzanne Valadon and we both really liked her work.  Not only was she a painter hanging out in Paris with the likes of Degas and Renoir she was also a model for them.

Mr Vingegaard's arrival in Copenhagen

After the museum we walked onto the streets where they were still getting ready for Vingegaard’s arrival.  It looked like they were getting close so we waited by the side of the street.  He did eventually arrive - a skinny guy in the back of an open top Mercedes with a young wife looking as bemused and baffled as he did. For a while he is a Danish national hero.

We then visited the National Museum of Denmark. This museum has artifacts from all of human history and from everywhere on the planet, literally.  I think by then we were getting a little overwhelmed by museums.

In the early afternoon we went to the station for our train north to Stockholm.  A quick ride over and under the Oresund strait to Malmo in Sweden and then a connection to Stockholm.

There are more Copenhagen photos here.