Copenhagen, Part 3

We had some very different weather extremes each day in Copenhagen. Sun, then snow, and on the third morning there was fog! We headed down to the waterfront to see the Little Mermaid, and also found this pretty Anglican church with a fountain that must be spectacular when the water is running.

Hello Little Mermaid!

Near the waterfront, we found a big travel bug hotel - we finally said goodbye to Earl Numbers (who travelled with us through Barcelona, Athens, England, Scotland, Wales, Copenhagen and Malmo - godspeed, little buddy) and picked up a few new friends, including the Scuba Smurf on the top right! We will take him on some dives with us.

We then visited Rosenborg Castle, yet another castle within the city proper - this one is basically the storage locker of the royal family, as I can't imagine anyone spends any time there - it is stuffed to the rafters with valuables and the treasury. I did like the tidbit that their royal wine (which was started as a white Rhennish wine in the 1590's) has been diluted with other wine through the years, now tastes like dry sherry, and is only served at special occasions.

Entrance, and a hidden surprise (TM)

The walls and ceilings and floors were completely covered with decoration on all surfaces - a little gaudy for my tastes!

I do love the elephants throughout the city (the elephant has been a symbol of Denmark since the 1400's, and the royalty and highest members of society are part of the Order of the Elephant)

The turned ivory pieces were ridiculously intricate!

This ship is made completely of ivory and string - even the sails are thin sheets of ivory!

Crown dating from 1596!

Side view of the castle, and one of the gardens surrounding it. No ceremonial guards standing here - instead there were young men in camouflage with automatic rifles and bayonettes - not kidding around!

We then took a walk through the city centre towards Amalienborg Palace for the Changing of the Guard. Here are some of the sights along the way:

More elephants!

Can't get enough of the different coloured buildings - it makes every street so picturesque!

More cozy patio seats

LOL!!

I really wanted to buy this poster, but the shop was closed every time we came back to it over the weekend!

I.... don't know if that means what you think it means.

Copenhagen LOVES its bikes. Dedicated bike lanes everywhere, with their own traffic signals, and more room for bike parking than car parking in most areas. This parking lot for bikes included five or six of the tent-like structures, to give you an idea of scale!

We stopped in at the Lego store - I didn't know this, but Lego was invented in Denmark (a portmanteau of the Danish words for To Play and Good). There were more adults than kids in the store. Some things were the same as the Lego Store in NYC that I visited a few years ago...

Like this dragon

Others were Copenhagen-specific - here are the ceremonial guards

Typical CPH streetscape

I love the detail of the man taking the woman's picture on the lower left!

There were also some international classics (Tower Bridge!)

And a Make Your Own Lego area - I felt this came together fairly well!

We also stopped by some local grocery stores for inexpensive chocolate souvenirs (and some very affordable truffle oil, which at 100 mL fit into my carryon, yay!) and continued giggling at strange foreign food.

Like 'dayum, that's good' ?

WTF?

We were part of a smallish crowd at Amalienborg for the changing of the guard. This is a square with four identical buildings surrounding it. There is one for the monarch to live in, one for the heir, one for visiting guests, and one for ceremonial purposes.

One of the buildings - no idea which one!

Borrowed from Wikipedia to show the layout. The Copenhagen Opera House (which we visited the night before) is just across the water, and the road exiting at the bottom of the picture runs straight to the Marble Church, which we visited next.

The guards serve for 24 hours (rotating inside and outside), and every day at noon there is a changing of the guards ceremony. The size of the guard and their outfits change depending on who is currently staying at the palace - I believe we had the smallest ceremony. If the Queen is in residence, they wear red tunics and look very similar to the Buckingham Palace guards.

Because of the weather, there weren't many people around, and we got a great spot for the ceremony. It was eerie hearing the guards marching before you could see them through the fog!

Unlike some ceremonies we've seen (*Athens*), the police were polite and helpful, and even courteous - making sure they kept moving so as not to block everyone's view. This gentleman kept us entertained with jokes while we were waiting for the guards, then explained every step and where he would like us to move and why. Great job, sir!

The guards marched to each station at each palace - after two we went into one of the palaces to see the exhibits. I guess we may have missed something wild and crazy, but I suspect not.

Here's another layout of the palace complex

One of the things I like about the Danes is that they aren't precious about their past monarchs. The museum was full of great tidbits like this! One of the kings was too mentally insane to rule, so his physician made all of the decisions in ruling the country, slept with his wife the queen and even produced the heir! (what a helpful guy!)

Here's a panorama in the middle of the square - looks kind of funny because the buildings are all identical on the outside!

Our last stop in Copenhagen before we had to return to the airport was the Marble Church (Frederick's Church). This is just outside the Amalienborg complex and was built from 1749 to 1894. It was very pretty!

It's neat how we see echoes of previous trips everywhere - here's Saint Mark, whose winged lion is all over Venice

I thought this one was a good place to leave it for now. We had a wonderful time in Copenhagen (and in Malmo) and met some nice people. Can't wait for our next trip, to Oslo, Norway!