This is our first full day in Copenhagen. We had a good overview of the city on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour yesterday and today we wanted to explore more in depth.
We did a self guided walking tour (courtesy of Rick Steves -travel guide author). On our way to our starting point at Rådhuspladsen (City Hall Square) we saw the weather girls on the corner of a building. There are 2 girls that indicate the weather. If they are on a bike it’s fair, it’s fair weather and if they have an umbrella it’s not so fair. It is said they are the only 2 women in Copenhagen you can trust. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case as they’ve been stuck in an almost-sunny mode with the bike just peeking out. There is a thermometer with red temperature dots that tell the temperature.

Back to the square: it was once Copenhagen’s fortified west end. For 700 years Copenhagen was contained within its city’s walls until overcrowding caused a cholera outbreak and killed 5,000 people. So down came the walls. At one end of the square sits a Hans Christian Andersen statue looking towards Tivoli Gardens. We went inside Rådhus (City Hall) and found it quite impressive.

We walked down the Strøget, a pedestrian street lined with shops. It is very commercialized but some buildings have retained some of their historical charm. On past Sankt Peters Church (a 17th century brick church that served the German merchant community) and the Cathedral of our Lady (Vor Frue Kirche), which looks like a Greek Temple and past the Uno wraith of Copenhagen (founded I. The 15th century to stop the Danish brain drain to Paris). The exterior is lined with busts of faculty members including Niels Bohr, a prof who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922 for theoretical physics. The Old Square (Gammeltorv) has a fountain called the Fou rain of Charity named for the figure of Charity on top. This fountain has provided drinking water to the locals since the early 1600’s. It’s fairly risqué with a pregnant woman squirting water from her breaststroke next to a boy urinating. Not sure I’d want to drink from that fountain!

Then we went to the Christiansborg Palace, on the island of Slotsholmen (Castle Island), the birthplace of Copenhagen in the 12th century. This is a complex of the original 12th century Fortress, Parliament , Supreme Court, prime ministers office, royal reception rooms, royal library, museums and royal stables. The current Palace dates to 1928 but the royal family moved out 200 years ago. The current Palace stands on the ruins of Absolon’s 12th century castle (the ruins). Here we toured the Royal reception rooms (quite opulent as you’d expect) and the Castle ruins (not that impressive except for the display of pipes from the 12th century) and the Christiansborg Chapel which has hosted royal weddings and funerals for 350 years. The Borson (historic stock exchange) is an impressive building with a spire made of dragons tails (meant to represent the Danish government’s aspiration to rule a United Scandinavia). In the 1600’s, this was the World Trade Centre of Scandinavia. The facade reads “For the profitable use of buyer and seller”. Now we’re in Nyhavn (fun promenade lined with cafes) and running to see the changing of the guard at Amalienborg Palace at noon. We just made it to see a rather boring change. The guards basically just switched places with little pomp and fanfare. The Queen was not in residence so the ceremony was uninspired. Very disappointing! We took a few pictures and took in the view of the Pantheon-esque Marble Church.

We needed a beer after that so off we went back to Nyhavn. After fortifying ourselves with lunch and a beer we made our way to Rosenberg Castle (built by King ChristianIV) and toured the gardens and the castle and the treasury. This was the kings favourite residence and where he chose to die. There were so many treasures that were displayed. It made me realize how entitled royalty is. They seemed to have stuff just for the sake of having stuff. There were rooms just for the display of dishes and porcelain vases etc and jewels that I’m sure they never used. It was very beautiful and impressive but at the same time it made me sick.

Now it was back to Nyhavn to take the canal Hop on Hop off cruise to see the city from the water. It was a different perspective and we saw some areas that we hadn’t seen yet. One attraction I didn’t see yet was “The Little Mermaid”. We stopped there yesterday but it was raining and I didn’t get off the bus.this statue was a gift to the city of Copenhagen in 1909 from the brewing magnate Carl Jacobsen. It was inspired by a ballet performance of Hans Christian Andersen’s. It was not really recognized until Danny Kaye sang “Wonderful Copenhagen” in the movie “Hans Christian Andersen” and the tourist board decided to use the mermaid as a marketing symbol for the city. It was quite underwhelming. I expected a great big statue but encountered a bronze one of about 4 feet sitting on a rock of the same height.

After that we wanted to see the area known as Christianshavn, across the harbour from old town. We sailed through some of its canals but wanted to see more. It is a trendy part of town but really only had a couple of things to see - Our Saviours Church and Christiania, an alternative living community. The church’s claim to fame is its unique and fanciful spire which is spiral (who would have thought) that has a staircase winding up to its top. We couldn’t get into the church. Christiania was started in 1971 and is a community where 700 Christians established squatters rights in an abandoned military barracks. Now called “free city” it is full of new age hippies and potheads and street art. The first thing that I noticed was the smell of marijuana. No photos are allowed because once you enter there are many booths on “Pusher Street” set up selling all kinds of weed, hash, hash oil and paraphernalia. I felt like I had walked back into the 70’s. Most everyone was stoned and the food booths were making a killing. There was a lake there and people were picnicing and partying everywhere. There motto is “to be normal is to be in a straitjacket”. Their local slogan sums up the mindset here: “Kun dode fisk flyder men strommen” (“Only dead fish swim with the current”). I quite enjoyed my walk here.

It was time for dinner and we had seen a quaint place yesterday (but they were booked up) so we headed there to see if we could get in. It was again booked but they took pity on us and gave us a table. It’s called Det Lille Apotek (The Little Pharmacy). It started out as a pharmacy and in 1720 the pharmacist changed his pharmacy into the first restaurant and coffee house in Copenhagen. It has been dispensing it’s own form of medicine ever since. It has not been changed in over 150 years - petroleum lamps, hand painted windows and pictures are the same. Not much has changed since then. Some of Cooenhagens most famous artists frequented it - Hans Christian Andersen, Ludvig Holberg, and Peter Faber.

We called it a day and headed back to the hotel.