Wonderful, wonderful (part 2)

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen

Friendly old girl of a town

'Neath her tavern light

On this merry night

Let us clink and drink one down

To wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen

Salty old queen of the sea

Once I sailed away

But I'm home today

Singing Copenhagen, wonderful, wonderful

Copenhagen for me

‘Wonderful Copenhagen’ from the movie ‘Hans Christian Andersen’ starring Danny Kaye

Well, what do you do when you’ve finished a bus tour in beautiful Copenhagen, have had some lunch and have the rest of the afternoon ahead of you? No doubt some of you would go back and visit some of the attractions that you passed along the way, seeing them in a little more detail. Others might be inclined to head to the shopping district (it is a long mall between two of the main plazas) and while away the afternoon picking up souvenirs. We chose to go back to the train station to discover where else we might be able to go in Denmark. After all, Elsinore Castle from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ is just a short way up the coast and there are many other beautiful parts of Denmark to see. When we were investigating options at the train station we came up with an even better plan.

In late 1999 Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden met midway to celebrate the completion of the Øresund Bridge, linking the two countries across the Øresund Strait. It is actually a two track rail and four lane road bridge/tunnel and the longest border crossing bridge in the world. For the English equivalent of £20.60 in Danish Kroner the four of us were able to buy return tickets to Malmo in Sweden. Amazingly, the railway line goes under the traffic lanes on the bridge, then shares the tunnel for the last 4 kilometres. The bridge section actually ends on an artificial island in the Strait (called Peberholm). The island is more than 4 km long and a few hundred metres wide, belongs to Denmark and is now an unpopulated natural reserve.

What we didn’t realise when we boarded the train is that because of the Schengen Agreement between the two countries there is no passport control or customs, so we weren’t able to get extra stamps in our passports. While this was disappointing the notion of being able to just catch a train to another country (which we had done at Christmas between France and Switzerland) was so appealing we would have done it anyway. We are not the only ones, apparently, because house prices in Malmo are cheaper than in Copenhagen, Danes have been buying houses in Sweden and commuting to work. The train trip took very little time (just over half an hour) and was smooth and hassle free. Construction also finished 3 months ahead of schedule, no wonder Denmark frequently tops surveys of the best living standards in the world.

We have seen lots of wind turbines in our travels around Europe so far, but one of the interesting things we spotted as we crossed the bridge was a large number of them based in the Øresund Strait. This was one of Meg’s favourite sights of our trips so far, although she is not sure why it tickled her fancy so much. Possibly it was the contrast with England, where all the ones we have seen are on land and which generally draw protests about the impact both visually and environmentally that they have. Denmark was a pioneer in developing commercial wind power and currently 19.7% of their electricity is generated that way, the highest percentage of any country in the world.

Our first impression of Sweden was the station at Malmo which reminded us of the movie images of Platform 9 ¾ in the ‘Harry Potter’ films. When we walked off the platform and into the main terminal we noticed an automat where one could buy bunches of flowers, another sight which made Meg laugh. We wonder what the locals thought of these strange foreign people taking photos of their automats. Flowers are very common in this part of the world, with markets, stalls, shops and automated machines selling them everywhere. This led us to speculating on what species of flower would survive in the quite cold conditions we were experiencing.

Malmo is the third biggest city in Sweden, with almost 300 000 inhabitants and was one of the first in Scandinavia to become industrialized. However, for a long time it was actually Denmark’s second biggest city, having been part of that country until 1658 when the Treaty of Roskilde handed it over to the King of Sweden. Even then, the Danes weren’t completely satisfied, laying siege to the town for a month in 1677 but were unable to remove the Swedish troops guarding it. Today, it is one of the most multicultural cities in Scandinavia, with 171 different nationalities being represented among its population.

One of the first things that you notice when you leave the station and begin the walk into the centre of Malmo is a statue of a gun with the muzzle twisted in a knot. It is apparently named ‘Non violence’ and was sculpted by Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd a Swede. Like so many iconic statues, there are multiple copies of this one, perhaps the most well known being that donated by the Government of Luxemburg to the United Nations which stands outside the United Nations building in New York. The artist was a friend of John Lennon and it was in response to Lennon’s murder that he came up with the concept.

Walking along the Centralplan into the Old Town (Gamla Staden) you very quickly reach the Stortorget (Main Square) which features an equestrian statue of King Charles X, the king who defeated the Danes and brought Malmo to the Swedish. Facing on to the square was the City Hall which was suitably old and impressive, but it was what was surrounding the Christmas Tree in the centre of the square which most excited us. Just as we had seen in Kongens Nytorv there was an ice-skating rink in the centre of the square. Quinn, in particular, just wanted to get out on the ice so, even though he didn’t have skates, he went for a walk (while Brock loudly expressed a desire that Quinn should slip and fall). A bronze sculpture on the site of the former city well also grabbed our interest, while Quinn successfully navigated himself among the young children and their watchful parents to the far side of the rink. It wasn’t as slippery as he had expected, was his report, possibly because it was still below freezing.

The pedestrianised streets which take you through the centre of Malmo are covered with beautiful cobblestones and some of the buildings similarly take you back in time. The City Hall, finished in 1546, now has a façade from the 1860s, when Helgo Zettervall redesigned it in the Dutch Renaissance style, much of which remains today. As far back as the 1500s, there was a restaurant in the City Hall cellar, where the Rådhuskällaren restaurant is located. Next door to the City Hall is the residence of the County Governor which was built in 17th century Renaissance style. Near this is the Kramer Hotel which was built in the 1870’s.

It was hard to know which way to look, there were little lanes which led through buildings to further courtyards and which were lined with shops, there were an enormous variety of different buildings, and there were also a plethora of statues and other works of art on the facades of buildings and on the streets around us. The funniest of these was a series of statues forming a little marching band walking up the street. It wasn’t clear if there was any larger purpose to their presence, but they certainly provided all the passers by with amusement.

At this point Meg and the boys wandered off into one of the many decorative homeware shops that seemed to be in this part of the city, while Wayne continued to mosey down the street taking photographs. Having taken a photograph of a quite beautiful building at the corner of a crossroads he wandered across to have a look at what sort of things might be sold there. Imagine his surprise to find R. M. Williams boots, shoes and belts featured in the window display (it was a shoe shop). In the midst of yet another country, it was fun to find a little bit of Australia.

Next up was the square named after King Gustav IV, who governed Sweden from Malmö during a period in the 19th century, Gustav Adolf’s Torg. Gustav IV planned to make Malmö the second capital city of Sweden, but was dethroned before he could carry out his vision. When we entered the square the first thing that took our notice was a large rally against the action taking place in Palestine at that time. It was quite large and noisy, and in places there were some very heated discussions going on. Not wanting to offend anybody we carefully walked through. The latest redesign of the square took place in 1997, when a row of fountain sculptures were laid out and market trade became a permanent feature, and it was toward the markets that we now headed, however it seemed that a number of the traders were also connected to the protest so we moved on.

The next park of our walk took us across the ‘forstads canalen’ out of the old town of Malmo and into one of the newer sections of the city. Symbolic of this was the Malmo Hilton Hotel which we found directly in front of us. While not a particularly tall building by some cities standards, in a country where much of the land is quite flat, and a city where that is definitely the case, it towered above us. Indeed one of the hotels features which it uses to advertise is the fantastic views of the city, looking right out to the harbour and the bridge. Apparently the gym on the 20th floor is particularly impressive for this purpose. However, this isn’t the tallest building in Malmo, because in 2005 the Turning Torso was completed to give Malmo a skyline focus right on the waterfront. While we didn’t get right up to it, the 190 metre tall (easily twice as tall as any other building in the city) can be seen from almost anywhere, and is all private residences.

As it was now getting quite late in the day, and we had already determined that we would be eating dinner back in Copenhagen, we now proceeded to walk back to the train station. This involved us going past a couple of Wayne’s Coffee houses (that was what they were actually called, much to Wayne’s delight) and into a Lidl supermarket to see if we could pick up some drinks. In the end the queues were too long for Meg to bear (if you have ever shopped with her you will know what we mean) and we continued on our way without making a purchase.

One of the other things we noticed as we made our journey was that the fountains in Gustav Adolf’s Torg had been lit up with fires in the top bowl; that they managed to do this while still working as fountains was another impressive feat. The lateness of the hour (being the northern hemisphere the sun was rapidly setting at 4:30pm) had also put paid to the protest rally and the subsequent arguments, but it also seemed to have brought people out into the square to sit at open air cafes and restaurants. Oddly, it was now warmer with the sun setting that it had been during the earlier part of the afternoon.

Once again the trip across the bridge was quick and comfortable, despositing us back at Copenhagen Central Station with only a very short walk to our hotel. However, first we stopped at a local all-you-can-eat pizza bar which advertised dinner for 60 DKK per head (the equivalent of £7). We had been warned that Copenhagen would be very expensive, but this wasn’t too bad a deal (McDonalds meals in the UK are only a few pounds less). This might have had something to do with the economic downturn that has been affecting the world but, whatever the reason, it didn’t stop us eating our fill and then grabbing some drinks on the way back to the hotel for a relaxing night after another fabulous day.

The next morning saw us getting a good rest then up and to the train station for breakfast at McDonalds before enquiring if there was the possibility of another trip somewhere on the train. Hamburg (in Germany) we were told was an option and relatively cheap, however, the length of time it would take to get there and back would leave us pushing the boundaries of making our flight home. If we had only thought of this the day before we could have done Hamburg that day, and then Malmo on the Sunday (in retrospect we could have still gone to Hamburg, but you will have to read on to find out why). Outside the station there were still hundreds of pushbikes, so we theorised that many commuters leave them parked at the station over the weekend and during the night, unlocking them after their train trip in the mornings to cycle to work and then back in the afternoons.

The disappointment of not being able to catch another train meant getting up and walking back to the Rådhuspladsen. Despite the fact that it was colder (the thermometer informed us that it was -3°C) there were a few more people around this morning. Some of this might have been because the shops were open once again, as they are on the fourth Sunday of every month. Sadly, this didn’t mean that Tivoli Gardens were open as it closes during the winter months and would not open again until April. This meant that the boys missed out on riding ‘The Demon’, which is apparently the biggest, fastest, and most terrifying rollercoaster in the whole of Scandinavia. Despite there not being a lot of room in the park, this travels above other attractions meaning that it could be added without other things having to be removed. However, although it was closed, there were shops that were open and this gave Meg the chance to browse and to buy the boys some shirts.

Instead of going to the Tivoli and ‘The Demon’ (and secretly we believe the boys were relieved) we journeyed next to the Palace Hotel to the Hans Christian Anderson Museum and the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum. These two exhibitions are separate but share a building space and it is possible to buy a reduced ticket to both. However, for time reasons when given the choice of one or the other, Brock and Quinn elected Ripley’s. There are 68 of these museums worldwide (including one in London) so it may be that you have come across one before. If not, they feature a series of displays (some of which are interactive) which give details of strange and unusual; practices, events, geological features, human forms, animals and other things found throughout the world. The museum also serves to give a bit of a biography of Ripley himself, so it was quite fascinating in places.

After this we moved just down the road a little way to the Museum and Gallery we had heard so much about the day before, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. The collection is built around the personal collection of the son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries, Carl Jacobsen (1842-1914) the same gentleman who commissioned ‘The Little Mermaid’, but this is much more impressive. Meg, in particular, was excited at the prospect of seeing some paintings by Gauguin of which the Glyptotek has an impressive collection. This is largely because Gauguin married a Danish woman (Mette Sofie Gad) and lived in Fredericksburg for a winter. He had 9 children with Mette, so there are numerous descendants still living in Denmark (including well known musicians, painters and tv presenters apparently).

Before we even got to the collection of French paintings we were overwhelmed by the Winter Garden in the centre of the building, with the collection of sculpture that is stored there. As well there were fascinating collections of ancient Mediterranean artifacts, so one was able to move through the history of different empires, looking at actual statues, fragments of pottery, and whole sections of buildings with murals etc. Some of these are up to 5 000 years old and it is just awe inspiring to think that people were using the implements in front of us that long ago. If such a collection were touring Australia we would pay a fortune to see it, but because we were at it’s home, we were admitted free of charge.

As good as these other exhibitions were, the paintings (and sculptures) of the French Impressionists which we had come to see topped everything. Here were paintings that Meg and Wayne had heard of (and many that we hadn’t because they aren’t in more prominent galleries) which were awesomely good. All four of us played a game where each had to pick their favourite piece in each room and then explain why that particular piece appealed. While everyone got into the spirit, there were a number of rooms where each of us found it impossible to make just one choice. If you have a chance to visit this Museum, please do, otherwise their website is also worth a visit.

After the Glyptotek it was about 4pm which meant that we had time to go back to our new favourite pizza parlour, because the lunchtime special ran till 5 and was 10 DKK cheaper than the evening version. While we were there a waiter made the sad mistake of trying to take our plates away before he had finished. Both Brock and Wayne saw this as a personal affront and were determined to eat as much as they could before we left to go and pick up our bags (which the wonderful people at the Norlandia Star had allowed us to store during the day). The actual amounts that they ate are uncertain because Wayne had both chick pea and green salad with his pizza, suffice it to say that Wayne ate more than Brock and that both ate more than they would have if the waiter had not been rude.

Our flight was due to leave at 9:30pm but we reasoned that we might be able to get out early and either catch an early flight or at least book our bags in. Unfortunately, EasyJet had not opened their counters as yet, so we had a longish wait in Departures (where they even closed the coffee shop before 8:30 when our desk opened for check in. Eventually, however, we were checked in and through Customs into the proper Departure lounge ready to fly, just waiting for our Boarding Gate to come up on the screen. As the minutes ticked by and flights that were due to leave after us had been posted but ours had not we made enquiries as to what was going on. The forecast snow had hit England even more heavily that predicted and this had delayed the flight coming out which would provide the aircraft for our trip back.

After numerous delays, and some considerable frustration on behalf of many of the other passengers (perhaps we are learning some patience from the amount of travelling we have now done) we were eventually able to board around 11pm. This reminded us of one of the negatives associated with these low cost airlines, no assigned seating. The delays and concerns meant that many of our fellow passengers were quite wound up and pushing and shoving to get on to the aircraft. Ultimately, all four of us got seats in the second last row, with a group of boys/men sitting around us who had been participating in a skateboarding tournament and who were quite hyperactive. While this initially seemed like it might be a negative, it turned out to be better than we had hoped.

Once on the aircraft we were informed that we were not actually allowed to depart, because there was no certainty of somewhere to land at Stansted. Indeed, Gatwick and Luton airports had already been closed because of the amount of snow. It was here that the guys around us came into their own, telling stories and inviting others to do so (Quinn even demonstrated some bizarre things he can do with his body). Eventually, we made it into the air, but halfway home were told that Stansted had now also been closed and we were going to be diverted. Would it be Birmingham? Heathrow? Bristol? even, Aberdeen? No, we were going to be arriving at midnight in, of all places given our history, Manchester.

Once on the ground there everything about our last trip to Manchester seemed to be coming back to haunt us. We were kept on board the aircraft, partially in case, we were told, Stansted was able to reopen, until 3am. When we were finally allowed to disembark we were going to be put on to coaches headed back to Stansted (normally a 3 hour drive). Because of our position at the back of the aeroplane, we missed out on seats on the first two coaches and had to wait at the Terminal at Manchester for a third to be procured. Eventually, at 3:30am we were loaded on board and began the trek home, but the nightmare was not over.

Instead of 3 hours, because of the snow (and also the bizarre route and stops that our driver made) we did not arrive back at Stansted until close to 10:30am. The positive from this was that, because we had been on the final coach everybody actually got seats to themselves which made it possible for some (little) sleep to be enjoyed. While travelling Meg phoned the school to inform them that we would possibly be a little late. After initially being told that the school was open, and being rebuked for being so foolhardy as to be in a position to be late, we were then informed that the whole area was covered in thick snow and hence the school was closed, but that we were still expected to attend.

Wayne did not particularly enjoy the drive back from Stansted to home, especially when the car lost traction and drove into a snow drift despite his attempts to right it. However, we all enjoyed seeing the enormous quantities of snow which had been dumped on South East England. It was light, it was fluffy, and it was very thick. Meg still describes it as being like a ‘Disney Movie’. When we finally reached Hailey Hall we discovered two of our work colleagues building an igloo in the centre of the football pitch, a scheme which Quinn very happily participated in. While it wasn’t quite what we expected, even the negative aspects of this holiday had a silver lining (although none of us ever wants to go to Manchester again).

Wonderful, wonderful

The country of Denmark has become more prominent in the thinking of the average Australian since a young Tasmanian woman, working in a bar in Sydney, was first approached by a wealthy European gentleman holidaying there. Despite that, when confronted at Stansted Airport by the news that Copenhagen was to be our destination on this trip neither Brock nor Quinn had any idea where it was or what was there. What should we have told them? Royal Copenhagen Icecream? Danish pastries? The racehorse ‘Nothing Leica Dane’? We chose to go with Princess Mary and Prince Frederick and the stories of Hans Christian Anderson. Is it a failure of the education system, or an indication of just how wide the cult of celebrity dominates our media, that they had both heard of the former but neither of the latter?

Scandinavia was an entirely new part of the world for all of us, but we showed we had been learning from our previous experiences in other places by at least getting to the airport on time to make the plane. The weather forecast for England was predicting snow on Sunday into Monday, but the weekend in Copenhagen looked to be cloudy but otherwise ok. This proved to be the case when we touched down at Københavns Lufthavn and went to collect our baggage. Flying in, our overwhelming first impression had been just how flat the area was, which is typical of the island of Zealand, the largest island in Denmark (excluding Greenland, which is a Danish territory) because the highest natural point on the island is only 121.3 metres above sea level.

Unfortunately, because of some problems with the computer systems, there was a delay in collecting our bag but this did give us an opportunity to look around the airport a little. The site has been used for this purpose since April 20, 1925 (which makes it quite old) and in 2006 it handled more than 20 million passengers for the first time. There are plans to complete a new low cost terminal in 2010 but the current one is lovely and clean with lots of wood featured throughout. Eventually we found our bag and made our way down to the Metro Station (completed in 2007) to catch a train into Copenhagen Central station. Because of the hour time difference between England and Denmark, by the time we reached the city centre it was already 10:30pm.

Another thing we have learned from our previous trips is that it is very useful to have a hotel near to the centre of the city if you don’t have ready access to transport. Fortunately, the Norlandia Star Hotel was only a couple of hundred metres from the station although, once again, we found it was in the red light district of Copenhagen. Brock and Quinn commented on the ladies standing on the street corners but, as with Madrid, we were all pleased to observe that at least they were warmly dressed. Inside the hotel we received a warm welcome from the staff, who informed us that their monarchy was one of the oldest in the world, but also one of the poorest [hidden message: don’t try to sponge off Mary just because you are Australian]. We made our way up to the rooms, then the boys and Wayne went for a quick walk to the 7/11 to grab some drinks before we went to bed for some well earned sleep.

The next morning we awoke to find an overcast but otherwise nice day (however, a little on the chilly side as a large thermometer on the side of a building showed the temperature to be a fraction under 0°C) and we walked out to find some breakfast. Our plan was to take a guided tour of the city and we were pleased to find the central Tourist Information building not far from the station, and opposite the famous Tivoli Gardens (one of the ‘1000 Places to See Before You Die’ by Patricia Schultz). The very helpful staff member that we talked to (and one of the many wonderful things about Copenhagen was that everyone that we talked to spoke excellent English and was concerned to be as helpful as possible) told us that the tour we wanted was to leave in half an hour, a short walk away next to the City Hall in front of the Palace Hotel.

The buildings we saw around us were fabulous architecturally, but we were all somewhat surprised at just how many neon signs there were, advertising everything from bacon to airlines. One of our favourite buildings was the cinema just off the main street which was brilliantly painted in bright colours, the predominant one of which was pink. Another thing we noticed, which isn’t really surprising given how flat the area is, is how many bicycles there were in the city centre. In fact, most of the roads had sizeable cycling lanes and wherever we looked there were people riding all sorts of bikes. In front of the city hall is a lovely square, the Rådhuspladsen which was emptier than usual, largely because of the breeze coming up H C Anderson Boulevard, which was somewhat brisk.

We have really enjoyed the bus tours we took in Belfast and Madrid, and were unsurprised to find that this one was also positive. Our tour guide was a very funny older lady who wasn’t above a little name dropping but who knew her city. We started off doing a drive around the Rådhuspladsen itself, before looking a bit more at the old part of the city to the north of the Tivoli. In much of Copenhagen, different areas owe their existence and form to various kings from the cities history and the number of monuments to various Kings from the past bears this out. In this case it was King Christian VIII who, in 1841, disturbed by civil unrest said, ‘When people amuse themselves they forget politics’ and so commissioned the Tivoli Gardens from Danish architect George Carstensen. When it was first built it was in the countryside on land that was once part of Copenhagen’s foundations. With the passage of time and the expansion of the city, it is now right at the centre. Indeed, during WWII the invading Nazi’s, angry at the resistance from the local population, burned the Concert Hall to the ground. Within a week the Danes had erected a tent to replace it and the current, permanent hall was completed in 1956.

Just to the south of the Tivoli is a series of art galleries and museums which was the next part of our tour. The first of these was the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek which the guide spoke about so favourably that we decided we would do our best to get to it on the next day. On the next block was the Conservatorium of Music and a couple of blocks to the east was the National Museum. At the back of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek was a cast of Rodin’s famous statue ‘The Thinker’. While the original is in the Musée Rodin in Paris, there are over 20 different casts made from the original displayed around the world. Denmark is very pleased to have one of these.

While lots of the impressive sights in Copenhagen are aged, one of the most striking features of architecture in the city is much newer. In 1999 a fourth site for The Royal Library, the National Library of Denmark and Copenhagen University Library was opened at Slotsholmen overlooking the water. It was constructed of black marble and glass and is known as the Black Diamond for it’s impressive appearance. As well as housing part of the library, it also houses a concert hall and has a series of bridges which link it to an older part of the library. It certainly makes a very imposing sight.

Interestingly, our guide also related to us the story of one of the largest book thefts in history. During the period between 1968 and 1978 around 1,600 historical books (worth more than $50 million), including prints by Martin Luther and first editions by Immanuel Kant, Thomas More and John Milton, went missing from the library. After 20 years some of these books worth some $2 million began to be sold at various auctions. The case was finally solved in September 2003, after a stolen book had surfaced at Christie's auction house in London. The thief turned out to have been a head of department of the library's oriental department, one Frede Møller-Kristensen. He had died in February 2003 and his family then became careless in selling the remaining books. When the family's homes in Germany and Denmark were raided in November 2003, some 1,500 books were recovered. Ultimately, his wife, son, daughter-in-law and a family friend were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 months to 3 years; the friend was acquitted on appeal. It was all a laugh for the guide, because at least they had got the books back.

Opposite the Black Diamond are a series of old warehouses and other buildings that act as a reminder that Copenhagen achieved it’s prominence in the region because it is a port city. It is through the access to the sea, and therefore to other parts of Scandinavia and the world, that Copenhagen gradually became the economic, cultural and political focus of Denmark. Otherwise, it is situated well away from the rest of the country, on an island rather than part of the mainland. This was also emphasised by the number of bridges over which we passed during the tour, because Copenhagen is crisscrossed by numerous canals.

Another feature, which our guide made particular mention of, is the extraordinary architecture which you see as you travel around the city. For the Danes, we were told, architecture is more important than life. One of the elements of this that drew our attention was the particular emphasis on spirals within and upon buildings. The Church of Our Saviour in Copenhagen has a spiral tower which can be seen from many parts of the city. Another building with a spiral tower is the Børsen, which houses the Stock Exchange along with other financial institutions, however the Børsen tower spiral is composed of the tails of dragons. While striking, this was also the basis for another sad story for the architect who designed it is said to have committed suicide when he realised the building had been completed with the tails twisting in the wrong direction. They do really take architecture seriously here.

Nearby is the Christiansborg Palace, a large and impressive series of buildings which now stand on a site that has been used as a palace for centuries. In 1167 Bishop Absalon of Roskilde built a castle on an island outside Copenhagen harbour surrounded by a wall of limestone from Stevns Cliffs (remains of this wall and other parts of the original castle as still able to be seen in the basement of the current building). While that castle stood for 200 years, it was eventually destroyed by the Hanseatic League, covered with earthworks, and built over with another castle. It was used as an imposing prison for some time before being knocked down and rebuilt by Frederick IV in the 1720’s. However, his castle was too big for the foundations and the walls began to crack. Christian VI (Frederick’s successor) had this castle completely demolished and began building the new Christiansborg. Unfortunately, this castle also suffered a serious fate, burning down in 1794, at which point the Royal Family had to find a new place to live (firstly at Rosenborg Castle then later at Amalienborg). Once again it was rebuilt only to suffer the same fate in 1884. The next version of the Castle was begun in 1907 and completed in 1928. The palace now houses the Royal Reception Rooms, the Queen's Library, the audience chambers, the Sovereign in Council rooms, the Chapel, Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister's Office, and thus has the distinction of housing all of the country’s supreme powers, judicial, executive and legislatial.

Nearby to Christiansborg is one of the more exclusive suburbs in Copenhagen, Christianshavn, though this one is named after a different King, Christian IV. He had been reponsible for having the port and naval yards upgraded and needed somewhere to house the workers responsible. He employed Dutch engineers (because of their experience working with reclaimed land and among canals) and they built a suburb on what is essentially an artificial island. Nearby is the Free City of Christiania, a partially self-governing neighborhood which has established semi-legal status as an independent community in an area of abandoned military barracks. Among the houses we saw was the home of Hans Christian Anderson, suitably marked with a plaque.

Not far away was one of Quinn’s favourite sights in the centre of Kongens Nytorv, a square constructed on the former ramparts of the city. There was an outdoor ice skating rink built around the central park and loads of people of all ages skating around on it. This is a feature of this part of the city during the winter months and locals and visitors alike take advantage of it. Around the square are some very impressive buildings, especially the headquarters of the Royal Danish Theatre where, on opening nights, the whole square can apparently be filled with people. Other buildings are the Thotske Palace (now the French Embassy), and the department store Magasin du Nord, the most beautiful department store in Scandinavia. Even the statue in the centre, of Christian V, is impressive.

Embassies were becoming a big feature (although we didn’t get to see the Australian one) as the buildings in this part of the world were obviously more upmarket. Seeing the Theatre however, didn’t quite prepare us for the much more modern building which is the new Danish Opera House, which is one of the newest in the world and one of the most expensive ever built. Like the Black Diamond it makes effective use of water frontage and glass. What is amazing is that the funds to build it were donated by the A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation (a private organisation) and it was officially opened on January 15, 2005.

Opposite the Opera House was one of the highlights for all of us (and the first place we stopped) the Royal Palace at Amalienborg, which is the Winter home of the Danish Royal family. Although we didn’t get to see Prince Frederick, Princess Mary or even Queen Magrethe II, we were treated to the spectacle of a changing of the guard. Like the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace this involved lots of people marching around in precision groups while a band played, but they were impressive at how they maintained their lines. When they had finished there was no problem with talking to the guards nor of having photos taken with them.

The palace itself is very impressive, being made up of 4 smaller palaces which originally belonged to 4 separate families but which were incorporated together after the fire at Christiansborg Palace in 1794. In the middle of the central square is a large equestrian statue of Frederick V which is aligned with the Marble Church at one end and the Opera House across the river, so that a person standing in front of the Opera House can see all the way through to the Marble Church.

Next up we journeyed the short distance to Churchill Park. Surprisingly (given that the British have not always treated the Danish well) it is named for former English Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, of whom there is a statue in the centre of the park. The World War II War Memorial also stands here, as does the Resistance Museum. At the centre of the park is the Anglican Church of St Albans built in the 19th century for a growing British population in the city. The Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII) was married to a Danish princess. An interesting juxtaposition is the statue alongside in the middle of the Gefion fountain. Gefion is the Norse Goddess of unmarried women. Her four sons (just because she was unmarried didn’t mean she didn’t have fun) took the form of oxen and she put them in front of a plough given to her by king Gylfi of Sweden. Gylfi had told her (not expecting her to take him up on the deal) that she could have the land she could plough. This turned out to be such a chunk that it left a great hole in Sweden, today known as Lake Vänern (Sweden's biggest lake), and this chunk was dropped into the sea and created Sealand which is the island on which Copenhagen is situated.

In contrast to this statue (which is large and impressive) is the one commissioned by Carl Jacobson (the son of the founder of Carlsberg Brewery) in 1909 and which has become the symbol of Denmark. The little mermaid (Den lille havfrue) is only 1.25 metres high, which generally comes as a shock to visitors seeing her for the first time and was so underwhelming for Meg and Brock that they didn’t even get out of the bus. The statue is not even the original (which was kept in an undisclosed location after it was completed) but has become iconic nonetheless. In fact, it is regularly vandalised by people who want to draw attention to a cause. It has been covered in paint, had various parts painted, had the head removed on more than one occasion, been decorated with various outfits and props, and in 2003 was blasted off the stone on which it sits. Like ‘The Thinker’ there are various copies extant around the world, including one on the grave of Victor Borge (a Danish American entertainer who Wayne once saw in concert).

The final part of the tour took us to the Copenhagen University and some of the brilliant museums and buildings connected with that. One of these is yet another building famed for a spiral, although in this case the spiral is on the inside rather than the outside of the building. The Rundetårn was built at the behest of Christian IV between 1637 and 1642 as part of the Trinitatis complex so that scholars would have an observatory, a church, and a library. Instead of stairs, the tower contains a helical corridor which circles the tower to the top. This has meant that various people have been able to ascend in unusual ways including Czar Peter the Great who travelled to the top on horseback, and in 1902 a car was driven to the top of the tower for the first time.

Not far from the tower is the cathedral of Copenhagen, the Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirke) which was the final stop of our tour. This was completed in 1829 and is one of the more impressive church buildings that we have come across so far on our travels. Inside it is fairly stark (compared to some) but around the walls are some amazing white statues of the twelve apostles while a larger statue on Jesus, in similar style, is at the front of the building. There are multiple levels at the entrance with the top floor including an orchestra site (they were practising while we were there). It was so impressive that Quinn decided to use it for his major composition for photography and took many many snaps. Many of our Australian friends may have already seen it if the watched the marriage of Crown Prince Frederick to Princess Mary in 2004, for the ceremony was conducted in this cathedral.

This was our last stop on the tour, which had managed to cram an awful lot into 2.5 hours. There were so many things to see that we were already very impressed with Copenhagen as a location, and we were only half way through the day. Next on our agenda was to find some lunch before beginning the next chapter in our day.