On the plane ride over, the captain came on the intercom to give his update, and he said that it was rather 'blowy' in Copenhagen. I've never really heard anyone describe the weather this way before, so I thought it might be somewhere between slightly windy and windy. I soon learned that 'blowy' was his code word for gale force winds! Well, maybe not, but when it was freezing or below outside, that wind made it even worse. I often had the bitter cold hit my eyes just right and make my eyes water during this trip. I don't believe it ever went above freezing, and the wind chill made it around -15 celsius. Pretty cold for sightseeing, huh?
I arrived in Copenhagen on Valentine's Day. Not being in America, I didn't see much evidence that it was even a holiday. In France, Valentine's Day is solely for les amoureux, so it's not really celebrated amongst children giving cards and candy to each other. I had a nice moment when I tried to explain Valentine's Day à l'americain to the youngest French students at my school, but the teacher cut me off pretty quick since I was trying to say the same stuff that she had printed off, and the kids weren't getting that (nearly) everyone celebrates it in America. Anyway, back to Copenhagen: one of my fellow English Assistant friends, Eva, also decided to go to Copenhagen for the first part of our winter break since her old college roommate lives there now. They invited me over for a nice dinner of steak, mashed potatoes, salad, and a rice krispie treat in the shape of a heart.
The next day I did a little bit of sightseeing with Eva. I proclaimed it a 'fairy tale' day, and we started out by going to see the statue of the little mermaid. She just returned to Denmark - she had been in Shanghai for an exhibition in 2010. I later learned that the harbor of Copenhagen is one of the cleanest harbors in the world, and the Danish sent the harbor water with her to Shanghai to show that Harbor waters can be clean (and I like to think that they wanted to keep her in familiar waters). Wandering through the area trying to find the statue we had to stop a couple of times to find our position on the map. It was terribly cold, and the icy wind just cut through me. The statue itself was on top of rocks a few feet from the shore, and the water around her was covered in ice and snow. In the story, she dies and becomes sea foam, and the icy conditions created a sea foam effect around the statue. I would have liked to stay a little longer and wander down to the 'genetically altered little mermaid' statue, but it was nearly all I could do to go visit the original.
After getting back on the bus to the center of the city, we decided to walk down the pedestrian street, Strøget. It was littered with high end stores such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci, but the place I really wanted to go to was the Lego store. I can imagine my brother being in heaven there, and even I was very impressed. There were so many legos everywhere, and I particularly enjoyed the life-size creations.
To continue the fairy tale day, Eva and I went to the Hans Christian Andersen museum, which was attached to Ripley's Believe It or Not, which we didn't go through. The museum started out with the history of Andersen's life - he was quite the traveler! Then, the exhibits turned into creations from his stories where you could push a button and listen to the fairy tale. The first was The Little Mermaid, of course, but they also included other favorites such as The Little Match Girl, The Emperor's New Clothes, and Thumbelina.
We then walked back down the pedestrian street, and stopped on the way to get coffee and a pastry. I have to admit that their pastries were delicious. In addition to the traditional cheese danishes that are also available in the states, they also had a wide variety of cinnamon pastries, pretty close to cinnamon roles, yum. We also stopped in a toy store along the street, and I found two things that put a smile on my face. The first was the entire section belonging to Pippi Longstocking. There were so many Pippi toys available! I was thinking that maybe she was Danish, but I couldn't remember where she originated (it turned out to be Sweden, which is really close). The second was the discovery of the Sylvanian Families toys (they're called Calico Critters in America). I had these when I was a kid, and hadn't thought about them in forever. I had to call up my mom and make sure that they were the same as what I thought they were, and I was so excited! I even bought a set of the toys for the memories, and like my mom told me, I can use them to decorate a spare bedroom once I get settled somewhere. That day I bought the Grandmother at Home Set which included a cat with a rocking chair and knitting supplies. I later decided that she might get lonely and went back to buy the Sister at Home set that came with a younger cat and a desk and school supplies. Now I'll just have to go through my boxed up stuff to see if I sold the others in a garage sale, but I honestly don't remember.
The next morning I decided to go on a countryside tour of some of the castles outside of the city. I was debating whether to just take a train and see the Hamlet castle on my own or do the tour, but in the end I decided on the tour to avoid the cold as much as possible, and with the tour I might meet some people and see more castles than just the Hamlet castle. It turned out that there were 5 of us on the tour - an Australian couple, an Australian woman, an Australian teaching in England, and me. So, 5 people in a tour bus that could hold 70, not bad! We each were given headphones, and we listened to a commentary about the history of Denmark, Copenhagen, and the castles we were visiting as we cruised along the road right next to the water. Sometimes the waves would hit the side of the road, splashing salt water up and onto the road and sidewalk. It was so odd seeing docks frozen over and snow on the beach.
Our first stop was at the Fredriksborg Palace. The interior was said to be similar to that of the Hamlet castle, but this castle was better furnished and more interesting. And, I must say, the exterior and interior were pretty impressive. I enjoyed the fact that the moats in Denmark still have water in them. It seems that the majority of places I've been to with moats have long been emptied. In this castle the different rooms were also from different centuries based on when they were last created. It seems that buildings burning down was quite common in Denmark, which is completely understandable considering how cold it was. So, if a section of the castle burned down they would rebuild it. The chapel also has the oldest usable organ in the world!
We continued on to the Fredensborg Palace where the queen spends her summer. We weren't allowed to visit, just take a picture and get going. Every year when the queen moves to the palace, the townspeople welcome her and have a procession up to the palace, with everyone carrying candles.
Finally we made our way to Kronborg Palace, made famous by Shakespeare with Hamlet. It is unknown whether he ever visited the castle, but he is remembered there. The play is performed occasionally in the courtyard, and started out with a performance by the people that worked there, but has since included some big name actors like Laurence Olivier and Jude Law. The castle is on the northern tip of Denmark where it is only about 3 miles by sea to Sweden, making it an ideal place for a fortress in case of invasion (there are also cannons pointed towards Sweden). We didn't really stop long enough to go in, and it was very cold to stay out, so our little group of five huddled together, went up to the castle, into the courtyard, then high-tailed it back to the bus.
Throughout the day I had gotten to know my fellow travelers a bit better. The girl teaching in England, Tori, had been talking about going to the Icebar, and everyone on the tour said they would go with her. We were all freezing and hoping that the Icebar would be open when we got back to Copenhagen. Unfortunately, it was not, but those of us who could come back arranged to meet back there when it opened. A few hours later, I was in the Icebar with Tori and Miriam, wearing a huge blue coat provided by the bar on top of my already existing layers. The funny thing is that we wanted to get out of the cold, and in a way, by going to the Icebar we did. It was -5 celsius outside with wind, but inside it was the same temperature without the wind. It was a smaller room than I expected, but it was very cool to see the ice sculptures they had, and it made me consider trying out the Icehotel someday. All of the ice was made from a specific Swedish lake, and all of the Icebars and the Icehotel use the same water. It's amazing to think that the water is that fresh! After the Icebar I went with Miriam and Tori to a place where we got dessert (a cup full of warm diced apples with cinnamon and ice cream). We then parted ways, but it was great to meet some new people on a trip!
I started out the next morning with a canal tour. As the boat crunched through the ice, I was glad to be inside in the warmth, yet still able to sightsee a bit. The boat went back by the little mermaid and also took us by the newest parts of the city (the opera house and black diamond) as well as some of the oldest (Christiansborg Palace). The guide was very friendly and answered any questions we had. For example, about 40% of the energy used by Copenhagen comes from clean energy, and they hope that by 2020 (if I remember correctly) all of their energy will be clean. He's also the one who told me that the harbor is one of the cleanest in the world and there is a place to swim in the harbor. Also, the education system is set up so that basically anyone can study to be whatever they want. He said that Denmark is like a big bird that shouldn't be able to fly, but it does.
The next order of business included a visit to the Round Tower. It's been used as an observatory for centuries, and the top of the tower affords a nice view over the city.
Then, there was the Rosenborg Palace. It was also fully furnished and decorated, but the real treat was in the basement. This is where the Danish keep the crown jewels. There was lots of gold and rubies and emeralds, and probably every type of jewel out there. In all, being able to see golden swords and emerald tiaras was unbelievable.
In the evening I went to the planetarium. It was a nice exhibit, but I missed the Sea Rex Imax documentary by 5 minutes. I opted to wait for the Wild Oceans documentary, but it was two hours later. So, I had plenty of time to wander around the planetarium portion and try everything out. There were a lot of things only in Danish, so I had to entertain myself in other sections. There was a funnel that was supposed to emulate a black hole, so I launched silver balls into the funnel over and over again to watch them go down and around. There were also 2 short 3d films being shown, and I realized half way through the second one that there were headphone jacks to listen to the films in English. So, I decided to sit through them again and listen to the English versions - one was just a short film about a boy with a jet pack that missed his school bus, so he and his cat flew through the city to get to school. The other was about dinosaurs and their extinction. Then, there was a section with a green screen where I had to stand and try to guide a rocket ship. Can you tell I was wasting time? The Imax film was good, though. It followed sardines around the coast of South Africa, trying to show the importance of sustaining marine wildlife. All of the predators of the sardines were introduced, including sharks, dolphins, seals, birds, and, of course, humans.
The next morning I woke up way too early. When I looked out the window, what did I see but snow! It was coming down pretty hard, but it didn't fall long enough and the wind didn't allow it to really settle onto the ground. I really didn't want to go back into the cold, so I took my time getting ready.
When I could finally bear it, I walked to the changing of the guard at Amalienborg Palace. The guards came into the square with a band, and walked around the square. I noticed that the stones of the pavement were different colors, creating squares and paths that the guards stayed within. Then, things went really slowly. I waited for about 20 minutes, but not much was happening. I listened to one of the police officers who handled the crowds describe that the changing of the guard is a little bit different most days, depending on which member of the royal family was there and what day of the week it was. When he was done, and when I needed to warm up for a minute, I went to the Marble Church that was just next to where I was. Inside, the church was just a huge dome, and the seating was in the shape of a circle. It was a lot different from the cathedrals in France.
In the afternoon I was going to the aquarium with Eva. While I was waiting for her in the metro, a lot of people passed by me, but one sticks out. There was a little boy around 2 or 3 years old who I guess was at the age when kids talk to anyone and everyone, and he just came up to me and said 'Hi.' His mother let him stop to talk with me, and I said hi back, but then he said something else, and I just looked at the mother and told her that I didn't speak Danish. She smiled and urged him to just keep walking, but I was sort of taken aback by how trusting she was to just stop and let him talk to me, or anyone. Pretty soon after I bumped into Eva, and we headed to the aquarium, which was pretty far outside of the city. When we got to the train station, there were signs that led us on a path through the woods to get to the aquarium.
For being such a small aquarium, they had a lot of interesting fish and reptiles. They had fish with 4 eyes to see above and below the water simultaneously, fish that could use their fins to walk on land, a crocodile that looked content, piranhas that shimmered with gold, sharks that swam in circles, catfish that sounded like vampires, and huge crabs and lobsters. Not to mention the touch pools where a starfish decided to make my finger it's new home!
Leaving the aquarium, we walked down to the water front to see the view onto the Baltic Sea and the ice and sand of the shore. We then went back to Copenhagen, and parted ways to rest a little bit before our showing of My Fair Lady. I had the tickets, and Eva was late getting there. The ushers rushed me in, and I told them I had a friend still coming. They took her ticket and name, and then told me to hurry in before the play started. I was worried the entire first half because Eva never showed up, but it turned out that they were very good about finding her when she showed up and accidentally showed her to the wrong seat. The play itself was very good with a mix of new and old, including a part when Elisa Doolittle was suspended above the rest of the cast members. I of course could make out very little of what was said since it was in Danish, but knowing the story made it easier and the songs and choreography were well done.
My last morning in Denmark I grabbed breakfast as usual, but a woman from the tourism office came up to me as I was finishing and asked if she could have me answer some questions. I wished she would have done it another morning since she was pleasant to talk to and I had to run, but I did let her ask me the questions about my stay and what my impressions of Denmark were. I then went back to my room, got my things, checked out, and headed for the airport. But wait... My flight wasn't until 4 in the afternoon. So what did I do? I went to Sweden! That's right, I went to the airport, put my bag in luggage storage, hopped on a train, and 20 minutes later I was in Sweden.
Taking the train over the sea offered another view of the world. We passed by windmills that blended in with the horizon and a boat that was half tipped over. It was amazing that such a short train ride could take me to a different country. Once in Malmö, I went to the tourist office, asked what I should do and started walking.
First I went by the fortress. It had been through many stages throughout the years as a prison, factory, fortress, and now museum, and to be honest I wasn't that impressed by it. What I really enjoyed was the old windmill on the far corner.
I then walked to the beach and flatlands within the city, an area that afforded a nice view out to sea back over to Denmark and onto the modern architecture of Malmö. While it was still cold, I noticed it wasn't quite as windy in this area, and there weren't as many waves either. The entire area was frozen over, and the beach appeared more rocky underneath the snow and ice.
I then went for a stroll down the pedestrian shopping street. I thought I had left myself enough time to get lunch somewhere, but it seemed that everyone was out and eating at the restaurants, and there were waits everywhere. So I took my time walking down the street. I stopped to listen to a one-man band who had rigged his own drum out of a water jug, and I stopped in a couple of stores. I made my way back to the train station and grabbed a bite from a fast food joint in the station before heading back to the airport.
Overall, I enjoyed Denmark. Copenhagen is a very friendly city: the people are friendly, they're friendly to the environment, and it just feels nice there. It was a bit blowy cold for my taste, but it sounds amazing to be there in the summer when temperatures max out in the 70s and there's a nice breeze. And I don't think I mentioned, but I've never seen so many bikes in my entire life. I read that nearly 40% of the population commutes by bicycle. There were just piles of bikes everywhere, and the roads were very bike friendly with dedicated bike lanes that had their own stop lights. And there's so much history! You can tell I went to my fair share of palaces, but there were even more of them in and around the city.
Stay tuned, this was only the first half of my winter break!
