Every day in Copenhagen there is a changing of the Royal Guard at noon. We headed out on our bikes at about 11:15 to see the guard change. Within 30 seconds it started to rain. By the time we were at Rosenborg it was pouring. As we headed around Rosenborg we could see the new crew of guards getting ready to depart. They march from there to the royal palaces.

The time was now about 11:40 and the rain stopped just as quickly as it had begun. In fact, sections of blue sky appeared which made for some good pictures. Even though we were drenched just 15 minutes before, by 11:55 we were pretty much dry. I don’t understand how this Danish rain works, but for some reason it is quick drying. This wasn’t the first time we got caught in a downpour only to be dry soon after it was over.

Police officers moved all of us to locations out of the way of the incoming guards. Luckily we were moved right into the front row. I thought it was rather ironic that police were doing security for guards. Not only that, the royal family spends the summer elsewhere (Grasten Slot?) so the guards aren’t really guarding them. When you think about it, what we have here are police guarding guards who aren’t guarding anything!

I followed the outgoing guards down the street back towards Rosenborg. It was amusing to see them go down the middle of streets, stop at red lights, and then begin marching again as soon as the signal turned green like a giant toy soldier car rather than a group of pedestrians (who obviously use sidewalks and not the center of a street for autos).

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Posted on July 24th, 2008 under Denmark • Tags: copenhagen, living in copenhagen, pictures. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback