When you see Copenhagen postcards, a calendar featuring Copenhagen or Denmark, or pick up a guidebook dealing with the place there is a strong likelihood that you will see one of only three pictures. That’s a shame because there is so much beauty here. I particularly like the brick buildings and architecture of which you’ll see much more of here on this blog during the next few weeks.

For today, we’ll quickly move you through the three postcard shots, with a minor twist. The twist is that you’ll see these postcard shots with people and/or from a slightly different angle.

The above is Stroget, a street almost a mile long that is only for pedestrians. There are actually many shopping streets that run parallel or almost parallel to Stroget that have little, if any, automobile traffic as well. The typical photograph of Stroget (actually Strøget) is early in the morning with little, or no, foot traffic or bikes. The reality is that there are usually lots of bikes and people on Stroget. Also, the normal camera angle is from further to the right and elevated. I think they take that shot from above a restaurant that you can’t see in the above picture that I took.

I have a mini tripod, but I don’t use it much. Therefore, we usually only get family portraits when someone sees me taking a picture of the rest of my family and offers to take our picture. So far no Dane has offered to do so. When I was taking a picture of my wife and kids a student from Singapore (from Copenhagen Business School where I am teaching) offered to take the above shot. Nyhavn is the place that our friends from Norway that we met at the White House said we should not miss. They were right. Nyhavn is a very picturesque harbor/canal that we enjoyed.

The most popular picture in Denmark, though, is the one I’ve saved for last.

There she is–The Little Mermaid. This isn’t how you usually see her though. Every photo I have seen of her has been from the land. The above picture I took from our boat so you get more of her backside, and you can see what is going on on the land (tourists photographing her). You only see the two guys in this picture, but there were actually about 30 or 40 people on the land taking her picture. She really isn’t that spectacular and isn’t worth the trip on land. You’ll end up with nothing but the same picture that can be downloaded off of a million sites on the internet. There is nothing else to see or do at The Little Mermaid statue location.

And there you have it–three postcards from Copenhagen. We saved a bundle on stamps and real postcards doing it this way. Actually, we just sent off several real postcards. If you made Ellie’s short list then you can expect it to arrive in the next few days.

Posted on July 10th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: copenhagen, hans christian andersen, little mermaid, nyhavn, pictures, stroget. Comments: 2

I have a load of really great pictures from our Copenhagen Canal Tour this past Sunday to show you, but it seems like too daunting a task to put together today. Instead I’ll take the easy way out and present three photographs that didn’t quite fit into any prior entry.

The kids really like the little park right next to our apartment. Or at least they did until they mastered the various balance beams that were so difficult at first. Now the challenge isn’t quite there. There is a ping pong table made out of cement with a metal net (no lets or net services with a metal net I suppose) at the park, but we don’t have any paddles or ping pong balls. The setting for the park is what I really like as Skt. Markus Church provides a nice backdrop.

We aren’t sure what exactly to call the bodies of water between Frederiksberg and Copenhagen City Center. In Danish they are “So” or more correctly “Sø” and there are three of them (divided into five sections by bridges or roads): Skt. Jorgens So, Peblinge So, and Sortedams So.

In English I’ve heard them referred to as lakes, canals, and reservoirs. They aren’t really canals. And they aren’t really lakes so don’t picture Lake Tahoe. In any event, we cross them nearly every day–sometimes numerous times a day. They are beautiful and loaded with wildlife. Around dusk (after 10 p.m. in the northern summer) you can get some really cool reflections off the buildings.

The above photo is perhaps the best picture I have ever taken. It had nothing to do with me though. I was just in the right place at the right time. The lighting, reflections, and everything were perfect. I didn’t do anything but push a button. I have done nothing to enhance this picture in photo manipulation software either. Make sure to maximize it to see just how cool it is.

Our big news of the day is that we are going to take a trip to Norway after all. We will be on a cruise ship to Oslo next weekend. We’ll have only one day in Oslo before reboarding and coming back. What we are really looking forward to is seeing the fjords from the ship as we sail in. What should we do when we get there? Here are some options:
– Akershus Castle and Fortress
– Norsk Folkemuseum, the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History at Bygdøy, with a large open air museum
– The Armed Forces Museum
– The City Hall, where the annual Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held
– The Holmenkollen ski jump, arena of the 1952 Winter Olympic Games, Holmenkollen
– The Holmenkollen Ski Museum, Holmenkollen
– The Kon-Tiki Museum, Bygdøy
– The Munch Museum, Tøyen
– The National Gallery
– The Norwegian Maritime Museum, including ships Fram and Gjøa, Bygdøy
– The Oslo City Museum, at Frogner Manor
– The Royal Palace
– The Henie-Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden in Bærum
– Oslo Cathedral
– The Storting, parliament building
– The Vigeland Park in the Frogner park (Frognerparken)
– The Viking Ship Museum, displaying the Oseberg and Gokstad ships, Bygdøy Tryvannstårnet

We have only 9 hours so if you can recommend any of the above or cross any of the above off of our list by commenting as a reply to this blog entry we’d appreciate it!

Posted on July 9th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: copenhagen, frederiksberg, living in copenhagen, norway, pictures. Comments: 1

After obtaining bicycles we were suddenly freed to explore pretty much any part of Copenhagen rather easily and quickly. Bikes have a way of getting flat tires, though, and last week I got one. The plan was for me to go to the bike shop and get it fixed while my wife and kids went to visit a place on the map called Kongens Have. I would meet up with them after my tire was repaired.

After wandering around the edges of Kongens Have for a while taking pictures I realized that the fancy building near the center was actually Rosenborg Castle. I first read about Rosenborg in Music & Silence. Stumbling upon it here, basically unplanned, was a pleasant surprise.

The park around the castle is just as impressive, if not more so, than the castle itself. It includes lots of very different (to American eyes anyway) tree-lined paths, flower gardens, statues, and other curiosities.

We didn’t go into the castle as the highlight is supposed to be the crown jewels (which you can view in photographs on the internet) and at US$15 per person with an extra $5 fee if you want to take pictures it didn’t seem worth it.

My favorite part was finding picture angles that were unusual (like from the bottom where Rapunzel’s hair would hit you, or with the moat in view with The Ugly Duckling floating on the water, or with some of the amazing trees framing the castle). I hope you enjoy them.

Posted on July 8th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: bikes, castle, copenhagen, living in copenhagen, pictures, rosenborg. Comments Off on Rosenborg (Kongens Have)

First off, I must admit to no longer being a big fan of amusement parks. I used to love them as a kid, but as an adult the rides seldom do much for me. Lines, crowds, and steep prices do nothing to make matters better.

Tivoli Gardens was much better than most of my amusement park experiences of the past couple of decades. It had something of a charm that is lacking in most others. The lines were surprisingly short. We never waited more than 5 minutes for a ride. We got there right when the park opened and went on every ride by about 4 p.m. I didn’t think we’d get on everything before midnight so the short lines were a big shock. The kids went on most rides three or more times.

It is said that Walt Disney was inspired to create Disneyland when visiting Tivoli. Personally, I like Tivoli better. Everything is reasonably close together, there are no lines, and old trees and gardens throughout give a much less synthetic feel to the place.

Another thing that is different when compared to American amusement parks is the lack of warnings and instructions. You aren’t told to “please remain seated…” fifty million times throughout the day and warning labels aren’t affixed to every thing in sight. The ancient fun house at Tivoli is practically a death trap, but no one seems to care. I like that.

Be careful when eating or paying for things at Tivoli. We asked for tap water with our meal. At other places we had eaten at in Copenhagen there was no charge for non-bottled water. We were surprised when our bill included a charge for the water. More than US$12 is what we paid for four glasses of water out of the tap! We were warned that if we used a credit card at our meal we would be charged an additional 5.75%. They didn’t warn us at the gate, and we were charged 3.75% for using a card to pay for admission. Our card company is going to charge another 2%.

To me the most interesting ride was the Star Flyer (although The Odin Express had the best name for a ride). I think the kids liked the Rutschebanen Roller Coaster which is almost 100 years old and includes a brake person on the ride with you. The Star Flyer is similar to many of the merry-go-round swing rides found at fairs and amusement parks in the U.S. The big difference is that instead of going 20 or 30 feet in the air, you go over 260 feet in the air. Not only does this make for a strange sensation, but you have the most incredible 360 degree view of Copenhagen imaginable. This ride is really fantastic and one of a kind.  

Posted on July 7th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: amusement parks, copenhagen, living in copenhagen, pictures, tivoli. Comments Off on Tivoli Gardens

On the Fourth of July we went to Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world dating back 165 years. It brought back Independence Day memories from when I was a kid as we went to the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, California on the 4th a few times when I was young.

My wife was reminded that it was the 4th of July at the grocery store earlier in morning by the clerk. Then, when we were getting ready to board our first ride at Tivoli, Vintage Cars, the ride operator heard us say something in English and he says to us, “Congratulations on being an American today!” I thanked him for his well wishes. What does one say to others on the 4th of July? The Danes don’t know any more than I, but I enjoyed his attempt.

Later in the day we ran into the same ride operator on a different ride. This time he was running the Hans Christian Andersen stories ride (The Flying Trunk). He didn’t remember us from earlier in the day but did take another stab at wishing us a happy 4th. This time he said, “Happy Birthday to America!” I had to smile.

I asked him if he had been to America. He said, “No.” He had been to Canada once though. He went to Montreal so he used his French there–not English. The language ability of these Scandinavians is amazing. Some of my students here can speak four or more languages.

Above is the family on the Galley Ships–a ride in which the pirates in the middle fire on the viking ships spinning around them.

Tomorrow I’ll blog some more about Tivoli.

Posted on July 6th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: copenhagen, hans christian andersen, July 4, kobenhavn, Københavns Rådhus, living in copenhagen, pagoda, tivoli. Comments Off on Congratulations on being an American today!