The train ride from Copenhagen to Helsingor was pleasant enough. This was our first real glimpse of the Danish countryside. We were also offered views of the sea between Denmark and Sweden. This body of water is called the Oresund and links the North Sea to the Baltic.

The castle was more impressive than I was anticipating. You can cross the moat and have access to the interior courtyard without having to pay. I understand they also perform Hamlet (which is what this castle is most famous for) a few times each year on the interior courtyard.

Kronborg Castle is flanked by ancient canon which makes for an impressive sight.

Sweden is easily viewable from Kronborg. In fact, Helsingor is the closest point to Sweden from Denmark (and Kronborg Castle is right on the water’s edge of the town). Sailors were boating between the two and we caught sight of a pirate or two as well. 😉

The views with the boats in the straight and the exterior of the castle grounds were very beautiful. The weather was outstanding and the clouds were, once again, amazing.

People and cars were being constantly ferried back and forth from Sweden to Denmark at this point. Here you can see the canon ready to make a few Swedes swim back home. 😉

Actually there is some interesting history about the canon at this place. The canon was not defensive as much as it was an offensive threat to ships that came through the straight without stopping to pay tax. When the ship landed and the tax inspectors went on board, the captain had to declare a value for his cargo. The tax was based on the value of the cargo. If the captain undervalued his cargo to avoid paying tax the inspector had the right to purchase the cargo at the claimed value. Those were some tricky Danes! The tax for passing through was done away with long ago when the nations of the world paid Denmark a huge lump sum.

On our way back to the train station we went through town instead of following the same shortcut road that we took to the castle. Some of the buildings looked like they were out of a fairy tale. A few looked similar to those in Copenhagen on a much smaller scale, but most had a completely different and fun, Danish style.

Posted on July 21st, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: castle, clouds, pictures. Comments Off on Kronborg Castle

Last Tuesday we had perhaps our most action-packed day of our adventure so far. We traveled what I will call the “Zealand Loop.” I highly recommend this trip if you are planning on being in Copenhagen for more than a few days. In fact, I probably recommend the Zealand Loop even if you are only going to be in Copenhagen for two or three days if you enjoy castles and/or the beach.

We were a bit concerned by the weather forecast which called for clouds and rain, but we lucked out and had a mostly sunny, warm day with no rain.

I took over 200 pictures in one day so I’ll break this entry down into four parts with today being the overview and the next three entries being the three places we went. I won’t bore you with all of my photographs either.

If you were to go to each of these areas from Copenhagen by train they would cost 115 DKK each round trip (about US$25). By doing them all in one day you only have to pay the 115 kroners once (with a 24 hour unlimited pass). As importantly, you get to see the wonderful areas in between the three locations, making a loop, rather than just treading the same path to and from Copenhagen.

We started off by going from Copenhagen to Helsingor (Elsinore).

(Don’t forget to have your train ticket punched at the Copenhagen station. The guy who sold us ours didn’t mention that fact and we got chewed out on the train. The lady didn’t fine us though which could have been as steep as 600 DKK (about US$130).)

The train line ends at Helsingor and you’ll want to get off anyway. A short walk of under half a mile takes you to Kronborg Castle, the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. 

From Helsingor train station (which looks like a castle itself) you hop on a train for Gilleleje. Gilleleje has an awesome beach and tons of cute, Danish, summer cottages. We spent most of the day here.

If you want to see the inside of Frederiksborg Castle you’ll need to get there before it closes at 5. If you prefer beaches, or if you’d like to take pictures of Frederiksborg Castle at dusk or after dark, then hang out at Gilleleje until 7 or later.

From Gilleleje train station take the train to Hillerod. You’ll go through forests and see lakes along the way. The scenery was excellent and the windows on the train were huge.

You can walk to Frederiksborg Castle from the train station, but we took a bus, being rather tired by this point. Be sure to walk the grounds behind the castle. They are, in many ways, as impressive as the castle itself. We were there several hours after the castle had closed so there were virtually no tourists there which was nice. You can still walk the grounds and enter the courtyard even after the interior of the castle is closed so don’t worry about arriving late (unless you really want to pay to see the interior).

Finally, take the train from Hillerod to Copenhagen to complete the loop. Arriving back in Copenhagen was almost a shock. Even though we had been away for only 12 hours or so, Copenhagen seemed to have changed into a big city. I suppose it always was, but I didn’t realize it so much while living here everyday. It took a trip to the countryside and the relaxing feeling that came with it to wake me up to my Copenhagen surroundings.

Posted on July 20th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: castle, copenhagen, living in copenhagen, pictures. Comments Off on The Zealand (Sealand) Loop

Nyhavn means New Harbor in English, but this harbor isn’t very new. Nyhavn has been around for well over 300 years. Hans Christian Andersen even lived here for a while.

Tourists come here now as the starting point for Copenhagen Canal Tours or just to enjoy the views. Many also eat and drink at the restaurants, cafes, and bars. From the signs I saw the establishments appear to be even more expensive than those located elsewhere in town. We investigated getting some ice cream here, but it was going to be over US$6 a cone in Nyhavn, versus the usual $4 to $5. (By the time we get back to the states next month I’m guessing we will have spent over $300 on ice cream, ice cream that would have cost us less than $50 back home. Ouch!)

July is Copenhagen Jazz Festival month so a temporary venue was set up and jazz was playing. We couldn’t get very close so we kept going.

If you are familiar with San Francisco, do these pictures remind you of anything? To me Nyhavn seems a bit like a blend of the “Painted Ladies” seen from Alamo Square with the Marina/Fisherman’s Wharf. I say this only because, as a former tour guide in San Francisco, these kinds of strange parallels always seem to pop into my head.

Posted on July 19th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: copenhagen, hans christian andersen, living in copenhagen, nyhavn, pictures. Comments Off on Nyhavn

Between our visits to Glyptotek and Vor Frue Kirke, mentioned in yesterday’s entry, we had a nice lunch at Pasta Basta. It was relatively inexpensive by Danish standards but still set us back at least 4X more than what we usually pay for lunch at a restaurant in the states. After lunch we headed for The Round Tower, a place I had read about many years ago in a wonderful book called, Blind Watchers of the Sky. At least I think it was in that book. If not, I’m sure it was discussed in Music & Silence.

The Round Tower (or Rundetaarn) is a most interesting building. You gain access to the top by going up a long, spiral, brick ramp.

From the top there are outstanding views of the city. And on the very top there is a functioning observatory. We were even able to use the telescope at the top! I believe it’s the oldest functioning observatory in the world at nearly 400 years. There can’t be many older since the telescope has only been around for 400 years.

There wasn’t much to see on a Sunday afternoon with no sunspots. If you really want to see something impressive out of this telescope you’ll want to visit in the winter. It doesn’t get that dark in the summer in Copenhagen.

From the top of the tower you have a great view of Rosenborg and the Statens Museum for Kunst.

In the distance you can see the bridge linking Denmark and Sweden. You can also see an airplane coming into Kastrup, Copenhagen’s airport. The far away, spiral, church steeple is part of Vor Frelsers Kirke on Christianshavn.

As previously mentioned, the Star Flyer ride at Tivoli offers incredible views of the city. These people are in swing seats way, way up in the air. The large tower obscuring the rest of the riders is the Copenhagen City Hall tower.

Posted on July 18th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: copenhagen, Københavns Rådhus, living in copenhagen, museums, pictures. Comments Off on Rundetaarn (The Round Tower)

Some museums in Copenhagen offer free admission on Wednesday. The New (NY) Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum offers free admission on Sunday. With the weak U.S. dollar, admission can be up to US$20 each at some of these places so we try to take advantage of the free days. We headed over to the Glyptotek this past Sunday. It is located right across the street from Tivoli. Needless to say, the kids would have much rather been involved in the screaming we could hear coming from riders across the street.

(Sorry for more pictures of Copenhagen clouds, but they can hardly be missed. Notice the reflections of clouds in the front door pane as well.) 

We made no preparations in terms of research as to what one can see at the Glyptotek beforehand. They have a large selection of ancient works and pieces you normally don’t see in quantity outside of Italy. It reminded me of Italian museums I visited three years ago.

Just as we were about to leave (as the kids were really tired of the place) I noticed a room off to the left that we hadn’t gone into. I took a quick peak in to find a large collection of Auguste Rodin’s pieces including The Thinker and The Kiss. I thought we’d see both in Paris next month, not Copenhagen now, so this was a surprise that seemed somehow wrong. It turns out that there are over 20 casts or copies of The Thinker that Rodin made and Copenhagen has one of them.

The Kiss is a bit more rare as there are only three, large marble versions that Rodin made. The Glyptotek has one of the three. There are many bronze casts of The Kiss.

Later in the day, we were sitting on a bench eating ice cream near a large church. We decided to look inside. After entering the church (Church of Our Lady or Vor Frue Kirke) we found statues of the apostles and a statue of the “Mormon Jesus.”

After returning “home” to our apartment in Frederiksberg and doing a bit of research online I found that the statue I had just photographed is the original Christus carved in 1821 by the famous Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (whose work we have seen many times in Copenhagen now). The version in the Salt Lake City Visitors Center on Temple Square is a copy made more than a hundred years later. Now there are countless copies in Mormon churches and homes (much smaller versions of course) around the world.

Posted on July 17th, 2008 under Denmark. Tags: bertel thorvaldsen, clouds, copenhagen, living in copenhagen, museums, pictures. Comments Off on Famous, original statues and their copies