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How to get to Copenhagen |
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Copenhagen is Denmark’s capital and situated in the very east of Denmark. It is connected by a new bridge to Malmo, a Swedish city on the other side of the Oresund sea.
We took a direct SAS flight from Stuttgart, as Chiko had still some miles from her flights from Japan to Europe at the end of the 90’s. The airport has just been named as the “Best Airport of the World”, and it is very nice, indeed. Frequent train and bus connections are available from the airport to downtown Copenhagen.
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What to do in Copenhagen |
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Copenhagen is surrounded by water. Wherever you are in the city, you usually see some water around - it is like Venice, just far more up north.
We stayed from Thursday night to Monday.
Friday was a rainy day. No problem, Copenhagen offers plenty of museums. We decided to go to the National Museum - and enjoyed its abundant exhibits until the sun began to shine at 5pm...
The museum covers a wide variety of topics
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throughout Denish history. The most interesting part, we thought, were the sections about the Danish Vikings and their relations to the Romans. The Romans never managed to conquer the country, but still influenced society, culture and arts.
The museum also displays a large ethnographical collection - you will find a bit of everything from around the world.
More information on the Nationalmuseet’s homepage.
The rest of the day we spent around the townhall and the nearby Tivoli. There will be more modern and attractive amusement parks in the world, but it is definitely a must to visit the Tivoli with its unique atmosphere of a downtown amusement area.
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Saturday turned out to be such a beautiful sunny day. Perfect for our walking tour of the city. The compact city allows you to visit the most interesting sights within a day. Starting from Nyhavn, the always lively former “New Wharf” where our hotel was located, we headed for Rosenborg Palace, where the Queen’s guards are stationed. From there we entered Frederiksstadt, a quiet residential area with very nice and coulourful little houses. Next on the way was Amalienborg Palace, residence of the Denish
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Queen. Call it lucky or unlucky, we just arrived at the right time for the change of the guard: plenty of tourists taking pictures of soldiers marching around in a great distance. Not very spectacular. From Amalienborg castle it is a walk of about half an hour along the seaside towards the famous “Littel Mermaid” sculpture. We arrived at the same time as a bus with a herd of Spanish speaking tourists who immediately started taking pictures around, on, in front of and next to the mermaid. Very funny!
Back downtown we walked through Ostergade Stroget, the main shopping and pedestrian zone. One as many in the world, but very lively this Saturday morning.
You can get a good view on downtown Copenhagen from the Rundetaarn, the “round tower”. You don’t go up by stairs but by a long spiral slope inside. The view is good, though not spectacular - at least we did not take any pictures up there.
We rounded off our walk with some more churches and palaces, such as Christiansborg Palace, today the building for the Denish parliament.
In the evening we did a one hour channel cruise. These cruises start from the dead end of Nyhavn and are worth doing - you will see some of the hidden backyards of Copenhagen, which are mainly accessible from the water, as well as most of the monuments which you saw during the morning walk!
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A day in the Denish Riviera - the Louisiana Museum in Humlebaek |
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Well, modern art. Usually Rainer does not see any sence of e.g. buckets filled with waste being displayed, or other useless things called “arts” nowadays.
But this museum is different. Founded by a wealthy Denish Food Wholesaler, it is dedicated to his wife Loise. And it is great, just as it is. Starting from a white villa, modern appendixes of the building lead through the collection. Just the setting by itself is worth seeing it. Its huge garden park, well equipped with sculptures, offers direct access to the seaside. Additionally, a pleasant path leads down to a little lake next to the museum.
Lunch at the museum cafe with a great view over the Oresund sea, is highly recommended.
We were lucky to see not only the permanent exhiibition but also the great temporary exhibitions featuring Renzo Piano’s architecture and master portraits by photographer Arnold Newman.
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A combination ticket of train and admission to the museum is available from the Denish Railways company DSB. It’s about 40 min. from Copenhagen to Humlebaek by a direct train. From the station it’s a 15-min. walk to the museum, which is easy to find.
Intersted in Louisiana, its collection and current temporary exhibition? Check out their homepage at http://www.louisiana.dk
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