May 21 - Touring Copenhagen with the Group

Today's activities included a bus tour of Copenhagen with several stops.  In addition to our Odyssey guide, we were accompanied by a local guide.  She will be with us during our stay in Denmark.

We stopped the Amelienborg Palace.  This is the official residence of Queen Margrethe II.  The entrance way had a beautiful fountain.  

The tower behind belongs to the Frederikskirke better known as the Marble Church.  

Because it is a royal residence it has palace guards.

We continued our bus tour northward toward the Kastellet Park past the Gefion Fountain (based on a Danish Myth).  

"The statue represents the pagan goddess Gefion, or Gejfun. According to a legend, she turned her own sons into bulls and used them to plough all the land she could within 24 hours. The land that she had ploughed was granted to her by the King Gylfe of Sweden, and eventually became Zealand, the main island of Denmark."

Our next photo opportunity off the bus was to visit The Little Mermaid."    This statue, dating back to 1909, was a gift from Carl Jacobson (Carslburg Beer).  It is based on the "Little Mermaid Story" written by the famous Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson.

Back on the bus for our final visit to Christiansborg Slot,  Christianborg Palace in English.  The current edifice dates back to 1928.   Earlier versions dated to 1794 and 1884 and actually castles and palace with the same name existed on this site as early as 1167.  It is now home to three branches of Danish government, the executive, the judicial and the legistative.  Several parts of the building are reserved for use by the Danish monarchy.

The outside entrance does not do justice to the what is inside.  Fortunately we had a chance to visit the interior.  

The current monarchs no longer use the throne room.

Of particular interest was the room containing the Queen's tapestries.  

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The Queen's Tapestries at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen are a gift from the Danish business industry to Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II on her 50th birthday in 1990.  The 11 tapestries are from Le Mobilier National et les Manufactures Nationales de Gobelins et de Beauvais in Paris - commonly referred to as les Gobelins.  The project was funded by a range of Danish companies and foundations as well as the French state. Bjørn Nørgaard painted the full-size sketches - known as cartoons - upon which the tapestries were woven.  The gobelin series recounts the history of Denmark and the world, including the Viking Age, the Middle Ages, the Absolute Monarchy, the Reformation, World War II, the Present and even the Future.  It took quite some time to make the tapestries, to be exact 10 years, so on the occasion of the Queen's 60th birthday, the tapestries were finally hung in their rightful home: the Great Hall in Christiansborg Palace, which has been specially restored for the purpose.

The Viking Age

The "present" to the future.

We loved the sense of humor of the artist.

This ended our official tour for the day, but Emma arranged a Copenhagen sightseeing tour by boat anyone in the group who was interested.  All were delighted to continue exploring the city from a new vantage point.   This 1 hour tour through canals, under bridges and out into the harbor let us see more interesting things.

An interesting building on the harbor.  It houses an architecture design firm.

The Opera House is also on the harbor.  The A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation donated the Opera House to the Danish state in August 2000 (A.P. Møller was a co-founder of the company now known as Mærsk).

Can see all of the people at the Little Mermaid statue.

 Another interesting steeple.  This helix tower is found atop the Church of Our Savior.

After the boat tour finished, the group was free for the remainder of the day.  There was a light rain or mist in the air so our plan of a walk to the botanical garden seemed problematic.  John and I decided wander back to the hotel through some different streets.  

We enjoyed more of the architecture as we walked along.  The first is the Royal Copenhagen.

Here we passed another interesting store front.

City Hall of Copenhagen.

Rick Steves had mentioned the next two things on his walking tour - both near our hotel.

The first is called Lur Blowers.    This bronze statue honors the earliest Danish warriors.  They are playing a LUR, a curvy trombone type instrument used to call warriors to battle.

The Weather Girls  are designed to call the weather.  The biker is for clear; the umbrella is for foul.  For years they have been stuck in almost sunny mode with the bike just sticking out. 

There is a thermometer on the edge of the tower.  We couldn't determine if it worked.

Bike and scooters are seemingly the preferred mode of transportation in Copenhagen.  The city is flat and had bike lanes.  However, as a tourist and a pedestrian we have learned to be careful not to step our into the bike lanes.  Cars will stop - bikes only maybe.

We finally arrived back at the hotel about 4 pm.  It was nice to sit and relax for awhile.  We joined Gus and Ann along with our guide Emma for a simple dinner at the food court attached to Tivoli Gardens.  

Home sweet home in Copenhagen - Scandic Copenhagen.