We awoke to a really sunny morning this morning at about 6:45 AM. We had closed our curtains on the windows last night, but the sun was really bright coming in around the curtains. We had a great nights sleep, there was no problems with noise out on the streets, after about 9:00 PM, everything really quieted down, and there was hardly any traffic.
We wanted to get an early start today, so we got up and showered, and then headed to the hotel lobby for breakfast, which is included with our room. They had a buffet and served some pastries, and cereals, along with all types sliced meats and cheeses. There were also some eggs in a basket, probably soft boiled, and some fresh fruit. Of course, there was tea, coffee, water and juices available, as well as some sliced oranges, red peppers and cucumbers. It was sort of a typical European breakfast we have seen in parts of Germany and Austria, with the breads, rolls, sliced meats and cheeses. Certainly, no scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage like at home.
After breakfast, we bundled up and packed all of our gear we typically carry for the day, mostly camera equipment and water, in our backpacks.
Fredrick’s Church – The Marble Church
We headed straight over to the “Marble Church”, really named Frederik’s Church, which is near the Royal Palace. The church was started in 1740, and it was said that the dome of this church had been patterned after St. Peters in Rome. Construction was abandoned for 150 years, and the church was not finished until 1894. It was not yet officially open for visitors thi morning, but the doors were open and we went in for a short visit.
The Queen’s Residence
Afterward, we headed down the street to the Amalienborg, which is the home of the Danish Royal Family. There are four identical looking building on a large square, one of which is the residence for the queen. The others three building are for other members of the royal family.
Chuck & Stephanie at Amalienborg
There was a fountain near the canals, and we stopped to take some photos of us with the camera on the tripod,with the fountain and Frederik’s Church in the background. Then we headed back to the square to take some more tripod photos of us in front of Frederik’s Church. Unfortunately, by this time, tour groups were arriving from the tour buses that had parked nearby, and we were having difficulty getting photos without people walking by and getting in the photos with us. Most of the sights officially open at 10:00 AM, but around 9:30 AM, all of the tours started to arrive.
Statue of David Replica
We packed up all of the photo gear and walked down the sidewalk along the main canal. We passed a building used for making sculptures, and it has a full size replica of the Statue Of David that is in Florence, sculpted by Michelangelo, except this one is in bronze.
Royal Yacht Waiting Rooms
Farther down the walk were two small buildings, similar in size to a large gazebo, but with windows on the outside. They are right out on the waterfront and are used by the royal family while waiting to board the royal yacht, which was not in Copenhagen at this time. They were nicely decorated n the outside, but there were not any furnishing on the inside, they must furnish the buildings when they are being used. We had seen all of these sights form yesterday’s canal boat tour.
We continued our walk until we got to a church called
St Alban’s Church
. It is part of the Diocese in Europe of The Church of England, and the worldwide Anglican Communion, and was completed in 1887.
We visited inside and took some photos before heading out to walk the last part of the walkway to the statue of the Little Mermaid. It is interesting to read about the history of this statue on Wikipedia, and all of the vandalism it has gone through over the years. Here is a link to the The Little Mermaid History on Wikipedia. In reality, it is not really all that much to see, probably more iconic in nature than it is known for its actual beauty
The Little Mermaid Statue
Next we walked to Kastellet, which is one of the best preserved Star shaped fortresses in Northern Europe. It is constructed in the form of a pentagram with bastions at its corners. We walked along a portion of the earthen embankment ramparts. Most of the building within the walls house various military activities, but it mainly serves as a public park and a historic site.
Kastellet
From there, we headed back to the palace at Amalienborg to watch the changing of the guards at noon. We were still early so we headed back to Frederik’s Church to get some photos. We had not done much there earlier this morning than to look since it had not officially been open. We took some photos on the inside and then headed back to the parade grounds at Amalienborg to try and beat some of the crowds lining ups for the changing of the guard.
The Changing Of The Guard
At noon, the police got everyone aligned behind some markings in the courtyard brick and the changing of the guard started. The guard is similar to that at Buckingham Palace, but these are purported to still wear actual bear fur hats. They mostly wear blue uniforms, except on occasion, they also wear red. There was no band or music, apparently when the queen is not at her residence, there is much less fanfare. We may have missed our opportunity for the full blown experience yesterday.
The Changing of the Guard
The flag was flying above the queen’s residence when we passed by in the canal tour, so there was most likely a more ceremonious change. There was no flag at the queen’s residence this morning, so we got the reduced version. It was still interesting, and took about 30 minutes. Then a portion of the guard marched in the streets back to Rosenborg Castle, several blocks away. We believe the ceremony we saw yesterday was for veterans of this same guard, and that is their barracks we saw next to Rosenborg Caslte yesterday..
We headed back to the Nyhavn area to try and find a grocery store to purchase some bottled water to have with us while we are touring. We found an Aldi, an went inside to get the water. There were two prices on the signage for the small bottles, 2.40 DKK, some Danish words, and then 1.50 DKK in smaller print. Since the small bottles were in plastic wrap with 12 bottles, or could be bought individually, we assumed the two prices were individual bottle pricing (2.50 ea.) , and pricing for the package, a volume discount at 1.50 each. We went to the register and instead of the 18 DKK we expected for 12 bottles at 1.50 each, the price was 48 DKK. What we did not realize is that all plastic bottles seem to have some type of mandatory deposit, and the 1.50 DKK was the deposit amount, almost as much as the water. We declined the purchase and headed outside.
We found a sign for another grocery down the street and headed there. We found that not all plastic bottles have a deposit, or maybe it is not separately priced because we purchased a coke and it was the same cost as the price tag. We noticed some wording that seemed to look like “excludes” and some that looks like “Includes” and a word that apparently is danish for Deposit. It was really confusing, but we ended up with a bottle of water that was less here than at Aldi, and did not pay a separate deposit, same for the coke we got there.
Afterward, we found a sidewalk cafe called MJ Cafe, and we went inside ordered lunch. Stephanie got a Tzatziki Burger with fries, I got a Chicken Club Sandwich, and we both got 0.5 liter Tuborg Beers. The food was really great, as well as the beers. We ate at the tables they had set up outside on the sidewalk. We were stuffed, it was really too much for a lunch. The only thing thin about the lunch was our wallet, the total for the lunch was 422 DKK, or about $65.00. The beers are expensive for a place known for beer, they were 56 DKK each for a 0.5 liter draft beer, or about $8.50, and are about the same size as a 16 oz. Pint.
Tivoli Entrance
After lunch we went back to the hotel for a break and to get some information on getting to Tivoli, which is the second oldest operating amusement park in the world, built in 1843. We had to take the metro to another train station, then take what is called the S-Train to another stop, and then walk several blocks to the park. Admission to the park is included in our Copenhagen Card, but we found out that the rides are all individually priced, and require tickets.
Tivoli Park
It was a nice park, and had a few good rides, but we were not interested in doing any riding. The park is supposed to be really pretty at night, but we knew we would be too tired to venture out that late since it does not get dark here until about 9:30 PM.
Tivoli Park Rides
We strolled around the park and then headed back to the train station. We did find a nice grocery near the station, and since we were still full from lunch, we decided we would pick up some cheese and bread, and a bottle of wine and eat a snack back at the room tonight. We found some reasonably priced red wines from Italy in the store, a deal at 40 DKK for a bottle when compared to our beers at lunch costing 56 DKK each. The wine was from Montepulciano, and they do produce good wines. We packed up the groceries in our backpacks and headed for the station.
Canal Boat Tour
Once we got off of the metro, we headed the few blocks to the hotel and took our groceries to the room since they were quite heavy in our backpacks. On the way back to the room, we went by another canal tour company’s ticket booth to see their schedule. We knew they were part of the Copenhagen Card, but were not sure if we could start here in Nyhavn. The other tour also starts in Nyhavn, but we were excluded form getting a boat here in Nyhavn with the card since this area is so popular, and they are the most popular canal tour company.
The Opera House
This other company Netto, only starts their tours here in Nyhavn, so we could use our Copenhagen Card and start here, just two blocks from the hotel. We wanted to go a little later in the day, so we went back to the hotel to drop off our groceries. I worked on the blog while Stephanie rested until about 6:00 PM, and we headed out for the tour. It was a nice ride even though the route was the same as yesterday’s tour. There were only about ten people on the boat, which had a capacity of about 150. The narrative was a little different, so we learned a couple of new things.
Our Hotel – The Hotel Bethel
After the one hour tour, we headed back to the Hotel. It had been a long day and was already about 7:30 PM. We ate our snack and wine at the room while I worked on the blog, loading some photos from yesterday into the Photo Albums.
Nyhavn At Dusk
The wine was really good, we were relieved we had made a good selection.
We went back out about 9:00 PM to take some photos of the Nyhavn area in the setting sunlight before calling it a night.