Copenhagen, Denmark

It is Monday, May 12.  

We are in Copenhagen, Denmark and about half the people on the ship will be leaving and about 1,800 will be joining the ship today.  We have a tour planned with a group of about 16 our new “cruise critic” friends that will take us to the castles of the Northern Zealand area of Denmark. 

Our tour today started with a stop at the “most famous Dane of all”, The Little Mermaid based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name.  Copenhagen’s most famous symbol is the Little Mermaid.  Completed in 1913, this famous statue was erected to express gratitude to Hans Christian Andersen and his world-known fairy tales.  It was a quick stop, with just enough time to snap a couple photos.  That is, if we could get a clear shot without other tourists needing to be up close to the statue for their photo. 

A funny story to go along with the statue is that it was loaned to Shanghai, China for 6 months.  When the Danes asked China for something to replace it during its 6-month absence, the Chinese sent a live video stream of the statue sitting in Shanghai.  When Chinese tourists came to Copenhagen, they photographed the live stream video of the statue in Shanghai!

We passed by the building, called the “American port” as this is the port where 175,000 Danes sailed from Copenhagen to New York.  My great-great grandparents were 2 of them back on July 10, 1854.

With it raining, we started on the drive north of Copenhagen along the Oresund Strait and the Swedish coast.  It rains an average of 171 days in Copenhagen.  The Danes consider they have two seasons:  white winter (snow) and green winter (rain).

We stopped at the spectacular Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerod. It is considered to be the finest example of Danish renaissance architecture and the most magnificent castle in Denmark.  The castle was originally built by Christian IV in the early 17^th century to be used as his hunting castle, and after a fire in 1859 it was later rebuilt and opened up as a museum of Danish national art and history.

A photo from the internet.

 It is now a museum and has a considerable collection of historical paintings and portraits, as well as art and furniture associated with the various periods shown. 

The current Queen, her son, and grandson

There is a small chapel with the oldest organ in the world still in use—the Compenius organ dating from 1610.

The castle is filled with many, many portraits of past royals and noblemen. 

Some were only painted from the shoulders up.  The painter charged the least amount for these.

Others included the arms.  These were a bit more expensive to have painted.

And then there were the full body portraits which included the arms and the legs.  These were the most expensive portraits to be painted.

And this is where the expression, “It cost an arm and a leg” supposedly originated.

Ouch!

Still raining!

The gardens....but this is a photo from the internet.

The next stop of the day is in Helsingor, a quaint, charming town of half-timbered houses, cobblestone streets and castles.  We stop at Kronborg Palace – immortalized when Shakespeare chose it for the setting of his play Hamlet. 

Kronborg Castle is situated by Oresund, a narrow strip of water that separates Denmark and Sweden—perfect for controlling the passing ships, forcing them to pay toll.  In the 16^th century, the purpose of this castle was to control the traffic on the strait, making ships pay toll before continuing north or into the Baltic region.  

That Sweden across the water....about 3 miles away.

We enjoy a Coffee and Danish pastry at a nice restaurant next to the castle.

That's a real Danish pastry!

We continued along the coastal road with the lovely view of the sea, past impressive manor houses and small marinas.  We passed by Karen Blixen’s house.  She is the author of “Out of Africa”.  The movie of the same name starred Meryl Streep, who is adored in Copenhagen.

Karen Blixen's home

Shiny black tile roofs say "I'm rich"

There are bikes everywhere!  Cars are very expensive here….double what main Europe would pay.  So a $35,000 car would cost $70,000 here.  And if the price of cars wasn’t enough, gasoline costs about $12 a gallon.  This encourages people to use bicycles or public transportation. 

Upon the return to the city we enjoyed a panoramic highlights tour of Copenhagen.  All views were from the bus so we just sat back and relaxed, knowing that we will be exploring this city again for 3 days post-cruise before we fly home.  Hopefully the weather will be better then.

Next port is Oslo, Norway and we will be exploring that city on our own.