Friday 9.24.2010



Copenhagen Top to Bottom

We have a lazy start this morning just barely making it down in time for breakfast at 9:30. We have a couple loose items on our agenda that we will use to bracket other stuff that we find to fill up the day. We overload on breakfast with the normal assortment of meats, cheeses, and Danish Rye, and even grab a couple apples to go.


We are trying to do our pre-printed walking tour of the city in reverse, and we are spending more time trying to find our way than we are checking out the sights. We know we want to go to the “Round Tower’ which is looming to our right so we head that way. For 25DKK we get to climb the spiral up to what was once the oldest observatory in Europe. Built in the 1600’s, early astronomers used ancient sextants and low-tech telescopes to find their way around the universe. Now we can wander around the top of the tower looking at the sights of Copenhagen, all of which are identified on conveniently spaced sketches around the railings.


We decide that we’re having more fun just poking around than following the guidebook so we follow our instincts and the back streets in an immersion process. There are some great Swedish style half-timber buildings tucked into these back corners.


We continue to be amazed at the flow of people. In downtown Minneapolis at 11:30 am there would be a fair number of people milling about, but every street here is wall-to-wall with people walking fast, pushing or trying to ride bikes, and hitting the little kiosks, bakeries and cafes for take-away sandwiches. The University is right over there, the big stores are right back there, all the tourist sights are right around here, and most of the offices are nearby, so that probably has something to do with it.


We emerge from the warren of back streets at the Norreport Transportation Station. The King’s summer palace, Rosenborg Castle is a few minutes to the right and becomes our next destination. We skip the displays of the crown jewels and the royal porcelain and spend our palace time in the royal gardens. Even this time of year there are flowers blooming and the trees, shrubs and grass all manicured. It isn’t Versailles, but it is very nice. We snare a little niche in one of the hedges around a rose garden to eat an apple (from breakfast) and plan our next moves.


We opt for a bus ride from Norreport to Christianshavn across the harbor. We cruised through here yesterday but decide to walk around a bit today. We got a picture of Our Savior’s Church from the tour boat with it’s very impressive spiral spire and now we will get inside. They seem to be working on the 17th century organ that is supported by a couple very impressive elephants. The church is not overly large, and as they crank up the organ with only a few people around the sound is massive. We feel like we’re inside the sound system. The pews are all numbered with small doors and they have one set aside for the Royal Family and one for the Magistrate. Neither are in residence today.


We move down the road and into the alternative lifestyle community of Christiania. This is a compound of hippie squatters that took over an old military base in the 70’s and haven’t left. They have been able to ward off legal challenges over the years and continue to live in the early 1970’s with a heavy dose of acid rock, soft drugs and spray paint. It is now the second largest tourist attraction in Copenhagen and it is the tourists who buy the food and souvenirs offered that keep the place financially afloat. John snapped a picture of Mary and was immediately but politely asked by some fellows to delete it which he politely did. John told Mary to pretend like she grew up in the sixties, and the ever practical Mary said the key phrase is “grew up.”


We spend some time along the Christianshavn canal working our way back to the bridge across the harbor and then back to our hotel. We're invited to Patrick's apartment for dinner tonight so it's tme for our 30 minute nap.


We find some beers and wine (our contribution to dinner) and get to Patrick's right on the dot at 6:00. Nina is whipping up a pizza with a "from-scratch" crust (which she has been making since the age of 6) with homemade sauce and there is a great looking salad on the table. We open some beers and Mary checks our finances on their secure connection while Nina keeps slaving away. John and Patrick concentrate on solving the world's major problems while the ladies tend to the chores. Dinner and chat were both fantastic. We wondered in an earlier blog about the future of the younger generation of Norwegians, but if Nina is any example, there is nothing to worry about. She is quick to point out, of course, that we were in Oslo and she is from Bergen where people maintain the traditional values. (We found out tonight that she can kill and clean a mackeral with her bare hands right in the boat. How cool is that?)


We bid our good-byes, make arrangements to meet Patrick in the morning, take one last walk around our canal and off to bed.


Today's Weather: Sun and clouds. Low 50, high 62