Denmark 2026 - Day 5 - The last day (with an eclipse!)

We still wanted to do a lot of things today, so we started with the freshness of 10 am at the National History Museum. It is a good exhibition that highlights the many ups and downs of Danish history. You would not guess it because the people of Copenhagen are so laidback, but as a nation they were involved in many wars with their neighbors, and tried to do their fair share of colonial imperialism. They had colonies in Ghana (and were active participants in the slave trade), the Danish Antilles (now the US Virgin Islands), and India.

Regarding the kings engaged in European wars, it is a bit difficult to keep track of who is who because the names Fredrick and Christian got reused time and again for the different kings.

Our next stop was at the Copenhagen History Museum, which was not great in terms of museography, but showed some vignettes of the city through the two World Wars, the post-war reconstruction period, and the progressive development of the city we see today. A couple of days ago, while we were in the bikes, coming back from the Heritage Palace, we crossed through many suburban areas dominated by single-family homes, which together with clusters of modern apartment buildings add considerably to the housing options of this city. Lucas and I got talking and we both agreed that Copenhagen is a much more attractive city than Stockholm or Helsinki and has much more of a vibe to it. For example, this week is Pride Week, and every night there has been a big concert in Nørreport to prime the crowds for the big Pride Parade that will take place on Sunday.

Still fascinated by the royal palaces, we visited Amalienborg, which since the fire that destroyed Christianborg has become the home of the royal family. It is formed by four separate houses that had been built by aristocrats, who under considerable royal pressure sold them to the crown, so all the family can "live together", just like if it were an old Mafia complex. The King Christian X (who seems to be well loved by the Danes) and his wife live in one of the houses, the dowager Queen lives in another, and cousins and uncles share the other two. The Amalienborg museum conserves the working offices of the last three kings, shows they were messy packrats, and also houses the jewelry designed by Fabergé (but only one small egg).

After a bit of rest in the house we headed out again, intent on seeing the solar eclipse. I had not seen much excitement about the eclipse around the city (remember Lucas had a hard time finding eclipse glasses), but by the time we got to the metro a considerable throng was heading for the Amagerstrand beach, a short barrier bar on the east of the city, but with enough of a lagoon to promise a good view of the sun. At its maximum the Moon was to cover only 80% of the sun, at 8 pm and at an elevation angle with the horizon of only 6 degrees. Thanks to our glasses we were able to follow the progress of the eclipse from 7:10 pm to its maximum coverage at 8:03 pm. The surrounding light was a bit subdued when the eclipse reached its maximum, but you could not look at the sun directly and no corona was formed. Lucky the people in Spain who had a full totality!

The return home was crowded, but it is amazing at what rate the metro can move people with a new train coming every five minutes. Tomorrow I will use the same metro, which runs all night, to go to the airport and start on the way home.

So I said goodbye to my dear Géraldine and Lucas. It was great to have traveling companions to explore Scandinavia. I must, however, go back to a very hot California (but all of Europe is going through a heat wave so we all seem to be in the same boat) to get ready for the new semester, which starts next week. I will be teaching my regular Development and Management of Water Resources, and two classes I have not taught for years: Sedimentary Rocks for the upper division students, and History of Earth and Life for lower division students. It should be a fun semester.

My route back will be Copenhagen to London Heathrow, a two hour layover, and an 11-hour trip London to San Francisco. I am not looking forward to the latter.

Finis

Denmark 2026 - Day 4 - Christianborg, Rosenborg, and a concert

We were intent on doing our best as tourists, so we were at the palace of Rosenburg when it opened, at 10 am, only to find out that you needed to pre-book your visit. We prebooked for 3 pm that day and then headed for Chrsitianborg, the enormous government complex where are housed all three government powers: Rex-Lex-Jur (executive, legislative, and juridic). The castle goes back to the 1100's, when crusader Bishop Absalon got authorization to found a new coastal diocese. The original fortress grew over the years, but in the 1600's one of the Christians demolished the old stuff and built himself a proper royal palace. Alas, faith had decreed otherwise and the palace burnt to the ground in the mid 1700's. A new palace was rebuilt, but this one to burnt to the ground in the 1800's. Having learnt their lesson, the new palace was built without fireplaces and out of concrete, and the Danes hope this will be the last rebuild.

The king (or queen) is the official head of state but shares the executive power with the Prime Minister, signing or vetoing the laws passed by the parliament. The parliament draws laws and approves the budget. Finally, the juridic system makes sure that the laws are constitutional and are applied fairly.

The big draw on visiting the castle is of course to see the trappings of royalty, including the Grand Hall where heads of state are feted or where important birthdays are celebrated. The hall is decorated with gobelins (tapestries uniquely made at the town of Gobelin, in France) designed by a contemporary artist. They are weirdly modern in style and color, and are reminiscent of the murals of Diego Rivera, where the subscenes depict important (but sometimes unpleasant) moments of Danish history. For example, World War I and WW II are represented, together with the faces of Churchill, Stalin, Lenin, and JFK (it seemed to me the artist forgot the role played by FRD). The personal library of the monarchs was a thing of joy.

We then went to visit the modern Copenhagen Library (also known as the Black Diamond), built between the Old Library and the Main Canal. It is a modern library in every respect, with full electronic connectivity. But if you walk through it to the very back, into the building of the Old Library, you can still come into an old-fashioned reading room, where serious scholars can consult some of the rare books in the collection.

Finally it came time to go back to the Rosenberg Palace, which compared with the other palaces we have visited is fairly small and dark, but has the distinction of being where the crown jewels and other precious things are displayed. There are fancy porcelains and glassware; an armory of ancient arquebuses, jewel encrusted swords, and cross bows; a wide collection of ivory objects (one of the queens enjoyed turning ivory using a lathe); and of course rings, collars, brooches, and three magnificent crowns. Apparently the queen still wears some of these jewels in functions of state.

It was getting a bit late, but we rushed to try to see the university library only to get there just as they were closing. Bummer!

Géraldine and Lucas wanted to climb the spiral tower of the Church of Our Saviour, so we went there by metro. Wisely, I waited for them at a nearby restaurant, sipping a beer and having a delicious pasta with salmon. Once back, Géraldine wanted to hear an organ concert at the church, but Lucas departed on a wild chase around the city to try to find eclipse-watching glasses (amazingly he succeeded and still made it back in time for the concert). The church has the so-called Elephant Organ, a massive instrument 20 m high supported by the carvings of two elephants, and with a voice that easily reaches 90 decibels. It was a very fine concert, but I had the indignity of falling asleep at least four times, and being awaken by a poke in the ribs by my long-suffering companions.

Denmark 2026 - Day 3 - Frederiksborg, the canals of Copenhagen, and Tivoli

We bought a Copenhagen City Card for each one of us, and have free rein over the public transit system and more than 80 attractions. Géraldine likes palaces, so we went as far north as the metro would take us to visit the Frederik Palace. The palace was built by Fredrik the IV (son of Christian V) in the early 1700's. Fredrik was a great admirer of Louis XIV, the Sun King, and like him established absolute monarchy in Denmark, and demolished and rebuilt the old royal palace to be a grandiose affair.

We reached the gardens by taking a small ferry, and as we crossed the lake I had in my mind visions of Hogwarts. To my untrained eye the gardens look a bit different than those at Versailles, but my traveling companions recognized the baroque layout of the main garden, the lakes and water features, and even the small Bath Palace.

Inside the castle is opulent, but you quickly learn that most of it was reconstructed after a devastating fire in 1859. The palace does not belong to the Royal family, but to the nation, which has turned it into the National Portrait Gallery, with hundreds upon hundreds of portraits of prominent citizens (you could almost hear the paparazzi screaming "wait, wait, photo opportunity"). Denmark is a Parlamentary Democracy, but the King is still the ceremonial head of state. Unlike their British counterpart, the royal family has fallen into hard times. There is still a royal complex of four comfortable houses near the shore of one of the canals, but all other assets belong to the state of Denmark.

Speaking of canals, our next attraction was a tour of the canals of Denmark, which have some resemblance to the canals of Amsterdam. The story goes that one of the kings wanted to re-create the ambiance of Amsterdam to try to convince some of those rich Dutch merchants to move to Copenhagen, but it didn't work (they already had Amsterdam, didn't they?). Today the canals are very much gentrified, with expensive apartments lining their sides, the royal residence, a beautiful opera house, Parliament, and other public buildings.

We did pay homage to the Little Mermaid, which together with the Mannequin Pis in Brussels, shares the dubious merit of being the two least imposing pieces of art in all of Europe. The poor mermaid has been decapitated twice, lost an arm, and has been covered in paint any number of times. Yet, the city has renovated and cleaned it every time, and now is a mandatory stop for every tourist who comes to Copenhagen.

After taking a small break at the apartment, we went to visit the famous Tivoli Garden. Tivoli was established in 1843, and has the honor of being the second oldest amusement park in the world (the first one is in Dyrehavsbakken, 10 km north of Copenhagen). The amusement park is in constant evolution, as the park management aims to refresh the attractions and restaurants in the comparatively small area they have to work with (15 acres). It makes for a fun stroll through the walkways lined with restaurants, county fair arcades and games, and the different types of rollercoasters and carousels (you pay separately for the rides). We had dinner there and left when the night lights were coming on. It has been a full day!

Denmark 2026 - Day 2 - Around Copenhagen on bicycles

A friend had told Géraldine that the best way to visit Copenhagen was on bicycle, and indeed there are hundreds of people in bicycles taking advantage of the flat terrain and the many lanes reserved for cycling. So, we rented bicycles and right away I started having problems. For one, in these bikes you cannot pedal backwards because that engages the back break; pedaling backwards is the way we have to set our feet for slowing down and coming off the bike, and for starting from a still position. Instead, with this type of bike one has to jump flat-footed on the ground to stop, and push forward to get enough impulse to get going. Second, I had twisted my ankle, so my ability to stop flat-footed was zilch, and on starting I could not press down with my right foot to get me going; my starts were thus very wobbly and dangerous to other cyclists. Third, there are a lot of cyclists on the bike lanes, many of them rookie tourists, which considerably increased the chance of a collision. In short, it was the ride from hell.

We cycled past a beautiful canal, a la Amsterdam, with well-tended house boats lining the sides and a happy throng milling along the quay. From there we went to Christiana, the hippie community of Copenhagen, where in the 1960’s hippies established communal living, where all would share whatever they had, raise children as in a small village, smoke pot, and do artistic work.  They have their own council that deals with the city to buy power, water, and sanitation services in bulk, but otherwise they deal with everything else internally as a community. Surprisingly they have managed to have their autonomy for 60 years now, have built houses (they have a goodly amount of recycled building materials), and are happy to welcome visitors to their happy home.

Lucas took over the guidance from here, and led us in a not-so-crowded path to the docks and the small beach of Copenhagen, where we had lunch, but after that the crazy guy took us far north of the city to the grounds of the Hermitage Palace (a very small palace surrounded by thousands of acres of forest and open grasslands). Unfortunately for me, it has some topography and I was having troubles with the uphills with my aching foot. The palace has a fabulous view over the ocean, and on the surrounding grasslands we could see a flock of what seemed like very large geese. On closer inspection we realized they were a band of reindeers, maybe a 100 strong, who were taking their leisure in the meadow and appeared as a dwarf forest of palmate antlers. Six of the reindeer were white.

The way back to Copenhagen was long, included several uphills, crossed through lovely neighborhoods of single-family homes, and I struggled to keep up with my friends. Géraldine is in excellent shape and took the front to soon disappear in the distance. Lucas hung up with me out of concern, but clearly this was an easy ride for him. Me, I was dying with the pain in my ankle and was all too glad when we came into the center of town and returned the bikes.

Mercifully Géraldine has suggested that for the next three days we use the Copenhagen City Card, that for 72 hours will give us access to all public transportation and free access to over 80 attractions and places to visit. It is not cheap, at 135 euros per person, but we will try to visit as many museums and attractions as possible to milk it to the dredges. And I will be full of Iboprufen so I will be able to keep up with my friends. 

Denmark 2026 - Day 1 - Arrival at Copenhagen

I managed to pass my cold on to Géraldine, and I think Lucas is not far behind. Pobrecitos :( I feel so bad about ruining everybody's health while in vacation, but viruses don't take any holidays.

Today we woke up earlyish to return the rental car at the airport by 10 am. My flight is at 12:30 pm, so I will just stay at the airport and wait. Géraldine and Lucas don't take off until 4 pm (and ultimately with delays they took off at 5:40 pm), so they put their luggage in storage and went by train to Helsinki to wedge in a bit more tourism.

I landed at about 1:30 pm (gained an hour because Finland and Denmark are in different time zones), exchanged the 250 Swedish kröner I had for 170 Danish krönen, and figured out that the best way to get to our rental apartment was by metro. The metro costs 21 krönen (about 3 euros) and very smoothly takes you to central Copenhagen in a matter of 20 minutes. It doesn't have a driver and runs completely automatic, like the shuttles you see in airports!

From the metro station I walked 12 minutes to our apartment, which is in the core of the Latin Quarter of Copenhagen. It is an old building, with floors formed by heavy wooden beams slightly deformed by the passage of 300 years. Unfortunately it is on the third floor, at the end of several flights of narrow, ancient stairs, which will ot be appreciated by my traveling companions and their heavy luggage.

The Latin Quarter is full of life. It has tons of restaurants and pubs, and as I was approaching our residence I met a manifestation protesting racial discrimination with the slogan "No human being is illegal". I also walked through an art flea market, and along one of the big shopping streets loaded with people. A friend told Géraldine that the way to move in Copenhagen is with a bike, and indeed I saw hundreds of people riding bikes, some of them at dangerous speeds. We plan to rent bicycles, so I walked to a place I found in the internet to make a reservation for the next four days, but the owners are there only from 10 am to 2 pm, so we will have to come back tomorrow (and hope they open on Sundays).

I also did a bit of shopping for breakfast stuff (bread, milk, butter, granola, fruit, yoghurt, and marmalade). Always fun to explore a new supermarket :)

Géraldine let me know their flight was delayed, so I am now in a holding pattern here at the apartment because I have the keys. It wouldn't do for them to arrive tired from traveling and have to wait for me at the door. Once she told me they had landed I gave it half an hour and went down to seat in front of the house, in a comfortable bench that some good soul had built to give tired passerbys a break. Great spot for people watching. Finally, at about 7 pm, they arrived hot and tired. After lugging the luggage upstairs Géraldine told me they had lost their way in Helsinki and by the time someone pointed them in the right direction it was getting late. They ran to the train and barely made it (but without having had the time to buy tickets, and riding "black" is a big no no in Europe). Then they had to rush to pick up the stored luggage and the elderly person helping them was super slow. Run again to deliver the luggage and rush to the security line, which was as long as it can be (Géraldine tried to get permission to move to the front so they would be able to make the flight, but this stern woman, likely of Soviet blood, flatly refused. They finally made it through security and had to run to the distant gate 11 to barely make it at the scheduled board-in time of 3:30 pm, just to find out the flight had been delayed. All that running for nothing :(

Finland 2026 - Day 7 - Porvoo (with a badly twisted ankle)

Ouch, ouch, ouch ... I mis-stepped and badly twisted my right ankle. Unfortunately, it was insult added to injury because that is the same foot that has been hurting with plantar fasciaitis. A bad thing to happen on a trip of discovery :(

Today we went to Porvoo, about 30 minutes away from Helsinki. Porvoo claims to be one of the oldest cities in Finland, although most of the old buildings were destroyed by fire in 1730 and what one sees is the rebuilt 1800's town. There is a small hill west of town, overlooking the Porvoo River, which was occupied by folks from the Iron Age as far back as 700 AD, and on the same hill one can see the ground where a fort stood. The fort was built by the Swedes in 1250, and expanded by the Germans in 1350, but in the many changing of hands was torn down and the only thing one can see are the levees that delineated two deep moats, and a platform at the very top where the fort presumably stood.

The walk along the river was very charming and full of flowers, and many of the old warehouses have been converted to residences without losing much of their character. The Lutheran cathedral occupies another high point in the town, and by it are the House of the Bishop and the Chapter House, but even though we went inside the yard we convinced ourselves that they were now private residences and left quietly.

Inside the cathedral there is a statue of Czar Alexander I, who came to Porvoo to talk to the elders with regard the annexation of Finland by Russia. He assured the Diet that Finland will keep all the rights it had enjoyed under Swedish rule, including considerable sovereignty as a Duchy. He must have been a convincing orator because the Diet accepted his assurances and offered him a ball, at which the Czar graciously danced with the daughter of the Burgermeister.

Lucas and I went into a couple of museums (one at the house of the richest merchant of the 1600's and the other at the old City Hall). Both buildings were burnt in the fire of 1730 and were later reconstructed in stone. They were odd collections of old furniture and utensils, and once again we wondered at how short these folks had been to fit in those old beds.

At about 1:30 pm we finished our visit, so we headed to Helsinki to visit the Rock Church. This church was excavated in the solid rock (basically they dug a cylindrical quarry) and was built in such a way that the walls are the bare rock, still with the traces of the drillholes used to split the stone. For a geologist is a great opportunity to look at high grade metamorphic rocks that are in the process of being partially melted to form a migmatite.

We criticized the fact that to visit the church you have to pay 8 euros per person! Géraldine told us that after the reconstruction of Notre Dame in Paris the government suggested a fee should be paid by tourists visiting the church, but the diocese categorically refused because a church is a place where anyone should be free to pray. Of course Lutheran churches might have a different opinion.

Géraldine then took us on a long walk back to the port, so we could stroll by the seaside. I would have been very enthusiastic about it, had it not been because I have been gimping all day on my twisted ankle and by then my foot was throbbing. I kept going on massive doses of Iboprufen.

On the way we saw a robotic box making food deliveries. It was the size of a small refrigerator and was crossing streets like a pro. In one instance where there was no traffic light it seems to have followed a person as he or she crossed the street. Quite a show by the small box!

Finland 2026 - Day 6 - Back to Helsinki

We enjoyed a slow sunny morning, but by 10 am had to get busy replacing the wood we had used, stripping the linen from the beds, washing the breakfast dishes, vacuuming, and moping the floor. We were done by 11 am but had to wait for the ferry until 12:30 pm, to carry us to firm land. Did I already mention that the ferry is free? Probably supported by the municipality to keep two islands connected to the rest of the county.

I have managed to give my cold to Géraldine, so in reaching the bigger town of Pargas we had to make a pharmacy stop for her to load on decongestants and cough syrup, and by then it was time for lunch, at a little pizzeria in downtown Pargas. I had what I thought was a pita with kebab, but instead turned into a giant folded pizza with the traditional thin-shaved lamb, lettuce, and chipotle mayo. Yumm, yumm.

We were a good 200 km away from Helsinki, so while Lucas drove I took another extended nap in the back seat. Closer to the city Géraldine took the wheel and we came to our rental apartment right at 4 pm. This reminds me of a weird dream I had last night. I was moving into a room in a community that kept growing as the dream progressed. I arrived sometime in the morning, with shining sun, but when the door was opened to welcome me in the place was in penumbra. I asked why the common areas were kept so dark, but nobody gave me an answer. In the darkness I stumbled into what I thought was my room, turned on the light, and instead of light I got grayness. Not that anyone else cared, but I declared then and there that I was not going to live in darkness, was cancelling my contract, and stormed out into the light. I wonder if this is the consequence of changing rooms so often during my travels.

I have a Zoom meeting at 7 pm, so I am going to stay here for that, while Géraldine and Lucas go out and forage for food.