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!
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