Copenhagen - Day 4 of 10 - Marble Church

Geez....it's gonna be 2021 before I get this 10-day Copenhagen trip blogged!!!

Ok...PRESSING ON.....

St. Aleksander Nevsky a block away from the 'Marble Church'.  A Russian Orthodox church topped with beautiful golden 'onion' domes.

Frederik's Church, popularly known as The Marble Church for its rococo architecture, is an Evangelical Lutheran church in Copenhagen.  Construction started in 1749 and it was finished by 1894.  SLOW POKES!!!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A SHORT VIDEO OF THE INTERIOR

From the churches, I hopped a city bus and headed for Stroget street...considered one of Europes longest pedestrian-only shopping street at a little under a mile long.  Copenhagen established it as a car-free zone back in 1962.   Pretty advanced thinking for the time!!

A pretty cool fountain featuring a frog puking water.

That was my day.  Not a lot of picture-taking.  So, I'll take this opportunity to share some of my general observations of Copenhagen life:

• I found everyone to be very kind and helpful, always with a smile.
• Most everyone spoke English.
• Recycle.  Many types of plastic bottles, with specific symbols, and cans can be fed into a machine at the grocery store and you get money back.  I took a small bag of them to the local store a block away.  I was surprised at how much I got back!  24.00   But, that’s in Krones which amounted to about $3 which ain’t bad!  The machine prints a receipt the cashier uses to either credit against your grocery bill or simply hand you cash.
• Carlsborg beer is produced in CPN.  It was very common to see people drinking a can of beer in public places…no biggie.
• I was disappointed at all the blocky no-character buildings stemming from modern days.  Most apartment buildings were nothing more than a box with windows.  And, unless you went to the suburbs outside of the center of the city, pretty much all dwellings were apartments.
• Dogs can go on busses and trains, too.  None of them that I saw were wearing muzzles like is required in Mallorca.
• Lots of 7-11’s.  
• In all my wanderings, I only spotted ONE gas station.
• Unlike Mallorca, there were very few motorized scooters and nowhere near the number of electric scooters, either…though there was plenty available to rent but seemed to be rented primarily by tourists.  It's all about BICYCLES!!!
• Speaking of transport, tourists could rent a small ELECTRIC motorboat and tootle about the canals on their own.  Called 'Go-Boats' each craft was outfitted with a picnic table so you can enjoy a meal and a beer(s) while tootling....electrically.
• Most restaurants provid blankets.  If it's not sunny or warm, that doesn't stop CPN'ers from enjoying eating/drinking outdoors.  They'll put on a jacket and scarf and cozy up with the blanket.
• You know those plastic rings that keep 6 cans of beer together but are horrible for the environment, especially sea life?  They now use a dime-sized dot of glue on the side of each can to keep the 6-pack together.  Just yank a can away and the remaining 5 are still connected.  Genius!
• I noticed very few street light poles.  Instead, a cable is strung from one side of the street to the other and a lamp(s) is suspended midway which lights the entire area.
• It was obviously election time when I was there.  Candidate posters were out in force.  Without knowing the facts, it was clear there are rules as to the type and size allowed to be posted in public places.   ALL of the candidates signs were the same size...approximately 16" x 24".  
• At the grocery store I regularly went to, every day they had a non-personed stand with several opened bottles of wine sitting out and a stack of small plastic cups (about the size of a shot glass).  You could taste-test the wine before considering buying!!  NEVER would be allowed in the US of A!!!  By gosh, chillen could become drunks!!
• It freaked me out to get a 500 bill out of my wallet to pay for my groceries!  I mean, I just came from Ecuador where vendors freak if you hand them a $20 bill!!   But, I had to remember, a 500 bill in Krones is really about $63 bucks.

....and that's my anal analytical analysis of life in Copenhagen.  I'm Dano.  Goodnight!!!

Next up...Day 5...!!

Dano

Copenhagen - Day 3 of 10 - Rosenborg Castle

Hello again mi amigos!

On this day, I only (only) took 50 photos.  I don't know what that means.

Like Amsterdam, Copenhagen has bicycles up the wazzoo.  The city is actively trying to reduce its carbon footprint and it seems the locals are totally on board.  Unlike Amsterdam where most of the streets are narrow, plus there's the canals, Copenhagen has broad streets.  On any given arterial, you have 4 lanes of traffic (2 each direction), plus one car-width lane dedicated for bicycles on each side of the street, maybe a lane for parking, and wide sidewalks.  Not only do you have to watch for vehicles when you cross the street, you have to look again when you cross the bicycle lane or you'll get clobbered.   They're serious and they ride FAST!

People of all ages ride them to work, to the grocery store (with large bins mounted on the bike), to haul cargo, and even to take the kids (2 in an attached buggy) to the park, or school, or the doctor.  Most of them are the 'old-fashioned' sit upright kind...not the bend-over 10-speed racing sort.  And, many of them are assisted with electric motors.

I hadn't ridden (rode?) a bike in years but I wanted to try out the electric bikes.  Using the internet on your cell phone, you can locate, and reserve, a bike parked at several self-serve lots around the city.   All of it is done online...no contact with no one.

I went to a bike lot outside the central train station and entered my reservation code on the bike-mounted screen and it displayed my name!  The screen also had a GPS map system that allowed me to enter my desired destination and it would instruct me how to get there.  Off I went to see the Rosenborg Castle.

I found it oddly interesting with all these gazillions of bikes I didn’t spot but just a few using locks.  Why?  Were there so many bikes they’re not desirable to steal?  I finally figured it out.  90% of the bikes come with a lock built in just below the seat.  It’s a type of clamp.   If you put your middle finger and touch it to your thumb that’s what it looks like.  When you push the two ‘fingers’ together, they go thru the spokes and prevent the wheel from turning. This type of lock allows you to park the bike anywhere without having to lug round a chain and padlock and find somewhere to connect it to…like a railing or pole.

Bikes are allowed on busses as well as trains.  With trains, the cars are marked on the outside which car can accommodate bikes.  Inside those cars are special loops that you push the bike tire into and it holds the bike upright.  Meanwhile, you can go take a seat. 

Oh...yeah...Rosenborg Castle.  Almost forgot. 

Rosenborg Castle is smaller than your typical (typical...HA!) castle.

The castle is surrounded by a huge park which is open to the public to use without cost.

The level of detail in these places always astonish me...even the ceilings!!  

Humongous fireplaces in nearly every room which was necessary back then to keep the massives rooms relatively warm.  I would've hated to be the one that had to chop all that wood!!

Betcha can't guess what it is!!   The hole was a mechanism to be able to 'talk' to someone on the other side of the castle.  They would speak (shout?) into the hole and the person on the other end would have his ear up to the hole on their end.  But one wonders...doesn't one?...how did the person on the other end know that someone was 'calling'?

I spoke to a museum employee about the hole and we got into how thing were made with such intricate detail at a time of no modern equipment, etc etc.  I pointed out the fireplace detail.  She told me the castle had 2 fires that caused considerable damage...both of which were started in the kitchen.  After the 2nd time, the King ordered the kitchen to be built away from the house, so that's what they did.  Guest what....that kitchen burned down, too.

Most of the tapestries in the castle had more than one purpose.  Not only did they tell a story, but they also helped keep the rooms warm by insulating the walls.  Some of them took 10-20 years to make.

I love this chest.  The moment I saw it, it immediately reminded me of the Wardrobe character in Beauty and the Beast.

Mirror, mirror on the walls...and, um....on the floor, too.  One wonders what was going through King Frederik IV's mind back in 1686??

Very rare chandelier made of Amber (considered the 'gold of the North').

I noticed this chair because of the very 'art deco' design.

The Great Hall.  On the wall hang 12 tapestries depicting Christian V's victories in the war against Sweden 1675-1679.

At one end of the hall, three silver lions (seen in the video below) from 1670 guard the King and Queen's thrones, which are made of narwhal (whale) tusk.

CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO OF THE INTERIOR OF THE GREAT HALL

Two rooms were dedicated solely for the display (floor to ceiling) of the King's collection of fine glass (from the early 1700's !!) as well as porcelain from China, Japan, and Denmark.

In the basement, displays of weapons and wine casks, ivory, and amber.  

The ivory collection spans from 1575 to 1850.  Some objects were made by members of the royal family (a lathe was displayed in the Queens room), others were presents, but most were made by the kings' turners and carvers.  Take note of this one...a spiral staircase, each of the steps are maybe 1/2 inch wide.  The staircase itself is about 3 ft tall.

To get to the Treasury, we had to exit the basement to outside and then down again via a separate stairwell and through massively thick steel doors.

The Crown of the Absolute Monarchs

It weighs more than 4 pounds and is set with sapphire, garnets, diamonds, and a ruby.

A look of the rear side of the castle as I head out.

I hopped on my electric-assisted bicycle and pedaled (sort of) to my next stop, the 'Round Tower' as it is referred to.

Built in 1642....377 years ago!  Do we have anything older than 1967 in the USA??  Sheesh!!!    Anyway...it's a little over 100 feet tall and has an observatory at the top.  The only way to the top is a wide spiraling ramp that twists around the center core of the building.  The observatory is still used in the winter months and is the oldest observatory in Europe.

I was pooped after this, so I turned my bike in, logged out of the rental app which stops the charges, set the lock, and immediately received an email receipt for my 4-hour rental...about $16.

Next up...Day 4...!!

Dano