The Symbol of Copenhagen

If I was to ask most people from UK what image comes to their mind first when they think of Copenhagen, I'm pretty certain that most would mention the Little Mermaid. I grant that, like me, many people have become familiar with the Castle (Borgan), City Hall (The Killing and Below the Surface), the Main Police Station (The Bridge, The Killing etc). Yet there is still something about the loneliness and isolation of Hans Christian Anderson's great story which evokes this lovely place.

So, armed with Google Maps, we made sure that the Little Mermaid was on our list of visits for today. But before we get on with that, let's get back to the beginning of the day.   

Early Morning

I woke, as seems my regular time here, at 5.30am and got up and focussed on some Parish work I needed to complete before relaxing for the day.

Since retirement I have spent two mornings (well it used to be mornings, it seems to have become full days more recently) helping with Parish Admin in St. Teilo's, Whitchurch, the parish in which I live and worship. While many of the tasks can be rescheduled for a trip like this, there are a few that have weekly demands - the parish weekly newsletter, the prayers of the faithful, the daily mass antiphons. So, I spent the early part of this morning doing those rather than uploading to Flickr or writing my blog post for yesterday. 

I'd made a good start with the newsletter before coming away, so I only needed to make some minor updates and amendments to that before sending it to the person who will print it on Saturday. In addition, I completed the prayers, antiphons and other bits and pieces and sent them to the other person who is helping out with printing. I'd completed it all by the time Drew woke at 7am, so then they day fell back into our usual routine. I used the coffee bags provided by the hotel to make coffee for us both. 

Having bought postcards yesterday I then began to investigate where you buy stamps from in Denmark - it is the one thing which still seems to differ in every country I visit. Well, here it was different than ever. I kept getting directed to stamps online, I tried to ignore it as I know I don't have access to a printer. Well in the end I read the details and found out that you can print the stamp or WRITE IT ON THE POSTCARD. Yes, I still can't believe it and won't until I find whether the postcards have reached Wales and Australia. Incidentally, they were the same price. In Denmark stamps for small letters and cards have three levels of pricing - within Denmark, within the EU and Rest of the World - and UK and Australia now both fall into that category!!

Online stamps purchased and codes written on postcards we were ready to shower, shave and brush teeth and leave the hotel by 9.15am.

Breakfast

Based on Wednesday's experience we had looked at a map to get us to the Little Mermaid and then to see where there might be breakfast places on route. We travelled by Metro from the local Københavns H station to Marmorkirken station (behind the Marble Church). Just up the road from the station is a cafe called Emmery.

Drew had the Breakfast plate; which was Bread, soft boiled egg, butter, cheese and skyr with seasonal compote and granola.

I, not being a lover of yogurt, compote or granola, opted for the Soft boiled eggs (2) and bread. This was delicious, with the Rye bread being rich and mellow and the eggs easy to eat with a spoon.

I guess by now we don't need to tell you what coffee we had, but I will mention that the beans they used here were very dark roasted, just as I like, so the Americano gave a lovely bite back. Drew had breakfast dessert eating the two tiny pieces of dark chocolate bon-bons covered in chocolate hundreds and thousands. 

Kastellet

Our first stop after breakfast was the Kastellet or Citadel. This still functions centre is one of the best preserved fortresses in Northern Europe. It is constructed in the form of a pentagon with bastions at its corners. As the time it was built in the 1640s Kastellet was continuous with the ring of bastioned ramparts along the walls that ran all the way around the City of Copenhagen. Apart from the Citadel almost all the other walls have been removed. It played a major defensive part in the Dano-Swedish War of 1658–1660 when the City was blockaded for 22 months. The Swedes wished to end Denmark as an independent nation and claim its lands for Sweden and planned to do so by wiping out Copenhagen. As we know it survived.

The Citadel still houses forces including a large barracks and a Officers training centre (above). 

In addition, it has a very attractive if simple church. The simplicity is a characteristic of the Danish National Church and its Lutheran traditions.

The Citadel also contains a full-blown windmill. Which is an unusual site in a Danish town but represents the role the Dutch played in supporting the Citadel by running provisions via the coast during the Dano-Swedish conflict.

The Citadel also houses the memorial to those who fell in the 1940 to 1945 war (the German's moved into Denmark in 1940s, hence their war years being a year shorter than that honoured in Britain.

The more modern memorial to those involved in Denmark's international activities since 1948 is also in the Citadel, with the mention of the many countries Danish forces have worked, normally as members of United Nations peace keeping forces. 

Conveniently the Citadel also includes a post box, so I made use of that to send my postcards to my sister and brother. 

Photographs of the memorials outside the Citadel, along with more of the inside and the ramparts can be seen of Flickr, starting here.  

Langelinieparken and Marina

Leaving the Citadel on the other side from that which we entered, we came to the seaside area known as Langelinieparken and Langelinie Marina. There are many yachts in this area along with a large maritime memorial (see above). But, as mentioned at the top of this post, the main reason people come here is for the statues.

Not for the statue of the polish explorer Mylius Erichsen or the Polar bear and cubs, nor even of the Swimmer - all of which we were able to take photos of without anyone else being in the way. 

No, here it seems the vast majority of people have come for the Mermaid. Drew managed to get some great shots by avoiding the crowds and photographing from the side. 

The statues continue as we walk further along the park. With the large Ivar Huitfeldt Memorial Column, the statues of Princess Marie and King Frederick the Ninth. 

Gefion Fountain

The most impressive statue of all is the fountain statue of Gefion in her chariot. 

This recalls the legend of the goddess Gefion (Gefjon). The legend, dating to the 13th century, is that Odin sent Gefion across the Øresund in search of more land. Having had four sons with a Jotun (giant), she accepts the offer of the King of Sweden to plough as much of his land as she can in one night. The Legend goes that she turned her sons into huge Oxen and then ploughed the island of Zealand, on which we stand, and brought it to rest next to Odin's Island (Odense) and settled down and married one of Odin's sons - Skjold. Geologists note with interest that the Fjord Mälaren in Sweden has a coastline into which Zealand would fit neatly, so there may be some ancient geology buried in the myths.

St. Alban's Church

Next to the fountain of Gefion is St. Alban's Anglican Church, which looks like it has been picked up from somewhere in England and transplanted here, as the style is so typically English, in the early English style, it was designed by the Victorian church architect Sir Arthur Blomfield.

Drew was quite tickled by the fact that the Church Sign and even the notice on the door both said Visitor's Welcome, but only in English. He wondered if that meant only English-speaking visitors were welcome!!

The Church has some lovely stained glass, the first religious stained glass we have seen in Denmark. More photos of it are in Flickr.

The church also has a large memorial to King Edward the Seventh, for whom, via my grandfather who was named Albert Edward in honour of being born on the day of the King's coronation, I was named, my second name being Edward. [Co-pilot's note: I, dear readers, have been, for years, trying to get Mr. B, when someone asks his name in Starbucks or equivalent to use the name Eddie. Given that he gets such variations of Haydn as Adda and Addie, as he did earlier this week. It has proven unsuccessful so far!!! He doesn't think he is an Eddie.] It was King Edward, when he was Prince of Wales, who had led the opening ceremony for this church in the presence of the King and Queen of Denmark, the Czar and Czarina of Russia, the King and Queen of Greece, the Danish Crownprince and Princess Marie of Denmark.

Allied War Memorials

Immediately outside the Church, in the area called Churcillparken are memorials to a range of allied war participants. Including Churchill, the Australian war dead, a Canadian as well as Danes who fought for the British Army and Royal Air Force (see photos above).

St. Ansgar's Catholic Cathedral

From the Citadel we walked back along Amalienborg past the Russian Orthodox Church to St. Ansgar's Catholic Cathedral.

In the spirit of Danish culture, it was much more restrained in style than some Catholic Churches, but appeared quite bright and highly decorated compared to the Lutheran churches which we have seen these last few days.

Kongens Have

From the Cathedral we walked across to Kongens Have (the King's Garden - not to be confused with Kongens Nyhav (the King's New Garden - but in truth was a new King as well as a new Garden) that we visited two days ago.

Fittingly, on a day which was focussed on the Little Mermaid, the gardens had a large statue of Hans Christian Anderson, who lived in this part of Copenhagen in his later life.

The gardens have a very attractive Rose garden at the top end. You walk thorough it to reach Rosenborg Castle

Rosenborg Castle

Rosenborg Castle looks like someone's dream castle, though only built in the 17th Century it became a favourite of the Danish Royal Family. It seems it could have been exactly the type of castle that Anderson was writing about in his story of the Princess and the Pea.

From the castle we walked up to Østerport metro station and from there to our local metro station and back to the hotel. We arrived back at 2.30pm, having been out five and a half hours and had walked 7.3 miles (17,300 steps). 

We would be leaving again at 4.30pm for tonight's dinner, but that is special enough to warrant a post of its own.