June 8 - Castles and Kings

We went on two excellent walking tours today with Richard Karpen. He was recommended by Rick Steves.

We started out with the "Castles and Kings" Tour. Richard adopted the persona of Hans Christian Andersen, who is something of a national hero here. I found out he made up all of his stories, unlike the Grimm Brothers who based their stories on old folk tales. Richard suggested re-reading HC's stories as an adult for an interesting perspective. I thhink I will start with The Emperor's New Clothes. I probably think about that store once a week - usually while reading the newspaper or watching the news on TV.

We walked past the entrance to the famous Tivoli Gardens - the world's first theme park.

On our second visit to City Hall we were able to go inside.

City Hall is based on the city hall of Siena, Italy. A lot of the slate tiles on the floor had fossils embedded   in them. I'm not sure if this was intentional, or if that's just how the slate was.

These three towers are the coat of arms of Copenhagen. You can see them all over.

A construction site showed us how the city is heated. Trash is taken to a facility where it is burned. Thee heat from the burning is sent to each building through pipes like this one.

A  bridge connects the courthouse to the jail. In Denmark there are only about 72 people in jail per 100,000. In the US the number is more like 700.

There is a square in front of the courthouse with some cafés with outdoor seating. The cafes often put out blankets for their customers to use. (You definitely would have needed to use one today.) Apparently they don't have to worry about blankets getting stolen.

Thee woman in the picture is named Charlotte. She owns a restaurant in the yellow building in the background. She is a friend of Richard's and when she saw our small group in the square she brought out a tray ofJagermeister shots for us to try.

An interesting fountain. Water is coming out of all sorts of places.

 The next stop was a Lutheran cathedral, the Church of Our Lady. This is a neo-classic building. The lines are clean and and the interior is simple. The ceiling near the altar is reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome, with a similar rotunda and oculus. You can barely see it in this picture if you know what you are looking for.

Denmark's greatest sculptor, Bertel Thorvaldsen, created impressive sculptures of Christ and the Apostles, which can be seen inside the church.

Despite all the magnificent churches, very few Danes attend church. Their attitude seems to be "It's there when you need it, but as long as I don't need it right now, I've got other things to do on Sunday".

In the very corners of the foreground of this photo you can see two homeless people who are sleeping with their heads against the pew in front of them. They were dressed like women, but it is possible that was a ploy to gain more sympathy. I saw that a lot in Italy.  

There are very few homeless people in Denmark because of their great welfare system. You hear a lot about how great it is and how happy they are to pay over 50% in taxes to know that they will be taken care of. However, even in Utopia Gypsies and other immigrants from Eastern Europe can fall through the cracks, The Danish welfare program is generous, but it is also designed to help the underclass pull themselves up, through education, re-training, and other forms of support.

Next stop: the ancient University of Copenhagen. University is free in Denmark, and students are provided with a stipend to cover their living expenses. They graduate with no debt from student loans. About 30% of Danes have a college degree.

This photo shows the vestibule of one of the oldest buildings in the University's law school (which was established in 1479). Take that, Harvard.

The University library - also very old.

The Great Synagogue of Copenhagen

A policeman stands guard

You rarely see policemen in Denmark because the crime rate is quite low. However, due to a shooting a couple of months ago by a terrorist, there is now a guard.

When Denmark was occupied by the Nazis in WWII the Danes helped the Jews hide and then escape to Sweden. Of Denmark's 7,000 Jews, only a couple of hundred were taken by the Nazis. AFter the war, the Jews returned to find their homes had been taken care of by their neighbors and they were able to get their property back.

Continuing along on our tour, we came to a set of large, wide metal doors  - one of many that are found on a lot of streets in the old town. HC pulled out a key and unlocked the doors and we entered another world. A friend of his has a carpentry shop in this little hidden courtyard. The buildings are very old and very charming. They somehow escaped the many fires that have plagued Copenhagen. In the foreground you can see part of what used to be the toilet. If you looked closely at the half-timbers, you could see axe marks - evidence that the timbers were shaped with an axe and thus built before saws were being used to make boards.

This is the Round Tower, another public works project undertaken by King Christian 4, a very busy guy. There is an observatory on top and instead of stairs, there is a spiral ramp inside.

We had a very quick lunch at a place recommended by Richard. We shared a salmon salad baguette and bought some pastries for later - "snails" and "frogs." The Lunch was fabulous, except for the frogs. It turns out that this place is kind of a fast food chain. If only they would open a branch in Anchorage.

After lunch we took another tour with Richard - a tour of Rosenborg Castle. This time his persona was Sir Richard. Rosenborg Castle was built by King Christian IV to be his summer home. (Today it is practically in the middle of the city and seems an unlikely summer home.)  

Rosenborg is now a museum. The Royal Treasuries are located in the lower level of the castle. We saw elaborate weapons, sadlles and other objects that belonged to Christian IV.

Here are just a few of the many fabulous items on display. This is a large amber jewelry box.

These objects have been carved from ivory. I hate to think of all the elephants that died for this.

Here is the coronation crown of Christian IV.

Some of the crown jewels - still worn by the Queen of Denmark

After being wowed by the Royal Treasuries and Richard's insights and commentary, we

proceeded upstairs to see the living quarters.

Christian IV's writing desk

Richard was an amazing guide. He is very knowledgable and his passion for Denmark's history and for today's Denmark makes his tours especially worthwhile. He had the answer to every question we asked, and gave 150% to his tours.