Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen......

...Friendly old girl of a town

Neath her tavern light

On this merry night

Let us clink and drink one down

To wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen

Salty old queen of the sea

Once I sailed away

But I'm home today

Singing Copenhagen, wonderful, wonderful

Copenhagen for me!

I have been singing this song for the past three days. It is from my favourite movie, 'Hans Christain Andersen', which is about my favourite historic icon of the same name. So I decided to go to Copenhagen, where Hans lived for most of his life, to check it out!

I arrived on Saturday night (14th March 2009) and made my way to my hotel to settle in for the night before a big first day. And what a fab day it was! I started my day in the Radhuspladsen (City Square) and began my own little walking tour, armed only with a map and my enthusium! I walked down the Stroget, which is a pedestrian only walking street, full of shops, cafes, bars and monuments. The first Square I came across was Gammeltorv and Nytorv (old and new squares), which originated from the Middle Ages when the city was founded. From there I walked to Kongens Nytorv (The Kings New Square) and was about to keep wandering when I heard music. The kind of music that makes me think of Hans Christian Andersen. Danish Marching Band kind of music! I turned around and was almost trampled by the Queen's Marching Band! They were making their way to Amalianborg Castle for the Changing of the Guard so I followed and got to see the whole procession - it took almost half an hour to get to the palace, then the ceremony went on for long enough for me to get bored and wonder where the hell I was! Apparently I was in Amalianborg Castle (duh) - home of Princess Mary!! Wow.

Anyway, to keep this short and sweet, I also went to:

• Langelinje Pier and The Little Mermaid. So sad and lonely looking out to sea.
• The largest monument in Copenhagen - The Gefion Fountain
• Nyhavn (New Harbor) - full of fishing boats (herring) and restaurants
• Rosenborg Castle (and saw the Crown jewels)
• The Kings Gardens (outside Rosenborg Castle)
• I saw a Youth Rally in the City Hall Square - Danish Hip Hop!

To finish off my day, I went to an Aussie bar around the corner from my hotel and shelled out $100000 for a beer. A good day in all!

Day 2 was full of frustrations, which went like this:

• The Tivoli - closed
• Christiansborg (parliment) - closed
• The Ruinerne (Ruins of Absalons Castle and Palace of Copenhagen from 1167) - Closed
• Vor Frelsers Kirken in Christianshavn (Our Saviours Church)- 400 steps to the top for views of Copenhagen - closed

I went on a canal tour, which pointed out lots of modern (and ugly) architecture - so out of place in such a lovely old city. Absolute highlight was seeing the heads of statues poking out from the water and being told they were underwater statues of Mermen! Fabulous! Then, I walked over the bridge into Christianshavn to see a hippy commune that people have raved about. I'm not sure why - I felt very uncomfortable and hot footed it back out - there were a lot of young thuggy types with dead looking eyes - maybe they were zombies?! From there, I ehaded back t the city and wandered through the Latin Quarters, and then stoppen off at the Orsteds Parken (a park) and sat by the lakes watching the ducks and trying to spot the ugly duckling!

My final day began with a tour of the Carlsberg Brewery. I was shocked to see the early Carlsberg emblem was a swastika!

Then I read 'The svastika symbol originated in India in 3000BC and is a symbol of happiness'.... Hmmm, or were the brewers of Carlsbesg Nazis...? I also visited Jens Olsens Verdensup - A mechanical, astronomical clock showing local time, actual solar time, sunrise and sunset time, the Gregorian calendar, the Julian period, the firament, the migration of celestrial pole besides geocentric and helocentric orbits. Yes indeed.....

To finish off my trip, I spent the afternoon in an Irish Bar, celebrating Paddies Day, and my Da's birthday! And feeling horribly, horribly, ashamed of all the drunk bogans littering the ancient Stroget....

But what a fab time I had in Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen!