Baltic Cruise Trip–More of Copenhagen
Our Savior’s Church Tower
One of the things we were looking forward to in Copenhagen was to climb the ‘Our Savior’s Church’ tower…. or Vor Frelsers Kirke. We’ve done a lot of church tower climbs but this one was different. The bottom half inside the tower and the top half you climbed OUTSIDE of the tower… around and around the curly stairway all the way to the very top – 398 stairs. It was cool… and fun to see the views of the city of Copenhagen and the waterfront as we circled around.
Katie squished at the very top… the highest you could go.
We grabbed some lunch at a bakery and then went in search of the Thorvaldsen Museum.
Thorvaldsen is the sculptor who sculpted the Christus and the Twelve Apostles in the ‘Cathedral of our Lady’ which we visited a week before. “Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844) was born, raised, educated and buried in Copenhagen but his most productive years were spent in Rome. He studied ancient Greek and Roman statues and now public squares throughout Europe are dotted with his works. At the height of his fame and power, Thorvaldsen returned to Copenhagen and was asked to decorate the most important parts of the recently bombed newly rebuilt Cathedral of Our Lady; the main altar and nave. His Risen Christ on the alter (along with the 12 apostles lining the nave) became his most famous and reproduced work. He was also lured home (after 40 years in Rome) with the promise to showcase his work in a fine museum, which opened in the revolutionary year of 1848 as Denmark’s first public art gallery. Of the 500 or so sculptures Thorvaldsen completed in his life – including 90 major statues – this museum has most of them in one form or another.” Rick Steves
These are the original plaster models for the Risen Lord and Twelve Apostles…
Next we found the Christiansborg Palace.
A complex of government buildings stand on the ruins of Copenhagen’s original 12th century fortress: The parliament, Supreme Court, prime minister’s office, royal reception rooms, royal library, several museums, and royal stables.
Three palace sights are open to the public giving a glimpse of the royal life… the Reception Rooms, old castle ruins and stables. We were lucky to get in just before they closed and tour the Reception Rooms.
We liked the Dining Room the best. We counted to see if the WALTON clan or JOHNSON clan would fit around it and we would… with a bit of room to grow.
Chris thought this little plaque was interesting because it looks so much like his grandpa, there on the right.
Love this man. Oh side note: not the best idea to wear a GERMAN soccer shirt while traveling around to different countries. Some people don’t like it.
After the palace we headed through town along a canal to where we could jump on a boat for a boat tour.
We waited at this little dock for a few minutes for the next boat to come…
The Copenhagen Canal and Harbor Boat Tour was really fun. We got on and sat in the front and listened to the tour spoken in three languages as we sailed through the canals of the city and out to the outer harbor. Beautiful port town. If we weren’t already in love with Copenhagen, we sure were after this.
Interesting to see some of the older and newer homes along the water front lined with personal boats. I know it doesn’t look it from the picture, but the apartment building below looked like such expensive property and gorgeous apartments with a view.
View of the Thorvaldsen Museum from the boat…
I was getting tired and could have been easily talked into hanging out at the hotel for the evening. Thank goodness Chris pushed us to keep going. He had done the research on Copenhagen and knew that a ‘must see’ was ahead of us. TIVOLI GARDENS. We walked back to our hotel and rested for just a minute, added another layer, left the backpack at home and walked a couple blocks to the park.
TIVOLI GARDENS is Copenhagen’s classy amusement park with rides, live music and great restaurants. The atmosphere was incredible – which is why you have to pay to get in and why it’s packed. “Tivoli Gardens, the world’s grand old amusement park since 1843 is 20 acres and filled with 110,000 lanterns. For one admission price you’ll find yourself lost in a Hans Christian Andersen wonderland of rides, restaurants, games, marching bands, roulette wheels, and funny mirrors. A rollercoaster screams through the middle of a tranquil Asian food court, the Small-World-inspired Den Flyvende Kuffert ride floats through Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales, and a fancy pavilion hides one of the most respected restaurants in Copenhagen. It’s a children’s fantasyland midday, but it becomes more adult-oriented later on. Tivoli doesn’t try to be Disney. It’s wonderfully and happily Danish.” Rick Steves
It was just beautiful. We didn’t pay extra for the rides we just wandered around checking out the sights and listening to the really terrific bands, puppet shows and concerts going on throughout.
Waiting in line for Wagamama for dinner… Yep, Dan and Sarah and Mom and Dad… we found another one.
Chris holding up a 5 will only be funny to the before mentioned…
Finally a picture of Danish currency…
Our night ended with the best FRANK SINATRA singer I’ve ever seen. The band and singer was amazing. Especially incredible was that he’d speak in Danish with what seemed like an accent to introduce the song and then go into the most perfect Frank Sinatra English. The whole show was incredible. There was a dance floor up front if you wanted to dance – otherwise people were sitting in benches and on blankets all around the grass. Chris made Ryan and Katie go dance a song.
A look back at the Tivoli entrance. Fun night!