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For this blog:

This blog is about our short stay in Copenhagen, Denmark with an overnight in Oslo, Norway.

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Copenhagen
Flowers

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June 23 and 24 – Fly to Copenhagen and a Day of Leisure

We arrived mid-day in Copenhagen and took a taxi to our downtown hotel.  We walked a bit but mainly just crashed for the rest of the day.  We found a nearby restaurant, The Carlton, that has very good food and outdoor seating.  The weather is noticeably warmer here than what we have had for the last few months.

Monday (24^th) we decided that we would work on our very large backlog of photos and blog work.  We holed up in the hotel for most of the day, only venturing out for lunch and dinner.  The weather is really nice so the window in our room is open most of the time…nice, lovely breeze.

June 25 (Tuesday) – The tour that wasn’t and the tour that was.

We dutifully reported for our tour of the city at the nearby Tourist Information Center.  However, the guide never showed up.  A follow-up phone revealed that our voucher had the wrong meeting point.  However, just as we were despairing of a guide, one showed up.  Hans Christian Anderson (of fairy tale fame), AKA Richard Karpen.  Complete with full early 18^th century garb, including a top hat.  Richard runs a couple of independent tours so we decided to join his walking tour of the old city.

As Hans Christian Anderson (HCA) he explained a lot about the history, culture, and people of Denmark as we wandered around the old city.

We stopped at the Church of our Lady, one of the few Catholic Churches in a Lutheran country.

The tour took us through various city squares.  We stopped at one where he treated the group with Schnapps (and coca cola for the tea totalers).   

After the tour we headed down to the Nyhavn Canal where we took a boat tour out through the canals.  The cruise took us past the (new) Royal Danish Theater,

opera house,

the headquarter of Mærsk, the largest shipping company in the world,

the ski slope (that is on top of a huge waste treatment plant),

lots of statues,

Frederik's Church in the distance,

the brick building holding the Royal Cast Collection (statues),

spiral tower on the Church of Our Saviour,

the Little Mermaid (from the back side, with a mob of tourists photographing her),

and a lot of other sights.

Once back we decided to eat along the Nyhavn Canal.  It is so colorful and is a really lively area (mostly tourists).

June 26 – Day of Leisure

It is really hot today.  80°+C hot.  So we decided to stay inside and work on more photos and such.  We only ventured out for meals…and it was hot.  Although, oddly, by the time dinnertime rolled around it was cooling off quite a bit.  Thanks goodness, since the room doesn’t have air conditioning.

June 27 – Rosenborg Castle, the Botanical Gardens and the Round Tower

Distances on the Copenhagen map seem pretty short.  In reality, most items we want to see are a pretty good hike.  So the days we are doing a lot of sightseeing we are getting a lot of steps in.  The route to our first leg of today's hike took us through Orsted Park...

with our destination being Rosenborg Castle (just a stone’s throw on the map).  Turned out it was a 45 minute walk.  We picked up our  admission tickets and then enjoyed the little garden while waiting for Richard Karpen.  We are joining his tour again today.

We also saw some maneuvers by the palace guard as they were preparing for the Changing of the Guard (most of which happens at another palace where the royal family actually lives).

The Royal Barracks were in the background.

Rosenborg Castle was originally built as a summer residence for the Kings of Denmark.  It was “outside of Copenhagen”.  Of course, now it is well within the city limits.  It is a pretty little magical castle from the outside.

The tour took us through a number of the main rooms with lots of portraits

and tapestries.

We saw some thrones and the three silver and gold lions of Denmark.

Many of the rooms, and particularly the ceilings, were highly decorated.

There was also a display of porcelain.

Then it was down into the treasury.  There was a lot of treasure.  The Danish Monarchy has been in the same family for over 1000 years so they have accumulated a lot of bling.

There were crowns of state... 

and just crowns (tiaras),

the state sword and orb, 

The highest award that can be given in Denmark is the Order of the Elephant.  And they had some of the Elephant items on display.

There were a couple of heavily decorated saddles, lots of gold and pearls.

And there was lots of badges,

jewelry,

and just blingy stuff.

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More treasury
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After the tour we had a quick lunch and then walked more around the Rosenborg Park.  

It has a very long border that a local gentleman told is is one of the longest in Europe with the colors going one end of the rainbow spectrum to the other.

Then we headed to the nearby botanical gardens where we had an enjoyable walk in the lush green parklands.

Then we headed to the Trinitatis Church…

and took a walk up the long winding ramp to the top of the adjacent Round Tower.

We had 360° views of the city from the top.

Originally the tower had been built for use by astronomers and there is still a telescope at the top.

It was a long walk back to the hotel and we went back through some interesting sections of town.

We stopped at a little sidewalk cafe to have a cold drink and enjoy people watching.  

One thing we have noticed is that many of the sidewalk cafes have blankets on the backs of the chairs, in case you get cold while eating out.  

By the time we got back to the hotel we were beat. We both rested and took tiny naps before heading to a very nearby restaurant for dinner.