Hello everyone!
Another big day but another day full of amazing history and sights!!
Our first stop for the day was Christiansborg Palace. Over the centuries this has been the site of seven fortresses and palaces, and now the Danish parliament is there. In 1167, Bishop Absalon built a fortress here. He built up Copenhagen and encouraged people to move here, and eventually his work led to it becoming the capital in 1443. In 1369 the Hanseatic league destroyed the fortress, interesting how history links up while travelling. Learned a fair bit about them in Bergen! After that castles were built and then the first Christiansborg Palace. There was no fire safety and fire walls though, and a fire in 1794 burned it and all of its treasures inside to the ground! This was during Christian VII's reign and he moved the royal family to Amalienborg Palace while the new Christiansborg was built, but the royal family has lived at Amalienborg Palace ever since. A new Christiansborg was built but it burned down in 1884! Christian IX and his sons helped to recover some artwork etc with other volunteers but the building was lost. So a third Christiansborg was built and here it stands today!
By the way, if you're wondering why I'm mentioning so many Christians, let me explain why!! Denmark has a tradition. They alternate the names of the heir to the throne between Christian and Frederik. So for example, Princess Mary's husband is called Frederik and he is heir to the throne once Queen Margerethe II passes away. Their first born son is called Christian. And if he has a boy one day, he will be called Frederik! It gets really confusing reading the history and understanding which Frederik and Christian is which!!!
Our visit began by looking at the ruins of Absalon's Fortress and the previous two palaces underneath the current palace. Then we went to the royal reception rooms that the queen still uses. My favourite room was the great hall which had walls lined with tapestries given to the queen in 2000 that depicted historical events over the centuries. They were very colourful and detailed! Then we went to the royal stables. I hadn't read about these in my guidebook, but we are finally in a country that understands combination tickets - hooraaaayyyy!!! So we got in here for free anyway. Usually 14 royal horses are kept here that are used to pull the royal coaches for special events (eg the wedding of Frederik and Mary), but during the summer they are taken away to graze. But instead there was an exhibition on about King Christian X. He was the current Queen's grandpa (now can you guess what her father's name was???) and was well known as an avid horse rider. He used to ride from Amalienborg palace to Christiansborg Palace every day, even during the German occupation.
After the stables we enjoyed a drink at a cafe in yet more sunshine. We have been so amazingly lucky with the weather in Denmark! It was yet again 26 and sunny today with not a cloud in the sky. Amazing. Lapping up every second before getting back to bleak and gloomy Melbourne next week. We then noticed an interesting looking tower in the distance. Mum recalled going up it 24 years ago when she was here with dad, it spiralled around the tower. So we decided to walk over there and go up it - and it was well worth it! The tower was in the canal neighbourhood Christianshavn at the church called Vor Frelser Kirke (Church of our Saviour). Only problem was like most European church towers, the staircase to go up was very narrow. It took us a really long time to get up as so many people were coming down. At one point there were about ten of us leaning against a wall waiting while a man helped his little girl down the stairs when this girl probably about my age just sailed past us all. Ian and Pa, you would have been proud. By this time it had already taken us about 10 minutes to get not very far up the tower, and I wasn't going to be pushed in front of. So I said "ummm, we are all waiting here!!". She claimed to not know that we were all waiting so I laughed and said "well I'm not standing here for fun!". She got really awkward and retreated down the staircase, while some Danish guys above us laughed and smiled at me. Probably could have handled it better but god people are dumb!!! What else would we all be doing lurking in a narrow staircase???!!!
Anyway we eventually got to the viewing platform and began to ascend the exterior spiral staircase. The view was AMAZING. Best tower view I've ever had I think. You could see over the rail so much that I was worried due to the wind I would drop something, but I didn't! You could see Tivoli, all the palaces and the beautiful canals. We walked right up the top of the spiral staircase and it came to an abrupt stop. Mum and I got right to the top and it was very narrow! Ian, this was again something you would have hated! I'm not scared of heights usually but I started to feel a little weirded out.
Back down we went and had a roll for lunch. We then headed back to Nyhavn as mum wanted to buy a panorama picture she had seen yesterday. On the way we had an ice cream and it was one of the best I've ever had! I had watermelon, lemon and grapefruit sorbets and all three were delicious. Just what I needed in the heat!! Alongside the river was really pretty. People were swimming in the water, and I enjoyed a jump on some trampolines randomly placed alongside the water! I swear deep down I'm about 10 years old haha. One other thing we saw along the way was some flowers on a doorstep. On closer inspection we realised we were outside the Dutch embassy, which was next door to the Ukrainian embassy. The Ukrainian embassy had left wreaths, flowers and cards for the Dutch for MH17.
Then we went to Amalienborg Palace. As I mentioned before, this is where the royal family of Denmark have lived since the first Christiansborg Palace burned down in 1794. Amalienborg is made up of four buildings. Queen Margarethe II lives in one with her husband, Mary and Fred live in another, one is for parties and the remaining one is a museum. We were going to buy a combo ticket for Rosenborg Palace but you had to go tmro and we are going on a day trip. But the lovely lady behind the counter felt bad about this so let us both in as students - yay!
We went into the museum which was looking at lovely decorated rooms and some royal treasures. A lot of them were only labelled in Danish though, never mind. We also saw the studies of three previous kings recreated, and each had some information about the king. We saw the study of Frederik IX, then of Christian IX. He became king in 1863 following the death of the childless Fred VII (see what I mean about all the Christians and Frederiks!!!). He became king because he was married to Christian VIII's niece princess Louise. They had six children, and four of them ended up on European thrones through marriage or otherwise! For this reason they were referred to as 'Europe's parents-in-law'.
Next we saw Christian X's study. He was the horse riding king I spoke of before. We also read a bit about Queen Margerethe II. Turns out she was coronated in 1972 after her father's death. She was born a week after the German occupation and was therefore called 'the sunshine princess' as she provided some joy for the Danish people during a difficult time. The current royal family seem really down to earth and approachable. They seem to do things normal average people do and be genuinely nice people. And it sounds as if Margethe's father and grandfather were the same!!
We had a quick look in the beautiful Marble Church and then had a brief lie down in the Rosenborg palace gardens. It was so sunny and beautiful and we were tired!!! Our final stop for the day was up the round tower. We ascended the spiral ramp to the top, view wasn't as good as the other one but still impressive!! It's also home to Copenhagen's zero point (where distances to other cities are taken from).
Tonight we had dinner at a restaurant across the road. I had schnitzel with herring and mum had pork stew. We each had a Tuborg, and please note me (the beer hater) finished mine before mum. Be proud, dad! I told myself I had to have at least one Danish beer.
Off to Korsør tmro to trace our ancestry and then Roskilde in the afternoon. Can't wait to share tmro with you all! Especially Nan, Pa, Ian and Robin!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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