Date of Visit : 24 - 28 November 2011
Because I spent quite a number of days here, I will split this post into 2 parts.
One word: EXPENSIVE! Otherwise, Denmark is actually a very beautiful place to visit!
I bought the 72hours Copenhagen Card, which grants me access to all public transport and most attractions, for slightly more than S$100. It's the most expensive city card I've purchased so far. Really painful to my pocket! Thankfully I was able to crash at my friend, Mubin's, accommodation, thus saving some money.
I had quite some time in Copenhagen(Danish: København), so I decided to make full use of the Copenhagen Card and visit as many places as I can. Though I only stayed for a short time in some of those places. Nonetheless, I will post the photos below and only comment on those interesting places.
Before I start, I would like to talk about the weather in Denmark. It is always cloudy and raining here, but it's perhaps I'm visiting in the winter season. The locals do not seem to bring umbrellas around despite the perpetual rainfall, but the strong winds do render the umbrella useless sometimes. But still, I would highly recommend an umbrella if you visit!
Alright then, one of my favorite places is the Frederiksborg Slot, which is located about an hour train ride from Copenhagen in Hillerød. Season 19 of The Amazing Race visited it too. I was really blessed to have the perfect weather when I visited this place; clear blue skies and windless conditions. This kind of weather is such a rarity. Anyway, while asking for directions at the local post office, a very friendly elderly couple generously offered me a lift to the place. I know about "not getting into stranger's cars", but somehow, I did. Thankfully, they are a lovely couple, who asked me "Why the heck are you doing so far up north in Denmark?!"
The castle is located beside a gorgeous lake with an even more gorgeous baroque style garden at the side. The main castle itself is kind of boring, just the usual stuff you find in any European castles.
The real treasure of this place is the view of the castle from across the lake in the gardens. It is just picture perfect, especially with the clear weather. I really love the view, and so I decided to unpack my lunch there and just sit in the gardens and soak in the view.
Perhaps another reason why I liked the place so much was that it wasn't touristy at all. There were not much tourists around when I visited and everywhere just felt so spacious and quiet. I love the serenity of that place.
The only disappointment I had was that the boat service that runs across the lake was closed because it is winter. I would definitely had loved the view from the boat travelling in the middle of the lake.
Another place that The Amazing Race went to was the Vor Frelser Kirke tower. It is a church tower with a spiral at the top which we can climb all the way to the top. The initial portion of the ascent is rather difficult as the tower only have a single narrow stairs that runs all the way up. However, once we reached the halfway point, we were able to go out to the ledge and climb the remaining journey on the spiral stairs to the top.
The tower is one of the few high rise buildings in Copenhagen, thus providing a panoramic view of the entire city. It is very gusty and cold at the top though!
Next I visited their naval history museum. This museum contains the entire history of the Danish Navy. It is quite interesting and they showcase many miniature displays and models. There is also an entire section dedicated to piracy, which tells us how piracy came about and what the pirates did in the past.
This is the Rosenborg Slot and it contains the crown jewels of the royal family.
The Christianborg Palace has a very interesting history. The current palace that we see now is actually the 5th edition already, with the last 2 edition burnt entirely to the ground in some serious fire.The palace is now being used by the parliament and thus not entirely open to public. However, the underground ruins are open for visit, though I'm not too sure why would it be interesting. As though concurring with my opinion, there was not even another single soul in the ruins when I was there.
Lastly for this part of the post, I will tell you about the following tour I went:
Sounds like an interesting tour huh? Obviously the 'C' is missing, but I think it is rather funny. Anyway, the hour long canal tour brings us through most of the important sights that are located along the coastline and canals. Though it is really not recommended to sit on the open deck as it is really cold out there. The guide is tri-lingual, so he rotates the language he speaks from English to German then to Danish. It's really not easily and usually when he reaches Danish, the sight has long past by.
*End of Part 1*
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