Demark was the best country I visited (maybe because I lived there for four months). They have a unique language, Danish, which is similar to other Scandinavian languages (Swedish and Norwegien) In Denmark they spell Denmark, Danmark and Copenhagen, København. I lived just outside of København in a suburb called Frederiksberg. It was a 45 minute walk from the center of København or a 20 minute bus or train ride. If you ever find yourself in København the easiest way to get around is by the bus or train (S-tog). Where I live in the U.S. it is a rural area so there are no buses or trains. So riding these and getting the schedules down was new to me. They were both very efficent and made getting around the city easy. Here is a picture of each.
One of the most interesting places to start in København is at Rahuspladsen, the great City Square. This is where the walking street begins which is a neat tour through much of what downtown København has to offer for shops and food places. The large building pictured is Radhuset (City Hall). To the left of itis a large column that holds up a bronze sculpture of of the Lurblaeserne (players of the lur, ancient musical instrument). Next to the column is the Palace Hotel built between 1910 and 1912. City Hall has six statues on the roof that watch people enter and leave. In the plaza itself there are usually stands set up that sell fruits, vegetables or crafts of some sort depending upon the time of year. Across the plaza from the Palace hotel is one of the many commercial buildings with many product logos and names spelled out in large letters. Perhaps one of the most interesting times in this square is at night when all the signs are lit up and the whole area glows of lights and neon signs. I walked across this plaza eveyday on my way to class since the DIS building was two blocks down from here.
The Rundetarn is pictured below. In 1642 this tower was donated by King Christian IV to the University of København as an astronomical observatory. This tower also serves as the bell tower to the Trinity Church. The tower itself has very few stairs but rather a spiral brich ramp that leads around and around up to the top.
Nyhavn (New Port) was built in the late 1600's to meet the needs of the growing commercial traffic. Today Nyhavn has become a popular after hours place with many pubs and resturants lining the street. The canal in the center is a docking place for many sail boats as well as a route for the cities canal tours. It is quite a hopping place at night and is a nice place to spend an evening enjoying a bottle of wine or two, or three.... with a few friends.
I can't remeber what the picture on the left is now, but i will and then I will fix this. The one on the right is the Black Diamond, the new extension onto the Royal Library. It is qute an exquisite piece of modern architecture. It is five stories and made of granite. it leans out toward the water as well as to the side and is a modern library equiped with computers and internet access.
The top picture is the royal families yacht and is kept in tip top shape. Next to it on the shore is the building that was used in the old days for raising the poles on sailing ships. Below these are pictures from Amalienborg where Queen Margaret and her family live. The one on the left is the the building where the queen lives, and as you can see, this is during the changing of the guard. The old guards are marching across the square. The picture on the right is looking down upon the square from the Frederiks Kirken (Marble Church).
Here is the little mermaid who is right out of Hans Christians Andersen's stories. She quietly rests on the shore in København, but has had the unfortunate fate of having her head sawed off a few times, luckily it has alway been recovered and put back in its proper place. The castle pictured is Rosenberg Castle, a small castle in København where the Crown Jewels are housed. It is home to much antique furniture, paintings and has a hall that is decoreated with about as much silver as I have ever seen in one palce. This castle was King Christians "weekend" castle.
The left picture was an old steam train that I rode up to Helsingør from København. It was running one weekend and was pretty neat to ride. The picture on the right is Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød. It is quite decorated and is quite a sight with a large garden leading out in front of it, very geometrically laid out and kept looking absolutely perfect. The inside is adorned with furniture, paintings and a large church from the kings who finaced this building.
This was at Egeskov Castle on the Island of Fyn built in 1554. It was an old castle and a large number of museums all in one. There was a carrige musum, car museum, motorcycle musum, huge number of very fancy gardens, two mazes made out of bushes and a skywalk in the trees which is where I took the picture. The other one is me in the motorcycle musum next to an old Harley-Davison, most likely from the WWII era. Click here to go to the Egeskov Castle website.
This was at the Vikingeskibsmuseet i Roskilde (Viking Ship museum in Roskilde). The first is a replica of a viking ship built there at the museum, with the museum in the background. The second is a restored Viking ship over 1000 years old raised off the bottom of the nearby water and preserved with a wax that was soaked into the old wood as the water was drawn our to save delicate pieces. this way it could be reassembeled into the original ship. There were 5 total ships taht were raised and restored at this museum. They were actually quite remarkable ships and very well engineered and crafted.
This was me at the Danish Air Force Base near Viborg. We got to sit in the old Swedish Dreggen fighter planes, no longer in service. They still look pretty fast and I wouldn't mind having one. :)
Well this is a start for now, there are still some more pictures to scan in and some fact to lookup and such, but I will continue working on that. I hope you like looking at these and feel free to look over anything else. See ya! -- Garrett
This Page was last updated on 10 February 2003.
This page created and maintained by Garrett Robert Herning.