Travelled: 22 kilometres from Christianhavn in Copenhagen to Albertslund in Copenhagen, Denmark
Visited: Rosenborg Castle DKK110pp, Tower of Our Savior’s Church DKK35, Copenhagen
Stayed: Albertslund parklands on the outskirts of Copenhagen, free with a bin and toilet nearby. N55.64993, E12.33995 (Bluey)
Our second day in Copenhagen. We had a good night at the playing fields car-park, they played soccer under lights until 9.30 in the evening before the grounds fell silent. There were a few noisy cars or people during the night but neither of us could remember who or when so it was a good night and free.
It’s Saturday morning and like everywhere else in the civilised world it’s team sport day. The car-park is filling quickly and we are still in bed. So we eventually get up and move the Hymer to the far end of the carpark to avoid some scrutiny and enjoy our coffee. We have done some meticulous planning overnight, deciding to wander about on the various cycleways and see whatever we find.
Lots of people about this morning and we turn up a different canal for a different view. The early morning kayak looks nice.
Our next find is the Tivoli Gardens, opposite the Rathaus or Town Hall. It’s a lovely set of gardens with a large amusement park on the other corner. Given we are on our bikes and there are children running everywhere we give it a wide birth.
In many ways a symbol of Copenhagen, a statue of Hans Christian Andersen outside the Town Hall. It’s very popular with children lining up to sit on his lap and have their photo taken. Note this quick photo taken between kids.
Also outside the Rathaus this interesting fountain of a bull fighting a serpent. The Town Hall is a glorious building but given the scaffolding and metro works not worth showing you. I asked Pam to kick the “Don’t Feed the Pigeons” sign, but she wouldn’t.
In my opinion it is worth visiting the wonderful city of Copenhagen just to come into this room, look, read or experience Jans Olsen clock. Mathematically proven to be accurate for 25,743 years. Alas, after it was finished but before it was officially switched on Olsen died
Our next stop is Rosenberg Castle, the official home of the Danish Royal Family. It appears our email to Freddy and our Maz went astray as they weren’t at the door to meet us. Pam was a little pissed as there was no ‘Australian Senior’s Discount’ available. Like Maz, Pam is a Hobart girl as you know.
There are 3 floors of very interesting pieces on display. Rather than an audio tour, you link your phone to the palace wifi and download the tour and just look and discover the details of whatever piece you find interesting.
A view into one of the drawing rooms of Rosenberg.
The audience room within Rosenborg Castle. His and her thrones is a nice touch.
The throne room, I can see why Freddy’s in no hurry to take over from his Father.
The grounds of Rosenborg Castle are now parklands. Its free to enter and it seems very popular with families, just having a picnic.
We cycle back to the Hymer for a late lunch. The twin lift bridges that connect the cycleways between Nyhavn, Christianshavn and Paper Island are up. It’s our first experience at a bicycle traffic jam.
Whilst having lunch we ponder the issue of staying here another night or heading off later today. Copenhagan is a wonderous city, but Saturday nights in a big city can be very noisy, especially if you are wildcamping.
The last thing on our hit list is climbing the spire of Our Savior’s Church in Christianshavn. Only a short distance across Freetown by bicycle. There’s a strong smell of the Zombi as we ride through. The early 70’s come flooding back.
We are surprised to find there’s quite a queue and its slow. Half of those waiting, leave and go to look at something else. 30 minutes later however we are inside paying our hard earned DKK.
Climbing the spires 400 steps gets the heart rate up. Particularly the last 100 steps that wind there way externally around the spire. Each step getting narrower.
The views across Copenhagen are spectacular. Half way up the outside of the spire most people have turned back, but Pam is keen to get to the top so we press on.
That’s it the top step.
We have pretty well done Copenhagen as well as we can this trip, so we pack up the bikes and the Hymer. We have the co-ordinates for a parkland west of the city and hope for a quiet night there.
