A steaming hot glass of glogg outside when the temperature's in the 30s -- a fitting image for my time in Copenhagen. Warm and spicy feelings about my trip! The glogg, which is correctly written with an umlaut over the o, was my end of the day treat after spending much of the day walking around in the cold. At a little cafe near Grundvig's church, the server spooned a big helping of spices, raisins, almonds and citrus peel into a glass, then steamed red wine with the espresso machine wand to pour over them. It was just what I needed to warm up, aromatic and delicious. Ahhh.
I started the day going to Rosenborg Castle. As it's easy to get to (compared to Frederiksborg), there were a lot more people. It was also very very dark inside! It was hard to see many of the paintings and even where there was lighting, it maybe would highlight a corner of a tapestry, but not the whole thing. I am sure that a 400 year old castle with many old and fragile treasures deserves to be cared for this way, but it was a little hard to follow the guide on my phone and match what I was seeing to what I was reading about. Still, there is so much art, furniture, tapestry, weaponry, ceiling paintings, carvings, royal stuff, even seeing a small-ish percentage was a feast.
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| This tapestry was so detailed.. and completely in the dark except for this corner, lit by a very yellow bulb |
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| A room for glass plates |
The Danish Crown Jewels are kept in a basement space at Rosenborg Castle, very well guarded, and they recheck your ticket when you go into the space. Or in my case, as I fumbled about looking for the ticket I had stuffed in a pocket, you hear the docent say "I know about you. You are the lady who lost her ticket on the second floor. They called to tell me you were coming." I'm that lady??? Yeah, apparently I am.
The Crown Jewels were spectacular and I loved that they had photos of them being worn by Danish royals, even in modern times, for ceremonial events. You wouldn't believe someone could wear these things but they do and they look great in them. The jewels are huge.
I had lunch at Atelier September, a pretty restaurant known for simple but amazing food. I had an omelet with Comte cheese and bread with butter, like the best versions of those foods. I didn't try their pastries.
It was a long walk and bus ride to get out to Grundtvig's church, but well worth the trip. The church was completed in 1940 after an extended effort create a memorial to priest who died in 1872. The building is cathedral-sized and made entirely of yellow bricks, 6 million of them (just in case you are wondering, the National Building Museum in Washington DC is made of 15 million bricks, another hugely impressive brick building). Architect Jensen Klint died before the structure was finished, and his son, Kaare Klint and grandson Ebsen Klint, finished the work, designing the altar, organ, chandeliers and pulpit.
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| The church and nearby buildings, designed to fit in with the architecture of the church |
The unique style of the building combines gothic elements with a minimalist vibe and it's both peaceful and awe-inspiring. In addition to the very tall brick columns, there are very tall and clear windows, which let in a lot of light to reflect off of the yellow brick interior. As with many Nordic churches, there's a model ship hanging in the cathedral and this one is the biggest in Denmark. The ships are sometimes called "votive ships" and serve as an offering to ensure a safe journey by the seafaring community. The organ pipes include the longest in Scandinavia.
A little side note -- when I got there, the door to the church was closed and a group of people was milling about wondering if the church was open. Someone tried the door by pulling on the handle and it didn't budge. People were starting to disperse when I, a two-day veteran of castle tours, tried to open the door by turning the handle. And it opened. Everyone came in. I had been surprised in the castles I'd just toured that there were plenty of unassuming closed doors you just opened yourself and walked through to get from one splendid space to another. It seemed worth a try here too. Strange!
And now it's packing time and I will be taking a taxi to the airport at 4 am tomorrow. (The hotel assures me that it's perfectly safe at 4 am to walk the two blocks to the central train station and just take the train, but I just can't see myself clunking along the cobblestones and feeling good about that. So I'm taking a cab.). A mere 20 or so hours later, I should be in Seattle. Fingers crossed.
Travel notes -- I totally got my kroner's worth out of my Copenhagen Card. It cost a tiny fraction of what all the admissions and transportation rides would have cost without it. I did not change any money into Danish kroner, I just used my "no foreign transaction fee" credit card everywhere I needed to pay for something. Most places did charge a fee for using a "foreign credit card" but it was relatively small and nothing like the fees you'd pay for using an ATM or a credit card that charged fees on top of that fee. While I encountered "cash preferred" a fair bit in Portugal, I didn't see that anywhere here.
And my T-mobile service, which worked seamlessly in Portugal, as it's supposed to, did not work here unless I was on WIFI .... until midday today when suddenly the phone was able to access the internet and Google maps. I do not know what was going on with that and I didn't want to spend any time on it after I checked every setting that I thought could affect it. As it just decided to work midday today, I can't say I'll ever understand why it didn't work and why that changed. It was a little inconvenient but I have a decent enough memory and there was a pre-GPS time when you just remembered how to get places after looking at a map and that's what I did. It was awfully nice, though, when it started working again.
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