Blogs from Region Hovedstaden, Denmark, Europe - page 5

Dear All Greetings once more, my second of three blog entries on my lovely little trip to Denmark, reporting this time on my second full day there, on the Tuesday. After a full day exploring the tourist sights of Copenhagen, along with many other international tourists, I felt that on my second day I wanted to explore more provincial tourist attractions, hopefully more off-the-beaten track. The tourist crowds in Copenhagen weren’t overwhelming, though I’m sure they are in the summer, but I always feel I want to explore the “real” country when I visit a place. On my second day I feel I did just that – I had planned to spend the morning in Hillerød visiting its amazing Frederiksborg Slot, and then head up to Helsingør in the afternoon, to visit its stunning Kronborg Slot, ... read more

We docked at breakfast time - moored just up the road from the little princess. After brekky we went ashore for our Fairytale Castles and Countryside shore excursion. We had a beautiful drive up the coast to Kronborg Castle. This is the castle used as a setting by Shakespeare in Hamlet. From the ramparts we could see Sweden, and all of the shipping traffic. We were only able to walk around the outside of this castle, but it was beautiful - they have an annual Shakespear festival. After that visit we drove on to Frederiksborg Castle which was made into a Museum of National History In 1878. It included Mary’s wedding dress from when she and crown Prince Frederick were married. When the tour guide asked where we were from and we said Australia, he said ... read more

Our first full day in Copenhagen began with commencing our 72 hour “Red Bus“ ticket on the hop on - hop off bus which will be our mode of transport around Copenhagen over the next 3 days. To get the lay of the land, we undertook a complete circuit of the red line and its 23 stops to we could understand the best places to spend our time around. Copenhagen has many attractions but the number one place to visit on everyone’s top 10 list is Tivoli Gardens which is a 150 year old amusement park built in the centre of Copenhagen. Walt Disney visited Tivoli Gardens in 1951 and it is said that he modelled the Disneyland theme parks around Tivoli Gardens. While we didn’t indulge in the amusement rides, we had a great time ... read more

18th July Copenhagen Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen, approached on another beautiful sunny summers day. As usual with late morning arrivals the buses are full and queues are the order of the day. As we berthed only a 20 minute stroll into the centre it was the way to see some of this easy going bonhomie of this ‘wonderful’ city. Copenhagen was the adopted home of Hans Christian Anderson, commemorated by the statue of the Little Mermaid, a bronze statue dated 1913 by a Danish artist Edvard Eriksen. It is the most photographed lady in Copenhagen, situated on the Langeline Promenade only 200 metres from where we were berthed, chances of us getting a photo were slim on our way out as the world and his dog (well tourists, mainly Japanese) were crawling (literally) all over her. Hans ... read more

Monday. Another day on the road for us, as we were about to set off Les saw a motorbike pass with a large flag attached to it followed by 27 other bikes, quite a convoy! The road takes us through pine clad mountains with lakes in the valley bottoms which open up into mountain pastures. We passed through .Seljord. Where there are many legends about trolls living in the mountains, Selma the serpent is said to live in the lake here, first spotted in 1745, she is said to have two heads and travel at 25 knots on the water's surface. Also one of my favourite children's stories was written here, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. To break our journey we had a planned stop at Heddal Stave Church, the largest of the 28 stave churches ... read more