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Published: July 10th 2013
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Forget about trying to pronounce anything in Danish 'cos it will invariably sound nothing like what it is meant to. But that's ok, because the locals all understand and speak English and can usually work out what you are looking for.
We arrived here on a Saturday morning and were delighted to learn that the Copenhagen Jazz Festival was in "full swing". Bigger names, like Branford Marsalis, were playing in the larger indoor venues, but the general public could listen to trad, modern, dixie, cool jazz bands at various squares during the day and evening. Mainly folks our age and older eating and drinking or just standing around listening - good atmosphere and entertainment. Running parallel to the Jazz festival, on the weekend, was the Roskilde music festival for the younger set - we saw some of them sleeping it off around the Central Station on Monday morning.
We booked a hotel within walking distance from the Central Station and the famous 19th century Tivoli Gardens and amusement park. We could hear the screeches emanating from the people on the rides as they soared up and dropped down like a lead weight as we were wheeling our suitcases from
the station to our hotel. "Wakeup Copenhagen" is a very tall building and our room, whilst very small, was functional - in a typical Danish minimalist sort of way! The designer was Utzon (Sydney Opera House architect) - it suited our budget! Danish govt adds 25% tax onto the hotel price.
The front page of the English language newspaper "Copenhagen Post" this week stated that consumers in Denmark pay the EU's highest prices for food and beverages, followed by Sweden, then Austria. The article also stated that in Europe, only Norway and Switzerland (not EU members) are more expensive. We certainly found it much more expensive than Germany. Actually, the Germans warned us that the beer was much more expensive than Germany! It took a little bit of adjusting from dealing with Euros to Danish Kroner, but fortunately Greg managed that side of things very well. We converted euros to kroner at the Tavex at Central Station - no fee and better than the bank. People at the money changers we asked were very honest. They told us to wait until after 10 am to get a better deal.
As usual, we covered a lot of ground walking
Design everywhere!
....... and bicycles! through the canal district, the pedestrianized shopping streets, the University Quarter, across bridges. So that we didn't go completely bonkers about all the great things to see and not being able to, we decided to focus on the Design museums and centres, as well as gardens and the Danish Parliament.
We visited the Design Museum which features new designs as well as Danish design classics. I marveled at the number of varied chair designs! There was also a special exhibition on British textiles of the 50's and Nordic jewelry. Then we walked across town and over a huge bridge to reach the Design Architecture Centre which is housed in an old converted warehouse by the waterfront. Here, we marveled at the designs and projects of the iconic and controversial Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The Centre was presenting her designs as a special exhibition. Later, I visited the famous Danish Design Shop - Illums Bolighus - and drooled at the wonderful kitchen ware, furniture and ..... We also had breakfast in the Design Centre building - a wonderful breakfast in a modern colourful beautifully designed space. The Centre public exhibition area was unfortunately closed - due to the withdrawal of
the government subsidy which was keeping it going, we were told by the girl serving us. Breakfast was great and, of course, beautifully presented.
We were not interested in viewing the royal baubles or seeing the royal interiors but did wander the royal gardens (around the Rosenberg Palace) which were beautifully maintained and the weather was sunny so it was very pleasant. At the Christiansborg Palace, we took an English tour of the Folketinget, the Danish Parliament which is housed in a wing o the Palace. Good set up, not too fancy. Government set up, not unlike that of Australia except that the members are better behaved - very polite and cooperative, as our New Zealand born tour guide informed us 😊
Almost forgot to say that we walked to the "Little Mermaid" along the harbour promenade. She is still waiting for her prince! Apparently she has been the victim of rebellion and controversy. Radical feminists have painted her over and she has been beheaded twice. There was also an attempt to blow her up with explosives. We took a quick photo and moved on.
Danish or Nordic cuisine is really interesting and enjoyable. We love the
herrings here that come served in many different ways and pickled variously. Wonderful with brown rye bread and capers. The Smorrebrod (open Danish sandwich) also is a great lunch treat! I had one glass of White wine - a Chardonnay from Chile - and never again! The white wine is either from Argentina or Chile. There is also Italian and French but it is about $25 a glass. Beer is the drink here - not many drink wine. They like their Tuborg, Calsberg or Albani - I like the latter. The Danish pastries, especially, the snail type ones with all the cinnamon (snegl I think they are called) are delicious.
It gets dark around 10pm and light at about 4am here at the moment. Lots of bicycles but they stick to the special bike lanes and you risk life and limb if you walk along the bike lanes! First place we have been to where they show English speaking shows in English and not dubbed! All for now - Tak!
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