CAN-SUI and a day in Copenhagen

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January 2 here in Malmo was a great day. First we watched Russia beat the USA 5-3 to send the Americans home. Then we watched Canada beat Switzerland 4-1 to send them home. Both games were lots of fun with thousands of crazy Canadian fans and some really great hockey.

January 3 we took the train to Copenhagen for the day. We started out at Malmo Central, where none of the ticket machines will take my credit cards. I had to use my Jo Jo card which luckily had enough cash loaded into it. The half hour train ride got us into Copenhagen H which is the main station across from Tivoli Gardens amusement park, close for the season unfortunately.

After a quick lunch we got another train to Osterport which is close to the Little Mermaid. At Langelinje Pier you will find one of Copenhagen's most famous tourist attractions: The sculpture of The Little Mermaid. Unveiled on August 23, 1913, she turned 100 years old a few months ago. The Little Mermaid was a gift from Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen to the City of Copenhagen.

The sculpture is made of bronze and granite and was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale about a mermaid who gives up everything to be united with a young, handsome prince on land. Carl Jacobsen fell in love with the character after watching a ballet performance based on the fairy tale at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. The brewer was so captivated by both the fairy tale and the ballet that he commissioned the sculptor Edvard Eriksen to create a sculpture of the mermaid.

The sculpture was inspired by ballerina Ellen Price, who in 1909 danced the lead role in the ballet The Little Mermaid at the Royal Theatre. However, Ellen Price would not model in the nude for sculptor Edvard Eriksen so Eriksen’s wife, Eline Eriksen, posed for the sculpture of The Little Mermaid.

The little mermaid has several times been the victim of vandalism. Twice she has lost her head, once the arm was sawn off, and several times she has had paint poured on her. But every time she is rescued and restored, so she can stay in her place by the water and bid travellers welcome to Copenhagen harbour.

From here we walked a few blocks to Amalianborg Palace, the Royal residence.

The Amalienborg Palace complex consists of four rococo palaces from 1750-1758 - and is the prime residence of the Danish Royal family. The palace buildings are placed around an octagonal square with an equestrian statue of King Frederik V (1723-1766 - ruled Denmark and Norway 1746-1766) in the centre - who was the planner and builder of Frederiksstad in 1748 - where the Amalienborg palaces are a part of.

The land around Amalienborg Palaces was acquired about 1602 by King Christian IV (1577-1648 - ruled Denmark and Norway 1588-1648) and was located outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. King Christian IV - who was also known as the great architect and builder of Copenhagen used other parts of the obtained land to expand the city by building Rosenborg Castle (1606-24) – Nyboder quarters - and residence for the royal navy (1631-41) - The Citadel - a fortification to protect the city against attacks from the Sound (1624).

The first palace on the area at the waterfront, where the present Amalienborg palace is placed was called Sophie Amalienborg and built between 1669-1673 by Queen Sophie Amalie (1628-1685) - who was consort to King Frederik III (1609-1670 - ruled Denmark and Norway 1648-1670). Sophie Amalienborg palace was raised by a fire in 1689 and burnt down to the ground with many casualties. The Queen died in 1685 at Sophie Amalienborg palace - and just a few years before her castle was demolished.

The second royal estate on the Amalienborg premises was built by King Frederik IV (1671-1730 - ruled Denmark and Norway 1699-1730) at the beginning of his reign. It was a small modest summer residence for the royal family in two stories with a view over the harbor area and surrounded by a French-style garden. The summer residence was also called Sophie Amalienborg and later excavated to give place for the ambitious - and impressive plans of King Frederik V (1723-1766 - ruled Denmark and Norway 1746-1766) to establish a fashionable district outside the city walls of Copenhagen.

King Frederik V selected the grounds of the two former royal Amalienborg estates to be the centre of his new building project, which was a prominent district - called Frederiksstad (Frederik’s City) in Baroque style and mainly with exclusive homes for aristocrats and noble families. Later the construction of buildings was created in rococo architecture and supplanted by the neoclassic style. The new district Frederiksstad was also built by the King to commemorate in 1748 the tercentenary of the Oldenburg dynasties ascent to the Danish throne and in 1749 to celebrate the tercentenary of the coronation of the first Oldenburg King Christian I (1426-1481) - ruled Sweden 1457-1464 and Denmark and Norway 1448-1481).

In 1794 the royal residence Christiansborg Palace was raised by heavy fires and the reigning King Christian VII (1749-1808) - ruled Denmark and Norway 1766-1808) and his family became homeless – so the King acquired the two empty Amalienborg estates - Moltke’s and Schack’s Palaces. The royal family moved into the palaces within a few days after the catastrophe at Christiansborg.

Amalienborg Palace is always guarded day and night all year round by The Royal Danish Life Guards - as this special regiment has had the closest connection to the Royal House since 1658. The brigade was established by King Frederik III (1609-1670 - ruled Denmark and Norway 1648-1670) - and the main duty was to protect the King and the Royal Castles and Palaces as well as being present during ceremonial occasions and Royal receptions.

I got a few photos around here, including Alex and Greg with one of the guards, then we continued on to Rosenborg Castle. The castle has three fully restored floors with an incredible collection of original artifacts and valuables with the most valuable ones held in the Treasury, below the castle. You can see the entire castle and Treasury for only 90 kr per person. Rosenborg Castle stands today, with its tall towers and its red masonry with sandstone ornaments, as a distinguished example of Christian IV's many building projects, perfect despite many changes during its construction history. Rosenborg Castle is located in the King's Gardens 200 meters from Nørreport Station. The Castle has an entrance at Øster Volgade 4a and via the bridge over the moat from King's Garden.

Rosenborg was used as a Royal residence until around 1710, when Christian IV's great grandson, Frederik IV, gave it up in favour of other, more up-to-date, summer residences. Rosenborg Castle instead became the setting for the Royal collections. That is the reason for the many well preserved interiors which are quite unique. After the reign of Frederik IV, Rosenborg was only used as a Royal residence twice; both times were emergencies: after Christiansborg Palace burned down in 1794 and during the British attack on Copenhagen in 1801.

From here it was a short walk to get to the Stroget section of pedestrian shopping streets. We had lunch at a great Danish deli/bakery then Alex and Greg did some souvenir shopping and we walked back to the train station. The ticket machines won't accept my credit cards here either so we had about a 20 minute lineup to buy them from a real person.

About a half hour later we got on our train for about a half hour ride back to Malmo Central Station. Mim & Jim's hotel is across the street from the station so we met up for drinks and dinner then caught a bus back home.

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