The wedding last night was SO much fun! I was wired when we got back and decided to get my blog done for the first two days, so didn't get to sleep until 3:30 am. As customary, I was up around 6:30 but dozed to 7. Sleep is for the weak (and crazy).
We got up, got ready and had some breakfast downstairs before heading over to Amalienborg, the winter home of the Danish Royal family and also known as the 'Queen's Palace.' There is a large courtyard flocked by four buildings, with a large statue in the center. We toured the one palace which was beautiful, having to don the blue booties (which I forgot to mention was also required in Christianborg) for much of the tour. I thought they were hilarious and in all of the castles I've toured in Europe, I've never had to wear booties before! Very hot.
The rooms were gorgeous and one had a gorgeous view of the courtyard. Amalienborg is protected by the Royal Guard, which looks very similar to the guards in London.
We then walked towards a beautiful church with a large turquoise and gold dome visible between the Amalienborg Palace buildings called Frederick's Church, also known as the Marble Church, and visible from the top of the Round Tower as well. It's Sunday and services were going on, so we viewed the outside and then walked to the Russian Orthodox Church. A gorgeous building with three smaller gold domes on the top, it was quite spectacular.
We were much in need of coffee, which we enjoyed steadily throughout the day. :) Thank goodness for coffee. We asked the barista about other churches and sights in the area, and she reminded us of the Little Mermaid Statue (den Lille Havfrue), the statue based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. We walked along the water, passing some beautiful swans, a gorgeous stone church, a fountain with beautiful carvings, and wound along the river to the mermaid. It seemed small, right near the edge of the water and was flocked with tourists. I picked up a magnet as I do in every city, as what is more representative of Copenhagen than the little mermaid? My fridge may fall over after this trip!
We walked around through Kastellet, a star-shaped fortress and one of the best preserved in northern Europe. There are many buildings that were once housing, a church, windmill and others. The settlement is flocked by two large gates.
We decided to walk back to the King's Garden as we didn't tour it much yesterday due to the rain, but decided to take a detour down Stroget, one of the main shopping streets in the city to have lunch at Cafe Norden, a cute place overlooking a beautiful fountain and a busy square with entertainers and a musician. Our lunch was amazing! Marie got a goat cheese salad and I got a salmon 'burger' which was a crusty bread with two salmon pieces rolled in parma ham, and salad.
The walk to the King's garden was short and though the trees needed a trim, it was beautifully laid out. People were enjoying the gorgeous weather, around 70 F, sitting all over the grass and soaking in the sun. It's a really beautiful day.
We walked back to the hotel, wandering through a cute little neighborhood of shops and homes, then headed to the metro station for Marie to head back home to Sweden. I'm sad to see her go and the weekend passed so quickly while we caught up after nearly ten years. We have kept in touch some though it was so wonderful to see her in person after all this time. She will always be a true friend of my heart and I had such a fun time with her. It's wonderful to see her so happy.
I walked back wandering back through the Nyhaven area, along the canal in a touristy area with lots of restaurants and bars towards the hotel. Much as I'd love to walk more, I'm quite tired, sore and would love to get off my feet. It's too late for a nap so I figured I'll write my blog post, download pictures, send off a postcard, catch up on email etc. and plan for the day tomorrow. Copenhagen is actually a bit smaller than I expected, and I feel like I have done most of what I wanted to see. So I'd like to spend some time to find fun things for tomorrow, which hopefully won't be too challenging as it appears that many of the palaces and museums are closed on Mondays. The wedding party has moved on to Sweden as well, so I'll enjoy a solo day before heading to Berlin early Tuesday morning.
Have a great day and I'll write more tomorrow!
Sam
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