Leaving the kids was hard, we waiting until that last minute when they turned the corner and are gone from site. Now on to the next 6 weeks, 7 countries in total.
We traveled back on the excellent train transport from the airport to central station and the Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum starting with a tasty lunch seated in the “Winter Garden”, a beautiful glass dome covered statute garden.
Here, artwork and artifacts spanning 8,000 years can be explored. It is said Brewer Carl Jacobsen of Carlsberg Brewery fame envisioned this museum as a way to bring a piece of Paris to Copenhagen. We especially enjoyed both the French and Danish Sculpture of 1800-1920, with its exquisite detail and beauty, and the Egypt and Mummies sections with painted “death masks” that were as precise as photographs.
Next stop, National Museum of Denmark, which is quite large. We visited to enjoy the special exhibit about the “Sorceress of the Sea”. This was a wild, psychedelic presentation with beaming colors, flashing lights, background film images and music, and powerfully voiced narratives, either male or the Viking Sorceress herself setting forth her spells. King Harold Bluetooth did accept Christianity around 950 A.D., but the role of the Sorceress did not end when Christianity was introduced. In Harold’s time, the Sorceress was still an important and highly respected member of society. Historians demonstrate that King Harold allowed the burial of a sorceress at his ringed fortress at Habro, Denmark. The show was entertaining.
Around 950 A.D. Harold Bluetooth took over the throne of his father Gorm. To secure his authority he worked with the various Viking tribes to strengthen his kingdom against Norway to the north and the Ottoman Empire to the south of the border he coordinated construction of fortresses around the country. Some say his success to coordinate the tribes allowed him to be the namesake of the electronic term “bluetooth”.
We head back to the airbnb after a very long day. It is Saturday (July 4). The neighborhood is alive with people and music. For a brief moment we consider joining the crowds, but we were just worn out, the music will need to wait until the next time.
Saturday at our local square, packed house, not a seat to be found
Our first day alone starts early, we are heading out of town to Roskilde. We want to get to the museum when it opens and before our Copenhagen cards expired. FYI this card was a great value, it covered all our attractions and transports. Note, the transports are on the honor system and we got spot checked 3 times in a week. We hear it is a huge fine if you are caught, so buy the card or tickets for your transport.
Copenhagen central train station
The Roskilde Viking Ship Museum uniquely displays the remnants of 5 Viking era ships that had sunk in the narrows of the fjords that touch the shores of the city of Roskilde. This museum was very interesting, especially with the learned guide’s historic and archaeological insights. He was a Viking geek, but not awed by their romanticized historic activities. He simply said: “Vikings were Pirates”.
Also, on the grounds are: Maritime Archaeological Workshop, boat yard boatbuilding, dock, and boat trips (row like a Viking crew). We passed due to the wind and white caps
A beautiful day, but very windly, they are rowing behind Frank
Next stop is the Roskilde Cathedral. It has Gothic pointed arches, exterior buttresses, soaring vaults and a majestic atmosphere. It is the royal burial church with 40 kings and queens thought to rest here. Altogether, there are more than 1,000 graves inside the church. It is designated a UNESCO site for outstanding value. Built in current form about 1,200 it was the first Catholic edifice in Scandinavia, but since the Reformation in 1536, it has been Lutheran. Much of the interior brick walls have been painted white. There is little ornamentation in the walls. But, the side chapels are filled with opulent sarcophagus.
Music Festival. We arrived in Roskilde 1 day too late to enjoy ANY of the mega music fair held in the nearby countryside over the past week. I am told it is the biggest annual festival in Northern Europe. Probably, tickets unavailable.
Our Last Day in Copenhagen is hetic. We needed to do all the check out tasks of an airbnb, find a place to store our luggage and get downtown to join a 6 person guided walking tour of the Copenhagen city center before we would embark for Norway at 5:00 pm. This is why we packed light, carry on only, but for Janet the suit case and backpack were still heavy as we crossed town on cobblestones and up and down stairs. On our last trip we never had storage issues, now the stations do not have facilities and we used a “luggage storage site”. As it turned out it was a party store with a backroom. Frank was calm, Janet was not!
The party store, aka luggage storage, all was well in the end.
We usually start with walking tours upon arrival in each city. This was not a Cohen friendly activity, so added this to the end of the tour. We were also challenged with our schedule. Most downtown sites are closed on Mondays, originally we were going to visit some other castles out of town, but each was an hour one way on the train, we needed to depart for the boat by 3:00, so the walking tour it is.
One of the many beautiful streets on our rainy walking tour
We opted out of our traditional free walking tours and went with the higher cost, small group, 6 people in total. Our guide was good, knowledgeable and offered so much more than we could have gotten on our own.
We had rain again as we wandered through old town. The highlights were the 3 houses of worship. Starting with the Great Synagogue guarded by 2 young armed soldiers, the first we have seen on this trip. We could not enter but learned some interesting facts regarding the efforts made in WWII, 95% of the Jewish population was saved, really something Denmark can be proud of.
Cathedral of Our Lady, Protestant style and favorite of the crown prince
The royal palace complex
The other 2 were Cathedrals, originally catholic, now Lutheran. We then had the full tour of the famous Nyhavn, very nice and very much like Amsterdam. Our tour ended at the royal palace, and much information on the beloved royal family. After the tour and retrieving our luggage we opted for a lovely lunch at a small Italian restaurant, it was dry, warm, great service and a plate of pasta, what a great way to end our time in Denmark. Next stop, Oslo. But first we go on a all-night boat trip to get there. More on that to come…
