Copenhagen

On the ferry from Germany to Denmark - train is loaded onto the ferry

Typical Copenhagen street

Everybody loves a parade - changing of the guard at the palace

Hordes of tourists load onto canal boats

New State Opera House

Amalienborg Palace - home of Crown Prince Frederick and Mary

Old Stock Exchange building - oldest in Europe

Statue of Christian V in Parliament grounds

Parliament House - Christiansborg Palace

Jazz festival playing to packed house on a lovely day

Rosenborg Castle - the old Royal Palace

Throne Room in Rosenborg Castle - preserved as a museum

Royal Crowns in the Treasury

Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen

Our apartment is in the Christianshavn area, only 15-20 minutes walk from the city area, so it’s very convenient.  Again we’re up 4 flights of stairs but the apartment is roomy and light with a little terrace over the street where we sit and have a drink each day.  The walk into the city is over a couple of canals lined with sailboats and is very picturesque, with lots of cafes and restaurants in the area.  The one drawback is the double bed pictured on the interweb is actually a king single, so we’re  struggling to get adequate sleep.

We did a 3 hour walking tour on day 1 which took us to many of the major sights around the city – the Town Hall, Opera House, Old Stock Exchange, Christiansborg Castle (Parliament House) and , Amalienborg Palace (official residence of the Royal family, including Mary), Copenhagen Cathedral and other significant sites.  Since then we’ve been back to visit a few of them in more detail and have also visited the Danish National Museum and the central city plaza.  In the city this week there is a Jazz Festival and there are a number of sites around the city where jazz bands from all over the world are playing free concerts every day and evening.  Today there were thousands of people in the city plaza sitting and listening to a great trad jazz group – bars serving beer and wine, icecream stalls and everybody having fun.  The beer’s pretty good too, although it’s served in half litre cups – a bit of a trap cause it’s NOT light beer.

The weather is fantastic and looks good for the rest of the week – clear skies and mid-20s.  This afternoon we visited Christiania – a hippy community which has declared itself a separate state and they have no law against smoking “strange substances”.    It’s a bit of an eerie feeling walking through streets where the smell is definitely not rotting fruit.  The hippies took over a disused military site many years ago and refused to move, so they’re still there and it’s become quite a tourist destination.   They sell all sorts of hand-made goods to help support the community and much of it is quite good.

Copenhagen is again, a cycle society – don’t get in their way, they get pretty annoyed.  Bicycles everywhere and dedicated cycle lanes on every street.  We’ve found the pedestrian areas in many parts of the city, a little grubby.  Cigarette butts everywhere – the great majority of Danes are smokers.  The city is nowhere near as ‘old’ as many that we’ve visited.  They had a number of fires that razed the city in the 1700s, before they started building in stone and brick, so the buildings are mostly later styles.  Some are quite spectacular – the Old Stock Exchange for instance, with its weird spire (intertwined serpents) and Our Saviour’s Church with a spiral staircase on the outside of the spire.  Quite amazing!  But it’s an expensive city where a lunchtime sandwich (typical Danish open sandwich) and a beer will set you back $30 to $40. 

Miniatur Wunderland

Hamburg in Pictures

A couple of days in Hamburg.

As I write this we’re speeding across northern Germany on the ICE (Inter-City Express) from Hamburg to Copenhagen.  The trains through Europe have been amazingly efficient – clean, fast and mostly on time.  Apart from the Eurostar, which was a bit of a disappointment – a little tired and worn and seating was tight (then again we were in 2^nd class) – they’ve been very comfortable.

Hamburg was a bit of a surprise – quite a nice city with wide streets and lots of greenery.  It is the 2^nd largest port in Europe after Rotterdam and the gateway to industrial Germany.  The central city area was pretty much destroyed in 1940-45 and has been re-built quite beautifully.  It’s very busy and a harbour cruise pointed out to us, just how large and busy it is.  A huge dock area with container handling facilities which stretch for many kilometres, the port (although over 100 kilometres from the North Sea) seems very efficient.  There are quite a few very modern buildings, particularly in the old dock area which is undergoing regeneration.  There are a couple of large lakes near the city centre and extensive parklands.  In fact, one evening we stayed in the Planten Und Blomen Park, not far from our hotel, where there is a sound and light show every evening at 10pm – quite amazing.

However, the main reason for being here in the first place, was the Miniatur Wunderland (Google it – a great video on the website), the largest model railway in the world.  Over 6400 sq.metres of warehouse space over 3 levels, all fully integrated, 64 computers running 930 locomotives and many thousands of carriages, both freight and passenger and a motor pool of 270+ operating motor vehicles.  There are more than 215,000 human figures, many actually operating machinery, etc., and a day-night simulation (a 24hour cycle) operating every 15 minutes.  There is a fully operational airport with many types of planes taking off and landing in a constant stream and it’s amazing to watch them.  From small turbo-prop planes (designed for local operation) to Airbus 380s and huge Antanov freight planes, there is a fascinating and continuous show going on and the sounds of jets and props are loud and appropriate.  Each plane pushes off from the terminal, proceeds via taxi-ways to the waiting ramp and lines up, takes off and disappears through a ‘cloud’ screen at the wall.  At the other end, planes appear through a similar screen to land, taxi away and taxi to the terminal, where stairs are driven to the exits and catering trucks appear for re-stocking.  Over 40 airplanes are operating as well as the ground personnel belonging to them.  Just amazing!

Throughout the facility, there is an entire section devoted to Hamburg with a re-production city, fully operational with cars, trucks, trains and crowds of people, as well as a dock area and ships coming and going.  There are sections depicting Switzerland, Austria, Scandanavia and America and there is an Italian area currently under construction – also on display.  Each section is true to theme, with appropriate buildings, weather themes,  population in proper dress and correct and appropriate motor vehicles and trains.  The whole facility is constantly expanding with plans to 2020 and beyond.  Next projects will be France (after Italy), Britain and parts of Africa.  This is Germany’s greatest tourist attraction, with over 11 million visitors so far.  Even though the Princess wasn’t quite as sucked in as I was, we still spent more than 3 hours absorbed by the experience.  Of the couple of hundred photos I took, I'm still trying to decide what to post, so hang fire for a day or so.

 

So far the food in Europe has been great – fresh, well prepared and interesting and nowhere near as expensive as in the UK.  There, the food options were limited and much less interesting and expensive in comparison.  We regularly opted for take-away, pre-prepared meals and sandwiches from Tesco and Sainsbury’s, as they were the better options rather than the fried fish & chips and hamburgers that seem to be the norm.  They (UK) have great pre-packed fruits and salads, but apart from that, the options were limited.  Where salad was offered with a meal, we were disappointed with the quality.  Nothing like good, fresh produce.    

Last day in Amsterdam

We felt a little worn out by the time we'd got to our last day here, so we decided to get out of the city and see a little of the countryside.  The Princess looked up the bus schedules and we headed off to the bus station and caught a ride to the seaside - The Ziuder Zee.  Not a long way from Amsterdam as the crow flies but a bit of a bus ride through the low, flat grazing fields west of the city.  It's very pretty, with lovely gardens around some really nice homes and we first stopped in a pretty town called Broek - the ticket is a 10 Euro -all day, so we could explore at our leisure.  This is a little residential town with lovely 17th & 18th century homes, but it's quite pretty, but not a lot to offer the tourist.  Back on the bus, we headed on to Monnickendam and then Marken, which is at the end of a very long causeway (it was originally an island town).  We'd travelled quite some distance behind a huge dyke and the Princess said "What if the dyke developed a leak?", so I raised a finger in reply!

After coffee in Marken, we jumped back on another bus and headed off to Volendam, which is quite a resort town on the coast and quite a busy fishing, sailing and tourist place.  Whilst there a German River Cruiser pulled in and hundreds of day-trippers trouped off.  Fortunately by then we'd finished lunch and had seen most of what the town had to offer, so we waited for another bus to take us back to Amsterdam and a little quiet time before heading out for dinner tonight.

For anybody heading to Amsterdam and looking for good, quiet accomodation, not too expensive, and in a great area, you could do a lot worse than "Quartier Neuf", run by Jasper and Vera.  Jasper is very helpful, a nice guy and makes a fantastic breakfast - Just thought I'd put in a plug.  He also provides a fridge full of drinks including wine!