Copenhagen again

Off to Copenhagen again this morning, after we dressed smartly, Walter even tucked his shirt in, as we wished to blend in with the Danish, who dress so stylishly. 

 Unfortunately we left our bicycles behind, so could not prove that our clothes were up to the cycle test.   We also took our packed lunch with us as there was little point in paying a fortune for an open sandwich.  Sadly no smorgasboard feasts for us.

The first stop, after the most delicious coffee at a cafe, was the Designmuseum Danmark.  

What a fascinating museum and captivating too.  We learnt so much about Danish culture and history here, especially in the Century of the Child exhibition, which only opened in January this year.  There were displays of designs which covered school buildings, junk playgrounds and furniture, to children's books and toys.  Of course the original Lego blocks were displayed.  Lego was developed in 1934, and was designed to promote motor development and stimulate children's creativity and imagination.  It proved to be a very popular toy.

Another Danish innovation were the maternity boxes, given to poor people at first but after WW2, all parents of babies received them.  They held mostly clothes, although initially it was material and patterns to make the clothes, and the box could be used as a bed for the baby.   Maternity boxes are still sent to parents of new babies.  Very innovative.

There was also an excellent fashion and textile exhibition plus a furniture exhibition.  Sadly there was just too much to include in this blog.

Some of the furniture exhibits.

Chairs made out of old papers and cardboard.

Remember the Tetra boxes!  They were designed in Denmark.

The ultimate marble run.  Thank goodness the marbles stopped running when the doors closed.  A very noisy toy.

This is the chair I would like for my birthday.  Very sculptured but perhaps not suitable for the back garden.  The foxes would love to sleep on it too.

A view of the inner grassed courtyard.  The building was once a hospital, a couple of centuries ago.  We sat outside and ate our packed lunch, and then came inside for lunch.  Very pleasant.

After the museum we walked towards the centre, passing a Catholic Church, very dark inside, and the Orthodox Church, which was closed.

The Alexander Newsky Church, planned in the Russian Byzantine style in 1883 by Tsar Alexander III.  This was an impressive church, even though it was greatly reduced in size and took 100 years to build.

A very ornate interior.

And onto the Royal Palace, four buildings built around a quadrangle, with a statue in the centre.   The Amalienborg Slot.  The building we were interested in was the palace that Christian IX (1863-1906) lived in with Queen Louise and their six children.  It is possible to visit some of the old and reconstructed royal apartments, which we did, after parting with some kroner and leaving our bags in a locker.  Security was very tight.

The current royal family do not live in any of the buildings.  Well at least I do not think so, much was lost in the translation I think.  But we managed to sort out who was who in the current royal family, who did not look too dissimilar to the English royal family.  One of Christian IX's daughters married George III.  But the Danish royal family appeared to have avoided all the marriage scandels which have plagued the English royal family.  Well on the surface anyway.  Queen Margrethe II is the current queen of Demark.

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These guards actually talk, well at least they yell out to people to tell them off for sitting on the palace steps.

The drawing room I think.  Very dark, and full of family photos, oak furniture and dark tapestries.  Very gloomy.  No doubt the current royals live in modern apartments filled with Danish designed furniture, or Ikea flat packed furniture.  My apologies, wrong country.

The rooms were cosily heated with ceramic heaters or the old type of cast iron stoves.

A reception room, light and airy and used for lectures today, as there was a podium at the front.

Our last port of call was Nyhavn, a modern harbour for expensive yachts and lined with cafes on the sunny side of the street.  The place was filled with people, sitting at cafes drinking coffee or something stronger, or sitting on the canal edge drinking beer out of cans, if one was young and without much money.  The remainder of the people, who were on a budget, bought ice creams and tried to sit on any available bench or piles of wooden planks.  That was us.   But the size of the ice creams, were unbelievable.  Huge.

And it was at Nyhavn we found the coloured buildings that feature on travel brochures and on the front of the Lonely Planet book. And we were not disappointed, the buildings, cafes and canal were pretty spectacular.

Again it was time to catch the 1A bus back to the campsite.   Sadly there was no time to visit the Tivoli, the ultimate in fairgrounds.  A pity, but there is always another time.