Denmark Trip Report, Day 3: Amalienborg palace, Christianborg, Little Mermaid

June 24, 2015:

Marble church , Amalienborg palace, Gefion fountain, St Albans church, Little Mermaid, Christiansborg palace, city square, then bus to DFDS cruise terminal for our overnight trip to Oslo

We checked out of our hotel, kept the bags there and set out on Bus 1A . Got down at Marble church (Marmorkirken) and spent a few minutes inside. 

Marble church

 Frederik's Church (Danish: Frederiks Kirke), popularly known as The Marble Church (Marmorkirken) for its rococo architecture, is an Evangelical Lutheran church. The church was designed in 1740 and was along with the rest of Frederiksstaden, a district of Copenhagen, intended to commemorate the 300 years jubilee of the first coronation of a member of the House of Oldenburg

The church is located due west of Amalienborg Palace.

Inscribed in gold lettering on the entablature of the front portico are the words: HERRENS ORD BLIVER EVINDELIG (Danish: "The word of the Lord endureth for ever." – 1 Peter

This is Deposition... taking Jesus down from the Cross...

 

 Then we walked on to Amalienborg. In the center of the palace square (Amalienborg Slotsplads) is a monumental equestrian statue of Amalienborg's founder, King Frederick V.

Amalienborg is the winter home of the Danish royal family. 

The palace displays study of former kings, the current queen’s father Frederick and the Christian IX, who was called “ Europe’s father-in-law” as 4 of his children were married to rulers of various countries in Europe.

We get to see the queen’s salon, royal dining room, 

Polar bear rug...

There is a little treasury called the golden cage with selection of the crown jewels, , and several objects made by Fabergé, several curios in gold and semiprecious gems, ivory and coral chess set etc.

A Prince's artistic efforts...

Faberge again...

There is a throne room, gala hall, 

Royal costume gallery is quite interesting.

This is the Gothic library...

We took bus 1A in the same direction and went onward 2 stops and got down at Esplanaden and walked through a park to the The Gefion Fountain (1908).

 There is a nice church, St Albans and we admired its interior, carved baptistery, stained glass ...

We got out of the church and walked to the Gefion fountain.… The fountain depicts the mythical story of the creation of the island of Zealand on which Copenhagen is located.

The Swedish king Gylfi promised Gefjun the territory she could plow in a night. She turned her four sons into oxen, and the territory they plowed out of the earth was then thrown into the Danish sea between Scania and the island of Fyn. This is the island of Zealand on which Copenhagen is located. 

The hole became a lake called Lögrinn. The interesting fact is the island is really a perfect fit in the lake…the shape/size all tally making one wonder about strange coincidences!

We then walked through the lovely promenade...

Lavender bush...

 We got to the Little Mermaid. 

As the story goes, the princess of the sea world got enamored with the land prince, traded her tongue for making her fins into legs and befriended the prince. Though she became a companion, she was heartbroken when the prince chose to marry the princess of a neighboring kingdom…

The mermaid’s sisters traded their long hair for a magic sword from a witch and told the mermaid to plunge the sword in the heart of the prince before day break … the blood that spurts out would turn her legs back into fins and she can go back to her sea kingdom.

But the mermaid could not bring herself to do so, threw away the dagger and sits forlorn on the shore looking for her unrequited love…

This is one of the famous tales of Hans Christian Andersen. His own life is one of unrequited love and his stories are poignant!

Nice little statue… with many tourists milling around for selfies.

We then turned back and walked to the bus station 

Caught 1A back and got down at Christiansborg palace. 

This is the square where we had started on our canal cruise on our 1st evening. The square has an equestrian statue of another king Frederick VII. 

This palace is the seat of the Danish Senate, many rooms are used by the royal family too.

We saw the royal reception rooms, dining hall, Throne room where the queen receives state guests, foreign ambassadors…

The great hall with the queen’s tapestries is the best.

This gobelin series depicts the history of Denmark and the world, including the Viking Age, the Middle Ages, the Absolute Monarchy, the Reformation, World War II, the Present and even the Future.

The Danish business community marked the occasion of Queen Margrethe II's 50th birthday in 1990 by ordering a gift of 11 tapestries. 

It took 10 years for the set to be ready…in 2000, on the occasion of the Queen's 60th birthday, the tapestries were finally hung in the Great Hall in Christiansborg Palace.

During the official inauguration on 12 April 2000, the Queen expressed the desire that the tapestries should belong to the whole Danish nation and donated them to the state.

This is the Tårnsalen (Tower Room). also displays a series of tapestries with motifs from Danish folk songs… quite lovely.

Then we took the bus to the city square... could not go into this town hall due to lack of time...

We took a pic with Hans Christian Andersen...

Bought some provisions at the Netto and went back to our hotel.

Ate a picnic lunch at the lounge, collected our bags and walked back to bus station at Tivoli to board bus 26 to DFDS terminal.

Did self checkin at the machines on board the cruise ship...

Our cruise was supposed to start at 4.30pm but they waited for a group and started almost an hour late. 

We did have a very pleasant cruise, managed a distant glimpse of Kronborg castle in the evening and reached Oslo on time.

That brings me to the end of the report on our visit to Denmark.
 I’ve continued our visit to the very scenic Norway here:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2016/08/how-to-plan-trip-to-norway-trip-report.html