Copenhagen: Day 2
Today Brad took a trip down memory lane. He spent a few days in Copenhagen with his parents when he was a young lad of 14. One of the places they had visited was the Carlsberg Brewery and that is where we went this morning. He remembered the Elephant Gate that one encounters when entering the brewery complex. I was fascinated with the architecture and the Elephant gate was magnificent. Four towering stone elephants stand guard over two rounded archways through which all traffic enroute to the brewery must pass. Brad and his parents took a guided tour through the brewery. Nowadays, due to budget cuts, there are no more guided tours. Instead, visitors take a self-guided tour. A brochure and signs at the various exhibits gave us the history of the brewery and explained the brewing process. The best part, of course, was at the end of the tour when we got to taste samples of Carlsberg and Tuborg beers (Tuborg is now owned by Carlsberg).
In the afternoon we went to the National Museum and saw some wonderful exhibits on life in Denmark during the Bronze and Iron Age and also saw a special exhibit of an entire Viking ship that had been magnificently preservered in a bog. The museum has many other exhibits but it would take days to go through all of them. So we had to pick and choose what we wanted to see. After the Bronze and Iron Age exhibits we breezed through the exhibit on toys and life in Denmark in the 20th century. Also fabulous.
The brewery and the museum took up most of our day. We did a bit of browsing in shops but made no purchases, though we have our eyes on some wonderful down pillows. Dinner was at a Greek restaurant called Samos. It wasn't the best Greek food we've ever had, but it's been so long since we had any Greek food at all, it was a welcome treat.
I should mention here that this is not my first trip to Copenhagen either. I spent one night in Copenhagen back in 1985 with my friend Debbie and her sister Judy and former brother-in-law Mark. Debbie and I had been visiting Judy and Mark who were living in Germany at the time. The four of us took a road trip to Sweden to visit Judy and Debbie's cousin Ralph in Sweden. We made one stop along the way -- Copenhagen. We arrived rather late in the day and most attractions were closed. We breezed through Tivoli then found a place to spend the night. The next morning we were up early and crossing the ferry to Sweden.
I'm glad I'm spending a bit more time in Copenhagen this time around. It's a very interesting city, though the cost of living is really high. There is some interesting architecture here and the history is fascinating. The language is not as intimidating as you might think it would be. For one thing, most Danes we have encountered speak perfect English. I'm told this would not be the case if we ventured outside Copenhagen, though. I'm also finding, to my surprise, that our basic knowledge of German is standing us in good stead. I'm able to work out many phrases I encounter in advertisments and menus. So far the weather has been a bit dreary. It was just slightly cooler today than yesterday, though quite bearable. I didn't really even need gloves! But the skies have been a relentless bleak gray since we got here. And, of course, since it is near wintertime, the daylight hours are rather short. It starts darkening around 3:30 and by 5:00 you'd be able to see the stars; that is, of course, if there were a break in the cloud cover.
Today Brad took a trip down memory lane. He spent a few days in Copenhagen with his parents when he was a young lad of 14. One of the places they had visited was the Carlsberg Brewery and that is where we went this morning. He remembered the Elephant Gate that one encounters when entering the brewery complex. I was fascinated with the architecture and the Elephant gate was magnificent. Four towering stone elephants stand guard over two rounded archways through which all traffic enroute to the brewery must pass. Brad and his parents took a guided tour through the brewery. Nowadays, due to budget cuts, there are no more guided tours. Instead, visitors take a self-guided tour. A brochure and signs at the various exhibits gave us the history of the brewery and explained the brewing process. The best part, of course, was at the end of the tour when we got to taste samples of Carlsberg and Tuborg beers (Tuborg is now owned by Carlsberg).
In the afternoon we went to the National Museum and saw some wonderful exhibits on life in Denmark during the Bronze and Iron Age and also saw a special exhibit of an entire Viking ship that had been magnificently preservered in a bog. The museum has many other exhibits but it would take days to go through all of them. So we had to pick and choose what we wanted to see. After the Bronze and Iron Age exhibits we breezed through the exhibit on toys and life in Denmark in the 20th century. Also fabulous.
The brewery and the museum took up most of our day. We did a bit of browsing in shops but made no purchases, though we have our eyes on some wonderful down pillows. Dinner was at a Greek restaurant called Samos. It wasn't the best Greek food we've ever had, but it's been so long since we had any Greek food at all, it was a welcome treat.
I should mention here that this is not my first trip to Copenhagen either. I spent one night in Copenhagen back in 1985 with my friend Debbie and her sister Judy and former brother-in-law Mark. Debbie and I had been visiting Judy and Mark who were living in Germany at the time. The four of us took a road trip to Sweden to visit Judy and Debbie's cousin Ralph in Sweden. We made one stop along the way -- Copenhagen. We arrived rather late in the day and most attractions were closed. We breezed through Tivoli then found a place to spend the night. The next morning we were up early and crossing the ferry to Sweden.
I'm glad I'm spending a bit more time in Copenhagen this time around. It's a very interesting city, though the cost of living is really high. There is some interesting architecture here and the history is fascinating. The language is not as intimidating as you might think it would be. For one thing, most Danes we have encountered speak perfect English. I'm told this would not be the case if we ventured outside Copenhagen, though. I'm also finding, to my surprise, that our basic knowledge of German is standing us in good stead. I'm able to work out many phrases I encounter in advertisments and menus. So far the weather has been a bit dreary. It was just slightly cooler today than yesterday, though quite bearable. I didn't really even need gloves! But the skies have been a relentless bleak gray since we got here. And, of course, since it is near wintertime, the daylight hours are rather short. It starts darkening around 3:30 and by 5:00 you'd be able to see the stars; that is, of course, if there were a break in the cloud cover.
posted by lenora at 3:27 PM
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