Monday, August 13, 2007

Copenhagen: Day Trip #2

My train mishap, which I wrote about before and which you can read about here, happened on my second trip to Denmark. My initial itinerary was supposed to be the following:

  • 12-2: Head to Helsingor to visit Kronborg Castle
  • 2-5: Late lunch + trip to Louisiana Museum
  • 5-6: Return to Copenhagen
  • 6-7: visit the Round Tower, which is open til 8pm
  • 7-8: take photos in Ameliaborg Castle, and have one more photo taken in
  • 8 onwards: have dinner in Tivoli and walk around
Unfortunately, I ended up in Kronborg Castle by 2pm and in Louisiana Museum at 330pm. And by the time I got back to Copenhagen, I was way too tired and hungry to do the rest of the stuff, apart from having dinner in Tivoli and walking around in it.

Anyways, I am still glad I did get to visit a couple of places. Before I left the Philippines, my friend Anne told me I should visit the “Hamlet castle”. During my research, I learned that Hamlet castle was actually Kronborg Slot, is sometimes referred to as the Hamlet Castle because apparently, Shakespeare patterned the castle in his play Hamlet after Kronborg Slot.


The Louisiana Museum is also worth a visit, not only because it has a good collection of art (mostly contemporary) but also because it has a beautiful garden with unique modern art sculptures all around the garden. From there, you have a good view of the beach which is just right next to it.

The biggest mistake I made though was that I thought that you could walk right up to the beach from the museum gardens, and at 4:45pm (15 minutes before the museum would close), I decided to walk towards the beach and passed through a revolving door that said Exit only. I was tired and spent and paid little attention to that sign up until I had crossed to the other side, during which time it sunk in that now I was no longer in museum grounds. Sh*t! So instead of being able to take photos in the beautiful gardens, I was now walking quickly along the beach to try and get back into the main entrance. But apparently the way back to the main entrance was a long walk, and with very little time left before the museum would close, I just decided to walk along the beach. I also took this photo of the beautiful landscape next to the museum.

I was back in Copenhagen by around 7pm, but before having dinner, I decided to walk down Stroget, to take some photos that I was unable to take during my first day trip. Stroget is Europe's longest pedestrian street which goes from the Radhuspladsen (or City Hall Square) to Kongens Nytorv. Walking down this street, you will see lots of great European architecture, souvenir shops, big Brand-name stores, and even a few squares and fountains. Here’s a shot of an interesting fountain in Radhuspladsen.

I finally grab my buffet dinner and a Carlsberg beer before walking around in Tivoli. I didn’t get on any of the rides since my Copenhagen day pass only included free entrance to the Tivoli ground but not into the rides. But anyway, I’m not an amusement park type of person and there was no way I was getting on the rides without friends with me (plus, I was exhausted) so I decided to just take some snapshots of the many rides there. This is apparently the highest carousel in the world

Despite all the troubles I encountered with transportation during my second visit, my trip to Copenhagen and Denmark was still a lot of fun. I would love another chance to visit though, so that I can see the few sights that I missed when I was there, such as Amalienborg Slot and the Round Tower. And also to have a better photo taken of me at the Little Mermaid. =)

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