Day
Nine - High School Graduation, Parks, Palaces, and a Canal Ride
Bikes! Bikes! Everywhere! It would seem almost everyone
rides a bike in Copenhagen. There are swarms of them on the bike paths
and sidewalks and even more parked in the town squares. You have to
be careful when veering off the sidewalk or crossing a street, as there
will almost certainly be a bike or two approaching at high speed.
As I walked around this Friday, I noticed a lot of
kids wearing these little oval hats. I wasn't sure what they were for
at first, then I stumbled upon an outdoor high school commencement and
it all made sense. What comes after commencements, however, is rather
unique. The kids and parents decorate various buses and trucks and drive
around the city, singing, screaming, waving and drinking. They stop
at all the city squares and get out and dance and climb up on statues
and sing. It's quite an impressive sight. This went on all day and again
on Saturday.
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Some
of the Many Bikes Around Copenhagen
(Click to Enlarge) |
High
School Graduates Celebrating
(Click to Enlarge) |
Graduates
Dancing Around the Town Squares
(Click to Enlarge) |
Kongens Have, which translate to "The Kings Garden,"
is the oldest park in Denmark, being layed out in 1606, when Christian
IV commissioned the building of Rosenborg Castle. It contains many stone
and steel sculptures and receives 2.5 million visitors a year. The castle
itself has been used as a royal residence only sparingly over the years,
the last time being the 1801 British attack on Copenhagen. It is surrounded
by a still present moat.
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One
of the Many Statues in Kongens Have
(Click to Enlarge) |
Rosenborg
Castle
(Click to Enlarge) |
One
of the Busts on Rosenborg Castle
(Click to Enlarge) |
Churchill Park was named in honor of Winston Churchill
and contains the WWII Memorial, as well as the Citadel,
and St Albans Church,
among other things. It's a popular area for families to picnic and for
walkers and hikers. There is a lot of water and many animals and birds
throughout the park..
Adjacent to Churchill Park is the Langerline Park
and Wharf, where the oft-visited Little Mermaid statue sits. The statue
was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg,
who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale in Copenhagen’s
Royal Theatre and asked the primaballerina, Ellen Price, to model for
the statue. It has been victim to vandalism on many occasions, including
two decapitations and many political statements. As unfortunate as that
is, the staue in the harbor has always been a copy, with the original
being housed in an undisclosed location.
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WWII
Memorial in Front of the Citadel
(Click to Enlarge) |
St
Alban's Church
(Click to Enlarge) |
The
Little Mermaid
(Click to Enlarge) |
The canals in Copenhagen are a result of a canal project
that was meant to transform the city into the Venice of the North. It
stopped short of being complete due to limited resources, however enough
canals are present to make for an interesting city. I hopped aboard
a chilly boat for a canal tour and learned quite a lot about the various
islands that make up Copenhagen.
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Nyhavn Canal
(Click to Enlarge) |
Low Tunnels on Nyhavn Canal
(Click to Enlarge) |
Colorful Houses Along Nyhavn Canal
(Click to Enlarge) |
I finished the night back at the Old English Pub, meeting
up this time with a group of wild Swedes and a girl from Poland. I got
them to drink some Hoegaarden and we exchanged travel stories, while
listening to the band. Another fun night.
Day
Ten