August 21, 2013 – Copenhagen, Denmark

After a day at sea, we arrive in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. It is a clear, sunny day with a predicted high of 72 degrees. Amazing for late August in Copenhagen.

     Unusual sculpture on the water front.

                One of the many mermaid sculptures in Copenhagen.

Nice polar bear sculpture on the water front.

We arrive at the most famous sculpture in Copenhagen. It is the sculpture of “The Little Mermaid” made famous by Hans Christian Anderson. Probably the most visited site in the city. As usual, the sculptures are never as big as you expect them to be.

 

Outside the Danish National Cathedral.

The next three pictures below are the royal palace of Denmark. Unlike a lot of European Royalty, when the royal family of Denmark decided they needed a new home, they simply purchased four nearly identical buildings owned by wealthy families facing on a square near the parliament. They converted the mansions to palace quality thus saving the taxpayers of Denmark vast sums of money. These four buildings have been the royal palace for more than 200 years.

Denmark has many canals and the buildings facing the canals tend to be painted very colorful colors.

Elaine outside the Danish Parliament building.

Below, we visited the Jewish Museum in Copenhagen. For those who do not know the story, the Danes went through great risk to save thousands of Jews during World War II. The Christian Danes arranged for Jews to travel from the interior of Denmark and they housed them in their homes until they could arrange passage for them across the Baltic Sea to neutral Sweden. Danish fishing boat captains loaded Jews into the holds of their ships and set out for Sweden in the dark of night during the two weeks either side of the new moon so that they would not be seen by German patrol boats. The Jews were offloaded in Sweden and by dawn the Danish fishing boat captains would be out on the Baltic fishing as the sun rose and the German patrols were none the wiser. Had either the Christian Danes been caught sheltering the Jews or had the fishing boat captains been caught, it would have meant either instant execution or a trip to a concentration camp. Over 12,000 Danish Jews were saved by this process and, as a result, only 60 Danish Jews were captured by the Gestapo. Compare that number to the 3,000,000 million Jews from Poland who were slaughtered.

The Jewish Museum is housed in an old synagogue.

Bicycle is the main mode of transportation in Denmark as it is in Amsterdam. Hundreds of bikes are parked outside a government office building.

Outdoor dining area in a boulevard. Very busy on this nice warm day in late August. There will not be many days like this left before winter comes.

Above and below, Tivoli Gardens, the famous amusement park in Copenhagen. Walt Disney visited this park and used it as a model for what he wanted Disneyland to be, i.e. clean, well landscaped, lots of conveniently located trash cans, food stands spaced throughout the park rather than being clumped in one place, etc..

Above, Elaine stopped for a visit with Hans Christian Anderson as he gazes at Tivoli Gardens.

Below, some shopping streets limited to pedestrians in this very pedestrian friendly city.

We stop for a beverage at one of the outdoor beer gardens.

A walk along the canals with more colorful buildings.

A farewell to this very quiet and lovely city. Very much like being in Switzerland. No trash on the streets. No graffiti. Easy public transport. It is said that the Danes are the happiest, most content people in the world. After visiting this city, I can believe it. Their taxes are very high, but they get a lot of services for which we in the US have to pay out of pocket.