07-03 Copenhagen Kastellet and City Hall

Out of the door at 9:15 today. It’s supposed to rain this afternoon, so we want to make the best of the morning sun. Yes, I said sun, in Copenhagen. We walked over to the Kastellet (Citadel), the star-shaped fortress, north of downtown. The grass-covered ramparts are in the shape of a star surrounded by a moat. Construction was initiated in the 1620's by King Christian IV (there's that guy again) and was finished 20 years later.

We walked around on top and it's very windy. There are cannons around the edges and they are out mowing the lawn this morning (via remote control - how cool was that?).

There are active guards patrolling around the top and we passed two sets of two on our walk around.

Windmills were dotted around the fortification in the old days to supply flour and rolled oats in case of a siege.

The buildings are used for administrative offices now.

Next we walk by the church on our way to the Little Mermaid statue. It's very crowded just like it was our first day here. After a couple of pictures, we sat down on a bench in the sun.

We walked through Amalienborg Palace courtyard and back down the Stroget (pedestrian-only street) again on our way to a store that advertised in one of the tourist brochures. It had paper cut items and Christmas items. Found nothing here, mostly cheap stuff.

Just as we were about to leave here it started pouring down rain. Fortunately, it didn't last long. We found a burger place on the Stroget; Friends & Burgers. Seating was upstairs with a view up and down the Stroget. Great tasting burger.

Karen has plans to tour City Hall and looking at her cheat sheet it begins in 15 minutes. My phone tells me it is a 6 minute walk to City Hall. Off we go.

City Hall is right across the street from Tivoli. Since there is not a tower in Tivoli, then this is the best place to get aerial pictures of Tivoli. Great location actually for pictures of Tivoli and ALL of Copenhagen.

On the tour we saw and heard of the construction of this building that was completed in 1904. Saw how the builder paid tribute to all the craftsmen who worked on the building by carving woodcarvers, glass workers, tile layers and such in the banisters going up to the second and third floors.

Also, he had heads of workers carved into the banquet hall walls.

The Fresco paintings were beautiful going up the same staircase. One is of Copenhagen at the time and one is of the country side. He told the story of a couple of painters. One did the city of Copenhagen and the harbor on the stairway wall.

He got done first, so they told him to do around the door at the top of the stairs.

When he finished that, the other guy still wasn't done, so they told the first guy to paint four scientists in the corners.

The second guy STILL wasn't done. So the first guy painted the bricks to look like bricks all around the paintings he had just finished. He had a lot more details in his paintings even though he was faster.

Council Chambers: They meet at night after their regular jobs.

The grand hall at City Hall

There was some really great craftsmanship in the wood in the library. Person's name and their birth and death year.

A tour to the top of the City Hall Tower was available within a few minutes of us finishing the City Hall tour, so we signed up. The view was worth it, because you are right in the heart of town here. And it's even better that we get to see all of Tivoli.

Tivoli in Copenhagen will always make us want to come back here to visit again.

06-28 Tivoli Gardens - Walt's Inspiration

We changed up the schedule again today. Today is going to be the least rainy day of all our days here in Copenhagen, so we are heading for Tivoli Gardens, located between the main train station and City Hall.

But first, the arm on Karen’s glasses broke yesterday so we went looking for someone who could repair it. No one had one that would fit, so Karen bought a new pair of non-prescription polarizing sun glasses.

That done, we stopped for lunch at a sandwich shop before boarding a bus for Tivoli at 12:35. (It opened at 11:00 today).

We can't wait to visit this park and see where Walt Disney's inspiration came from. Walt and his friend Art Linkletter visited here in 1951 and Walt went around scribbling notes about the rides, the gardens, food, and anything else he thought was important.

Walking into Tivoli is amazing; everywhere you look are beautiful flowers. I think my mouth was wide open for the first ten minutes, then I had to tell myself to shut it.

We walked in by the new hotel/eating area they are building. The Chinese theater was on the left.

Next came the big white building with the fountain. And flowers are everywhere: hydrangeas, rhododendrons, roses, and the lighted archways over the paths (not lit yet of course).

And the Mountain. I know the Mountain is Rutschebanen, a wooden roller coaster built by Valdemar Lebech in 1914 and has a brakeman riding mid train. Can't wait. But more pictures first.

There's another large stage, the one Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys will be on, on Friday. It had a large grassy area for people to sit and watch concerts on, with lots of sling lawn chairs, not enough for everyone, but a lot.

Then another colorful building with light on it, a fountain in front and flowers and rose gardens.

Ok time to ride Rutschebanen. The line was only about ten minutes.

FUN COASTER, LOTS OF SMALL AIR. We rode the front car first and filmed.

Then, on to the second ride, the kids all knew how to get the back seat, so we rode second to the back. (There are no queue lines on the ground here for seats). In fact, the kids were getting on the coaster before it even stopped in the station!

Cool, the brakeman waves to people out in the park. What a fun job. Riding the coaster all day. It's an easy coaster to ride all day, waving at the guests.

Next it was on to The Mine ride, it's a water ride, themed to a diamond mine and you shoot at lit up diamonds. You shoot with a thing like a short light saber.

Half way through we put down our shooters and just watched the ride, the shooting was too distracting for a first ride and you couldn't tell if you hit anything. There was no score or winner at the end. Later we found the score board at the exit of the ride. It wasn't obvious.

The Pirate ship ride, built in 1937, is kind of like a caterpillar ride, fun and well themed. The waves moving really added to the action. But the pirate ship in the middle was moving at the same speed that you were, so you always saw the same side of it. It fired cannons and there was sound and smoke.

The swings offered a great view of the park, especially the mountain coaster, but we had to empty everything out of our pockets, so no cameras up here. Doesn't go very fast so, it's not like most swing rides, more like a GREAT VIEW of the park and surrounding Copenhagen. Don't miss it.

OdinExpressen is a powered train coaster built by Mack Rides in 1984. We went around three times and it had a double down helix.

Around the corner from the Odin Express is the Hans Christian Anderson ride, The Flying Trunk. This ride was built in 1993 and renovated in 2010. It is a ride with excellent English narration. You ride in a treasure box and the switch on the lid above your head allows you to choose English or Danish narration. It travels through a lot of scenes from his fairy tales; nicely done and tells each story. Most of the stories we knew. Some were new to us.

Next was the Oriental section and the Daemonen coaster with VR option. The VR option cost $4 extra. We did not try this. We have done it on a coaster we know very well, the Revolution at Magic Mountain. This is a B & M floorless coaster built in 2004. It is not as smooth as most B & M's. No re-ride for us because it was too short and no air time.

On to the boats that you get to drive. Fun, no track here. It's a small open pool about the size of Magic Mountain's original bumper boats. The speed on these was about 1 MPH.

The burgers at the Woodhouse were excellent. There are about 50 other places to eat here that we could have chosen from.

We rode the trolley bus, it was an electric trolley ride that had a trolley front car and a train-looking second car that drove the walking paths of the park. You could only get on and off at one location.

Next we had Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Karen had a butterfinger shake, because she could get it in a souvenir cup. Sadly, her only souvenir except a postcard from Tivoli. There are not many Tivoli souvenirs. That has to be the biggest disappointment of this park. She wanted to get something small, like a shirt. We're sure glad Walt doesn't have that problem at his park.

Started asking about the light show. Nobody knows the schedule or even where things happen in this park. Walked around and took pictures of all the lights. This park is beautiful with lots of flowers during the day and beautiful with lights at night, on the buildings, over the walkways and around the water ways.

Finally found the water light show over by the boats we rode earlier.

Stayed for the fireworks at 11:00. You are really close to where they set the fireworks off here. So close you can see them shoot out of the launchers. We walked out the front gate and took pictures of the main logo and building all lit up before catching a bus back to our place.