Copenhagen - Day 2

Saturday, 11th of June:

Sarah left Germany pretty early; the train to Dusseldorf Airport was leaving at 4 a.m.

And so Sarah arrived already early in Copenhagen, before Audrey and me.

This is the first of "some" elephant pictures you'll find throughout my posts about Copenhagen, so let me explain what it's all about these elephants which are all over the town.
From beginning of June to end of August 2011 Copenhagen hosted one of the largest outdoor art exhibitions held in Denmark, the Elephant Parade. The centre of attention are 102 baby elephants decorated ba Danish and international artists and designers. So over 100 unique, colorful and mostly beautiful art works lightened up the parks and streets of the capital and thus generate publicity and awareness around the globe.

The Elephant Parade's mission is to be the world's largest financial support organisation for the Asian elephant which is in grave danger of extinction.
We managed to discover and get a shot of about half of the exhibits in town... so don't wonder if you come across some elephants throughout my blog posts :-)

As mentioned, I wouldn't consider all exhibits as beautiful... But well, that's a subjective judgement.

From the airport, Sarah proceeded to the central train station.

It was only at around 09:30 a.m. that our Audrey and I dock at Copenhagen Cruise Terminal.

 

At around 10:30 we join Sarah who was already waitng for us at the hotel. For our overnight stay in Copenhagen I had organised a room at the "Guldsmeden Hotel Axel".
This hotel is run by a person called Sandra that also manages 5 other properties in the world, among others a new hotel in Oslo, the Guldsmeden Hotel Carlton. After the hotel had opened in Oslo, we (some colleagues and me) were invited by Sandra in May for a visit and lunch (see blog entry here). During that visit Sandra offered to let her know shall we one day come to Copenhagen. We'd be welcomed to experience their hotels' atmospheres in Copenhagen.And so I contacted her when organising our trip and she was so kind to let us stay at this hotel free of charge... and on top of that... in a suite :-)
It's super beautiful this hotel!

 

The whole interior of all the 6 hotels runs under a balinese theme combined with local design.

 

Since our rooms weren't ready yet, we sat down on the tarrace, enjoying the beautiful morning sunshine while planning together the next 2-3 days.

 

Time to go, time to discover Copenhagen :-)

 

 

Sarah so was amazed by traffic lights showing the time to elapse until they switch from red to green (or vv.) that she had to take pictures of it :-)

Copenhagen City Hall

 

 

???... Don't ask me what had happened to these guys sitting in front of the City Hall...

  ...or why this guy doesn't feel uncomfortable at all lying down in the middle of the crowded square.

Quick visit of the City Hall from the inside.

 

From the City Hall we took the famous pedestrian street Strøget and figure out that it is the venue of the Peruvian Street Carnival.

 

 

From Strøget we continued through the streets in the direction of Kongens Nytorv square and later Nyhavn.

 

Shop window of "Lagkagehuset", a really authentic Danish bakery. *Yummy*

 

At Kongens Nytorv we stopped for about 10 minutes to listen to a young couple performing some jazz music. They were actually pretty good and in retrospect I regret not having bought their disc. The girl had a great and striking voice and also the guy was pretty unique.

Only few steps ahead lies Nyhavn, a 17th century waterfront, canal and entertainment district. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour front just south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants. Serving as a "heritage harbour", the canal has many historical wooden ships.

 

Typically touristic we stopped at one of the restaurants for a "smørrebrød" lunch break.

The perfect stop for dessert!

The Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

The tower of Christiansborg Slott.

From "Gammel Strand" quai we went on board a one hour canal tour (yellow route) taking us through the new and old parts of Copenhagen.

The Royal Playhouse.

 

The National Opera House.

The Royal boat.

   

No need to comment about this famous landmark and very popular site for tourists.

A part of Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of the Danish Royal family.

Nyhavn

The boat is as big as the house behind it!

Entering Christianhavns Canal.

The tower of Vor Frelsers Church which we will climb up to the top the day after.

The Royal Danish Librarby, also called "The Black Diamond". It's the national library and the library of the University of Copenhagen. It is actually the largest library in the Nordic countries.

After the boat tour we stroll through the town...

 

 

 

 

 ...to finally reach the famous amusement park "Tivoli". The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the world.

Not far away from the Tivoli Gardens lies our hotel. So we finally checked in and got to our room :-)

After a short break we went out again for dinner. Since we were all pretty exhausted from the fully packed day, we didn't make it further than just the Italian restaurant around the corner... which however was delicious.

When returning from dinner I just inspected the rest of the hotel, including it's relaxation area.

GOOD NIGHT! THAT WAS A GREAT DAY!