Copenhagen ~ Cruise Stop #8

 I was trying to recall what we saw when we stopped in Copenhagen, and I had trouble remembering. The photos I took helped, but I am going to admit, after seeing all the buildings and history of the previous 10 days, I think my mind was a bit muddled by the time we got to Copenhagen. 

Our time in port was 6:30 AM to 2 PM. We may have gotten off the ship about 9 and had to be back around 1PM.

We chose to use the HOHO to get to the two places of interest. The HOHO takes about 90 minutes to make its rounds. 

Christiansborg Palace

Once home to kings and queens, Christiansborg Palace now houses the Danish Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of State. ~ Visit Copenhagen

The palace is home to the three supreme powers: the executive power, the legislative power, and the judicial power. It is the only building in the world that houses all three of a country's branches of government.*

doors to the courtyard and front of the palace

guard-less guard house

The present building, the third with this name, is the last in a series of successive castles and palaces constructed on the same site since the erection of the first castle in 1167.*

Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark do not live in the palace, but use the palace for official purposes and state ceremonies.*

The third (and current) Christiansborg, was built from 1907 to 1928. During the digging work, they came across the ruins of Absalon's Castle and Copenhagen Castle. It was decided to make them publicly accessible, and the ruins under the current palace, and the historical exhibition opened to the public in 1924.*

A weather vane with two crowns was later added to the tower, and at 106 meters became the tallest tower in the city.*

* Wikipedia

unique steeple on Church of Our Savior

in a souvenir shop

sign that caught my attention

St. Albans Church

St. Alban's Church, locally often referred to simply as the English Church, is an Anglican church built from 1885 to 1887 for the benefit of the growing English congregation in the city. ~ Wikipedia

some of the monuments, fountains & statues we saw 

The Little Mermaid

Unveiled on 23 August 1913, 'The Little Mermaid' was a gift from Danish brewer Carl Jacobsen to the City of Copenhagen.

The sculpture is made of bronze and granite and was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale about a mermaid who gives up everything to be united with a young, handsome prince on land. Every morning and evening she swims to the surface from the bottom of the sea and, perched on her rock in the water, she stares longingly towards the shore hoping to catch a glimpse of her beloved prince.

Carl Jacobsen fell in love with the character after watching a ballet performance based on the fairy tale at the Royal Danish Theatre. The brewer was so captivated by both the fairy tale and the ballet that he commissioned the sculptor Edvard Eriksen to create a sculpture of the mermaid. Eriksen's wife, Eline Eriksen, posed for the statue. ~ signage at The Little Mermaid

She was the second point of interest in Copenhagen. She was a very popular tourist stop!

geocaching virtual souvenirs

Ever since Stockholm, we had noticed the same name on many of the geocaches we found at each port city, leading us to believe there was a geocacher on the cruise. We messaged the cacher and made arrangements to meet for a drink on the ship. Meet Glenn from Colorado, who also knows Eric, a geocaching friend of ours, originally from Sioux Falls, but now living in CO.  The geocaching couple from CA (whom we met on the Panama Canal cruise in 2023) was also on the same ship, but we did not meet up with them on this cruise. Small world.

Next: Oslo