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

Hamburg ~ City Hall (Rathaus)

 

Our lunch stop after visiting St. Nikolia.

We had eaten at a Hans im Glück when we visited Munich. I was excited to learn it was the place OFD had chosen for lunch. I finally got a radler and enjoyed most of that very large burger and tasty coleslaw salad. The interior of the restaurant chains has tree trunks as decor. The chain started in Munich in 2010. It is named after a Germanic fairy tale. 

Funny story about this postal carrier...OFD buys postcards and stamps at each port to send to her niece and nephew. It is always easy to find the postcards, but a bit more challenging to find stamps and a post box to mail them. In Hamburg, we had the cards ready for mailing, but we couldn't find a mailbox. As we were walking to St. Michaelis we met this mail carrier on the sidewalk. I asked if we could leave the stamped postcards with him to be mailed to the USA. He assured us he would get them sent and was willing to have his photo taken. Good memory!

Our final awe-inspiring building in Hamburg was our walk through City Hall or Rathaus.

This was our bus drop-off and meeting point after our self-tour of Hamburg. We saved this building until last.

Constructed from 1886 to 1897, the city hall still houses its original governmental functions with the office of the First Mayor of Hamburg and the meeting rooms for the Parliament and the Senate (the city's executive branch).

After the old city hall was destroyed in the great fire of 1842, as were the two churches we visited. (all of the building in the photo is part of City Hall)

Lions (and the police) guard the street entrance.

The tower is 367 feet high and has 436 steps. We did not climb them or count them.

The courtyard is decorated with a Hygieia fountain. Hygieia as the goddess of health and hygiene in Greek mythology. 

The fountain was built in remembrance of the cholera epidemic in 1892, the former technical purpose was air cooling in the city hall.

Its surrounding figures represent the power and pureness of the water. 

Isn't that a cool window?

the courtyard resembles an Italian piazza

City Hall has 647 (known) rooms; Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms

the ornate lobby

vaulted ceiling

public drinking/water fountain

The lobby is open to the public and hosts concerts and exhibitions.

the main doors of City Hall

one of the streets from Market Square

We saw very few homeless people or signs of a homeless population in any of the countries we visited. 

This photo is for Ruth: OFD is smiling! 

virtual souvenirs for two more German states (port state)

cruise port for Hamburg tour

The Sailor by Karlheinz Goedtke

Kiel, known for the sport of sailing, is a port on both sides of the Kiel Fjord, an inlet of the Baltic Sea, and lies at the eastern end of the Kiel Canal.

sailboats on the water as we left Kiel

lots of sailboats 

sunset on the Baltic Sea

freighter on the Baltic Sea

sunset

our cruise ship passed under this bridge on the way to Copenhagen

Next:  Copenhagen