On that note, I got up reasonably early and headed out while the temperature was hovering a little below 10 degrees Celcius - fair enough in these parts of the world. I headed down to the river near the apartment, with the intention of catching one of the local public transport boats (as suggested by my host, Nicolaj - as a good way to get down to the harbour, and also as a better and much cheaper option than taking one of the tourist boats). However, when I got to the stop, I discovered that it was a little over an hour until the first boat - it being a public holiday Monday. Never mind, I walked along the river, crossed at a bicycle/foot bridge, and then along the other side and into the city centre area. After heading into the old town, I decided to head to the tourist information office to see what fliers they might have, and options for a public holiday Monday - but they were also shut!
Luckily for me, there was a woman just inside the door (from Red Badge Guides) who was doing a walking tour at 15 euros starting about 2 minutes later (I got there pretty much right on 10am); as I was thinking of doing one of the "free" tours anyway, I opted to join her, at which point I was the only one other than a friend of hers who was tagging along for the day, and then along came another couple who joined us, so we were a very small group - kind of exclusive, so actually worth the extra money. Another advantage, which I would discover later, was that it was only 2 hours, whereas the "free" one started at 11am and went for 3 hours - but more of that later.
And so we headed off to what turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable and informative walking tour of the old town area; the nice thing was that where there were options of what we could do and see, we were given the option - and fortunately, we all wanted to do the same things, so that worked out really well.
First stop was the Town Hall, which sits just outside where the medieval town walls were, as it was built after the walls came down; the square in front of the Town Hall is a building site at the moment, as the underground Metros system is being extended - so, in fact, there are lots of similar building sites all over the city and will remain so until around 2018/19. Some of the highlights at the square are the count-down timer to the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest which Copenhagen is hosting in around 13 days, some very strange dragon creatures, and a statue of that famous Dane Hans Christian Andersen of numerous fairy tales fame.
From here we moved along to the Amelienborg Palace; the winter homes of the Danish Royal Family, it is actually a series of four palaces set around an octagonal courtyard - which surprisingly is open to the public to walk through freely. Originally built as palaces for four noble families, the royals moved in when the Christiansborg Palace burnt down in 1794, and after it was rebuilt they preferred Amelionborg, so that's where they stayed.
Amalienborg consists of four identical neo-classical palace façades with rococo interiors; in the centre of the courtyard is a monumental equestrian statue of Amalienborg's founder, King Frederik V.
We happened to get to the courtyard just as the changing of the guards was in swing, so we got to watch that; as the royals are away for Easter (although the flags are flying - due to the holiday), it wasn't the full pomp and splendour that it is when they are in residence - but still good to watch. Denmark has military conscription, so all of these soldiers (members of the Royal Life Guard) are around 18 to mid-20s, and many of them have baby-faces - but they also have guns, so they win!
Built from 2001 to 2004 and inaugurated in 2005, it is among the most modern opera houses in the world. It is also one of the most expensive opera houses ever built with construction costs well over 500 million U.S. dollars.
The Opera House was donated to the Danish state by the A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation in August 2000 (A.P. Miller was a co-founder of the shipping and container company now known as Mærsk). Some politicians were offended by the private donation, in part because the full cost of the project would be tax deductible, thus virtually forcing the government to buy the building; but it was accepted by the government in 2000.
At exactly 1pm, the tour guide arrived, took our 25 Krone each (about 4 euros), and took the small group of about 10 of us through a side door and up to the dome. You climb up the 256 steps inside the dome, between the inner and outer shells, and come out right at the top, 62 metres above the ground - for spectacular views over the royal palaces, the city, and of course the river - wow!
And it got better, because of all of the towers that I've climbed, in this case, our guide stayed with us, explained the church, the dome, and the surrounding area - he was funny, knowledgeable and extremely personable; and to top it off, we were up there for close to 30 minutes, so had plenty of time to wander around and enjoy the views - in fact, I felt no pressure to finish, as we were made welcome to enjoy the vistas for as long as we wanted.
The great thing about this climb is the reasonably central location, and the views over the royal palaces - and on a clear day you can see right to Sweden, which we could today!
Being in the neighbourhood, I had to head to the Little Mermaid statue, which is possibly one of Copenhagen's (if not Denmark's) most famous spots and most visited sights.
A bronze sculpture around 125cm high and weighing in at 175kg, and displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade the Little Mermaid was cast in 1913. The statue was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg, who had been fascinated by a ballet about the fairytale in Copenhagen's Royal Theatre and asked the ballerina, Ellen Price, to model for the statue. The statue's head was modelled after Price, but as the ballerina did not agree to model in the nude, the sculptor's wife, was used for the body.
The Copenhagen City Council decided to move the statue to Shanghai at the Danish Pavilion for the duration
of the Expo 2010, the first time it had been moved officially from its perch, other than for repairs following damage or defacement, which has been commonplace over the years.
If you look closely at the spire you may notice a corkscrew pattern that runs anticlockwise around its outside - that's a staircase that leads right to the top of the spire, 92m up! For a total of 400 steps (150 of them outside), the reward is more spectacular views of Copenhagen - from a different angle, and a higher point.
At the top there really is only room for 1 - with barely enough room to turn around, and certainly it proves interesting when there is someone waiting right behind you.
Overall, well worth the 35 Krone price, even without the tour guide like at the Marble Church - I guess you can't have everything.