A Saturday afternoon in Copenhagen

Entrance to Rosenborg Castle (1606). Dutch Renaissance Style. Originally built as a summerhouse by King Cristian IV.

In 2010 Denmark was voted yet again the happiest country in the world. Really. Who decides these things? To be honest I found Copenhagen, its capital, a bit grim. I think it was the architecture. The Danes are world famous for their architecture. The Sydney Opera house by Jorn Utzon is part of my soul. I love it. But in central Copenhagen I found it all a bit grim. It could've been the weather and the fact that there are roadworks going on everywhere. But I don't think so. There's something very stern, unforgiving and dark about a lot of it. 
However the people made a nice contrast to the buildings. They were courteous and friendly, enjoying themselves in the multitude of cafes and bars and fashionable shops. 
The Royal history looms large here. You really get a sense of the might of the old Danish empire. To me it's quite unlike being in Stockholm. Even though the Royal Castle is a dominating presence in Stockholm it's somehow less intimidating as there is water everywhere in Stockholm.  Stockholm's clean and light. Whereas I found Copenhagen dirty and dark. Maybe that's why they're renovating all the streets? Yes I am biased towards Stockholm.
The cafes were packed. Street buskers were everywhere. Lots of people were drinking beer at 10am. Couldn't think of anything worse myself. I had a hot chocolate which was real chocolate. Nice. Supposedly Copenhagen's a very fashionable city. Not being that into fashion I wouldn't know however I did notice the fashion people were wearing which is really quite different to what people are wearing in Sweden. Can't say I liked it much. Strange combinations of materials and patterns and colours. It was interesting though.
I was desperate for some trees so we walked to the Botanical gardens (which is right next to the National Gallery of Denmark). The gardens were being renovated too. But it was still refreshing to visit. Full of elms and oaks and empty flower beds. I'm sure it's beautiful in summer. I wish Stockholm had a botanical garden in the centre of town. Stockholm's botanical garden is a bit of a trip out to the suburbs. It''s beautiful, in the swedish contemporary style (ie. relaxed formality if there is such a thing) but it's too much of a hassle to go very often. Unless you're going to the University or Imax cinema or Natural History museum which is across the road. 
While we were wandering around Copenhagen I thought of Mary, you know, Princess Mary, the former Australian girl.  I wonder what she really thinks of it when she's alone in the palace. 

Palace Hotel (1910)

Denmark is the smallest of the Scandinavian countries with a population of about 5.3 million. Just over half of the Swedish population. Though the capitals have about the same numbers of people living in them (around1 million). The Kingdom of Denmark also has 2 autonomous provinces – the Faroe Islands and Greenland. 

Central Station, Copenhagen. It's built in the same National Romantic style as the Town Hall (and Stockholm's Town Hall too). We were surprised to find out that the Danes still use kronor. We were positive the euro had come in here but no. 

We strolled about in the cold with lots of other people. It was absolutely packed on the Saturday. And many people must've come from Malmö in Sweden which is only half an hour away in the train as there was no one in Malmö.

Out the front of some cute florist shop.

Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark) built in Italian Renaissance revival style (1896). Full of brilliant masterpieces going back to the 12th century. Definitely worth going back to Copenhagen for if you're into art.

Fillipino Lippi's ' The Meeting of Joachim and Anne outside the Golden Gate of Jerusalem' (1497).  The colour still dazzling and really moving.

The Gallery also has a fantastic gallery devoted to Danish Art as it would. I found this really fascinating as I didn't know virtually anything about Danish art except Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) whose paintings I'd seen in a book. He's having a major exhibition here until 20th May 2012. 

The painting above is by Niels Skovgaard (1858-1938)  'Heavy swells at the West coast of Jutland' (1894)

I really like the simplicity of this painting. It could've been boring as it's just two large rectangles in a rectangle (canvas). But it's not as the waves are so true to nature. So it's got freshness and energy.

The Lutheran Church of our Lady. Neo-Classical style re-design 1829 by Christian Frederik Hansen. It's actually Denmark's National Cathedral. The light's beautiful and there's barely a painting to be seen. The former Mary Donaldson and Prince Frederik were married here.

Gardens around the Rosenborg Slott.

A multitude of train tracks at Central Station. Smokers you'd be happy in Copenhagen. You're still allowed to smoke while waiting for the train. Everybody else bring a mask.

I think this the Goddess Athena and some naked man trying to impress her along the path in the Botanical Gardens.

This is my Bill Henson moment. Well that's what I'm calling my photography mistakes. Bill Henson's an Australian photographer who does romantic, blurry nudes of teenagers and landscapes. That have sometimes caused controversy in Australia. 

Official Denmark website

Videos about Denmark

Denmark during WW2
Getting from Copenhagen to Malmö 

Travelling light in Malmö

Malmö, Sweden's 3rd largest city is always in the news here and most of it isn't good. Though from visiting the place for 3 days all I can say is that it seems a bright, easy going place by the Öresund Sea right at the bottom of Southern Sweden. We only experienced warm hospitality and the general vibe around the center of town, where we were staying, was safe, and pretty quiet. Certainly much, much safer than walking around Melbourne at night. Though I noticed there were police vans parked silently in all the public squares but other than that nothing. Here's some pictures. It's an enjoyable place to visit with plenty of cafes, restaurants,  cinemas, galleries, museums, parks to go to.

Malmö was founded in the mid 13th century. Love this public sculpture in Stortorget of a group of marching musicians. With Jörgen Kocks House (1525) in the background. 

Walking on Södergatan in the sun. 

Malmö's lighthouse (1878). Inactive since 1983.

Fresh salty air. I love it!

Entrance to Central Station. It took about 4.5 hours from Stockholm to Malmö by fast train. Travelling by train is a bit cheaper than flying and you get to see the countryside which got increasingly greener as we went south. I like it though others find it a bit boring. But it's not that long. Try going by bus or train between Melbourne and Sydney in Australia which seems to take forever. No high speed trains yet.

You can take the train over to Copenhagen from Central Station which travels over the Öresund Bridge. This is the view from the train. It took only 18 minutes over the water. Check the wind turbines.

There are views of water everywhere in Malmö. Central train station is on the left next to the canal. It's only a 15 minute walk from the centre of town to the station. 

Old town's is full of beautiful, old buildings in various styles of architecture. 

The apotek or chemist in english. Shops close pretty early in Sweden. Mostly everything's closed in Stockholm by 6pm. And in Malmö nearly everything was closed by 5pm. Just a few convenience stores are open. 

Rådhuset (Town Hall) Stunning building. Built in 1546 in Dutch Renaissance Style. It's in the Stortorget (square), the centre of Malmö which was laid out in the 1530's. There was nobody around at 10am Sunday. In fact not many people the whole weekend. It was below zero so maybe that explains it. Everyone was in Copenhagen which was packed with people. 

This fountain is in Gustav Adolf's Torg where we stayed at the Best Western Nobel House Hotel which was fantastic. Great hospitality, the room was beautiful and reasonably priced. Plus they always have a brilliant breakfast in Swedish hotels. I'd thoroughly recommend it. 

The wildflowers have just started coming out after winter which is always inspiring.

Malmö's part of the Swedish region called Skåne. There was a problem with the train going back to Stockholm so we had to board a bus. But it was a good opportunity to see the countryside of Skåne which is full of rolling hills, forests and lakes. And also a few wind turbines.

 A good place to go cycling. I'm definitely interested in going back to the Skåne area. Especially to see Kristianstad's Biosphere Reserve.

Taking the train between Stockholm and Malmö: The trains depart every two hours from Stockholm Central Station and take a little over four hours to connect the cities of Malmo and Stockholm. Economy train tickets start at around $80/£50. They're very comfortable to travel in.

For the lighthouse boffins: Sweden's lighthouses

www.malmo.se

www.skane.com

Getting from Malmö to Copenhagen.

You can read news about Malmö in english at The Local . It's pretty tabloid.