Copenhagen, Part the First -- In Which I Amuse Myself in a Park

I will tell you two stories about my stay in Copenhagen. The first one is about my trip to Tivoli Gardens, and the second is about my visit to Rosenborg Castle. Both have a lot of photos, so I apologize if the load time is long!

Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world (est. 1843), is located across the street from the main train station, right in the center of Copenhagen. (The oldest one is outside Copenhagen and is [generously] dated to 1583!) Tivoli consists of rides for all ages, indoor and outdoor performance venues, eateries, four casinos, Europe's longest saltwater aquarium, exhibit space (currently hosting dinosaur skeletons), and interspersed gardens. The first thing I saw when I got into the park was the famous Peacock Theater, which shows pantomimes based on Hans Christian Andersen stories as well as more modern dance performances. The first and last thing I did at Tivoli was to watch parts of two pantomimes, and I was completely hooked. The sets and costumes are colorful, there’s a live orchestra, and the dancers are really very good. I didn’t know either fairy tale, but I mostly followed along. Disney wishes it were this cool.

Left: casino; center: pantomime; right: Peacock Theater


It cost about 95DKK ($17) to get into Tivoli, and I splurged 75DKK ($13.50) for three tickets to get on one of the biggest rides. Apparently the park is famous for the Rutsjebanen, one of the oldest wooden roller coasters still in use today. (Wikipedia informs me it was built in 1914 in Malmö, Sweden.) But because I’ve always liked carnival swings, I chose the Himmelskibet (The Star Flyer). I have just learned from Wikipedia that this, the world's tallest carousel, was built in Austria in 2006 and is eighty meters high (that's 262.5 feet for you metrically-challenged readers). It took us up so high that, not only could we get a bird’s eye view of the entire park, but we could see for miles in all directions. It was quite chilly all the way up there, but totally worth it.

After such a cold ride, I needed a warm drink, which I acquired at a nearby Konditerei. Have I mentioned that’s one of my favorite Germanic words? Or maybe, it’s one of my favorite Germanic meanings.

I had hardly finished my hot chocolate before the Tivoli Boys Guard could be heard approaching. It consists of dozens of boys from eight to sixteen playing instruments and marching in “lobster-back” uniforms around the gardens. They accompany a horse-drawn carriage with a small prince and princess inside. Quite the spectacle.

Thereafter I wandered around and experimented with my camera. I’m no photographer, but the light was poor on account of the rain clouds, so I got a crash course in “exposure time,” “shutter priority,” and “aperture priority.” With some trial and error I was able to get pictures like this one. One of the interesting features of Tivoli is that it is almost possible to forget you’re in a major city in some parts of the gardens. Below you can see the tourist attraction probably most commonly associated with the capital of Denmark: den lille havfrue. The “real” version of The Little Mermaid is usually found in Amaliehavn, but “she is on vacation” at an expo in Shanghai until February 2011. This version is sculptor Edvard Eriksen’s family’s copy, on loan to Tivoli so visitors won't have to go without a photo of Hans Christian Andersen's tragic beauty. By-the-by, the sculpture was commissioned in 1909 by Carl Jacobsen, of the dynasty that founded the popular local beer, Carlsberg. It was unveiled in 1913.

 

When I left the amusement park two hours after I came, it was dusk and had started to drizzle. I imagine all the lights are quite pretty at night. 

p.s.—For those of you scoring from home, from Champaign to Copenhagen I took 3 car rides, 3 airplanes, 1 bus, and 1 Metro.