Wednesday, July 7
Today the focus was on Danish history and her monarchy. After a quick breakfast from a pastry shop (Danish, of course), we walked to Rosenborg Castle. Rosenborg is a beautiful historic building and a fascinating museum of cultural history. It houses some of Denmark’s greatest cultural treasures, including the Crown Jewels and the Danish Crown Regalia.
The museum displayed the history of the Danish kings through 300 years, from Frederik II in the late 16th century to Frederik VII in the 19th century. Much of the history focused on Denmark’s longest reigning monarch, King (or ‘kong’ in Dansk) Christian IV. He assumed the throne at age 11 and he inherited one of the wealthiest treasuries in the world. At his death, however, the country was close to Kronerless. Seems Christian IV had a weakness for wine, women and war.
From Rosneborg, we moved on to the Amalienborg Museum for more royal history. Much of Amalienborg’s focus is on Denmark’s current Queen Margrethe II. Personal observation: the old Dansk royals seemed to be much more attractive folks than those in the Brit royal house. They have chins and everything, they were a boatload more secular and it would seem less prone to killing their own kind.
All that history makes you thirsty and hungry. A beer break by a canal, a medisterpolse from a street vendor—a Danish pork sausage that is almost as good as the ones my grandmother used to make—and a quick catch-up on le Tour on le tube and we were ready for the evening.
We’re right in the middle of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, it is a VERY BIG deal, and we hadn’t had a chance to take in any formal concerts, so it was off to Tivoli Park to hear David Sandborn with Joey DeFrancesco and Steve Gadd. Fantastic show! The Dansk know their Jazz.
One more entry in the Euro emphasis on sustainability log: At Tivoli, when you buy a beer you pay an additional 5DK deposit on the cup. As you leave, you deposit the cup in a machine and your 5DK is retuned. An almost 100% rate and the park’s grounds were close to spotless.
Spain beat Germany 1-0 in the World Cup, so I guess we can take our orange hats to Berlin.
What we learned today:
- Wine, women and war. Two out of three ain’t bad.
- When the light says “Don’t Walk,” don’t walk. Laurel almost got taken out by a bus.
- If you forget to use the 220v to 110v power convertor with your tooth brush charger (the sole purpose you schlepped the thing), you will quickly render the device permanently inoperable. Je suis stupide.