Tivoli Gardens is the world’s second oldest Amusement park and the most popular one in Scandinavia. It is located in the heart of Copenhagen right opposite the central station. Tivoli Gardens is much more than a amusement park – it is a cultural institution, a national symbol, company listed on the Copenhagen Stock exchange and has inspired writers such as Hans Christian Andersen whose statue stands right outside the gate of Tivoli Gardens overlooking it.

Tivoli gardens has a variety of restaurants and rides catering to a wide range of audiences. It is also a popular venue for many concerts, especially on weekends. The all-ride pass cost about 260 DKK (about INR 2000). I got it from the vending machines. Unfortunately the instructions on the machine were not clear and I picked up the receipt but not the band which wraps around the wrist and acts as a ticket for the rides. Fortunately the guards helped me out and issued me one. As a rule the most easy looking rides are the most crazy fun. Like the Golden tower – It takes you to height of 207 feet and then you fall down (actually pulled down) at 1.5G-force. The fall seems like eternity. The experience for me was akin to bungee jumping. The first time you do not know how it will feel so you go along and hold on for dear life. The second time is the scariest as you know the fall is going to happen. I did the ride a total of 8 rides until I started feeling vertigo. The Education minister for Netherlands sat with a glass of water on the Golden Tower ride and during the fall, the water fell down later as compared to the glass as the fall is faster than the acceleration due to gravity (1 g-force). The views of Copenhagen lit in the night from 207 feet above are really magical.

I was lucky to be there on a Friday night as there was a rock concert in progress at the time. There is generally a concert scheduled there on weekends. Tivoli also has a pantomime theatre and the small ponds and different structures are lit up at night. It gives Tivoli a very fairytale feel. In fact, H. C. Andersen’s “The Nightingale” story was inspired by a play in Tivoli. I read several of H. C. Andersen’s fairytales as a kid and was totally fascinated by them. Copenhagen historic centre has changed little since the 18th Century and H. C. Andersen would feel at home even today. Walking around Copenhagen, it is easy to relate to some of his stories such as the “The Steadfast Tin Soldier” (the first thing that came to mind when watching the Change of Guards at Amalienborg Palace), the famous “Little Mermaid” statue and “The Ugly Duckling” (from the artificial lakes around Copenhagen). H. C. Andersen’s other famous stories are “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and “Thumbelina”. Even after so many years H. C. Andersen’s remains Copenhagen’s and Denmark’s most famous son.

I had watched the changing of the guard at Stockholm and loved it. So when I heard about the same at Copenhagen, I wanted to see it. The changing of the guard in Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen takes place every day at noon regardless of the weather in Copenhagen. The changing of the guards was a much smaller event as compared to the one in Stockholm.

The soldiers wear distinctive uniforms consisting of a dark blue jacket, blue trousers and the “Bear” – the huge headgear. The bear skin garment is dreaded by most soldiers and it is not uncommon for soldiers to faint during long patrolling periods. The typical shift is is two hours but only the shift change at noon is as ceremonious. The uniforms worn by the Royal Guard date back to the 18th Century handed down from generation to generation by guards. The only new piece of equipment is the German-made rifles.

The Amalienborg Palace is one of the best examples of Rococo style of Architecture in Europe. Ironically the Palace was the home to the nobility but the Royal family moved into the Palace when the original ChristianBorg Palace burned down. The Royal family did not want to pay for the palace so the 4 noble families that lived there were given a tax holiday for 40 years in lieu of payment for their houses. The Marble church or Frederik’s Church is adjacent to the Amalienborg Palace though it is not part of the Palace complex.

The complete set on Flickr

Having stayed in Copenhagen, you notice a few things very quickly. It is a city always on the move – mostly using bicycles – The public bus transportation system is also good. People who live in Copenhagen are very conscious of the environmental impact of their lives – the UN Climate summit was held here. The quality of life is very high as compared to even many Scandinavian cities. Research & Development and Design is an major source of economic growth and also one of it’s many exports. It is apparent from the modern architecture of the city and the abundance of design studios and design exhibitions in the city. In addition, due to it’s location and also due to major investments, the city is also a vibrant cultural hub and has a very international feel.

During my stay, the city was celebrating Copenhagen Design week and there were exhibits all round the city celebrating the works of designers, architects and other creative artists showcasing works from all around Europe. Due to a high concentration of creative people, Copenhagen is a beautiful city to walk and cycle looking at Graffiti (such as the Obama pic here or art on the walls).

Christianshavn

Christianshavn is an artificial Island surrounded by Canals. It was initially built to strengthen the fortifications around Copenhagen. It has a large bohemian community (Freetown Chiristiania) of artists living in what earlier used to be military barracks. It is a semi-legal partially self governing neighbourhood which is known for it’s idiosyncrasy. For example This can be seen on the greeting on the exit to “Freetown Chiristiania” – which says “You are now entering the EU” (pic here). It is often considered to be a “city within a city”. Christianshavn is also home to the National Opera (from where the picture at the top of the post was taken), Danish Architecture Centre , The Royal Danish Academy of Fine arts and Danish Film School.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth

– Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), Irish dramatist, novelist and poet.

For instance, I never realized how many faces there are. There are lots of people but still more faces, for everyone has several. There are people who wear a face for years, of course it wears out, gets dirty, cracks in the folds, stretches like a glove one has worn on a journey.

– Rainer Maria Rilke, from “From The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge”

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is art museum which houses the personal art collection of Carl Jacobson whose father founded the Carlsberg Breweries. It features several collections from Roman sculptures to Danish and French Impressionist paintings. When I was visitng the museum there was an exhibit of masks gathered from all over the world – old and new and made from materials from Papier Mache to Stone. The Glyptotek itself is a very beautiful building with beautiful modern interiors and a landscaped garden and several fountains inside the big building.

After leaving Norway after a long stay, I stayed for a few days while in Gothenburg, Sweden. Soon it was time to move again. The penultimate stop on the journey was in Copenhagen, Denmark. Almost everyone I met on the trip told me that Copenhagen is a beautiful city and rated it it higher than Stockholm. The train journey from Gothenburg to Copenhagen was nice as the train had to traverse the Øresund. The Øresund bridge-tunnel is a combined two-track rail and four-lane road bridge-tunnel across the Öresund strait which separate Sweden and Denmark. It is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe. The tunnel part of the bridge was built to provide a clear flight path for the Copenhagen Airport which is nearby and also for the ships crossing the straits.

In Copenhagen, I had a gracious CS host who lent me a bicycle to explore the city. Using a bicycle is the best way to explore the city. There are even separate pathways in the city for bicycles and even separate traffic signals (pic here). You will find the greatest variety of bicycles in Copenhagen. I even saw a impeccably-dressed women wearing stilettos zooming past me in a bicycle during my stay there. About 37% of Copenhagen’s population uses bicycle to commute to work and together they cycle more than 1.1.million miles.

By the time I had reached Copenhagen it was evening, so I decide to explore the city and take some photos using my tripod. The results were good but it took some time to get the settings right in manual more. All of these photos were taken around the artificial lakes flanking the western ends of Copenhagen.

Gothenburg is the biggest port in Sweden and the Nordic countries. Gothenburg is unique in Sweden due to it’s location. It is considered a very friendly city and is host to a large working class immigrant community. There are several distinctive buildings in the city like the “Lipstick Building”, Fishhallen (The Fish Market), The Gothenburg Opera and the Post office building.

The best way to get around the city is to use it’s extensive tram system which is the largest in any Scandinavian City. The reason for the lack of the subway system unlike other Swedish cities is the soft earth the city is built on. In addition to using the tram system I also went round the old parts of the city on a “Paddan” boat through the city. This tour takes you through the cities canals and under it’s bridges including the “hair brush” bridge and the “Cheese-slicer” bridge (to pass under which you have to crouch beside your seat). This tour also takes you through the Gothenburg port whose huge cranes (like the one at the top of the post) look straight out of a Pink Floyd song.

The Fram Museum

The Fram Museum on the Peninsula of Bygdøy showcases the lives and the ships of the Norwegian Polar explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen. Roald Amundsen led the first expedition to the South Pole – where he was locked in a tight race to reach the South pole first along with Robert Scott – who finally perished in his attempt to reach it first. Roald Amundsen was also the first person to reach both the north and south poles. The museum is built around the intact body of the ship Fram. Visitors can actually go onboard the ship and see how it was built. Fram is the wooden ship that has traveled farthest North and South. The whole journey is nicely chronicled in the displays around the ship and conveys the sense of adventure the men aboard the Fram must have experienced.

The Kontiki Museum

The Kontiki museum documents one man’s quest to change history and it’s understanding by conducting expeditions. That man was Thor Heyerdahl. Before Thor Heyerdahl’s voyage across the Atlantic on a reed boats (The Ra), historians believed the people from the ancient world could not cross the great oceans using Papyrus boats and hence did not have any contact. The Ra Expedition, The Kontiki Voyage and his other voyages across the great oceans of the world changed the understanding of history and spawned several best-selling books and documentaries (Kontiki). Kontiki is the only film from Norway to win an Oscar. More about the Kontiki Museum

The Viking Ship Museum

The Viking Ship Museum displays 3 Viking ships and artifacts that were recovered from Viking graves. The Tune, Gokstad and Oseberg Ships are displayed here. These are some of the most well preserved viking ships in whole of Scandinavia.

The Munch Museum

The Munch Museum is located in one of the suburbs of Oslo, Norway and is dedicated to the life and work of famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (pronounced Moonk). The Munch museum has several famous paintings of Munch including the iconic “The Scream”, “The Madonna” and “Starry Night”. It also has several watercolour and charcoal paintings by him and his iconic master-series “The Frieze of Life”. Munch’s paintings have a certain minimalism and economy of colour but are able to convey emotions beautifully – especially the dark moods – fear, jealousy and melancholy. I later read that the brilliant colours of the sunset in the background of “The Scream” were inspired by the brilliant sunsets all over Europe in the aftermath of Krakatoa eruption.

The Folk Museum

Oslo’s Folk museum is an open-air museum that has actual houses and building that have been reassembled from all over Norway. You can walk into some of these houses which have been preserved as they were built originally and can get a glimpse into the everyday lives of ordinary people from all over Norway including the Sami tribes that live north of the arctic circle in Norway. It also has a stave church built completely from Wood. Some of the Stave Churches around Norway have survived over several hundred years.

The Complete Set on Flickr

The Vigeland park is a part of Frogner park – a large recreational area about 3kms away from the city center. The Park is quite big (about 80 acres) and features around 212 sculptures all carved by the Gustav Vigeland. Some of the sculptures are made of Bronze and the rest are made of granite. The sculptures depict the human form in different interactions such as between a father and a child, two lovers, grandparents and grandchildren and are very realistic. The realism of the sculptures is very moving. Partly it could be due to the influence of Auguste Rodin (who sculpted “The Thinker”).

In addition to the bronze and granite sculptures, there are also several wrought Iron gates featuring men and women conversing on either side of the huge granite monolith. The Granite Monolith is has carving of humans all over it and is made of a single block of granite. The monolith is about 17m high and has about 121 figurines carved on it. The monolith is on raised plateau that has about 36 granite sculptures.

More info about the park and more pictures at the flickr set

From the Pulpit’s Rock wikipedia entry.

Preikestolen or Prekestolen, also known by the English translations of Preacher’s Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, and by the old local name Hyvlatonnå, is a massive cliff 604 metres (1982 feet) above Lysefjorden, opposite the Kjerag plateau, in Forsand, Ryfylke,Norway. The top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 metres (82 by 82 feet) square and almost flat, and is a famous tourist attraction in Norway. During the four summer months of 2009, approximately 130,000 people took the 3.8 km (2.4 mi.) hike to Preikestolen, making it one of the most visited natural tourist attractions in Norway.

When I researching for places to visit in Norway, I chanced up some photos of Pulpit’s Rock and Kjerag. It seemed like a good trek with some fascinating views of Lysefjorden. The only problem was that there were very few details to get there. After searching a lot and contacting a few people I figured how to get there. You have to take a bus to Tau and from there take a ferry across the sea to a bus stop. From the bus stop, you can get to Preikestolhytta (youth hostel) where the climb starts. The climb is not long but tiring as you continuously go up and down by the edge of the Fjords and takes about two hours each way. In some places it is downright dangerous to climb as you have nothing much other than a chain to cling to and a crackegde to put your foot on. The fall can be several hundred meters.

It was raining during my stay at Stavanger and the rain continued during the trek. That make the trek worse as I was carrying my camera and completely drenched as I reached the top. It was misty and it was hard to see more than a few meters ahead. But the views were magnificent whenever the mist receded. There were few people that day due to the weather. About 70% of the people did not reach the end of the trek as they decided it was too dangerous to go on or were ill-prepared. Those who reached the top alongwith me were greeted with thick mist. At the end, there were only about 50-60 stubborn people who stayed back. I was determined to get a good glimpse of the Lysefjorden below and stayed back hoping that the skies would clear. They did clear and our patience was rewarded some of the most awesome views of Lysefjorden below.

Among the people who stayed back were a group of models who had climbed all the for a photo shoot and a married couple who wanted to take their wedding pictures in the scenic surroundings. The upside of the inclement weather was that there were few people on Pulpit’s rock.

I arrived at Stavanger to go to Pulpit’s rock. The journey from Bergen to Stavanger was very scenic as I had the to take two ferries across the jagged west coast of Norway. There standing at the bus stop for my host, I meet Jerry – A couchsurfer and master of coincidences. Jerry, a gentle guy – He greeted me and asked me whether Sam was hosting me. I was taken aback but he said he guessed after looking at my big backpack and my description by Sam. I later realized that he had messaged me earlier that he could host me in Stockholm. As luck would have it, we did not meet in Stockholm,Sweden but in Stavanger,Norway. Traveling to the same place and staying the same host at the same time was a pleasant coincidence. Jerry was a seasoned traveler who had traveled to more than 60 countries. After we went to Sam’s home he realized that Sam had a painting of picture of a wharf in Polperro, UK. Sam had bought the watercolor picture of the wharf from a traveler gypsy girl. Now Polperro is not your run-of-the-mill tourist destination. Jerry was convinced that he had been to that place 22 years earlier and taken exactly the same picture from the same angle. Obviously Sam and I were skeptical. Jerry went into a shell for sometime and then dug out the digitized version of the picture from his laptop to our disbelief.

Much of my time in Stavanger was wasted as it was raining pretty regularly. So Jerry and I went by the harbour to do some people watching and we were not disappointed. Amongst other things, we witnessed a marriage, saw a marathon in the rain, chatted with Norwegian soldiers, chased a stray cat to take pictures, saw a man dressed as Spiderman selling hotdogs and a guy about to get married busking for money. I also had some of the most delicious seafood on this trip.

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