At breakfast this morning, I chatted with a fellow American. She had been in London for a business trip and added on a visit to Copenhagen for pleasure. She lives in El Segundo, of all places, just south of LAX. I keep saying it but it's true, small world.
The sun was not shining this morning, so I looked for indoor-ish activities. Yesterday I was at Rosenborg Castle, which has a Botanical Garden next door. There is a large tropical conservatory located there, so why not get some heat and humidity? Added bonus is that it's free. The hotel has free umbrellas so I grabbed one before heading for the Metro to Norreport station and the brief stroll to the Garden. The open area of the garden looks beautiful, with a large pond. Too bad the weather is not conducive to a nice stroll. The conservatory is broken up into different ecosystems, from hot humid to Mediterranean. The hot humid room had carnivorous pitcher plants, papyrus and huge water lilies (with flower buds but they only open at night). The other rooms had mango trees, cork trees, fuschias, orchids, vanilla plants, cinnamon. The information card noted that some of the tropical fruit trees do not bear fruit in this setting.
The Statens Museum for Kunst (National Art Museum) is a short walk from the Garden. The collection is housed in an old structure that has had a modern wing added. The area between the two has been made into a really neat 'sculpture street'. The regular collection is free. The museum highlights Danish art and I have to say, there's a reason you don't really know any Danish artists. They do have a nice gallery in the 'foreign artists' area that groups art by theme-landscapes, genre, portraits, etc. It's a huge room and art of all sizes within each category line the walls. The exhibit currently in the sculpture street is by Tomas Saraceno and consists of spheres of various sizes and materials all tethered at various heights to various parts of the floor, walls and ceiling. Some of the spheres are merely suggestions made of rope. Others are actual biospheres with air plants and a water system. One giant sphere is constructed to allow people inside to bounce around on what looks like a trampoline. A couple of the spheres are weighted down with water and almost seem to be melting into the floor. The effect of all these round objects taking up various parts of the space and connected to it in a somewhat tenuous manner is pretty magical. The museum has a nice little cafe (I had a cold meat board with bread) which has a view of the surrounding grounds.
By the time I walk out of the museum, it's stopped raining, so I decided to head to the Rundetarn, which is an old observatory tower with a nice view over the city. On the way up, there is an old toilet that they have restored for viewing (is this the second or third old toilets I've seen this trip)! There is also a room used to display contemporary art. Apparently the old observatory is open on winter evenings. From the lookout today the Oresund bridge is clearly visible in the distance and you can see Sweden just beyond. The various and diverse old towers (mostly on churches) pop up all around contrasting with the more modern glass boxes.
The Rundetarn is on one of the pedestrian streets and connects to the main area of the Stroget which leads right back to my hotel. After a short afternoon rest, I head to Tivoli. I've been walking by this place all week (because it's right next to the train station) and I've read that Walt Disney got his idea for Disneyland from a visit here. I've been to Disneyland and Tivoli is tiny in comparison (Walt sure took the idea and blew it up). There are rides and one of them looks distinctly like a miniature Small World (it actually takes you through Hans Christian Andersen stories). Their version of the Matterhorn is actually viking/pirate ships. There are lots of food options in Tivoli, from high end to cheap (relatively speaking). I stop at a place called Wagamama which has asian noodles. I know this chain started somewhere else, but is it London? New York? Anyway, it's very popular. I got a huge bowl of ramen which I couldn't begin to finish but they had cut all the noodles! Seriously, don't do that, noodles must be long! The broth is very salty (I've found a lot of the food here is over salted to my taste). However there are no weird sauces and the price is acceptable. While I am having dinner, it starts to pour!! By the time I'm done it's mostly stopped but now there are puddles all over the place to avoid and it's gotten cold. The area next to Wagamama is a whole chinese themed area with a 'dragon' roller coaster and red lanterns. A small pond houses a pirate ship with some kind of restaurant on board. There's another replica of the little mermaid here, donated by the family of the artist. Tivoli has free concerts of various kinds throughout the warmer months and there are already people waiting in line for Alphabeat (never heard of them). The concerts don't start until 10pm, because that's when it finally gets dark.
Tomorrow is my last full day and I'm heading to Sweden plus I have one more ballet performance.
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