Today I decided it was time to take the Metro; I was heading to the Royal Danish Naval Museum. I walked up to Norreport Station, maybe a 10 minute walk from the hotel, and took the M2 line to Christianshavn, which is two stops away. The ticket cost me $23 Kroner, or about $4.34 CAD, and is valid for one hour. Keeping in mind that Copenhagen is a very walkable city, I could have walk there for free in probably about half an hour. The Metro, however was a neat experience. You take two escalators down to the platform. There is floor to ceiling plexi-glass blocking direct access to the rails; I'm assuming so no one can jump in front of a train. Once the train stops, the doors are lined up with the train doors and both open at the same time and people can enter or get off the train. It's a really good system. They also have very accurate board indicating how long the next train will be. Very efficient and clean...something can be learned here.
I didn't check the opening time of the Royal Danish Naval Museum and ended up arriving a half hour before it opens. What does one do with half an hour to kill? Some might sit and wait, but I go exploring. I can't sit that long. I hadn't been to this part of Copenhagen yet, but we did sail past it on the canal tour. It's not much different from the other areas I've seen thus far, except to say that a certain area called Christiania can be found here. Now I didn't venture there because it is an area that Z might be interested in seeing so I thought I'd wait until he's available; that's only the right thing to do. Instead, I walked around and got a closer look at the Vor Frelsers Church. We got to see a glimpse of it's amazing twisted spire and gold globe on top during the canal tour. I didn't venture inside only because I always feel bad going inside churches as a "looky-loo"; I'm always afraid I'm going to disrupt people inside. This church was built in 1680 and took 14 years to complete. Today it is the living parish of about 8000 people. From there I ventured to the waterfront to take some pictures before realizing the museum was now open.
The Royal Danish Naval Museum is situated in a building that was originally intended to be a naval hospital. This museum provides a glimpse of about 300 years of rich history of the Danish naval fleet. Throughout the museum you can find models depicting various ships from the naval fleet, as well as stern ornaments and figureheads. An interesting note I read was that these ornaments and figureheads added so much weight that at times the sailors had to cut them off to reduce the ship's weight. The models start out with the wooden sail ships and come to present day ships.The museum also houses many artifacts including maps, tools, naval equipment, weaponry, uniforms, clocks that were used to try and determine longitude, and lots of information on the history of the Danish navy. You can also go inside a partial replica of a submarine to see just how close the quarters really are. Some interesting things I learned include: in 1752 ship crew members were only allowed three litres of water a day for drinking, cooking and washing; they also received 2.5 litres of beer and 6 cl of spirits; the weekly menu didn't have much variety and included bread and butter, butter and porridge, and pork and peas; Sweden and Denmark had several naval battles throughout the years; the Danish navy was wiped out entirely during WWII.It was really fascinating and well worth a visit, especially on free admission day.
The next museum on the list was the Post & Tele Museum. This museum is supposed to provide a history of post and telecommunications in Denmark. Unfortunately when I got there the lovely lady in the ticket office told me that only the fourth floor was open and that the rest of the floors were closed until Friday undergoing restoration. Well, I was disappointed, but I was there and it was free so I went to check out the fourth floor which was supposed to be all about spying and espionage. I think if I could read Danish I would have found this floor very interesting, but alas this is not a language I know, so I looked at the picture and items on display trying to figure out what they were. One of the rooms had a film playing, again in Danish but with English subtitles and it was all about how "big brother" is watching our every move; telephone calls and internet usage are being monitored and how in Denmark the police can request that telecommunication companies hand over records for people for the last year. Interesting stuff, don't you think. I'm glad my big brother doesn't watch me that closely...
The last museum I visited today was HC Andersen Eventyrhuset, but I paid to enter (this one's for you J). In my naiveté, I did not know who Hans Christian Andersen was until someone pointed out that he was the author of some rather famous fairy tales. I guess I didn't read them growing up or didn't pay that much attention to them. As I went through the museum and read some of his work, I was astounded at how twisted some of these stories are and was glad to find this out before I went and bought a collection of his work for one of my nieces. I think this guy had some issues. It did definitely satisfy my curiosity of him though.
It was another beautiful and sunny day in Copenhagen. which we're told is unusual for this time of the year. The forecast is calling for a change of rain starting tomorrow. I only have three days left in this fabulous trip with so much more to discover, so I've got my fingers crossed the weather will hold up.
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