{"id":28962,"date":"2018-09-26T11:02:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T15:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=28962"},"modified":"2018-09-26T11:02:46","modified_gmt":"2018-09-26T15:02:46","slug":"september-26-2018-the-classical-copenhagen-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=28962","title":{"rendered":"September 26, 2018 – The Classical Copenhagen Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second tour of the day was a 90 minute walk to the north of Hojbro Plads<\/em> with its axe-weilding Bishop Absalon.\u00a0 We begin at the Stork Fountain, so named because, well, there are three storks carve into it.<\/p>\n

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It actually replaced in the 1890s a rather mundane looking fountain that originated with the coronation of King Christian IV (\u201cthe builder\u201d and probably the king most responsible for the stuff that\u2019s endured over the centuries in this city and really took the place from a fishing town to a player on the world stage).\u00a0 He was 18 at the time, a real carouser and a bit of a playboy.\u00a0 And to mark the occasion, he had a fountain built at this spot that flowed not with water but with wine.\u00a0 For a full week you could just wander over and fill your jug.\u00a0 I once had a similar experience at the Ballade recovery walk post-Medoc Marathon.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s included anywhere readily accessible on Run Kevin Run Dot Com but you might try HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the 1950s the Stork Fountain took on new significance as graduates of the midwifery colleges took a traditional photo there to mark the occasion.\u00a0 Since then it\u2019s become a tradition for ALL graduates to come and get a photo at (or in) the fountain.\u00a0 Our guide said we should be glad we missed graduation this year as he had a tour in July when a class of mechanics graduated and were swimming in the fountain buck naked.<\/p>\n

We took a few shortcuts through the city streets, the kind of secret passages you might find on a Clue board or in a Pac-Man maze.\u00a0 Our guide said even the locals sometimes don\u2019t know about these alleys you can use to walk the hypotenuse and get to where you want to go.<\/p>\n

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***<\/p>\n

We came to the Church of the Holy Ghost (you might know it better by its Danish name: Hellig\u00e5ndskirken<\/em> \u2013 \u201cskirken\u201d by the way means church.\u00a0 So now you know what \u201chelligand\u201d means too).<\/p>\n

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It dates to the 1200s but more recently it housed the Danish resistance in WWII.\u00a0 As an occupied country, Denmark was a collaborative government insomuch as they didn\u2019t stand a chance against the Nazi blitzkrieg.\u00a0 In fact when they were invaded at 6 AM, they had surrendered by 8 AM.\u00a0 One of the cells of the resistance was Holger Danske<\/em>, named so after a legendary Danish knight.\u00a0 They held their secret meetings in this church but unfortunately toward the end of the war, they were betrayed.\u00a0 Raided by the Nazis, 35 members were marched into the courtyard and executed.\u00a0 There\u2019s a monument to them and all who fought against the Nazis in that courtyard today.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Danish Fun Fact: LEGOs were created here by Ole Kirk Christiansen.\u00a0 He used to build blocks for his kids to play with and when vacuum molding came into being, he realized he could make them that way\u2026 and in order to prevent them from slipping he added the button pegs tops.\u00a0 He originally called them, according to our guide, \u201cautomatic binding bricks system\u201d but the marketing crew figured \u201cLEGO\u201d rolled off the tongue better.\u00a0 It\u2019s apparently derived from the Danish phrase leg godt<\/em>, which means “play well.\u201d\u00a0 Truth or mostly truth?\u00a0 The other fun fact was that LEGO manufactures the most tires\/tyres in the world.\u00a0 Those wheels might be small, but they add up to a whole lot of rubber.<\/p>\n

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***<\/p>\n

Gr\u00e5brodretorv<\/em> is known in English as \u201cgray brother square\u201d so named after the monks who used to live there.\u00a0 It became a very exclusive address in the city.<\/p>\n

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And it was also home to Denmark\u2019s greatest traitor.\u00a0 Towards the end of Christian IV\u2019s reign, his son Frederick III was set to take over.\u00a0 But he was pretty wet behind the ears and the powerful coterie of advisors sent him off for royal finishing school to learn the ways of the monarch.\u00a0 In the meantime, Count Corfits Ulfeldt, the treasury executive, gave himself the title \u201cSteward of the Realm\u201d and ran things his way \u201cjust until Frederick was ready.\u201d\u00a0 Well, Frederick comes back and Ulfeldt isn\u2019t going to give over control. \u00a0A civil war, and eventually Frederick is able to assert control.\u00a0 Ulfeldt is then banished from the realm for his attempt usurpation of the throne.\u00a0 That\u2019s all bad enough but then he goes to Sweden (SWEDEN!).\u00a0 And when he did, he took most of the Danish treasury with him (didn\u2019t anybody think to ask him for the keys to the vault back?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that pretty standard exit interview\/banishment etiquette?\u00a0 Maybe not back then\u2026 maybe this is why it\u2019s SOP now). \u00a0Anyway, Count Ulfeldt then uses the Danish cash to fund a Swedish (SWEDISH!!) army to invade Denmark. The whole thing kinda came to a stalemate and nobody was really making much progress and eventually it all just kinda\u2026 petered out.\u00a0 Ulfeldt fled in disgrace and it\u2019s believed he died in a sword fight in Rhein but nobody knows for sure.\u00a0 What they do know is that Ulfeldt\u2019s wife was still in Copenhagen so they decided to punish her in his stead (that is one TERRIBLE marriage she had).\u00a0 For 21 years she was in solitary confinement but was a model prisoner and eventually they set her free (can 21 years be said to be eventually?\u00a0 I didn\u2019t ask but wish I had).\u00a0 Still angry though, the Copenhagens decided to destroy Ulfeldt old mansion that was in this \u201cgray brother square.\u201d\u00a0 It became something of a hog roast and drinks here drunk and everybody got to take an axe to the building and all was kinda made right.\u00a0 However, they weren\u2019t done \u2013 they took a pillar from the building and erected it in this square.\u00a0 It was called \u201cThe Pillar of Shame.\u201d\u00a0 And for 200 years, every Copenhagenian would go past it and they\u2019d spit on it in disgust of old Count Corfits Ulfeldt.<\/p>\n

Eventually somebody realized this was a pretty nice neighborhood and the spitting pillar wasn\u2019t exactly helping \u201csell\u201d the place.\u00a0 The pillar was removed to the National Museum where it still can be found today\u2026 along with a sign that says, \u201cPlease no spitting.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The highest point in Copenhagen is 16 m above sea level.\u00a0 So it\u2019s a pretty flat place.\u00a0 But at that massive peak, we find the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479.\u00a0 Sadly, it\u2019s only the *second* oldest Scandinavian university.\u00a0 The Danes were beaten by two years by the Swedes.\u00a0 (THE SWEDES!).<\/p>\n

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The original degrees back in 1479 were either medicine, law, or philosophy.\u00a0 These days obviously there\u2019s a few more.\u00a0 One of the famous graduates was Niels Bohr, famed for his atomic research that would later be used to help the Manhattan Project develop the atomic bomb.\u00a0 He\u2026 didn\u2019t love that.\u00a0 But these things happen.<\/p>\n

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As a philosopher he would often argue with his friend Albert Einstein\u2026 but Einstein was rather dismissive of Bohr\u2019s ideas, saying he might as well throw dice to decide his randomized beliefs.\u00a0 These days, people who support Bohr and his ideas often leave sets of dice on his gravestone.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The Round Tower is one of the oldest European observatories still in operation.\u00a0 It also has a church and library associated with it, giving it the name Trinitatis kirke, or \u201cthree trinity uses\u201d church.<\/p>\n

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You can get to the top of the observatory for a great 360 degree panorama of the city\u2026 and indeed instead of stairs, it\u2019s a large sloping ramp.\u00a0 The legend said it was because Christian IV wanted to be able to ride his horse to the top and back down; the truth is probably to make it easier to move the observatory equipment up and down.\u00a0 But the legend remained strong\u2026 so much so that Tsar Nicholas of Russia was familiar with the story when he visited in 1890\u2026 and wanted to ride HIS horse up to the top.\u00a0 Which apparently he did.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Next we wandered through Hauser plads<\/em>, so named for a Danish diplomat of little importance but with a lot of money… hence his name is there.\u00a0 This square is an example of \u201cdemocratic design\u201d which has been readily popularized by Ikea (Those damn Swedes again!).\u00a0 The idea is that a space can be multi-use and practical for a number of groups.\u00a0 So here, there\u2019s a playground for kids and underneath is the garage and support system for the Copenhagen street sweepers.\u00a0 Supposedly on GoogleEarth if you look down on this spot, the layout of the playground looks like a germ cell.\u00a0 Whether that\u2019s for the street sweepers or the kids, our guide wasn\u2019t sure (ZING!)<\/p>\n

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***<\/p>\n

A little Danish military history for you here.\u00a0 The Danes often \u201cpunched above their weight\u201d and hung tough, particularly against the Swedes (The Swedes!).\u00a0 In the Napoleonic Wars though, Denmark decided to stay neutral and just sell to all three warring factions, ya know, to be fair.\u00a0 The British Empire essentially took the tact that you\u2019re either with us or against us\u2026 so they sent a fleet via the North Sea in 1801 to bombard the Danish navy.\u00a0 Eighty percent of the fleet was destroyed and the other 20% were stolen by the British.\u00a0 Supposedly to this day the military still refer to \u201cCopenhagening\u201d an enemy when they totally destroy their enemy\u2019s military in a fight.<\/p>\n

The Danish king however ordered all of the oak trees chopped down the fleet rebuilt, which happened in 1807.\u00a0 The British sent another fleet because the Danes apparently didn\u2019t get the message the first time.\u00a0 This time they bombarded the fleet AND the city of Copenhagen.\u00a0 Their first shot, however, was fired and it hit the British Embassy.\u00a0 Not ideal.\u00a0 But they got their act together and took care of the Danes\u2026 but you can still find some cannonballs embedded in the buildings (made structurally safe so no need for \u201cWatch for Falling Cannonball\u201d signs).<\/p>\n

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Fun fact \u2013 the Danish King asked the north to chop down the trees and rebuild the navy again in 1807.\u00a0 They explained to the king they had already chopped everything down for the FIRST replacement fleet. He ordered them to plant more trees and let him know when they were ready.\u00a0 In 2005, they let Queen Margaret know that the trees were ready.\u00a0 A good sport about the whole thing, Queen Margaret asked for ONE tree to be chopped down and used in a bridge crossing the channel.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Hey, look.\u00a0 Kierkegaard\u2019s house still exists.<\/p>\n

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And today when I went to the library, I saw his statue:<\/p>\n

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***<\/p>\n

Pressed for time, we did a quick walk by of Rosenborg Palace, which was Christian IV\u2019s home in the mid 17th<\/sup> Century.\u00a0 As Christian was a ladies\u2019 man, our tour guide might say, ahem, it was his \u201cplayboy mansion.\u201d\u00a0 ZING, ZING!<\/p>\n

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Amongst the innovations of the place, Christian had a full orchestra in the basement with pipes run through the walls all through the house.\u00a0 Thus, when he had visiting guests, he could tap a stone with his cane, the music would swell and blare, surround sound style, blowing his guests\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n

He also used the pipes as a telephone where only he knew where the \u201cextension\u201d outlets were\u2026 so he could place a \u201ccall\u201d throughout the palace and be heard when and where he wanted.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a super gross thing but I\u2019m cutting that for now.\u00a0 Google it if you want to know \u2013 it\u2019s about a spiral staircase.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The final two \u201csights\u201d are more modern day logistical points of interest.<\/p>\n

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N\u00f8rreport <\/em>Station<\/em> is the busiest transit station in Denmark and I think Scandanaivia, which is really saying something.\u00a0 Almost 200,000 people pass through it each day.\u00a0 It\u2019s about as crowded as it got in Copenhagen and I, who suffer from crowd-o-phobia, could still manage okay.\u00a0 Amidst the station are large sunken bike racks.\u00a0 These were built with a democratic design function.\u00a0 The sewers in Copenhagen aren\u2019t quite up to the task of modern needs so when there\u2019s a massive cloud burst heavy rain storm that is happening more and more thanks to climate change (which is real by the way\u2026 and that\u2019s me and my guide, and Norway, and a lot of other people\u2019s view based on science and facts).\u00a0 Anyway, as a tiny part of the strategy, they can actually shut off the drains in the sunken bike parks thus containing pools of water and systematically controlling the drainage of flash-flooding large amounts of water into the sewer.<\/p>\n

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And the final stop was Torvehallern, a marketplace of food, sweets, and coffee.\u00a0 I think I gained five pounds just taking these photos:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second tour of the day was a 90 minute walk to the north of Hojbro Plads with its axe-weilding Bishop Absalon.\u00a0 We begin at the Stork Fountain, so named because, well, there are three storks carve into it. It actually replaced in the 1890s a rather mundane looking fountain that originated with the coronation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28962\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}