Copenhagen, after 2(.5) weeks.

I feel I owe at least two posts at this point, and I should probably write at least one before this gets away from me :). This will be mainly pictures, and I will endeavor to provide a bit more content soon.

The weather has gotten quite cold here. It was -8ºC a few minutes ago, and between -5ºC and -7ºC all day. Despite that, I still biked in this morning. I am inching closer to breaking down and giving up my spare kidney for proper gloves and maybe a better coat.

Recent good news: my diploma arrived in Germany on February 1st, so no one can argue with me whether or not I have a Ph.D. any more. :)

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Walking around Copenhagen in the cold -- the canals freeze and thaw (you'll notice, perhaps, lumps on the water? Those are rocks people threw from the bridge.):

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

A view alongside a bridge across the canal, heading towards the university area:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

The birds walking on the ice and swimming in the water:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

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This past weekend's touristy excursions were:

1. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (regularly 75 dkk, but free on Sundays!)
2. Kastellet (part of fortifications of Copenhagen from the 1600's)
3. Lille Havfru (the little mermaid statue)

Around the corner from the museum is the town hall:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

1. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (New Carlsberg Egyptian Museum)
The view as you walk up:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

A note: this is adjacent to Tivoli, which is (sadly) closed while I'm here, so I won't get to see it. It does make sense for it to be closed during winter, with the outdoor rides. The story is that Walt Disney got inspired by it to make his own amusement park. Also, after Michael Jackson visited, he offered to buy it.

If you don't know, I'm a big fan of ancient Egyptian/Greek/Roman/Etruscan/Babylonian/Assyrian stuff. That's what I tend to go look for when I get to a museum. And that was (most of) this museum.

The museum had a winter garden. Not a garden full of things that do well in the winter, but a garden where the climate is relatively constant inside and you can visit in the winter.

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

Egyptian and antiquities museum. Including some Assyrian (Babylonian?) stuff, such as this:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

Nearby was also the following lion. It was one of several animals there from a large gate.The gate (the smaller of a pair of gates) is on display in Berlin, at the Pergamon .

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

One really nice thing about the museum is that they're conducting research (in combination with the university and some other institutes) on detecting the original coloration of ancient statuary. This uses some combination of UV-light exposure and other techniques. They then made a mold of the original and displayed it with the recovered colors.

Here's a good example, original on left and 'restored' model on the right:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

And another, this time of Caligula:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

The museum also had some Etruscan grave/tomb paintings, which is something I hadn't seen before:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

Here is the side of a Roman sarcophagus:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

I would hazard a guess that these mummies come from Ptolemaic Egypt. There was an interesting blend of cultures at that time. I will just pass on what wikipedia has to say:

``Ptolemaic Egypt began when Ptolemy I Soter invaded Egypt and declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended with the death of queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a powerful Hellenistic state, extending from southern Syria in the east, to Cyrene to the west, and south to the frontier with Nubia. Alexandria became the capital city and a center of Greek culture and trade. To gain recognition by the native Egyptian populace, they named themselves as the successors to the Pharaohs. The later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life.''

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

2. Kastellet If you've looked at a map of Copenhagen, maybe you've noticed the star-shaped piece of land. That's what I headed for, and it turned out to be an ancient fortification.

Größere Kartenansicht

I have to say, picking something that looks weird on the map and walking towards it sometimes works out. Ah, also: Kirkegård=cemetary. Kind of a weird thing to have as a last name.


Another wikipedia quote:  

``Kastellet, located in Copenhagen, Denmark is one of the best preserved fortifications in Northern Europe. It is constructed in the form of a pentagram with bastions at its corners. Kastellet was continuous with the ring of bastioned ramparts which used to encircle Copenhagen but of which only the ramparts themselves Christianshavn remain today.''

Here's a cool map of the thing, as you walk in.

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

I entered along the bridge in the south and exited north. It's still used by the military, apparently, but open for people to walk around in, and I saw several people jogging along the ramparts. It was quite cold out, but I'm glad I went. It was pretty neat.

View inside:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

Some views from the ramparts. You can kind of see the star-shaped ness of the ramparts.


A requisite cannon (no ancient military fortification is complete without one):

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

And of course, a moat. Also, a view of the north bridge.

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

3. The Little Mermaid. People keep saying how disappointing the statue is. I say, you have to just tack it onto a trip to the Kastellet, or maybe the King's garden and Kastellet, then swing by the statue. Going all the way out there *just* for the statue might not be worth it.

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

There she is, pretty as a postcard:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

Around the corner are some funky buildings:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)

I liked the mix of old and new architecture. I'm sure some of it was due to the money you'd need to build around the harbor area, but the new buildings around there were new and nice to look at, which I appreciated.

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I will finish with a lovely view at sunset around the corner from where I live:

From Copenhagen 2012(picasa)