Petersontravels

We departed our cruise ship around 0930, and arrived at our hotel way too early to check in.  We left our luggage behind and hopped on a bus to check out Tivoli Gardens.  Tivoli opened in 1843, making it the third-longest operating amusement park in the world.

We got to the park just as they opened, and there was a line running down the sidewalk.  It ran pretty fast though.  If you come here, download the app and familiarize yourself with it before arrival, so you don’t spend 15 minutes trying to figure it out after entering…like I did!

Upon entering I wanted to take a ride on their famous wooden roller coaster, called Rutschebanen, which oddly enough means “roller coaster” in Danish.  I told you these people were literal!!  The ride opened in 1914, and is the worlds oldest roller coaster.  They even have their own Matterhorn!

The ride was good, but nothing special by today’s standards.  Considering it’s 110 years old though, it’s quite impressive!  It must have scared the hell out of people way back then!

Amusement parks in other countries are generally not our thing, but Tivoli was of interest since it inspired the creation of Disneyland.  Walt Disney visited the park in 1951, and took copious notes regarding what he saw.  He was impressed by how clean and organized the park was compared to seedier carnival-style amusement parks in the United States.

When asked by his good friend Art Linkletter (of radio and TV fame) who was with him, why he was writing so much down, he said “I’m just making notes about something that I’ve always dreamed of, a great, great playground for the children and families of America.”  Disneyland opened just 4 years later, in 1955, so for somebody who grew up going to Disney, seeing the original Matterhorn was very cool!

The other item that was of much interest to Walt were the extensive gardens spread throughout the park.

As well as the many fountains and water features.

Of course, let’s not forget about the pirate ships!

We got lost looking for more gardens, and happened upon a small aquarium.  This tank was filled with Piranhas!  Walt should have put these off of Tom Sawyer’s Island!

We took another ride called “The Flying Trunk”, which is based on 32 Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales.  I’m not sure what the chicken story was, just found it cute.

Although the ride felt like a Danish version of “It’s a Small World”, this one is fairly new, opening in 2010, so maybe Disney provided the inspiration this time?  This scene is from The Little Mermaid, also a very dark story in the Hans Christian Anderson version.

This scene is from The Snow Queen, written in 1844, which is apparently also a very dark story that influenced the Disney film “Frozen”.  A lot of sharing going on between Denmark and the US!  Disney always has to take a dark story and make it “happily ever after”.  Based on that, I can understand why this woman is gesturing this way.

On one side of the park is Copenhagen’s most expensive hotel, Nimb.  There are only 38 rooms at this hotel, each with a view over the garden and the park.  I chose to stay elsewhere, as the cheapest room here was around $1200/night.

This is a shot of part of the gardens the 38 rooms overlook.  Stunning stuff, but not $1200/night stunning!  I better see trolls dancing with fairies for that kind of money!

We did a little shopping before departing for the afternoon, and this peacock just strutted on by!  He even walked right into the shop I was in front of.  I think somebody has been feeding him!

The weather in Copenhagen was amazing, about 80 degrees, so the locals were hanging out by the canal drinking wine, and this was on a Thursday!  The sun just brings everybody out.  This is right in front of our hotel, the NH Copenhagen.

After dinner we walked back over to Tivoli to see it at night.  Just like Disneyland, they really light things up dramatically!

We snagged a spot at a brewpub right in front of a light show Tivoli puts on each night called Illuminations.  They use cloud machines, lasers and lots of lights in a fountain on the water.

It was pretty cool, similar to the old Fantasmic show at Disneyland (I think they discontinued that).

After the show I saw these lit up dragonflies  on the water that I couldn’t see during the day.  Almost like Pirates of the Caribbean…and the fireflies!  Ok, I said “almost”.

A last shot of the Nimb Hotel all lit up!  You can see Tivoli’s version of the Matterhorn in the background.  This is definitely worth a visit if you come to Copenhagen, particularly if you grew up visiting Disneyland.

It was interesting to note that there is some WWII history in Tivoli.  In 1944, during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, several buildings in Tivoli were burned down by Nazi sympathizers.  They even bombed the roller coaster to try and break the morale of the Danes!  The park, and more importantly the roller coaster, were back up and operating within 3 weeks.  Nothing stands in the way of Danish happiness!

Coming up, we visit Copenhagen’s Christiansborg Palace.

Our last port-of-call for the cruise was Skagen, Denmark, which is a small city in the northern part of the country.  Interesting to note the pronunciation of the city is “skane”, which makes no sense IMHO.

We had a bike ride excursion to see the city and some surrounding areas.  Our bike ride led us past this pretty beach, with all of the yellow homes with red roofs…which turns out to be the typical Skagen house.

We rode our bikes into the center of the village where our guide told us about the history of Skagen.  The town, known for it’s fishing fleet, lies in the northern most part of Denmark, where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet.  Thanks to it’s seascapes, fisherman, and evening light it gained recognition with 19th century Danish impressionist painters, known as the “Skagen Painters”.

We biked back to the shoreline and rode along the beach, stopping at this early maritime beacon, known as a Vippefyret.  This contraption, built in 1627, was a precursor to the lighthouse, where the cage dangling from the boom was filled with coal and wood and kept alight during the night as a warning to sailors.

The Vippefyret sits on a hill so it can be seen from further away.  This is the view from the hill looking back towards Skagen, and our fleet of bicycles.

We continued our bike ride down the coast and I had to get a shot of a newer lighted contraption.  The Skagen Lighthouse was first put into operation in 1858, and is still operational today.

We then rode toward our most northerly objective, Grenen.  About a half mile before reaching Grenen you have to park your bikes and walk.  It’s a beautiful setting for a short hike!

Immediately after walking on the beach your are greeted by WWII bunkers built by the Nazis as part of the Atlantic Wall.

The walk along the shoreline is easy, and takes you to Grenen, the long sandbar spit that is the northern most point of Denmark.  Grenen means “the branch”, as the tip of Denmark often resembles a tree branch.  It changes constantly with the shifting sands and tides, so it never looks the same no matter how often you visit it.

In the background of this selfie you can see the churning of two seas as they meet each other, the Baltic and the North seas.  It’s a very unique spot to visit!

The German bunkers are dotted all along the coastline.

We then rode back through Skagen, headed towards another tourist attraction.  I liked their city signs!

This memorial in the middle of town honors 8 fisherman who lost their lives in 1862 while trying to rescue others from a stricken Swedish vessel.  This fishing village definitely honors their history!

We then rode our bikes to the Sand-Covered Church, of which only a portion remains.  The church was built in 1355, and was pretty much abandoned in the 18th century because it kept getting buried in the sand dunes.

They must shovel the sand away these days, as the remaining portion seems fairly sand free.  You can actually climb to the top floor, but we didn’t have the time for that.

Our bike ride ended back at the ship, so we went aboard for a sushi lunch, and then took the shuttle back out so we could visit the local Skagen Museum.  The museum has many of the artworks created by the “Skagen Painters”, which we just loved!

The two most famous “Skagen Painters” greet you upon arrival at the museum.  This statue is of Michael Ancher and P.S. Kroyer.

This painting is by Oscar Herschend, from 1882, titled “Raabjerg Mile on a Sunny Day”.  We didn’t get to see it, but the Raabjerg Mile is a massive sand dune that is constantly moving northeast across the Skagen peninsula, as much as 15 meters per year.

This fisherman based painting is by the famous Michael Ancher, called “Will He Round The Point” from 1880.

Another fisherman based painting by Michael Ancher, this one of “Fisherman Ole Svendsen” from 1894.

This one is by P.S. Kroyer, from 1893, called “Summer Evening on Skagen Sonderstrand”.

Kim and I both really liked this one, another Michael Ancher painting from 1878 called “Bye Bye Daddy”.  I really love the focus on the local setting and the fisherman in particular.

This painting has a rather interesting history, including recently.  This painting, another by P.S. Kroyer, was a study of the most powerful Danish business figures in the 1890’s.  This painting hung in Borsen, the Copenhagen Stock Exchange from it’s completion in 1895 until just this year, 2024.

On April 16, 2024, as Borsen was undergoing renovations, the building caught fire, and a good portion of it burned to the ground.  This painting was fortunately saved by firefighters and ambulance workers.  It has been relocated to the Skagen Museum until the Borsen building can be rebuilt.

Fast forward two days later, and we walked past the ruined Borsen building in Copenhagen, and can’t imagine how they got the massive painting out unscathed.  Very lucky, as the painting is a masterpiece!

The next morning, our cruise was over.  Coming up, more of Copenhagen!