June 26-27, 2012
Horrifying Check-up from Customs
Reaching Copenhagen is not easy journey as what we
usually had. We were in the middle of the road like for 10 hours. With in those
hours, we were checked by the two group of customs from Germany and Denmark.
It was
horrifying the fact that they have to check our passport one by one. Both
of these customs had different goals in mind. Like the Germans, they have to
check for illegal immigrants. One of us was found that there was something
wrong with his passport. He was asked to get off and not to continue the trip.
Not only that, after we crossed the sea for 45 minutes
in a Roll on Roll off ship, we were being checked by the Danish customs. It was
quite horrifying because they were checking if your passport was real or not.
Aside from that, since this Eurolines bus was from Amsterdam, they were also
checking for stash or drugs.
Guess what! Four of them were asked to get off for
full body scan and check up. Two of them (white people) were released and other
two (black people) were put into hold. While the other custom guards were
interrogating them, the others were checking the luggage and I saw the guy,
bringing a sniff dog to check their jackets inside the bus. Here, he found the
marijuana. One was released, but the owner of the jacket with the soft drug was
arrested. After that, I don’t know what happen next. Because of this Schengen
agreement, all European people can come in and go out from one country to
another with least inspection. But, we were coming from Amsterdam… That was
expected.
The Adventure Begins...
But, after all the hassles we have to go through, we
reached Denmark finally at 5:30 in the morning. Still having headaches and
having not enough sleep on the bus, we still managed to find our accommodation,
City Public Hostel so easily.
While waiting for 12noon before we could check-in, my
husband was preparing the soup. Wow. Tasty. He is really a good cook. I had a
good meal until we had fixed our things and had found our bed numbers. We rest
for 2 hours and then we went for our new exploration day in Denmark.
We just walked along the walking street. I have
noticed, there are more living statues here. You could see Native Americans
playing their flute producing relaxing music at the Town hall and along the
street.
Watching them was fun. We enjoyed most of the local entertainments here in Denmark on our first day.
Second Day was a bit serious with our Irish Tour
guide. On our 3-hour free tour, we covered most of the places in Copenhagen. Before
reaching to the Town hall and right next to the central station, across to that
is the Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park where it has unique atmosphere, the
lights, the people, the rides, the concerts and parades etc. Others again come
here for the cultural events in the Concert Hall, at the Pantomime Theatre, in
the Glass Hall theatre and the Open Air Stage.
Copenhagen Town Hall is very attractive and
popular building. Above the main entrance is the gilded copper figure of Bishop
Absalon, who is the founder of Copenhagen in 1167. Beside the Town hall is the
statue of H.C Anderson. Aside from that, he showed the five different buildings
that used to be the Town hall before.
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The Modern Fairy tale Love Story
At last, we ended our tour at the Danish Royal
Palace, where the royal family lives. As with the Residences of the British
Royal Family the Danish Royal Family traditionally occupies different royal
residences during different seasons of the year. In summer, Queen Margarethe
and Prince Henrik reside at Marselisborg Palace
or Graasten Palace.
In the winter, they reside at Amalienborg,
whereas their residence during spring and autumn is Fredensborg Palace. We
enjoyed so much when we stopped at the Royal Palace and from there we saw the Crown Princess
Mary in person driving her own car. What a big surprise!
Speaking of Crown Princess Mary, I am going to tell
you a short story about her modern fairytale love story with Crown Prince
Frederik. Like the most love story we heard, our crown prince, who is a sporty
young man introduced himself as Fred at a Sydney hotel pub in October 2000.
They had a long distance relationship and they communicated only through emails
and chat. Later years, she decided to work to Paris and sometimes they met in Denmark
and sometimes in Australia. Until she found that this young and sporty guy was
the CROWN PRINCE. Three years after, they announced their engagement and 2004
they got married. After that, her life was totally changed.
After knowing her stories, I told myself… LOVE
conquers all. No matter what is your blood – royal or not if he is yours, you
end up getting married.
We just roamed around bringing this stories in my head.
We entered the museums and taking pictures around the palace. I ask myself,
“Isn’t she lucky?” Well… I leave that question to you. Maybe yes or maybe no.
Only her could answer that. This is one of the famous Royalties whose search
for love has ended in the arms of partners from normal walks of life instead of
fellow royals.
Walking Exploration in Copenhagen City
Later afternoon, we decided to go home and this time
my King/husband cooked a very special lunch for me. After we had our meal, we
rested for an hour to start our next adventure and that is to go the King’s
Garden and Rosenborg Palace. We actually enjoyed watching football Italy Vs.
Portuguese there.
Along the way, we found beautiful gothic architectures
buildings such as the Copenhagen Sct. Petri Church, University of Copenhagen,
and Trinitatis Kirki. We also enjoyed the photo exhibit from the
photojournalists in Denmark entitled, “ Witness the History of 100 years of
Danish Press Photography in celebration of 100 anniversary of Danish Press
Union. It attempts to capture an overview of the scope and depth of their
visual stories.
Dinnertime! The kitchen will be close at 12 midnight and we
left there like past 11pm. “Oh no! Do we still have time?” I asked. We were hungry.
So my husband and I were walking speedily back home. If possible we can ran, we
ran.
At 5:45 am the next day, we had to leave the city. The
same thing… when we reached Sweden after crossing the sea for short period of
15 minutes, we were questioned. But, not so much bad because after they saw my
Schengen visa, they did not inspect our luggage.
For Swedish custom guards, their purpose of the interrogation and luggage check
up(not so much with passport unlike (German) is to find out if the locals, who
mostly go back home to Sweden bring something declarable or not really
necessary to bring in to the country.
Well, you don't have to worry when you come to Copenhagen city centre because it has much to offer and most
sights are with in walking distance. You have just to make sure your accommodation is located at the city centre,so you can save for the transportation fare and time. Honestly, two days in Copenhagen is not enough for me. Maybe soon... I'll go back here.
History and Facts about Copenhagen
Since long time ago, they showed their unity
and help to each other. This has been proven during the rescue of the Danish
Jews.It was occurred during Nazi Germany's occupation of
Denmark during World War II.
On October 1, 1943, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler ordered Danish Jews
to be arrested and deported. Despite great personal risk, the Danish
resistance movement with the assistance of many ordinary Danish
citizens took part in a collective effort to evacuate about 8,000 Jews of Denmark by sea to nearby
neutral Sweden. As a result of the
rescue and Danish intercession on behalf of the 5% of Danish Jews who were
deported to Theresienstadt
transit camp in Bohemia,
over 99% of Denmark's Jewish population survived the Holocaust.
The rescue was improvisational. When Danish
civil servants learned about the plan to round up all the Danish Jews, they
independently phoned friends and asked them to go through telephone books and
warn those with Jewish-sounding names to hide. Most Jews hid for several days
or weeks, uncertain of their fate.
Today, Copenhagen's history of fire and bloody
battles lies hidden behind picturesque streets and colorful harbors.
As the days of conquest passed, Danish power
was replaced with a rich cultural legacy of writers, artists and philosophers.
Though they like to complain about the weather and
taxes but they are the happiest nation in the world. In Opra’s Interview of one
of the locals, Nina told her what made the Danes happy. She said, “For
instance, in Copenhagen, people are very environmentally conscious. A third of
the population rides bikes around the city, many with grocery bags or small
children in tow.
Homelessness, poverty and unemployment are also
extremely rare in this nation of 5.5 million people. If you lose your job, the
government continues to pay up to 90 percent of your salary for four years. And
not to worry...healthcare is free for everyone.” This is really simply amazing!
Here is another information on the other Copenhagen
Suburbs from their CITY MAP:
Christianhaven is populated with mix of business,
people, artist, eccentrics and families with kids. Its major sight is the
Christiana and the quaint old houses lining the canals.
Frederiksberg is a class upscale neighbourhood blessed
with spotless streets, tree-lined avenues and beautiful
Osterbro is Copenhagen’s most affluent and quiet
neighborhood, where you will find excellent shops, faelledparken and the little
mermaid.
Norrebro is vibrant multi-ethnic neighborhood of
exotic restaurants, antique shops, funky stores and stylish bars.
Vesterbro is the working class area, has undergone and
extensive urban renewal in recent years. It offers hip designer shops, art
galleries, restaurants, and trendy cocktail bars.
Islands Brygge and Orestad is the upcoming neighborhood
reflecting new urban city life and modern architecture, hip art and galleries,
underground events and outdoor harbor pool during summer.
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