Beautiful KØBENHAVN

This week I take you on an excursion of the Danish capital Copenhagen or KØBENHAVN.København is a beautiful port city that is strategically located in Denmark for the famous ‘Vikings’ to conquer the seas. It is actually an ancient trade city… ‘Køben’ means ‘Merchant’ and ‘Havn’ means ‘Harbor’… København is Merchant’s harbour.Sleeping in the cozy feather quit on a lovely Saturday morning I woke up to the knocking at the door at 08.30. To my surprise few of my colleagues wanted me to get ready because they wanted to explore Copenhagen. I too wanted to explore the city but ever since I had landed here every Saturday and Sunday either it rained or snowed. Looking outside the window it seemed to be a promising day for excursion. I got ready and in the meantime there was a typhoon in my room (just kidding…that were my colleagues), leaving it as it is, we all reached the Copenhagen centrum (central in EN) station. We went up to the tourist information center and got worthwhile information. As we were chalking our plan for the day, few other colleagues also joined the bandwagon. We signed up for the tour within the city via bus. Ten Indians, mini rally of the sort in the Town Hall square, incidentally its election time here in Denmark, Danes will vote on Tuesday 8/02/2005. The social democrats were already gathered for the procession to the parliament.The trip started from HC Boulevard. HC is Hans Christian, any bells ringing…’The ugly duckling’ , ‘The princess and the pea’ … yes he is the same world-renowned fairy tale writer. He wrote more than 200 fairytales. In Denmark he is very very popular. Do visit http://hca.gilead.org.il/ or http://www.hca2005.com websites to know about him. This year it is his bicentennial. Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875).A gift to the city of Copenhagen from a special committee that engaged in collecting money.The guide took us to the short bridge that connects the Copenhagen to the small island of Amager nearby (I hope you remember there are >200 islands in the country). Some of the area between Copenhagen and Amager is reclaimed from the sea because the main city is rapidly growing out of bounds. The houses in Amager are a nice mix of contemporary and ancient architecture. Then we went to the new opera house that is a gift to Denmark from the Maserk Company’s owner at the cost of €300Mn. The opera house is stunning and is exactly opposite to the Queen’s palace. We then went to see the palace, built in 1870’s all the palaces were in the authentic state except for one that was recently restored. In all there are four palaces one for the old generation one for the current generation, one for the kids and one for the guests. 5th Feb is the crown princess’s Mary II (she is from Tasmania) birthday…(Ur Majesty Ms Sunaina you share B’day with her Highness, treat me once I am in Delhi). We visited the HC Andersen’s house and the beautiful canal where he used to daydream and write the fairy tales. I saw the mix of the latest ships and the age-old boats, some scuba divers were also having fun diving that day. Good view. I will upload the some photos soon.Østerport is to the north of København and is a functional port. The windmills are installed at mouth of the port opening to the Baltic Sea. Every windmill generates 2MW and is 100 feet high. The statue of little mermaid.The Royal Danish library is huge and has almost one book for each Dane. The Royal Art Museum has the famous statue of ‘The Thinker’. All statues here are made in bronze and have oxidized over the years and are now green in color. 'Tivoli' amusement park is adjacent to the Art museum and is an interesting contrast to the museum. There is a roller coaster ride that takes 45 sec to complete and on the opposite side the art museum that takes hours to see. Police yard headquarter is a unique place. Denmark has 54 police stations in all. Postal department… my office is one of the biggest establishment in Denmark. 54lacs Danes send 3crore letters each day… Saw Indiakey - The place from which boats used to go from Baltic to India. Nørrport… The biggest underground Station in Copenhagen… København S… is just like the train station in MS-Windows theme. Age old architecture with wooden panels. Quite a mix of modern and classical infrastructure. All the buildings were destroyed in the great fire of Denmark back in 1860 and thus the København area has all the buildings built after 1870. Actually where ever you go in this country you find a mix. Will not mention it again I promise. Vesterport is now the busiest place in København because all the restaurants, shopping place, amusement parks and Cineplex are. One of the Cineplex here has 17 screens and is the biggest. You can view English movies only on Saturdays or Sundays in a fixed slot. We visited the cathedral where the crown prince got married to Mary of Tasmania. We saw the embassy area. The area is relatively tiny as compare to India. It’s just like few houses on a narrow street but quite posh. We also saw the parliament. The parliament building is also unique as it has sculptures of men and women holding their head in disbelief and contempt. These are symbols of the taxpayer whose money has gone in building the block.I had a fantastic time and would definitely explore more of it in the summers.That’s all for this week folks… keep dreaming.