Coping in Copenhagen

 Thursday, September 10, 2026

It was a beautiful sunny day and we took a tour of Copenhagen.  We learned a huge amount of information about both Copenhagen and Denmark from our guide.   She said that Denmark is the smallest of the Scandinavian countries in both size and population.  There are about 6 million people in Denmark, and it is 1/2 the size of South Carolina. It is made up of 400 islands and is as flat as a pancake! Education from elementary to university is free and medical is free.  English is a required course for all children in elementary.

Copenhagen means "Harbor of Merchants". It was a Viking fishing village and officially founded in 1167.  This monument commemorates Bishop Absalon the founder.

We learned there are 600,000 people in Copenhagen and 650,000 bikes! Yikes-more bikes than people!

 We couldn't believe the number of bikes--people in suits and dresses riding bikes to work.  (Only 25% of people who live in Copenhagen have cars and 60% of them are electric.)  You really have to watch for bicyclists everywhere, at stop lights, crosswalks and bike lanes...they are serious about getting to where they are going. 

And, they have interesting bike locks too! (We might need to order these!)

We stopped by to see The Little Mermaid statue...the iconic bronze statue inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen story. This little mermaid doesn't get lonely with all the tourists.

A really cool thing that we did was see the changing of the guards.  (they call them Royal Life Guards--it makes me think of a swimming pool!).  We went to the barracks and watched them march to the royal palace.  Police came and stopped traffic so they could march across the street.

Once they passed us, we actually got to fall in line and follow them down the streets to the palace.  Now we can say we were in a royal parade! (You can see Jim falling in step behind!)

The visit to the Royal Palace showed us another very extravagant building dedicated to the royals.  

We all had to put on booties to preserve the floors!

One of the pillars reflected the angst of our leaders trying to keep us all in line!

The rooms in the palace were large and ornate.  These rooms are used for entertaining heads of state and other celebrations.  The royals don't even live here.

The queen Margrethe who is now 86, abdicated the throne in 2024 to her son, Frederick X, who is the current popular king.  

The royal library houses hundreds of books that look to be very old!  Obama had tea with the queen in the library when he was president.

Citizens of Denmark contribute $5 per year for the upkeep of the royal palace.  This translates to about $30 million per year, in addition to the admission fees for tours.

The Great Hall has on display several modern tapestries that were made to replace deteriorating tapestries commemorating Queen Margrethe's 50th birthday in 1990.  They tell the story of Denmark and the world over the past 1000 years.  These tapestries took several years to complete.

The latest one includes the Beatles, Churchill, Kennedy, the moon landing, Donald Duck, and an open space to fill in the future.  See if you can find them.

We walked past the round tower which is an observatory built in the 17th century for stargazing.  There are no stairs in the building, just a winding ramp up to the top.

We had lunch at a the historic Kobenhavner Cafeen for a traditional Danish lunch of open face sandwiches...yummy!

Afterwards Jim checked out a new ride...a fancy Harley sitting outside.

After lunch we went on a scenic tour through Copenhagen's canals with waterfront views.  The bridges were narrow and low, and the guide had to tell everyone to sit down before we went under a bridge.

There was so much to see, especially from the water.

The Opera House was donated by one of Denmark's largest companies...Maersk a global shipping firm.

Other large companies in Denmark are NovoNordisk who manufactures Wegovy, and of course Lego.

Several of the guys bought new Copenhagen hats today!

Jim got chided for wearing his Norway hat in Denmark!

And, we found yet another amusement park in the middle of a city.  This one is Tivoli, that began in 1843..the world's third oldest amusement park.

The days are winding down, but the adventures continue.  We realize we missed visiting Lund University in Sweden just before we entered the toll bridge.  The university is credited with developing the first dialysis machine, ultrasound technology, bluetooth and dental implants. Guess we'll have to come back and visit.

  In one week from today we will be on our way home.  We still are pinching ourselves and feeling grateful about the chance to see this wonderful part of our world.