Copenhagen 2 June 2014, Monday

It's been said before, but it's still true.    Sightseeing is hard work. We probably overdid it a little today with three bus tours and a boat ride to see everything the tour bus companies thought worth seeing in Copenhagen.

Best by far was the boat ride, up and down and along Copenhagen’s canals and waterways.

European geography is not my strong point so I didn't know Denmark is composed mainly of islands.   Around 400 of them, so we were told, but only about 70 are inhabited.  

Along with the sightseeing, we were given a few doses of Scandanavian history.  Again not something I know much about. It appears Sweden and Denmark were enemies for many centuries but today that animosity is confined to the football field.

That part of Sweden we were in yesterday when we drove around Skane was Danish territory until about 300 or so years ago.  And one of the guide commentaries on a bus today made me realise that I had no idea how to pronounce names such as Skane. Obviously I thought it rhymed with 'pane' but then I heard the guide call it 'Skorner' or something like that. It's a wonder Danes, excellent though they may be at languages, can understand us at all. The guide on the canal boat today spoke at least three languages, switching from Danish to English to Dutch as we cruised around. And she looked barely out of her teens.

As to be expected, we took far too many photographs – 250+ on my camera alone, mostly of buildings, both old and new, beautiful or otherwise. Out of all that, there were at least a couple of items worth mentioning….

Sydney has its own version of a Danish masterpiece, and today we were given a good look at Copenhagen’s equivalent, also designed by a Danish architect - their local Opera House (left).

Sydney wins hands down.

And one other curiosity we stumbled on almost by accident, when we took ourselves inside Copenhagen’s Town Hall. The main part of the building was closed to the public, but a side room featured, without any fanfare, something called a “World Clock”.

According to Wikipedia,

The clock was designed and calculated by Jens Olsen who was a skilled locksmith, but later learned the trade of clockmaking….but Olsen died in 1945, 10 years before the clock was completed.

The clock consists of 12 movements which together have over 14,000 parts. The clock is mechanical and must be wound once a week. Displays include lunar and solar eclipses, positions of the stellar bodies, and a perpetual calendar, in addition to the time. The fastest gear completes a revolution every ten seconds and the slowest every 25,753 years.

Fascinating stuff!!

above and right: more examples of modern Danish architecture

Next: starting our cruise