FOUR DAYS IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: Old and New Along the Canals

Copenhagen in Danish is Kobenhavn ("Koben Harbor")

Why Copenhagen? 1. We had never been there before. 2. We are big fans of Danish TV—Borgen, The Bridge, Seaside Hotel, The New Nurses—and 3. Copenhagen is an easy train ride to northern Germany where Art was scheduled to attend a conference in Hanover. With a nine-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Denmark, we needed a place to spend a few days to recover from jet lag before the conference started. So in early October, my husband Art and I spent four days in Copenhagen, Denmark--visiting museums, eating delicious food, immersing ourselves in Danish culture.

Drawbridge tower on the Knippel Bridge and
our hotel, the NH Collection, a modern glass structure at the side of the canal.

On our first morning, after a lavish breakfast at our hotel--eggs, meat, cheese, fruit and, of course, Danish pastries--we set out, crossing the Knippel Bridge into the center of the city. I had not previously realized that Copenhagen is a city of canals, much like Amsterdam, crisscrossed by bridges and waterways. 

Glass topped canal tour boat, Copenhagen

Tour boats circle through the canals and this seemed like a good way to get an overview of the city; so we bought tickets and joined the crowd waiting to board the next boat. The tour was narrated in English, which turns out to be the universal language in Denmark, since few people outside of Denmark speak Danish.

Colorful Nyhavn

The boat made two stops during the one-hour tour, one of them in Nyhavn, with its colorful houses, once filled with rowdy sailors, now with tourists and canal-side restaurants. 

National Library, its windows reflecting the water and  a passing ferry.

Among the other sites we saw in the course of our boat tour were: the Queen’s residence; the Opera House (where we were told a diving competition is held once a year from its roof overhanging the canal); the Little Mermaid (less impressive than in pictures); rows of old warehouses, now turned into expensive apartments; the National Library (known as the Black Diamond because of the way light from the water sparkles off the dark glass). Later that day we visited the library, taking an elevator to the top to view the canal from the inside.

Display of the Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates.

In the center of the city, two long streets lined with shops are dedicated to pedestrians. While shopping was not our goal, we were drawn into the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain shop, where we discovered a display of the classic Danish Christmas plates. We have three (from 1967, 1970 and 1972)—they hang in our kitchen at home—given to us by Art’s aunt, Carolyn T. Arnold, who collected them on her trips around the world. (Portions of Aunt Carolyn's travel memoir have appeared on this blog.)

View from the top of the Round Tower, with the bridge connecting Denmark to Sweden in the distance.

Also in the city center is the Round Tower, where from the top one gets a 360 view of the city--a sea of tile-topped roofs punctuated by skinny, church steeples. Tourists walk to the top of the tower, but King Frederick famously rode his horse up the ramp.

Danish Design Museum. Model of collapseable housing for use in emergency centers. Exhibits at the museum include both state-of-the-art products made with new materials as well as historic examples of fabrics, furniture, and so on.

Over the next three days we visited several museums, including the Danish Design Museum; the old Natural History Museum, which was featuring an exhibit of Neanderthal discoveries; the Palm House and Butterfly House at the Botanical Garden; and the National Historical Museum, with exhibits beginning with prehistory and progressing to Vikings and beyond. 

Meteorite in courtyard of Natural History Museum. Inside was a Neanderthal Exhibit

At all of the museums, helpful explanatory labels were in both Danish and English.

At the Butterfly House in the Botanical Garden.

We devoted a whole day to the Louisiana Modern Art museum, a forty-minute train ride north of Copenhagen—worth its own blogpost.  It, like all of the museums, has a nice cafe—the perfect stop for lunch or afternoon coffee.

Walkway along the canal. Copenhagen is a mix of old and new.

Copenhagen is a very walkable city. By law, all the canals must have pedestrian walkways along the side and streets through the neighborhoods generally have little traffic. However, as a pedestrian, one has to watch out for both bicycles and cars. Bicycles are a preferred mode of transport and get a separate lane on main roadways.

As a major port in the North Sea, boats and shipping are at the center of Copenhagen's history.

We dressed in layers for the cool fall weather and always carried an umbrella for the occasional shower. But overall, the weather was perfect for exploring the city. 

King Frederick on his horse.

We didn't see everything on our visit to Copenhagen (for instance, Tivoli, the famous amusement park, was closed for the season) but we got a good taste of Danish culture. At the end of our four days we knew a lot more about Denmark than before and had significantly reduced our jet lag. 

Inside the dome of the Marble Church.

 

 

 

BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK, New York: Guest Post by Gretchen Woelfle

When my friend and fellow children's book writer Gretchen Woelfle was in New York recently, she was visiting relatives in Brooklyn and discovered the joys of Brooklyn Bridge Park, located under the bridge along the East River. Here is her report:

Bridge to Manhattan at the north end of Brooklyn Bridge Park

Take a sunny day in Brooklyn, a walk through this 85 acre park, along a 1.3 mile footpath on the East River, from the Manhattan Bridge past the Brooklyn Bridge to the end of Pier 6, and you’ll find all sorts of delights to savor. 

Playing soccer at Pier 5 in Brooklyn Bridge park

Jane's Carousel, built in 1922

There are playgrounds and an antique carousel for kids; lawns, gardens and terraces for picnics; cafés and ice cream shops; an educational center (with an aquarium); playing fields for all sorts of sports; and fantastic views of river traffic and the Manhattan skyline. 

Brooklyn Bridge seen from river level

The Brooklyn Bridge Conservancy presents over five hundred cultural, educational, and recreational events in the park: classes, sports clinics, foot races, music festivals, movies, kayaking, stargazing, history walks, and more.

A riverside sylvan glade

The Conservancy also coordinates environmental projects on the river, including the construction of a salt marsh and an oyster reef. Way back when, New York Harbor contained 200,000 acres of oyster reefs. Five thousand local students have taken part in the Billion Oyster Project to revive the ecosystem.

On deck of an Erie Canal barge

During my visit on a quiet Monday afternoon, I happened upon a canal barge that hails from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. It was about to begin its annual summer voyage up the Hudson and through the Erie Canal to Buffalo.

Below deck on the canal barge

Since I was the only visitor, I had the full attention of the volunteer crew for a tour of the boat and the story of its history.

River traffic and Manhattan skyline viewed from Brooklyn Bridge Park

This jewel of park, an oasis of green and blue in the big city, is just a block away from the hipster hubbub of DUMBO on the north end, and the leafy streets of Brooklyn Heights on the south end. For more information go to: https://www.brooklynbridgepark.org

LONDON CANALS, Guest Post by Gretchen Woelfle

Canal and Towpath, Regents Park, London

My friend and fellow children's book writer, Gretchen Woelfle, has spent the last several months in England. She is also an avid and accomplished cyclist and sped around London on the network of towpaths along the canals. Here is her report of some of the sights you can see along the canals.

Ask people about London waterways, and they’ll know the River Thames that snakes its way through the city from west to east. But there are over sixty miles of canals that flow through the city, relics of the 18^th century Age of Canals, when thousands of miles of canals propelled the Industrial Revolution all over Britain. A team of horses could pull 1000 lbs. of cargo along rough roads in a day.  They could pull 50,000 lbs. by water.

By 1850, 4800 miles of canals linked mines, textile mills, factories, and agricultural centers to seaports throughout the country. Commercial canal traffic only ended after World War II.

Limehouse Basin

Today the Canal & River Trust maintain 2000 miles of canals in England and Wales for our recreational pleasure. In London they are found hiding in plain sight, often below street level in east, west, and north London. Google maps will direct you to the entrances to towpaths along the Regent’s, Grand Union, and Docklands Canals, and the River Lea Navigation route.

Operating the locks

Traditional narrow boats, wider barges, and quirky sorts of watercraft ply the waters today and crews work the locks by hand. You’ll see hundreds of houseboats moored temporarily or permanently along the canals. In late August we met a family of four who had spent five weeks cruising from Liverpool to London, and were heading to a winter mooring before returning to their earth-bound home.

Houseboats

Other people live aboard year-round – cheaper than London rents.  Piles of wood on top of some boats fuel wood-burning stoves in winter.  A few have solar panels. Many miles of London canals are in populated areas. But some boats moored in industrial west London are far from roads or shops. How do they get groceries and water home? 

Waterside Cafe

The canals are vehicle-free routes for bicycle commuters. They are also scenic routes to stroll. Guided canal walks, canal festivals, and boat rides are further ways to explore canal lore. Pubs, cafés, and parks bump up against the towpath. (We saw one cyclist knocked into the canal, bicycle and all, by a careless pubster standing on the towpath.) There is even a bookshop barge that presents live music on its roof.

Concert on the water

Regent’s Canal cuts through the zoo. The Camden Locks join Camden Market, with stalls of clothing styles unchanged for decades. A food court fills the air with delicious aromas and reflects the global society that is London. We rode along the Grand Union canal during Notting Hill Caribbean Carnival and heard the bands loud and clear. 

Camden Locks

The Canal Museum, originally a nighttime stable for horses that pulled the boats, contains a narrowboat with typical house furnishings, as well as a gallery of photos and films of the canals in their working days. Painted pottery favored by boat dwellers is on display along with tools used in the trade. 

My favorite part of museum is the oral histories told by men and women who grew up on narrowboats. The shop carries an impressive library of books on canal life as well as nostalgic memorabilia. The museum offers guided walks and boat tours.

Warehouse turned into a workshop

The canals provide a colorful slice of London life past and present, from parks and mansions to council flats, abandoned warehouses and untamed nature. They also provide a refuge for birds, aquatic life, small woodland critters, and humans who want to retreat from the buzz of urban life.

For more information see:

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk

www.canalmuseum.org.uk

http://mappinglondon.co.uk/2014/london-by-water/