Chapter 1063: Copenhagen Denmark Jan 2020 – Part 4

Final day in Copenhagen. I had a flight back in the early afternoon. So I woke up early, checked out and headed out to the empty morning streets. The place I wanted to goto for food didn’t open until 11:30am. So I thought I’d kill some time. On the way, I found this statue of Land Soldaten Med Den Lille Hornblæser. It features a soldier with a little boy playing the horn. The statue was erected in 1899.

Copenhagen City Hall. Unfortunately it was closed when I arrived. It’s usually opened throughout the week but not on Sundays. It’s located in the city hall square. The brown bricked building was built during 1892-1905. It somewhat looks like a school. The design of the architecture was made by Martin Nyrop who drew inspirations from Italy’s Siena City Hall. Although I have not watched any Danish TV series, they said that many scenes are films here in series like The Killing and the Borgen.

There were some red lanterns on this street… I think when I visited it was close to the Lunar New Year. Also, I was actually surprised to see not only a burger king but also a 7-Eleven shop which reminded me of Japan. It was still early on a Sunday and there were many people around already in this area.

The Towns Hall building has these interesting gargoyles.

Next I found this beautiful man-hole featuring Author Hans Christian Andersen in his top hat.

And just over here was a statue of him. He played a very important part Danish history and culture because he is famous for writing poems, novels, plays, but is best known internationally for his fairytales such as, obviously the Little Mermaid, the Little Ugly Duckling, The Red Shoes, Thumbelina, The Little Match Girl and many more…which were all books I have read when I was in primary school. This statue featuring Andersen holding a book was erected in 1965.

Next I went to pay a visit to the National Museum of Denmark before my pass expired in about an hour. Went directly to the desk and scanned in then dropped off my backpack at the locker. The staff were very friendly and polite and super welcoming. My impression of people in Norway and Denmark is that they are so kind and lovely. I didn’t (have yet) to meet rude people.

On this floor there were many paintings.

And, something for Halloween.

A vintage living-room setting! It looks quite cosy, I could sleep here.

Old tv! Radios, and music players. I remember as a kid my dad did have a very old music player with those black discs, plus our first TV was those block types.

I found a dark room that had these amazing doll houses.

So cute!! You can see insides of the little rooms.

Such a beautiful cabinet made into a doll house.

It looks like a real room complete with a nice carpet.

Some doll houses have little figurines. This reminded a little of a youtube video I watched which was talking about a haunted doll house that kept moving by it self and depicting a murder.

Pretty furniture. I love tall standing lamps. It’s cute.

The Dansk Kvindesamfund, the Danish Women’s Society was a movement founded in 1871 to help give woman the opportunity to have access to education to let them have better skilled jobs like in an office, a shop or telephone operator. They had the banner on display here.

An old classroom setting.

Pretty white historic outfits.

Little old shoes!!

Old tea room setting.

I love tea cups and saucers, so pretty!

I heard piano music and I followed the sound all the way this room which had a piano!

Pretty Danish folk outfit.

Displays from the palace.

Hmm I couldn’t remember what these were. Medieval torture equipment I assume because of the human skull?

Ship model.

I found the Egyptian area.

An Egyptian cat head.

I remember when I was in Primary school we had a school trip to the British History Museum and we learnt about how the Egyptians used pictures, they also have an alphabet. Maybe hundred and thousands of years later the people in the future will think we were ancient because we use emoji’s in texts.

There was a church area.

Jesus on the cross. These white painted bricked walls really do give me primary school vibes because my primary school was a Victorian hospital, and all the walls were like this.

This statue was very epic. It is a 16th century statue of Saint George and Dragon.

Many golden cups.

Viking horns. At first I thought they were instrument but they are actually drinking horns with engraved gilt trim.

Silver crown.

Scandinavian old folk outfits…Those high boots look so warm.

Portraits of the royal monarchs.

A viking wagon.

This big viking pot has faces on them, the lighting made it look spooky,

This was a viking ship. Not perfectly preserved but it’s pretty cool to see it.

Behind the long glass display the ship. Amazing how the vikings built so many.

Remains of a viking skeleton, similar to the one I saw at the Oslo Viking Ship Museum.

Realistic paintings of vikings.

An amazing viking portrait. It appeared to look like something I’ve seen online where if you stare too long it’ll jump at you with a scary face.

They had viking head models, this one just looks like someone that is part of a rock band.

He looked friendly.

Oh…This one was freaky.

They even had skulls of animals on display…Not sure if it’s from cattle or goat.

Next it was food time!! This is a basement restaurant that served traditional Danish food for good prices. It’s located only about a 5 min walk from the Museum.

I did some research the night before and I knew I had to visit here at least once.

For me, I don’t think I have ever been to a basement restaurant before. Instead of walking in, or upstairs, you walk down some steep steps. It is a 18th century basement with ceiling beams. I rarely see wooden ceiling fans, I think they’re really cool. When I was a kid I really wanted one in our living room.

I like the atmosphere. It’s very cosy. And staff are so lovely here. I went in just after 11:30am which is when they open. So it was quiet. PUK is known to be one of the oldest restaurants in Copenhagen with a history that dates back to 1750. And another fun fact is during the late 19th century King Christian VII and his mistress were actually regular guests that dined here.

My table has a golden plate with the name J.K. Asmund who was known be a master blender and worked as a factory manager for Danish Distillers, maybe you will know the brand Gammel Dansk.

There were so many options!!

Elderflower juice. I’ve actually never tried just elderflower on its own before, I’ve tried it with other fruits and more commonly with apple juice. Sweet and floral but not overpowering.

This reminded me of Norway. A delicious open sandwich they call it, or Smørrebrød. It’s got pickled herring chunks mixed with a thick sour cream, raw onions, garnished with a layer of dill and little balls of capers. I like sour foods a lot and this was very satisfying. I also love herring, it’s very tasty. Absolutely loved this Smørrebrød!! It’s a traditional Scandinavian dish and originated from Denmark. Also, there are many different variations of toppings that can range from meats or fish or cheese…but pickled herring is the most common ingredient to use.

I swear I regretted trying this second dish so much! I should have gone with the Danish meatballs. Why oh why did I think it was a good idea? Blue cheese on rye bread with raw onions plus a raw yolk. I don’t eat a lot of cheese in my diet…This was probably the first proper time I had proper blue cheese. I guess hot butter blue cheese sauce on steak doesn’t count.

I managed to eat half of this. I was seriously contemplating whether or not I was gonna be ok on the plane back home? Felt like I was going to vomit. Next time I’m going for Danish meat balls!! Sometimes these things happen, you want to try something from a new place and end up making a wrong choice. But I have learnt never to go for blue cheese …never again! But next time I come to Copenhagen, I’m coming back to PUK for their other dishes!!

Old buildings!! I wasn’t sure if these were real buildings? It sort of looked like a movie set. Back in London there is a street called Leinster Gardens at Bayswater and they have a few fake mid victorian terraced houses. What I mean by fake is that it’s a front because a train tunnel runs through the area. But I wasn’t sure about these Danish buildings. The thick black and brown paint lines sort of gives it that cartoony look. One thing I did noticed was, in Copenhagen it’s common to have a basement, which is why some buildings have low windows.

This was an equestrian monument of Bishop Absalon, 1902 located at at Højbro Plads. It faces the Christiansborg Castle and Parliament.

I came across this cute display when I was on my way tot he airport. I love the plush with the moustache sailing a boat.

At the airport I went ahead to grab some of these! Danish cookies!

Vitamin drinks. We have vitamin drinks in the UK but theres not a whole lot of variety compared to what I’ve seen in Denmark. I don’t think this brand Vitamin Well is actually Danish I think it was Swedish. So this ends my wonderful trip to Copenhagen, I wish I could have stayed longer to do more. Next I’m going to have to go through some photo’s of the final Europe trip I took before the pandemic (which is Budapest) then I will resume to finish off my travels in Okinawa.

—Tofu