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7K views 75 replies 10 participants last post by  The Hooded Claw 
#1 ·
#5 ·
Gosh, I loved Copenhagen.  Been years since I've been there.  Fortunately, we're planning a return next summer.

Thanks for posting.
 
#10 ·
telracs said:


Elsinore.
Love that shot, as well as the building, Scarlet. Thanks for sharing it.
 
#15 ·
Brownskins said:
Are you on a Europe tour? Which countries are you hitting? Nice pics.
I was on a tour. Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki were over night stays. We stopped off in Gothenburg, Sweden (see below) and did a day trip to Talinn, Estonia.



On our way from Copenhagen to Oslo, we cut through Sweden. And stopped in Gothenburg. There is a large indoor market there, and 4 of the stalls gave us free stuff. I have given up meat, so I had yummy veggie stuff from the deli stand instead of the reindeer and boar my companions got. We also got this incredible raspberry dessert from another stand. Across the canal from the market was a park, and the picture above is the bridge across the canal that I took while eating my freebies.

eta: sorry, put an extra zero in the width field....
 
#18 ·
telracs said:
I was on a tour. Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki were over night stays. We stopped off in Gothenburg, Sweden (see below) and did a day trip to Talinn, Estonia.

On our way from Copenhagen to Oslo, we cut through Sweden. And stopped in Gothenburg. There is a large indoor market there, and 4 of the stalls gave us free stuff. I have given up meat, so I had yummy veggie stuff from the deli stand instead of the reindeer and boar my companions got. We also got this incredible raspberry dessert from another stand. Across the canal from the market was a park, and the picture above is the bridge across the canal that I took while eating my freebies.
Nice! I need to plan something similar for my family... love your pics
 
#19 ·
i've got most of my pics uploaded, so am starting this thread again from the beginning of the trip...

Copenhagen


these buildings reminded me of record albums and came in very handy as they were fairly tall and when I could see them I knew I was near my hotel.



I have to admit, in some ways, this map of Copenhagen almost looks like a flooded NYC to my eyes.



I warn you, there will be A LOT of pictures of buildings I found interesting. The architecture reminded me of Amsterdam (and parts of Brooklyn, and Pella, Iowa).
 
#21 ·
In the period where a lot of that classic architecture was built, all of Norway and a slice of southern Sweden were parts of Denmark, and Dutch painters and architects were quite popular with the Danish kings and merchants. So your intuition is perfectly correct - you'll catch a lot of Dutch vibes in Scandinavia  :)
 
#23 ·
Well, there's the same good story behind the Dutch architecture and the moving borders. It all began with the good King Christian IV (1577 -1648) and his special skill at "consuming great amounts of alcohol, while remaining lucid", as Wiki so diplomatically puts it ;D

Since we're all story-lovers here, read on.
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Christian was Denmark's most talented and energetic King. He fought wars, organized explorations and colonies, started the Danish East India company, and, with two consecutive wives and three on-and-off mistresses, fathered twenty-four(!) children.

He became King at the tender age of 11. Until he turned 19, the country was ruled in his name by a very prudent and very careful regency council. They gave him a prosperous and peaceful country to rule -- and a very deep hunger for excitement and glory.
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As soon as he'd been crowned, he began building up an army (and tripling the Navy's size while he was at it), and as soon as he was ready, he started a war with Sweden -- and won it. Feeling his oats, he promptly rebuilt his army and decided to join the fun of the Thirty Years' War. The council said 'no more wars, they're SO expensive', so he had to pay-and-play as Duke of Sleswick and Holstein (he was both King and Duke, things were complicated back then).
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Alas, according to legend, one fine morning shortly before the first major battle, Christian may have been lucid, but he couldn't stay on his horse, so he fell off it, and continued into a moat. Somewhat the worse for wear from the fall and the hangover, he was still the commander-in-chief when it was time for the big battle of Lutter am Barenberge.
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And the danes got their behinds handed to them.
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The King lost his taste for war, went home and sought glory in building -- and building, and building, and building, until Denmark was effectively bankrupt. He started, and sometimes even completed, most of all those Dutch-style fortresses and mansions you see especially in Copenhagen. He also found time to lose a renewed war with Sweden, initiating the peculiarly Danish tradition of celebrating heroic defeats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chr_4_ved_h%C3%B8jen_mast_crop.jpg) since at least you gave the other side a good run for their money.
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He also started the process of reducing Denmark, lost province by lost province, since the Swedes took a few bites off his kingdom in exchange for peace.
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Christian IV remains a fondly remembered King. Since he began the process, Denmark has lost just about every fight she picked, and gotten rid of all the inessentials, eventually producing a small, peace-loving country with a beautiful architectural heritage that tourists celebrate each year, as in this post :D
 
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