Copenhagen Sights
Last night my daughter and I got back from a few days in Copenhagen, admiring the canals and bright houses, visiting palaces and winter gardens, eating great food, and ever alert for signs of Hans Christian Andersen or mermaids, tin soldiers, little match girls, the emperor with new clothes, red shoes, and wild swans.
We took the train to Helsingør one day to walk around Kronberg Castle, built right by the sea in 1420, which is said to have inspired Shakespeare as his setting for Hamlet. We admired the Great Hall, the biggest in northern Europe, and survived ducking through winding underground halls and dungeons.
We warmed up from the sea winds at a lovely nearby library. This little boy could dip into boxes of books with various royal or medieval themes, while looking out to the water.
Reminders of Hans Christian Andersen, who lived and wrote around the city. abound. He was reported to have stayed at our hotel. When I asked if his rooms were known, a woman at the desk said she didn’t really know that he stayed there, then was quickly interrupted by another who asserted that he certainly did though his room wasn’t known. She said they dedicated a suite on the second floor, as it was unlikely that he would have slept higher, because of fear of getting trapped by a fire. We read that he traveled with a rope in his trunk for quick escapes.
The several statues Emily and I saw were of him alone, as he rejected the idea of being shown surrounded by children, as he did not like to be touched and thought of his stories as being as much for adults as for children: he is right there.
In the oldest part of the city, or Latin Quarter, we climbed the Round Tower, a 17th observatory, the oldest remaining in Europe. In 1716 Tsar Peter of Russia rode his horse up the ramp, and it remains a working observatory with a telescope. Hans Christian Andersen wrote in the library halfway up, where visitors can now get coffee and view art, with an emphasis on children’s book illustration.
Slips of stories are everywhere.
