For my birthday, my first host family had bought me tickets to the ballet in Copenhagen, so because it was a day off school, we went earlier and spent the day sightseeing in Copenhagen. It took around 3 hours to drive to Copenhagen (across the whole of Denmark to the other side). We went across the bridges that join the islands of Denmark, including one that is 6.8km long. It was an overcast and very cold day, being around only 5 degrees.
Copenhagen is a very beautiful city. While walking, almost everywhere you look you can see an important historical building or something special to the royal family. Danish was probably the minority language that you can hear people in the city speaking. The most common is English, because of the large number of tourists, but so many other languages can also be heard.
We began by seeing the statue of The Little Mermaid- 'Den Lille Havfrue'. The story of the little mermaid was actually written by a Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson. There were a lot of people there, all lining up to climb down across the rocks and get their photo taken with the statue. The little mermaid is quite little, not bigger than life-size, sitting on the top of her rock with no clothes on. She doesn't have the mermaid tail that we see in movies, it is more like legs with fins on them.
Next we went to Amalienborg, the palace of the current Danish royal family. The different parts of the palace are build around a large square that has a statue of a previous king on his horse in the middle. The flag was flying above Princess Mary & Crown Prince Frederik's house, which means that they are home; but we didn't get to see them. There were guards marching around, with their uniforms on and tall furry black hats made of bear skin, carrying big guns and swords. We saw the changing of the guard, where new guards come out and swap with the previous guards, all in a big marching procession. Before this, the police were going around making sure all of the public moved out of the way and made room for the guards, there were a lot of people there to watch.
After this, we went to have lunch in Amalienborg Have (the gardens/park across the road from the palace) where we could see the Danish Opera House. This was a freezing lunch, we tried to keep warm under blankets but it was still very cold.
The next place that we visited was Rosenborg Castle, a royal castle that was built in 1606, it was originally used as a summer house for the royal family, but they have lived there a few times throughout history. All of the rooms are decorated and preserved as they have been for many years, with tapestries from the 1700s hanging on the walls, furniture over 400 years old, very detailed ceilings and luxurious decorations. Throughout the rooms, many different royal artefacts and possessions are displayed. It was absolutely incredible to see, to walk through such beautiful rooms, knowing that Kings and Queens have lived there.
In the basement of the castle, the Danish Crown Jewels are displayed. We saw glass cabinets filled with priceless jewels and crowns that have been worn by the Danish Royal family for centuries.
We walked through the shopping streets of the city, which are the biggest in Denmark. Most shops were closed, because it was a public holiday though. I saw the church that Princess Mary and Frederik were married in, as well as another large palace, Christiansborg.
We went and had a tea and coffee at Nyhavn. The street of different coloured houses lines a canal which has many old fashioned yachts and ships in it. The street is bustling with people and restaurants.
After dinner at an Italian restaurant, we went to the ballet. The place were it was being performed was a very old theatre that is decorated very elaborately. We took our seats, then sat and waited for the performance to begin. But then we all had to stand again, at first I didn't know why, then the Queen of Denmark, Dronning Margrethe, came out on her private balcony and sat to watch the ballet. Throughout almost the whole performance she watched with a smile on her face. The performance of Romeo and Juliet was amazing. The dancers jumped and twirled across the stage, dressed in such detailed costumes, making gravity-defying movements that left the audience in awe, all in the most graceful manner.
On Sunday I went for a ride on the family's horse, Ronja. She is still being trained, so is a little cheeky and still has a bit to learn about being ridden, but it was nice riding.
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