Day 13: Copenhagen - Castles of Zealand

Today started with a bus tour around Copenhagen. We visited Christianborg Palace, Amallenborg Palace, Gefion Fountain and the Little Mermaid before returning to the Town Hall/Tivoli Gardens for some free time in the city. Our free time was spent walking through the Stroget to the Irish Pub we went to on Thursday to enjoy a Magners and some people watching. The city was very busy today so there were lots of people about.

In the afternoon we went on a tour of the Castles of Zealand visiting Fredericksburg Castle where we wandered through the Museum of Natural History. The museum has been housed at the castle since 1878 and was founded by the brewer JC Jacobsen as a separate department of the Carlsberg Foundation and contains portraits and historical paintings that depict Denmarks history from the 1500's to today. Our next stop was Fredensborg which is the Queens summer palace, there was an additional number of guards there today as the royal family must have been in residence. Our last stop was at Kronberg Castle which is the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet. They were also setting up for an international iron man competition in the town which will be occurring tomorrow so there were many competitors and other people there preparing for the race tomorrow. We got a great view across the Baltic Sea to Sweden from the castle. Our return journey to Copenhagen was via the Danish Riviera where we saw many expensive houses and the beautiful the coastline. The coast and countryside of Denmark is beautiful and similar to the Netherlands we get to see every shade of green.

Our tour guides today were extremely informative and we learnt much about Denmark. I was really taken by the fact that some of the large businesses in Denmark donate large sums of money towards art and culture. Apparently 55% of all profits from Carlsberg goes towards arts and culture and Carlsburg supports the restoration and up keep of the Fredericksburg Castle and Museum as well as the Glytotek Museum in Copenhagen. The Copenhagen Opera house was donated by the AP Miller and Chastic McKinney Noller Foundation, AP Miller was a co founder of Maersk, Maersk being the largest container ship operator in the world. The opera house cost $US500 million. I am also taken by the social security system they have here which provides free health care for all citizens. The tax rates are quite high but the community is also well supported with health care, aged care and pension system and education. I would have no qualms paying more taxes at home if I knew the money was being invested wisely for the greater good of all our citizens.

Tonight we hung out with Bec and Luke who have become good friends. After a beer at a local cafe we wandered over to the Chinese restaurant. After sussing out their menu and buffet we thought that perhaps pizza many be a better choice for tea, which it turned out to be as they were very tasty. We grabbed some pizza from a local take away and some wine from the supermarket and enjoyed the evening at a little outdoor area at the hotel. It was a great evening and a perfect way to finish off the day.

Tomorrow we are off to Frederikshavn which is in the north of Denmark.Read more