Even though I was still sore and tired from carrying my backpack the day before, I got up and headed out in a decent amount of time. First I headed off to the National Museum. Downtown is about a 30 minute walk, and I got to the museum about 5 minutes before it opened at 10.
Entrance to the museum.
Model of the museum.
The museum was awesome! It was free, and absolutely huge! I blitzed through most of it because that's how I go through museums (I'm not really into reading most of the stuff), but it still took a really long time to get through the exhibits, and I didn't even get through them all!
They had a neat exhibit about Danish ancient history that talked about the evolution of the people and their lifestyles. And lots of coffins and mummies. Like bog people mummies/skeletons.
They had another neat exhibit that recreated interiors from the 1800's. The museum building itself was originally the residence of the crown prince (I think), so some of the rooms were recreated.
They had a big exhibit about the Danish people through more recent times (1600's-2000) that had a lot of interesting things in it.
Other exhibits included things from people all over the world (mostly indigenous costumes and knickknacks, even included some things from the Pacific Northwest! [I guessed Haida as soon as I saw it.]), the royal coin collection, ancient things (Greece and Egypt mostly), and the exhibit I didn't go through that sounded like it was just another bunch of things from people all over the world.
This is hard to see, but the reflection on the tube looks like a proper portrait of the king!
After the Museum, I went to the National Gallery, because my camera was acting really strangely and I thought the batteries were run out (something in that museum possessed it), so I wanted to try and visit museums rather than other things that would have more of a need for a camera. I didn't feel like paying for a ticket, so I didn't get to see the special exhibitions, only the permanent collection.
I dunno, I wasn't super impressed with this gallery. They did have a pretty massive collection of beautiful paintings, but the way things were organized was really annoying. Mostly because it seemed like nothing was organized at all. Rooms filled with paintings would span eras, styles, nationalities, maybe something was getting lost in translation, but I found it confusing. The other really annoying things was that they piled the artwork all the way up and down their walls! It made it really hard to see anything because so much of it was way above your head.
After that gallery, I headed over to the Ripley's Believe it or Not and the Hans Christian Andersen museums. Since they're in the same building, you can get tickets for both and get a slight discount. Since I still had some time before they closed, and it didn't seem like either one was particularly big, I decided to go for the 2.
The Ripley's Believe it or Not museum was pretty much like others I've been to, except this time I was just super creeped out the whole time! I felt like I was in a haunted house at Halloween! I was so sure that things were going to jump out and attack me! I rushed through that museum, and I probably shouldn't have bothered buying the ticket, although there were a couple cool miniature things in it.
The Hans Christian Andersen Museum was small, but I thought it was adorable and I loved it. I actually read everything (in English) in the museum. They had a little information about him at the beginning, and then they had his stories throughout. Some of the stories had robotic animated displays and you could push a button and hear the story being read as the display moved. I read every story, and I didn't realize how many big fairytales he had written! Course, a lot of his stories were a little morbid. I think I like the Disney-fied version of The Little Mermaid better than the original.
After the H.C. Andersen museum, I decided that I should check out Tivoli Gardens just to be able to say that I did, if nothing else. I decided against buying ride tickets, and wandered around the park. I actually loved the time I was there! They had lots of little gift shops (one had all sorts of name items and apparently Charlotte is way more common in Denmark than Canada because my name was everywhere! The best was a little piggy bank with a panda on one side and my name on the other! I would have bought it except I had no idea how I would ever get it home in one piece.), and restaurants in addition to the rides and carnival games.
I got dinner at a burger place they had, and my burger was fantastic! It was pretty gourment, and I was quite impressed.
I seriously considered going on one ride that looked like a version of West Edmonton Mall's "Swing of the Century" on crack, but decided it would be too scary, and too expensive for me. It was swings, but they circled this post, and went up and down it (a tall post almost like those Space Shot-style rides). It looked insane.
The part that really made Tivoli Gardens for me was the entertainment! At 7:00, they had the cutest little ballet/pantomime with a live band! I loved it so much! It was called "The False Housekeeper" (not sure why...) and the story was about a boy and girl who were in love, but the girl's parents didn't want them to get married (at least, I think that was the story), as well as a clown who was always getting into trouble (like pretending to be the housekeeper, although that wasn't the main part of the story).
I loved this so much! Just on it's own, it made the visit worthwhile!
When that was done, I managed to catch the end of a little orchestra concert after some shopping, and then found another one at 8:00! This little band was the same (or mostly the same) people that had been playing for the pantomime. They were having such a great time, it was just so much fun to watch! The conductor was just grinning and dancing the whole time! And sometimes the musicians would stand up and spin around once with their instruments.
These guys were so cute! They just looked like they were having so much fun!
I caught the first orchestra a second time after that, and there was the cutest little baby watching. He loved everything, and he was just running everywhere. There was a big concert after that, but I wasn't super into the music, and it was getting pretty late, plus I was still really sore and tired, so I decided to go back to the hostel. But it did sound like the band was playing "Amish Paradise" as I was leaving (though I couldn't hear the lyrics, I just filled in the ones I knew).
I surfed the web for a while and then headed to bed, but had already decided that there was no way I was sticking to my original plan of leaving Copenhagen on a 6:50 train.
Next - Adventure to Århus!
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