Let me start today's post by mentioning that in my last post, I wanted to go have that celebratory drink at the ice bar in Copenhagen. I had been to the ice bar in Stockholm in 2010 and really enjoyed my experience there, so I figured I would visit the one in Denmark while I was here. After a lengthy search to find Hotel 27, where the ice bar was once located, I was told that it just closed last December. That's how I ended up searching for another venue for that drink.
I started my day around 9:00 a.m. this morning, when I got up, got ready and made my way to the train station by bus. Since I had bought myself the Øresund rundt ticket yesterday, I was eager to make my way to Helsingør, Helsingborg, Malmö and back to Copenhagen again. Because I started my antibiotics last night, I figured I would get some bananas to help with my digestion, as well as a few croissants. I have to wait two hours after taking them before I can eat, so I was hungry until I could finally have breakfast around 11:00. I boarded my train around that time and was able to get into Helsingør, Denmark, just before noon.
Helsingør is best remembered as the setting for William Shakespeare's play "Hamlet", although in his work, he refers to the place as Elsinore. The Kronborg castle in Helsingør is the inspiration for the setting of the play. Just in front of the Helsingør train station are two statues depicting Hamlet and Ophelia. I slowly made my way from the train station to the castle, which was visible from the station. When I arrived, I was able to confirm that the visit of the castle was free with my Copenhagen card. I made my way past the gift shop, with its multitude of Shakespearian souvenirs, and began my visit of the royal apartments. It is here that I learned that the original castle was built in the 15th century, to defend Denmark from the frequent Swedish attacks. Helsingør became a major player in the Baltic area, and all of the foreign ships that passed through the Øresund strait had to pay for their passage, thus enriching the Danish state.
The royal apartments consisted of several huge rooms, including the reception room, the king and queen's bed chambers, the ball room, and the latrines. Helsingør remained a Danish possession for much of its existence, although the Swedes did manage to take it in the 1600s and held it for two years before departing, taking a huge plunder with them, including the massive sculpture that once adorned the fountain in the courtyard. In the 19th century, the castle was transferred into a military barracks, and served this purpose until well into the 20th century. From 1940 to 1945, during the Nazi occupation, the Germans held Kronborg and used it as a military base to control the entrance to the Baltic Sea.
After having toured the royal apartments, I got to the entrance of the underground casements at 1:00 p.m., just in time to begin a guided tour. Our guide was a young woman with a think Danish accent. She began the tour by telling us the legend of the Danish king who sleeps in the casements, under the castle, and whose likeness a large statue depicts. Legend has it that the king is merely sleeping, but when he wakes again, there will be a terrible war with torrents of blood. From the statue, we made our descent into the casements proper. There was very little lighting here, and our guide had her flashlight with her to guide us into the inner depths of the casements. The air was cold and damp here, a mere 6C, and in the dim light we could see our breath. Our guide told us there is evidence there once was a prison here, and when the casements served as training quarters for the military, soldiers were routinely beaten. I took several photographs of the casements with my camera set at night time. I took pictures of the gloomy, unlit rooms, perhaps inspired by the television show "Ghost Adventures". I have not heard of any tales that the castle is haunted (although the ghost of Hamlet's murdered father does appear in the play), but when I looked at the photographs I had taken, I was really surprised to see that in nearly all of the shots, there are glowing orbs of light, just like in that television show. And even more startling is one shot I took of what was a completely dark underground room: on my photograph, at least in my eye, there appears to be a partial apparition of a human face on two adjacent walls. I see the right-hand side of a face on the wall, complete with hairline, eyebrow, eye and bridge of a nose. The left hand side of the face is missing, but on the right of this mysterious face, I spot a left eye. I cannot wait to show this photograph to friends.
We emerged from the casements, and our guide told us she was next going to give a tour of the royal apartments. As I had just seen them, I left the tour then and made my way to tour the castle chapel. I have to say that my visit to the Kronborg castle exceeded all of my expectations, and I cannot wait to read "Hamlet" again. I bought two post cards and stamps at the gift shop so that I can send them to my parents and to my friend Martin.
I returned to the train station around 2:30 p.m. I could have stayed longer in Helsingør, but I wanted to give myself plenty of time to visit the other sights on my trip around the Øresund strait. I mailed my postcards at the train station, and promptly found my way to the adjoining ferry terminal. The ferry links Helsingør, Denmark to Helsingborg, Sweden, and runs a few times an hour. A single trip is only 25 DKK (about 5 dollars Canadian), and the trip to and from is only 55 DKK (about 11 dollars). My way was of course included in my round-trip ticket.
On the ferry, I took out my ticket and presented it at the small cafe onboard. It entitled me to a 20% discount on a shrimp smørrebrød (open faced sandwich) and a beverage of my choice. I got the fantastic sandwich and an alcohol-free Carlsberg beer. I just had time to have my meal when they announced over the loud speaker that we would be arriving shortly. It isn't any wonder, because the strait is very narrow, we can clearly see the landscape across the water, and passage is a mere 20 minutes by ferry.
I got off the ferry and made my way to the tourist information centre. It was already 3:15 p.m. by then, and I wanted to make sure that I could see something of the city before boarding my train to Malmö. I spoke in Swedish with the attendant, and she provided me with a map of the city, and suggested I visit he church of Sankta Maria, originally built in the 1400s as a Roman Catholic Church, and then converted to a Lutheran church during the Reformation a century later. The very first song I heard after my visit of the Kronborg castle was here in Helsingborg, and it was "Tubular Bells", from "The Exorcist", which played loudly at an outdoor cafe as I passed by. I have to say it kind of creeped me out...
After seeing the Sankta Maria church, I made my way to the Kärnan, a large fortification set on a promontory, from which we have a great view of the city and the Danish coast across the strait. I stuck mainly to the area around Stortorget, Norra Storgatan and Södra Storgatan, and was rewarded with picturesque views of the very old houses along these streets. I tried unsuccessfully to get a soft ice cream cone, because I couldn't use my card at the stand and I wasn't carrying any Swedish currency. Just then, I remembered that when I registered my cards, I hadn't told them I was thinking of travelling to Sweden on this day, so I called my bank just to alert them to the fact that I had made a quick day-trip to Sweden, just to make sure they wouldn't cancel my cards, thinking they had been stolen.
I found my way to the train station and caught the 4:30 p.m. train to Malmö. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open at that point, what with the lack of sleep I have been getting, so I got my iPod out on the train and listened to the only Danish music I knew I had on there: "Roses Are Red" by Aqua. I also listened to some more Swedish music. Our train arrived in Malmö around 5:00 p.m. I was greeted at the train station by loud music, lots of posters for Eurovision, and fans from the different countries that are competing in the song competition this year, all dressed up in wacky clothes. Three Danish fans were dressed in Viking clothes, draped in the Danish flag. It was a little surreal and fun.
I was directed to the Folkets Park on Amiralsgatan, in the heart of Malmö. It is here that a large screen television had been set up in the theater to allow patrons to watch the first semi-finals tonight of the Eurovision Song Contest. In the meantime, I went out in search of Swedish food. But once again, without knowing the city, I despaired at finding any authentic Swedish food, and after about an hour's fruitless search, I settled on Cuban food on the grounds of the Folkets Park. The empanada I had was perfect, but it came served with a heaping mound of salad, the one food I am not tempted to have at all when I am not dieting. I made a valiant effort to eat some of the salad, but most of it remained untouched on my plate. Once again, the Swedish cost of living was hammered home to me: one Coca-Cola and the empanada and salad, roughly 25 dollars Canadian.
It was fun being in a traditional Folkets Park. In the late 60s and early 70s, all Swedish musical acts, including the Hep Stars, the Hotenanny Singers and even ABBA, toured and played these small park venues. I got a feel for what this was like. The small stage show that was set up in the Folkets Park here was intended to be entertainment before the live, sold-out show from the Malmö stadium was broadcast on the large screen. I managed to have that soft ice cream for dessert.
I entered the main pavilion, housed in a Moroccan-inspired building, and took advantage of their free wi-fi to check my Facebook account and text messages. And shortly before 9:00 p.m., I confirmed that there was no charge for the large screen show, and entered the theatre. It was packed with fans from the various countries that are competing in this year's contest. They all had their country's flags, and came prepared to cheer for their home country. The show started with Swedish singer Loreen, who sang last year's winning song, "Euphoria". Because Sweden won last year, they earned the right to host this year's contest, hence Malmö being the host city. Tonight's competition is the first semi-final, where 16 competing artists from the first 16 countries are competing for the 10 available slots. Later this week, the rest of the countries will compete for the last available slots, and at the finale, those who have made it that far will compete for the title of the winner of the 2013 Eurovision song contest. I stayed for all 16 performances, and I believe that of the 16, Denmark made the most lasting impression for me. I think they have a solid chance this year.
I left the Folkets Park around 10:00 p.m., and made my way unsurely to the train station to the north of the city. I got there just as the next train to Copenhagen was set to leave around 11:00, so I hopped on and got safely back to Denmark around a half-hour later. It was another half-hour until the bus dropped me off at my lodgings. I was totally exhausted from my travels today, but really enjoyed myself.
A quick note before I end this post: Copenhagen is really well laid out, with separate lanes for motorists, for bicyclers and for pedestrians. I think Ottawa could learn a lesson or two from the Danes about urban planning!
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