‘Magic’al Europe – Day 3

Our first stop of the day was breakfast at Andersen Bakery.

This time round, we did not hesitate to take the bus, having amassed our confidence from our experience the day before. We disembarked at Copenhagen Central Station.

Andersen Bakery is the love child of a Japanese Baker, Shunsuke Takaki, and Danish Pastry that goes back some half century ago. It is located conveniently across the Copenhagen Central Station, right along the walls of Tivoli Gardens, one of the world’s oldest theme park. It is a highly rated bakery and we knew definitely that we wanted to try this out while doing our research.

The choices were aplenty – sweet or savoury, hot or cold and a rainbow of macaroons and cream cakes, all showcased behind glass.

We were overwhelmed with the selection and eventually picked the classics – cinnamon roll,  chocolate swirl, a danish and ZA’s favourite red bean bread. Ashley went for a bag of chocolate cookies and chocolate milk.

It was perhaps we have come to Andersen Bakery with a very high expectation, we did not find anything very special about the pastries for the price that we have paid. The bill came to DKK166 (SGD 36.00). We went very quickly from overwhelmed to underwhelmed.

After breakfast, we crossed over to the Copenhagen Central Station, the main railway station in Copenhagen. Here you will find buses, taxis, local S-trains as well as regional trains which will take you to other areas of Denmark, Sweden and most of Europe – and the airport.  It houses a supermarket, bakery, eateries, shopping centre as well as a luggage storage.

We wanted to catch the S-train to the Rosenborg Castle. This is our first experience on Denmark’s S-train. Unlike the metro, the train door does not open automatically upon arrival at a station. You will have to push a button to open the door.

After a short stroll, we arrived at the Rosenborg Castle.

Christiansborg Slot, Amalienborg Slot, and Rosenborg Slot are all located in Copenhagen’s historic center.  Slot is actually the Danish word for castle or palace, and Denmark is filled with slots, including three in Copenhagen which have all housed the royal family at some point in history.

Rosenborg Castle translates to ‘castle of the rose’. This is the smallest castle in Copenhagen built by Christian IV and completed in the early 17th century. Rosenborg Castle features 400 years of splendor, royal art treasures and the Crown Jewels and Royal Regalia.

We have chosen to visit Rosenborg mainly to see the Crown Jewels.

There was already a long line to purchase the admission tickets.

We had to deposit our bags in the locker before we could enter the museum.

This museum has three floors, linked by a spiral staircase and the interiors are well preserved. You can experience the king’s private writing cabinet and see wax figures of former royal inhabitants.

Even the ceilings were beautiful.

In Rosenborg Castle, there is an extensive display of the most intricate furniture and accessories. Some of the ornate furnishings in the castle were put behind glass screens for preservation.

One of the most famous collections of the Rosenborg Castle is this display of King Christian IV’s blood-stained garments from a battle in 1644, where the King was wounded and lost the sight of his right eye. The blood stains which had since turned brown can still be seen on the garments.

The Long Hall was intended for festive occasions, and was the last room to be furnished in the castle.

The main attraction is the magnificent Knights’ Hall with the Coronation Thrones and three life-size silver lions standing guard. The King’s throne was made in the 1660s and it was made of narwhal tusk. The Queen’s silver throne was made later in 1731. Tapestries on the walls commemorate battles between Denmark and Sweden.

The Crown Jewels are located in the Treasury, which is in the basement of the castle, guarded by armed Danish soldiers.

The entire basement of Rosenborg Castle is actually divided into many rooms, each with a specific exhibit. The wines of Rosenborg was one of those rooms. The Rosenborg wine is served at the Queen’s New Year banquet and for special occasions in the royal household.

The first room that we saw upon entrance was actually the one that contained weapons.

The core collection of these weapons was from King Christian IV.  His royal descendants subsequently added on to the collection, making sure that some of the weapons used in their wars were preserved. Some of these weapons are ceremonial ones, with precious inscriptions.

Another room is dedicated to the collection of ivory and amber.  Rosenborg Castle has an impressive collection of 700 pieces of artefacts of ivory or amber, but only about half are on display in this room.

The crowns of the Danish kings and queens are kept in special vaults and are embellished with table-cut stones, enamel and gold ornamentation.

Christian IV’s crown, made of gold, enamel, diamonds and pearls from 1595-1596 by Dirich Fyring in Odense.

Christian V’s crown and The Queen’s Crown.

The regalia of the King, consisting of an orb, a sceptre and a sheath.

The crown jewels primarily consist of a diamond set, a ruby set, a pearl set and an emerald set – the emeralds being among the world’s finest. The Crown Jewels may only be used by the Queen and only within the country’s borders.

The royal dining ware.

Another priceless treasure was King Christian III’s sword of state made in 1551!

The Treasury is indeed like a dream-come-true for women with its incredible collection of jewelry. After gawking mindlessly at the magnificence of the Crown Jewels in Rosenborg Castle, we stepped out into the fairy-tale like gardens.

It was time for lunch and we headed to Kødbyen – Copenhagen’s Meatpacking District. The weekend Food Market is open every Saturday and Sunday in the summer. The parking lots were converted into an open-air market and plays host to 70 food stalls.

Foods span a range of types including tacos, burgers, fish-n-chips, Thai and Italian. There are several seating areas featuring long tables and benches. Aroma from the food being grilled filled the air. However, after our disappointing experience at The Copenhagen Street Food, we did not fancy eating here.
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Instead, we retreated to Paludan Bogcafe, which we had a wonderful experience the day before, after a short train ride.  The atmosphere was as vibrant as before. We found a table at the main dining room again.

Jarod ordered the Plate Of Herring and Ashley repeated her order of Lasagne Bolognese.

ZA went for the Paludan’s Beef Burger which was massive and I chose Wok – Beef with noodles. 

We enjoyed our lunch and Ashley was waiting eagerly for our next destination, but not before stopping at Flying Tiger, a Danish variety store. It is like Ikea/Muji/Daiso mixed into one. The range of items include home, kitchen, office, school, holiday, play and garden. We spent some time there and Ashley picked up some souvenirs.

And finally, we arrived at the famous Tivoli Gardens!

Tivoli opened its doors for the first time way back in 1843. It’s the second-oldest theme park in the world and the world’s most-visited seasonal theme park. Having visited Walt Disney World, Disneyland Anaheim and Disneyland Hong Kong, we wanted to experience the original park that inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland.

We purchased the Unlimited Ride Ticket along with the Entrance Ticket.

Stepping through its arch, we were immediately transported into a world of fairy tales, exotic lands and thrilling rides. Apart from the rides, Tivoli Gardens also has a luxury 5 star hotel, a theatre, concert hall, lots of bars and restaurants and a lake.

Our first stop – The iconic Wooden Rollercoaster which was built in 1914. This is one of the oldest running wooden roller coasters in the world
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We hopped onto more rides – The Mine where we journeyed through the land of the Grotes and encountered glittery demons. We liked it so much we did it twice. We also did The Odin Express, a thrilling roller coaster on steel. We passed on The Demon which has a loop.

It was time for a break. We bought a hot dog and a mug that entitled us to free refills all day. We were issued with an armband which we can scan and refill the cup at one of the shops with a Pepsi Free Refill sign every 15 minutes.

Feeling strong, Ashley wanted to pull daddy and herself up The Temple Tower. After much effort, she finally got to the top and daddy treated her to an ice cream!

Prior to leaving Singapore, I joined a closed Facebook group to interact with fellow cruisers. There was an informal get together at the lawn by the open-air theater and we went over to say hello. We were recommended to ride The Flying Trunk. We went on a journey through 32 fairy-tale scenes from Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales. We were enthralled by the scenography, lighting and music.

We hopped aboard the choo-choo train and went round the park twice. Jarod loves riding the train since young.

For dinner, we opted to have Fish and Chips. We thought that it was overpriced at DKK100 for the small portion.

And an excited Ashley spotted a Marie beanie and posed for photos.

After dinner, we took a ride on The Dragon Boats around the Tivoli Lake.

Jarod obliged Ashley’s request to ride The Monsoon which ZA and I gladly passed.

And it was my turn to accompany her onto Fatamorgana. Fatamorgana is a 45 meter tall tower which combines three rides in one. We took the family version which seats two in each wild animal resembled gondola and rotated round the tower. The view was so good from the top!

Tivoli Gardens is magical during the day but truly spectacular in the evening. The only downside is that it only gets dark around 10:30pm at night during summer, so we had to wait a long night to see the magical lights.

Every night, there is The Tivoli Illuminations, a fantastic lighting show that creates a dream universe with colours, music, lasers, fire, smoke and water. The best spot to watch the show is from the bridge but it was already filled with people. We found a viewing spot in front of the lake. To our disappointment, it was announced that the show would be cancelled due to unforseen circumstances. We consoled ourselves that it was alright as we have seen similar Illuminations in Epcot.

Just as we were about to leave, the lake suddenly came alive with music and laser light. The Illuminations was on! Although the show was on a smaller scale as compared to the one at Epcot, it was still a show worth waiting for.

During the summer months, Tivoli lights up the Copenhagen sky with a magnificent fireworks display just prior to park closing on Fridays and Saturdays. We headed over to the lawn by the open-air stage to take in the plethora of fireworks that were sent into the evening sky. The fireworks display was generated from the top of the Concert Hall and it was an energetic performance with the background music.

We had really enjoyed spending our time in Tivoli Gardens.

It was already past midnight when we left Tivoli. The one good thing is the metro does not stop running. We took the metro back to our hotel and packed our luggage. We could not wait to finally board Disney Magic!