Copenhagen - last day

Vol Freslers Kirke's Spire

Our last day in Copenhagen was bright and sunny. We decided we would investigate the Christianhavn area. We thought there might be some markets there but we were mistaken. We then went to Vor Frelsers Kirke (Our Saviour’s Church) which is famous for its unusual spire. Built in 1752 the spire is accessible via an external spiral staircase. There are 400 steps to the top from where there is a wonderful view of the city. I thought I wouldn’t have the stamina to make it to the top, but slow and steady I got there. Yeah!

The church itself is an ‘understated’ Baroque confection with the altar adorned by cherubs and a huge ornate organ with over 4000 pipes dating from 1698.

We love libraries and went across to the Royal Library. A new building is called the Black Diamond because when the number of black glass panels reflects the light it sparkles like black diamonds. This part of the library is attached to the historic building. The old library had the hallowed atmosphere one expects in such places. To our surprise in the new section they had this wonderful display of some of their treasures. These included a Gutenberg Bible printed on parchment originally 180 were printed and now only 49 remain. There was the original typed manuscript of Karen Blixen’s ‘Out of Africa’, she typed it in English then hand wrote the Danish translation above. Also include were Hans Christian Andersen’s manuscripts, work of Ptolemy. Tachue Brahe’s astronomical Observation Book and a Bach signed musical manuscript, just to name a few. It was magical. That killed most of our time for the day.

We decided we would look for some souvenirs and have come to the conclusion they were all rather tacky. There is the very expensive and great Royal Copenhagen china, great design for household goods or just plain not so cheap rubbish. So we bought nothing.

The next day we would be off to Malmo in Sweden across the Øresund Bridge which links Denmark and Sweden with a 16km bridge.