Copenhagen Dec 25-Jan 1

Hello Jonelle

First of all I hope you are aware that we Danes celebrate Christmas at Christmas eve on the 24th, but the 25th and 26th are public holidays, so lot of things will be closed including restaurants. I answered a post about eating out on the 24th a few days ago that you can read, but I think the selection will be greater on the 25th.

For a day trip I would highly recommend Helsingør and Kronborg Castle over Malmø any day. Helsingør also has a nice old town and the excellent Maritime Museum http://mfs.dk/en/. Look into the Copenhagen Card http://www.copenhagencard.com since it covers both the entrance fees and the public transport to and from Helsingør. use www.rejseplanen.dk to plan all public transport.
The main day trips from Copenhagen are Helsingør, Roskilde and it's cathedral and Viking Ship Museeum and Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød. In fact I would not recommend Malmø as a day trip at all, most people seem to want to go there to tick of Sweden on their list of countries. It's a nice town, but nothing special.

For NYE Tivoli could be an option, their christmas market is still open, there are nice restaurants and their fireworks are always nice. Many people also gather at the Town Hall Square at midnight to watch the clock ring in the new year, but it can get pretty rowdy. It is right next to Tivoli, so you can watch the Tivoli fireworks for free.

Thank you, Morten!
I am really interested in Roskilde now, as well. I'm looking forward to our quick trip to your area. --J

you're welcome. Roskilde makes a nice day trip as well.

Yes, I'm quite intrigued by Roskilde and even though two day trips for a short trip may seem a lot, I really want to see that cathedral.
We are also planning to take part in the Dining with the Danes, which I found on facebook!

Looking forward to the visit!!

Here is my narrative of our pre-cruise trip to Copenhagen:
COPENHAGEN

We had three full days, the 19th, 20th and 21st, prior to embarking on our cruise on the 22nd. After sleeping about 12 hours or more, overcoming jet lag, we purchased the Copenhagen Card for 24 hours (at the hotel) for 339 DKK (about $52) each. The card gave us unlimited use of the METRO, commuter rail, admission to museums and a canal boat cruise. We took the train into the city to the main train station across from Tivoli (a famous amusement park). We then walked a few blocks to the City Hall square, where we met our guide for the Sandeman at the Dragon Fountain. The three hour walking tour was free. I did tip 200 Krone to the guide.

Here are the details of the tour:

http://www.newcopenhagentours.com/daily-tours/copenhagen-free-tour.html

The tour included the following sites or topics. We did not enter any buildings

Copenhagen Town Hall
Tivoli Gardens
Danish Royal Palace
The Marble Church
Picturesque Nyhavn harbour
Hans Christian Andersen
Absalon – Warrior Bishop
Nazi Occupation
WWII Resistance
World’s oldest royal family
Strøget shopping mile
The Lur Blowers
Nytorv- a public square
Gammeltorv- another square near the Stroget shopping street.
Kongens Nytorv- the square in front of the Royal Theater
Nikolaj Kirke
Danish Parliament
The Royal Danish Theater
The Academy of Fine Arts
Copenhagen Opera House

Our guide was very informative, pointing out important national and city history. Apparently, in the past three hundred years, three fires have burned down most of the city, so few building older than that have survived. After the tour ended, Ginny and I took a harbor tour with Netto Boats, which was included in the Copenhagen Card (normally 40 DKK). The other company at Nyhavn charges 75 DKK. The harbor cruise was nice, since the weather was still warm. There are canals all around and through the central city.

After the canal cruise, we decided to use the Copenhagen Card to take the commuter train to Lyngby, about ten miles north of the city center. Ginny and I were married in Lyngby 25 years ago. We found the same courthouse, which was closed, as well as the hotel and shopping mall below our hotel. We looked for the ice cream shops were we had eaten rum raison ice-cream, and found a similar shop, but probably not the same one. However, the ice-cream seemed the same.

The next day, the 20th, we joined our cruise critic friends, Chris and Jan, from Australia on a full day’s tour outside of the city called the Grand Day around Copenhagen. The tour company was www.granddaytrip.dk

The tour included
Kronborg Castle in Elsinore (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Roskilde Cathedral (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Frederiksborg Palace in Hillerød
The Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde

The tour was excellent as was our guide Adam. Our first stop was the Roskilde Cathedral, which dated back to 12th and 13th centuries. The cathedral was the burial site for Danish Monarchs for 500 years. There were chapels that dated back to the early years of the Cathedral and others that were added centuries later. We saw many tombs in the cathedral. The cathedral survived the Reformation but lost its bishop and some of its significance. However, it is currently a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Next, we visited the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde. This was probably the highlight of the tour. The museum had several Viking ships that had been excavated and reassembled (most not completely). However, full scale replicas were in the nearby harbor for all to see. We were told that those replica ships did venture out to sail. The museum had exhibits explaining how the ships were built and other details. There were two basic types of ships, the fast warships and the larger cargo ships.

Rest of our story
Frederiksborg Palace was our next stop. This palace was over 400 years old with parts of the place from the 16th Century. It is now largely an art museum. The palace is huge and we could only see so much in two hours. We probably saw less than half of the palace. The larger rooms were impressive and the art was good, but didn’t see many works from great masters.

The drive out to Roskilde, then northeast to Frederiksborg, then east to Kronborg took us through the beautiful Danish countryside. Denmark is very flat with many rural farms, most with cattle. Kronborg was a castle sited on the west side of the sound facing Sweden (at the narrowest point). The castle was there to enforce the toll fees that Denmark charged any ship entering or departing from the Baltic Sea. These fees greatly enriched the Danish state. The castle was the site of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The castle dates from the 15th century, but a fire in the 17th century burned most of the building, but it was rebuilt. The Swedes captured the castle and took away the valuables during a war. In its later years, the castle was used as a prison. Not much remains inside.

On the 21st, we tried to visit museums that we missed on the 19th. Most notably, we visited the Rosenborg castle, which is now a museum. The castle is walking distance north of Nyhavn. The castle dating from the 17th century was the home of the royal family until Amalienborg Palace. Rosenborg’s admission fees were about $15 per person.

Amalienborg Palace is east of Nyhavn. It is known for the changing of the guard there. It's the winter residence of the Danish Royal Family and has been around since the mid-1700s. It is actually four palaces situated around a square. There is a museum there, which we visited after Kronborg. That museum was focused almost entirely on the Danish royal family, including the current royals. Admission was about $10 per person.

We could not miss visiting The Little Mermaid statue, which is located a bit out of the central city, to the east, on the water. Ginny and I purchased several statues of the mermaid for gifts.

We found the Danish people to be very friendly and helpful. Nearly everyone speaks English, and good English. At times, we would pause on a street corner to check out map, and friendly Danish people would ask us if they could help. Also, in shops, restaurants and museums, the service people were very nice.

My advice is to not go to Malmo. We talked with several of the local people and they advised us against going there.