Touring CPH

March

One weekend - two days of touring. Lots to see, so little time. Although, I traveled a lot while in Copenhagen, I wanted to make sure I saw the local sights!! Copenhagen is a great city, reminds me a bit of Chicago. Nice people. Pretty city. Nice harbors and waterfront. Clean.


Day 1 - Touring around a sunny day (rare during this time of year) in Copenhagen. We went to see Rosenborg Castle and Christiania.

Rosenborg Castle is very close to the city center and very beautiful. It was built as a country summerhouse and is home of the oldest royal garden. The gardens were so beautiful, and as I have usually said during my time in Scandinavia "It must be so beautiful here in the summer"!!
Also, the crown jewels showcased here.

Christiania aka the freetown of Christiania is a partially self-governing neighbourhood of about 900 residents, covering 85 acres and is in the borough of Christianshavn in Copenhagen. It has a semi-legal status as an independent community, but has been a source of controversy since its creation in a squatted military area in 1971. There are major drug and violence problems here. It looked like a nicer ghetto than one that you would see in the U.S. However, it was also a bit frightening as well. People that live there aren't as nice as the Danes, and you feel as though you shouldn't make eye contact with anyone on the street. There are signs everywhere that cameras are forbidden, but our bold Isa got a few shots - who knows what would happen if we got caught in this land free from law.

Photo set #1
1 - Rosenborg castle
2 - An example of the strollers all around Copenhagen. You cannot walk down the street without seeing about two or three strollers with babies and children! I loved seeing these classical strollers, very lovely.
3 - You are now entering Christiania - Be Ware!
4 - The town center - notice the NO PICTURES sign
5 - Some of the old barracks
6 - I was so happy to see this sign and glad to be back in the lawful Danish city of Christianshavn
















Day 2 - Natural History museum, Glypotek and Carlsberg Brewery

The Glypotek is an art museum, across from Tivoli gardens. The collection is built around the personal collection of the son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries, Carl Jacobsen. The museum collections include classical Egyptian, Roman and Greek antiquities, Romanticist sculptures, and paintings, as well as Golden Age Danish art. Lots of sculptures and a very random collection.

Carlsberg was founded by J.C. Jacobsen in 1847 and owns many global and regional brands. We took a tour of the old brew house and did some tastings. It is hard to drink any other kind of beer in Copenhagen besides Carlsberg or Turborg!

Photos:
1- Jalal, myself and Sujay in front of the history museum
2 - The Glypotek
3 - The lion
4 - Jalal, me and Sujay about to enter the Egyptian exhibit
5 & 6 - Carlsberg brewery
7 - Copenhagen Business School students, I think us three MBA students were some of the oldest on the tour trip!
8 - Old beer crates
9 - Carlsberg beers from all around the world
10 - Carl is one of the many horses living at the brewery - the horses used to carry and deliver Carlsberg beer in wagons back in the day
11 - Me in front of the old elephant icon of Carlsberg. I look like I am an explorer on an expedition.

Hanging out in CPH

February, March, April

Hanging out with friends around Copenhagen!

Photos
1 - Me and Isa at the MBS boy's apartment for a dinner party
2 - Jalal, my CBS study buddy, and I
3 - Sujay, Boris (Germany), Isa and I
4 - Roomies at the girl's night dinner...we were the waitresses
5 - The CBS ladies
6 - One of the funnest nights out in Copenhagen..when some old Mannheimers came to visit - Stefan, Alexander and J.P. It was a great study break!

CBS School Days

February/March

Pics from and around school.

Our school facilities were very nice, and very beautifully designed! However, I think a bit focused too much on design rather than building school facilities that were meant for studying! For example, the library was great and right across the street from the Metro with lots of places to eat and go shopping. However, if you wanted to get a seat at the library, especially around busy times, you had to go early and scope out a spot and put your things down to save it.

Photos
1 - Front entrance of Copenhagen Business School
2 - One of the many back entrances of CBS
3 - The train and dorms that are right behind CBS
4 - Jalal (Iran) and Linda (Sweden) in our classroom
5- Sculpture at school
6 - Jalal and Isabell
7 - Me and my nameplate
8 - My row at CBS - Wasmi (India) , Patricia (Uganda) , Stefan (Iceland) and Me

Helsingor and Helsingborg

February 23

Helsingor is about 40 minutes or so from Copenhagen and is the home of Kronborg Castle. Shakespeare's Hamlet was set in Helsingor and Kronborg is known as Hamlet's castle. The castle has for centuries been one of the most important Renaissance castles in Norther Europe and was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list in 2000.

The castle is on the extreme tip of Zealand at the narrowest point of the Oresund, the sound between Denmark and Sweden. In this part, the sound is only 4km wide, hence the strategic importance of maintaining a fortress at this location.

After seeing many castles now, I officially do not pay entry to see the inside of castles. The beauty for me now is more of the outside. However, the interesting part of Kronborg is that it is a fortress with casemates. A casemate is a "fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired, originally a vaulted chamber in a fortress". Underground where the casemates are is what is to be seen at Kronborg. During battle, solidiers would live in the underground part of the castle and food and weapons were stored here for easy access.

Photos:
1-3 - Views of the outside of the sprawling castle
4: Me in the ballroom
5 - Statue of Ogier the Dane, who, according to legend, slumbers here until the day Denmark is in grave danger, at which time he will arise and save the nation
6 - My classmate Sujay (India) who went castle exploring with me in front of a huge door
7 - The coastline was amazing...rocky and crashing waves
8 - Me and some funny statues outside of the castle
9 - On the ship to Helsingborg, Sweden (less than a 30 minute ferry ride)
10 - Me with Helsingborg in the background