Today my roommate and I went to visit the Church of Our Savior which is right down the street from us (less than a block). It has a beautiful helix spire that has a winding outside staircase all the way to the top. My roommate and I counted every step (until the end when we forgot) but we guesstimated around 400 steps total up and then 400 down (obviously). Surprisingly my legs didn't die and I wasn't out of breath panting. Being a Copenhagen landmark, lots of tourists were there taking in the beautiful internal and external views.
The inside of the church is nothing less than magnificent. I'll post some pictures so you all can enjoy the views for yourself without me trying to explain what I saw. Also, it was 35Kr (about $5.50) to walk up which is definitely worth it. I recommend you come and see this for yourselves.
** One highlight from this stop was a really funny and scared middle aged French man. He had walked up all the internal stairs but wouldn't let go of the door when he finally walked up to the external stairs. It was even more funny that his wife just stood there and laughed at him. We gave him encouraging words and then we left.
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| The outside of the building is beautiful. The designer accidentally built the staircase in a counter-clockwise pattern which is bad luck. This church serves as a landmark for me when trying to find my way home. It stands 295 ft tall. |
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| The entire altarpiece is beautiful. It features Jesus being comforted by an angel with another angel overhead offering a golden chalice. |
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| This is the scene at the top of the altarpiece. The inscription יהוה means G-d in Hebrew. The altarpiece has rich colors and is 3D which made it very interesting to look at. |
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| This has to be the most intricate and largest organ I've ever seen. It's over 300 years old and still functioning. It is played every hour and we were lucky enough to hear it as we were walking in. Also, in total, there are 4,000 pipes! |
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| Two elephants seem to "hold up" the entire organ. I'm not sure why but it looked cool. |
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| No words needed-- I live in a beautiful city. |
DANISH PARLAIMENT
Next up on the list of things to see was the Danish Parliament. This is also about a 5 minute bike ride from my apartment. We somehow ended up in a line for something but we weren't sure what for. We learned that it was for a tower and a "secret" stash of old plaster statues that were once in old palaces. All of the statues were in a storage room and oddly enough, they were all (mostly) Atlas, the Greek G-d) holding up the world. Finally we made it up to the top (at this point in the day we had already climbed a total of 800 steps + and we were feeling pretty hopeless).
The view was pretty disappointing compared to the Church of Our Savior. Maybe we should have visited this place first and then we would have been more impressed. But still, there were great views (and it was free... ).
We went to the courtyard next where we saw little booths (for guards maybe?), lots of statues, and open space with gates that looked like it was for horses. After, I took a stupid picture in the empty guards booth (which was questionably against the rules...). We found an extension of the parliament (which I think was the Palace section and Royal Reception Room). Pretty fancy stuff people. I also saw a postcard with The Royal Family on it. Good looking bunch of people, but then again, everyone here is a model.
*Fun fact, we spilled about 50 post cards on the palace floor.
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| Parliament from the back. You can see the area in front is for horses. |
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| Old plaster statues left in the attic of parliament. A crying Atlas :( |
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| Seen from the parliament tower. I love this square. I walk here every day to get to class. ou have to walk your bike though because there are too many people. |
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| Me being a guard. |
BLACK DIAMOND LIBRARY
Let me first begin by saying this is an awesome library. I would love to have something like this back home. You really see the Danish/Swedish influence in both the furniture and design of the building. Also, it was super busy because the Danes have finals this week.
