Day 6: Copenhagen - Look, the lights are on!

We awoke bright at early at 8 and then sat around for an hour and half waiting for things to open. At 9:30 we set out, dropped by a bakery to grab breakfast (the pastry haystacks (the baker called the Oranges, but I am not sure if he understood me)

and an almond butterscotch tort for Myra and I, and a pop tart like pastry for Rich), then proceeded to walk to Christansborg Slot (palace).

We had purchased the Copenhagen Card at the airport yesterday, and it gives us 24 hours of free admittance and transportation. So we visited the ruins of the older palaces under the current one,

then went inside to visit the opulent Royal Reception rooms. We weren't supposed to take photos, but that didn't stop me from taking a picture of every single amazing room.

I took a lot of pictures.

Afterwards we hopped on a bus and visited Amalienborg Castle Museet (Museum),

where they charged to take pictures, a policy that worked well in keeping me from snapping more than one photo.

But it wasn't much of a loss - this museum was devoted more to the last century of the royal family, a topic none of us were hugely attached too.
(The Amalienborg Castle is still used by the royal family of Denmark, and their flags are flown atop their buildings when they are there. The Queen was not there, but other members of the family were.)

We then took a Canal Tour with a tour guide who repeated everything in three languages. Danish, English, and then Spanish. She spoke very well.

It was fun, though windy and cold. We got to duck under at least a dozen bridges.

There were some great sights.

Afterwards, we took a very brief look inside the Amber museum, because it was there and because our card let us in for free. It was very tiny, but it was also kind of fun to see all of the various bugs trapped in amber and the ships made out of amber and the amber chess sets.

After that, we walked to Rosenborg

and visited all three areas of the palace. There were tons of awesome rooms and displays.

These clock contraptions were really cool:

 Here's a toilet for dad's collection:

 The mirror room:

Displays:

Throne room with guardian lions:

 One of the many themed rooms:

Myra told me it was ok to take pictures, but I didn't think it was (it was), so I made sure to do it out of the guards' view (there was a guard in every room and they watched us take pictures).
We also saw the treasury in the basement, which houses three different crowns, some crown jewels, various decretive pieces, and some awesome weaponry. But there, my camera ran out of battery and then Myra refused to take pictures of the treasury (where it was forbidden to take pictures without paying for the sticker), which was disappointing, but not too much so. (I did get one picture:)

After we were done admiring Christian IV's crown and the rest of the elaborate treasures, we went to the Round Tower and climbed to the top.

We snapped a few pictures, then went down to catch a bus to the zoo.

We saw most of the zoo before they closed and kicked us out. Our favorite part were the bushbabys, adorable little nocturnal animals that look a little like a cross between a squirrel and a mouse, with huge eyes. They jump. It was fun to watch them, but because they were in the nocturnal enclosure, it was really hard to take pictures. Myra tried to get some video, but I don't thing it turned out well.

On our way back, we bought some frozen pizzas, took them to our apartment and cooked them one at a time in the tiny oven. Finally, enough food!! (The pizzas were only about $4 each). Once we had eaten, we headed to Tivoli, the oldest amusement park in Europe (?).

We weren't planning on any rides, which was good, since it was $5 a ride for the cheapest ride (mind, this is after admittance to the park, which is about $17; we got in free with the CC). We walked around, looking at the rides, restaurants, and shops. At 8:30, we headed to one of the stages to watch a short ballet,

which I really enjoyed and Rich didn't. He asked 'What if it never ends?', but it only lasted 30 minutes, so he needn't have worried.
All in all, it was a very eventful day!

-Mia

From Myra:
Mia forgot -- in the wake of all that excitement and wonder -- that we saw this:

P.S. We would like to note the wake of destruction we leave: just after taking the Flåm railway to Flåm, part of a tunnel collapsed. No one was injured, but the train had to go back. Then, the day after we flew into Copenhagen, another volcano in Iceland erupted, and flights all over Denmark, Germany, Norway, UK, etc. were canceled. What luck we have! It's hard to remember we've only just started our trip -- let's hope our luck holds out!