Mia and I flew into Kopenhagen on the 19th of June expecting to do as much as we might in the limited amount of time we had. This time she had to do most of the preparation herself (study the maps ahead, so that we wouldn't lose too much time in-between areas, as well as the schedule for visiting those areas), because since my arrival from Romania up to our morning flight to Denmark I had had virtually no time to "study" neither the city guide nor the maps.
As soon as we left Kastrup airport we got on a bus that left us at the Central train station, fairly close to the hotel we had previously selected, to which we naturally walked.
We would soon find ourselves at the central station again heading to the farthest station on the northern line, as we had decided to "explore" North Kopenhagen that afternoon.
As we got off at Osterport we tried to locate the entrance to the Kastellet public park, which we did by walking a little further from Gustavs kirken just outside the train station.
Having initially been built in 1662, Kastellet (Citadel), considered to be one of the best preserved fortifications in Europe, in the form of a pentagram with bastions at its corners, had to be rebuilt in 1658 following a Swedish attack and re-structured in the 19th century.
A number of buildings are located within its grounds and though used for military activities it also serves as a public park and a historic site, which during World War II is said to have been taken by the Germans and used as their headquarters.
We strolled around the beautiful park and its rather special little corners with a wide variety of waterfowl and birds.
Across the little bridge the North gate, the King's gate, built in Dutch Baroque style and decorated with garlands and pilasters and right in front of it rows of red coloured two storey terraces built as barracks for the soldiers based at the Citadel, a little further store houses which used to serve both as arsenal and granary in the event of a siege. It is said that under such a circumstance 1,800 men and their families might have been fed for the period of four years.
We did enjoy this first approach to Kopenhagen in spite of feeling particularly tired following an almost sleepless night, so as not to miss the early flight ... but were determined to continue our walk in search of the little mermaid statue.
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