Pupletts in Sweden: Our Day in Copenhagen (Keir)

28-Oct-15
Today was Kristine's birthday, so we decided to make a family day of it and go on a tour of Copenhagen. It was 300sek (about $50) for us all the catch the train from Malmo to Copenhagen across the bridge (return). We also got a Copenhagen Card, which was a little pricy, but gave us free public transport in Copenhagen and free access to a stack of attractions.

Our first stop was Den Bla Planet, which is a new attraction and the largest Aquarium in the Northern Hemisphere:

On our way

The centre looks pretty high tech, being made of loops of metal frames and panels. It is sea-cooled and insulated to try to make it more eco-friendly.

Inside, it was divided into three wings: The Ocean, the Northern Seas and Lakes and the Amazon/Rivers.

It was pretty awesome and had a huge selection of fish as well as a couple of Sea Otters and a massive full wall aquarium that you could walk through via a glass tunnel.

Cameron has a close encounter with a shark - well this one was a model

A Lionfish

Super-photographer in the glass tunnel

The Amazon - waterfall into the pirahna tank

Looking around outside - the white marks on the horizon are a wind farm near the bridge between Denmark and Sweden

Which fish are you? Our kids checking to see how they measure up

You can't go past a good Dumbo-Blaeksprutten. All exhibits were in Danish, Swedish and English

Looking down into the Amazon water exhibit - you can view from above or below

Butterflies in the Amazon/Rainforest exhibit

A school of Piranha - Kris wanted to video this as her screensaver

A snapping turtle - this guy was big!

Looking into the big wall tank

Kristine's favourite - a Japanese Pinecone fish. I wonder how it got its name

My favourite - these sea snakes anchored themselves in burrows and then swayed like sea-grass

The puffins getting ready to jump

And underwater..

A gif of the wall aquarium

Once we were finished here we decided to head into the centre of Copenhagen and check out the Christianborg Palace.

The Palace has a pretty long history - it was the site of several castles (Absalon's Castle - 1167, and Copenhagen Castle 1300s) before the first Christianborg Palace was built in the 1700s. It burnt down in 1794 due to a build up in pipes behind a heating stove and 70 people were killed as well as countless treasures lost. They then built Amelienborg Palace as a temporary home, while the Palace was rebuilt. It was started in 1803 and finished in 1828 by King Frederick VII. The monachy decided to remain living at Amelienborg Palace and the Palace was used for entertaining. In 1884 the Palace yet again caught fire, possiby due to another backed up pipe. This time they had installed firewalls, firebreaks and hydrants but there were so many secret passages that the fire brigade couldnt get it under control. The fire is believed to have started under the Great Hall and the Palace Guards refused to allow the firemen into the Hall as the floor had just been polished. Eventually they realised that the Palace was lost so they blew up the passage between the Palace and Hansen's Chapel to save the attached church. This time there was only one casualty and most of the treasures were saved.

A contest was held to see who would design the third Christianborg and this was won by Thorvald Jorgensen and the Palace was built from 1907-1928. During the construction the builders came across the ruins of Absalon's Castle and Copenhagen's Castle and these ruins were made part of a tour in 1924.