Delayed

 

The Inner Harbour Bridge and the three other smaller bridges that will connect Nyhavn with Holmen and Christianshavn are delayed. They should have been ready in February but it will be at least October before pedestrians and bicyclists can make use of the shortcut across the harbour and canals. Apparently the construction of the steel elements has been the big stumbling stone for this 200 million DKR project.

 

Get there early

The area of Christianhavn in Copenhagen is considered rather hip by many, maybe because of the alternative lifestyle at the freetown of Christiania, maybe because of the canals that cross through or maybe because of its many old and rustic apartments. When I go there I like to go early so I've got the views to myself. And the water in the canals is so much calmer and with so much better reflections before the local boats and canal tours are cruising.

Knippels Bridge

Knippelsbro or in English, Knippels Bridge, is placed on the same place as the original wooden bridge connecting Christianshavn with Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen from 1620. It is a 115m long bascule bridge built in 1937. It is one of the only two bridges across the harbour that can carry motor vehicles, the other one being Langebro which I told about yesterday. It's named after a bridge caretaker in the 17th century called Hans Knip.

Denmark's latest bridge under construction

This photo was taken recently and shows the new pedestrian and cycle bridge which will connect Nyhavn and Christianshavn. The project is part of an effort to tie the various parts of Copenhagen together. This will make it easier for locals and tourists to enjoy the relatively unique and different feel each area has.

-RS

In for repairs

While on a walk near Sluseholmen I came across this interesting sight. Someone had towed a houseboat a few kilometres from its mooring in Christianshavn to here for refurbishment. I could only find someone from the nearby boat repair shop and was told that the houseboat had been sold and was being refurbished for its new owners.

How cool is that? You buy a place and it gets towed away only to come back all spanky new?

-RS

The Dark Side of Copenhagen

A sight as this has unfortunately become more and more common in Copenhagen, despite the best intentions from the city's officials. And with the current economic crisis it probably won't get better anytime soon.

Location:Christianshavns Torv, Copenhagen, Denmark

Live to ride

The Live to ride-elephant is placed on Christianshavn with a view to Vor Frelser Kirke (The Church of Our Savior), known for its spiral staircase on the outside of the spire.

Writing on the wall

In the area of Christianshavn (Christian's Harbour) in Copenhagen I found this sign in Danish on one of the old houses. Translated it says: Lord, Your judgments are incomprehensible and Your ways are past understanding. 1765AD. There's no explanation as to why this is the case, but maybe someone lost a house in a fire or a child due to sickness. Anyway, someone was clearly not content with his or her lot in life. This kind of signs can be found on many of the houses in the old areas of Copenhagen.

Posters

The people of Copenhagen do a great job when trying to beautify the city, but sometimes they should have taken a different approach. A couple of roses are normally a good idea, but in this case the owners should have cleaned their wall instead!

A pottery maker?

This nice old sign I found in Christianshavn on one of the old buildings there. I'm not sure, but I think it might have been the sign of a pottery maker; the elephant is often used as a symbol for work and it looks like a oven for pottery on its back. Or maybe the builder just liked this sign. Today it's a residence.

Real roses

Yesterdays post showed a door with flowers in stone, but today's door from Christianshavn in Copenhagen is decorated with real roses. In this area of Copenhagen the natural look is in; flowers and plants decorate not only doors but windows, walls and sidewalk as well.

A necessity?

I haven't got a car and this is one of the main reasons; parking meters. In Copenhagen it's extremely expensive to park your car (4 Euro an hour in the day time), and with very few parking spaces around it's a battle to find a free one anyway. This is one of the new solar powered parking meters found on every corner of the inner city. With an expensive and rather slow public transport system, the best and quickest way to get around the city is by bicycle. Beware though that many of the drivers of these are quite sure that they are immortal, so they believe the red light and other "minor" traffic rules doesn't apply to them. With more and more bikes on the dedicated cycle paths it can be a battle there too.

A milestone

These old milestones are seen in many places in Copenhagen. This one I found in Christianshavn just where the old gate to Amager stood, the so-called Southern Gate or Amager Gate. It shows the distance to various villages on Amager such as Dragør and St. Magleby. Even though they don't have much function today it's nice to be reminded that 11 km was a long trip in the old days when on foot or by ox cart.

Unicorn

This unicorn decorates an apothecary at Christianshavns Torv (Christianshavn's Square). This kind of figurines or stone carvings are seen on many of the older buildings in Copenhagen, though often not as elaborate as this one.

Our Saviour

The Copenhagen skyline is dominated by spires and towers. One of the more dominant and conspicuous ones is this one, the spire of the Church of Our Saviour. It's in the same area as yesterdays church namely Christianshavn and most noticeable is its spiral staircase on the outside of the spire. As the only church in Denmark it's built in Dutch Baroque-style in the late 1600's at a time when church construction in Denmark was at a standstill (nothing new under the sun - they had an economic crisis at that time too). The spire was inspired by Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza in Rome.

Legend tells that the architect threw himself from the spire when he realized that the spiral was the wrong way around. The story can't be true though, the spire was added 50 years later and the then architect of that died in his bed seven years later, but it's a nice story to tell the tourists.

On top of the spire is a figure with a flag called the Saviour Man that is called the ugliest sculpture in Copenhagen but that is due to its exaggerated proportions because it's only meant to be seen from afar.

The church itself has been closed for the last three years due to renovation but it's scheduled for opening in September.

BTW it's possibly for the adventurous visitor to climb the stairs on the spire, but vertigo is a sure companion on the stairs :-)

New and old

Christian's Church is an odd one. It's a German church in the area of Christianshavn in Copenhagen. It was built in 1759 by the German community in Christianshavn and was named Frederik's German Church, but it was renamed Christian's Church after King Christian IV in 1901. It's now an ordinary parish church for the area and no longer serve as a German church. Locally it's called the Theater Church due to its many galleries inside. It's surronded by modern Ministries and old warehouses converted to residences, hence the title of this post.

Sunday Special II

Although today is a sunny day in Copenhagen I bring you this little photo taken only a week ago as a reminder that spring is a season of changes. The photo was taken a very foggy morning at Valby Park near my home. Compare it with the ones below and you can see that change has come to the weather here.

This one is from the canal in Christianshavn in Copenhagen where people really enjoyed the sun yesterday.

And keeping with my theme of reflections is this one also from Christianshavn yesterday. The canal is full of sailing boats and house boats, so it's no problem to find one that is nicely reflected in the water.

Even though there will be a daily post here (they're already written and planned), it's holiday season so I might not be that quick to answer your comments for the next couple of weeks. But don't worry; I'll get back to your comments as soon as possible.