Gefion fountain and the Little Mermaid

The Gefion fountain is one of the largest monument in Copenhagen. It was created in 1908 on the Southern side of Langelinje (the cruise harbour).

The Gefjun Fountain depicts an ancient Danish legend of how Zealand (or Sjælland, of which Copenhagen is part of) came into existence.

It was said that a long, long time ago, Swedish King Gylfe gave a promise to Gefjun . She had one day and one night to plough as much land as she can manage, and the land that has been plolughed after one day will become hers.

To maximise 'efficiency', she turned her four sons into oxens and put them in front of a great plough.

During that day, Gefjun and her four sons managed to get the earth to create the island of Zealand. Co-incidentally, the land mass and shape of Zealand is similar to the largest lake (Vanern) in Sweden!

We also went to see the Little Mermaid statue that day. The Little Mermaid statue was a present from brewer Carl Jacobsen (son of the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries) to the city of Copenhagen

 The figure might look peaceful sitting there. However, it has had some pretty bad experience.

In the past 40 years, she has been beheaded, decapitated and vandalised. She has had a bra and knickers painted on her, has been entirely covered in paint on more than one occasion, and has had her right arm and her head cut off. Poor thing!

Interesting intepretation of the theme from Mozart's Symphony No.40

 This person has too much time on his hand. Nevertheless, it is a very original intepretation!

Swedish Meatballs

Our first encounter with the Swedish meatballs was at the IKEA in Greater London. It was very fast food like, but it didn't taste bad at all.

So, when we were in Malmo (Sweden), we took the opportunity to try the real thing on the country's soil.

Köttbullar, Swedish meatballs, are traditionally served with gravy, mashed potatoes, lingonberry jam and pickled cucumber (!!).

In terms of the actual recipe for the meatballs, there are actually many variants. The recipe was probably a way to use the leftovers, hence the variances.

Generally, the meatballs are made with a mix of beef, pork and/ or veal. The meat is mixed with breadcumbs soaked in milk, finely chopped onions and seasoned with pepper, salt and/or mustard.

The meatballs that we had was probably a mix of beef and pork. It was nicely seasoned. Surprisely, the lingonberry jam and the mashed potatoes go really well with the meatballs. It was a hearty meal and we went straight into sleepy mode after lunch. The meatballs are also much more tender than the ones we had in IKEA. It was really quite delicious.

P.S I guess many of you would know how I feel about cucumbers, so no comments there :P

 

Matilde classic kakao skummet mælk

This brand of chocolate milk drink is the best-selling flavoured milk in Denmark.

The drink is similar to the Dairy Farm chocolate milk in HK, only that it is not as sweet and it is also more chocolaty. I think it is very delicious :)

I also saw some sovenir shops selling T-shirts with Matilde's face, so the logo must be quite popular!

Royal Denmark

No, we didn't see Mary. According to the security guard, she was spending her summer break at another castle.

We saw a lot of palaces and 'royal' buildings' in the city though.

Christiansborg Palace, now houses the Danish Parliament, Supreme Court, Prime Minister's Office and the State Reception Room.

Amalienborg, city residence of the royal family. There were four identical 'palaces' around this square. "The four palaces wear built by four noble families in the middle of the 18th century on direct orders by the king Frederik V. The King needed a new royal palace but he didn't want to pay. The four families were given tax immunity for 40 years as token for their services to the crown." (Source: http://www.copenhagen.com/tourism/royalpalaces/amalienborg.asp?Menu=Tourism)

The trusty security guide said that the Queen is living at the oldest looking one. The flag pole was empty, she was away with her husband, in their French chateau.

Rosenborg Palace, housing lots of important royal treasures

The Royal Theatre

Buck's Night, Denmark Style

It somehow involves the groom-to-be running around a public park wearing clear plastic and NOTHING else!

We certainly have had a good laugh! :p

- chi sin - made this comment,

SP beware, this is one of the items on your Buck's Nite activity! *evil laugh* muwahahahaaa...

SP made this comment,

Well you need to trick me into wearing a see-through plastic bag. Maybe, JK did not explain the rule of the game properly. The rule of the game is blind-fold, wear a black coloured plastic bag, undress yourself, walk over to the other side of the square following a rope, drink a bottle of beer and come back to tag your team partner to do the same. And guess what, they given the groom to be a transparent plastic after he blind-folded.

Saint Vitus Cathedral, Prague

The Saint Vitus Cathedral in the Prague castle is the seat of the Archbishop of Prague.

"It took nearly six centuries to build! Begun in 1344 by Mathias Arras and Petr Parler upon the site of a 10th century rotunda, the final phase of construction only ended during 1873-1929." (Source: http://www.pragueexperience.com/places.asp?PlaceID=602)

Things to note:

• It is the resting place for a number of Bohemian kings.
• This great mosaique of 1370 is one of the biggest in Europe
• St. Wenceslas' (a popular Czech saint) tomb is inside a dedicated chapel

Watching the World Cup in Prague

It was the third-place playoff for the World Cup when we were in Prague (and yes, we missed the final as we were on a plane!).

Due to the country's proximity to Germany (vs Portugal), there were lots of German fans. We watched part of the game in the old town square. The atmosphere was great. Every time someone was close to scoring, the crowd would cheer!

I wish I was in Germany watching it live from the stadium! It would be amazing, though not necessary affordable! (One of my collegue actually paid more than 300 pounds for a ticket for the third-place playoff!)