Something to Declare

“Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen,” June 14-15, 2025

On arrival at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen, we were met by a sign that was welcoming, although in questionable “taste:”

Apparently “Steff” is a local fast-food hot dog chain with 4300 stands across Denmark. Who’d have guessed?

All we did yesterday, besides settle into our Airbnb apartment, was to go grocery shopping and take a walk around the immediate neighborhood, called Islands Brygge (pronounced “Eeslands Broo-yeh“). It’s very near the river-like Harbor Inlet that runs through Copenhagen.

Along the water, there are places where locals swim, play “kayak polo,’” and enjoy outdoor bars and cafés.

This morning, we walked from our apartment to the the world-renowned Tivoli Gardens.

Tivoli was established in 1843 as Europe’s first great amusement park. It’s also the place that’s supposed to have inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland. Its 20 acres are beautifully landscaped and contain myriad ornate western and oriental-style buildings.

It’s also chock full of restaurants (34 plus a food hall), 13 performance spaces, gardens and 29 rides (roller coaster, drop tower, swing carousel, e.g.), plus a piano available for general use:

As we walked along, we were treated to a live classical music concert and a ballet (in addition to my performance of two of the Gnossiennes by Erik Satie, until Stef told me to knock it off). For lunch, Stef and I had traditional Danish open-faced sandwiches (“smørrebrød”):

We spent the rest of the day in the Ny Carlsberg Glytptotek (or “Glyptoteket“).

It’s a sort-of eponymous art museum that contains the personal sculpture collection of Carl Jacobsen, the founder of the Carlsberg Beer empire. The collection was expanded by Carl’s son, Helge, to include French art from 1870 to 1925. There’s also a substantial collection of ancient art.

Currently there are two featured exhibits at the Glyptotek: One of Paul Gauguin (not one of my favorites), and another labeled “Degas’ Obsession.” The latter had to do with a particular Degas painting, “Dancers Practicing in the Foyer:”

Degas’ sculptures were originally modelled in wax and cast in bronze only after he died. Degas created around 150 wax figurines as technical aids and as models for new compositions in his studio. The malleable wax allowed him to pose and compose the dancers as he wished, without visiting the opera hall.

This particular exhibit involved the painstaking scientific examination of the painting “Foyer“, shown above. We learned that the painting was suspected to have been mis-dated. The examination included removal of the painting from its frame to find a logo of the supplier of artists’ materials:

(The supplier, Jerome Ottoz, was himself the subject of a Degas portrait.) The testing also included a radioimaging examination, which revealed that the painting had earlier contained an image (below left, in blue and red) that Degas later painted over, tending to confirm the suspected earlier provenance of the painting.

We ended the day on the rooftop bar of the Glyptotek, for glasses of wine. Unlike most fancy rooftop bars, this one featured views of the Tivoli rides, a sight enhanced by constant screams of the people riding the roller coaster and drop tower.

Tomorrow most of the city’s museums are closed, so we’re planning to visit the Botanical Garden, the Rosenborg Castle, and the Torvehallerne Market (thanks to Marilyn M for the market suggestion!) to shop for dinner fixings. Stay tuned.