On our walking tour this morning with Richard Karpen, who incidentally dressed up and acted as Hans Christian Anderson, we learned about much of Copenhagen city and the Danish people and culture. The Danish are happy for a number of reasons - a lack of corruption in leadership, large GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy at birth, a sense of social support, freedom to make life choices and a culture of generosity. Richard pointed out - the real key is low expectations.
Another beautiful day in Copenhagen. After our walking tour, we wanted to check out the canals and harbor on a canal boat. We left from Nyhaven which was originally a busy commercial port but now the colorful old houses have been renovated and turned into restaurants and shops and filled with people enjoying the relaxed atmosphere by the canal.
No. 9, Nyhavn, is the oldest house in the area dating back to 1681. Many of the houses here have been the homes of prominent artists. Hans Christian Andersen, lived here. This is where he wrote the fairy-tales 'The Tinderbox', 'Little Claus and Big Claus', and 'The Princess and the Pea'.
We visited the Rosenborg Castle and Treasury. The castle is a Dutch Renaissance-style castle built by King Cristian IV in the early 1600’s - AMAZING! From the 1700’s Rosenborg was no longer used as a residence, but became the place where the kings placed their oldest and rarest of objects. The king's crown (foreground) weighs more than two kilos and is set with sapphires, garnets and diamonds. The ruby, with the sapphire stripe at the top is very unusual and is the most expensive jewel on the piece. The queen’s precious stones come from an older crown (1648) and was made for Christian VI’s wife - Queen Sophie Magdalene.