My holiday Scrapbook

Copenhagen

NYhavn: a colourful 17th century waterfront, canal and popular entertaining place

Tivoli Gardens

The Black Diamond : The Royal Library resembling a diamond

The Opera

Rosenborg: A renaissance castle and a museum exhibiting the royal collection including the Crown Jewels

Picasso in the National Gallery

Amalienborg: The winter residence of the Danish Royal Family

The Dining hall in Christianborg Palace (the 3rd to be built on this site)
During the fire of 1884 the staircase was spared from the flames. The mahogany table is made of the Queen´s staircase in the second Christianborg Palace. The chandeliers  previously belonged to the Royal Palace in Oslo, but they were sold when they had electric light installed in 1903.

We can also appreciate Flora Danica. The last time Queen Margrethe had the table laid with Flora Danica was in 1990, when her mother turned 80.

In the Carlsberg Glyptotek I could see for the first time Danish Painting of the Golden Age.

I enjoyed smørrebrød (Danish open sandwiches)

I learned a lot about amber, which is a fossilized tree resin 30-50 million years old.

Last but not least there was time for shopping and

visiting the emblematic statue of the Little Mermaid, which turned 100 years old .

before moving to another Baltic country

Warnemünde and Rostock

The University of Rostock, founded in 1419, is the oldest and largest in continental northern europe. It awarded an honorary doctorate to Einstein.

In St Mary´s church, built in the 13th century, we can marvel at the amazing astronomical clock. Its calendar dates from the 14th century to the year 2017.

It is always a pleasure to visit Germany

The Perfect Holiday!

Tallinn

The beautiful Aleksander Nevsky filled with golden icons and mosaics

The medieval streets

I even rode a bike taxi

St. Petersburg

The richness of the Palaces is something I had never witnessed. 

Catherine´s Palace is in the village of Pushkin. Peter the Great presented this estate to his wife Catherine in 1710. It was later expanded by her daughter . It was used as the summer residence of the Tsar family . It contains the famous Amber room with the walls covered in amber. Although it was stolen and suffered severe damage during the second world war it has been restored. I didn´t take pictures inside but bought beautiful books.

The world famous Hermitage

It was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great. The Hermitage (place of retreat) is famous not only for its collection but also for its buildings. The most remarkable, the Winter Palace, was the main residence of Russian Tsars for 250 years.

Peterhof was built by Peter the Great to rival Versailles

The statues were restored last year (with GOLD) so they were very shiny

Samson destroying the lion (it represents Sweden) is the most famous

Peterhof Gardens and Fountains

Time for pretending we are in cold Russia

Helsinki

The Cathedral

I loved the clean green streets with flowers

The nice islands with holiday houses

The tiny fish (joaquinzinhos?) which are forbidden to catch in Portugal

A monument dedicated to Sibelius

If it were not for the harsh winter I would like to live in this place of fashionable designers

Stockholm

I couldn´t resist stopping by the ABBA museum, the music of my youth

In the Vasa Museum

A miniature of the Vasa, which set sail in 1628 and sank on her maiden voyage

Having a rest in the beautiful Town Hall, which hosts the annual Nobel Banquet.

A farewell to Sweden... and the holiday