After disembarking from the Juno, we spent one night in Goteborg.  The next morning we took the fast and easy train from Goteborg to Copenhagen, about 3 1/2 hours.  Arriving in Copenhagen, we had just 24 hours until our international departure, and it was raining.

With just a few hours to kill until our dinner reservation at Relae, (ranked #39 restaurant in the world by http://www.theworlds50best.com), we walked in the rain to the Christiansborg Palace to pay a royal visit.

The Alexander Hall:

I’m glad we did.  We bought the ticket allowing access to four venues;  The Royal Reception Rooms, The Ruins, The Royal Stables, and the The Royal Kitchen.

We started with the Royal Reception Rooms.

The Princess Chamber:

The Queen’s Library:

The Abildgaard Room:

A poster in the The Dining Hall describing the origins of the table and chairs:

The Dining Hall:

My favorite room among them all was The Great Hall.   It is lined with beautiful tapestries created by Danish artist Bjord Norgaard.  These are not old tapestries, but given as a gift to Queen Margrethe II in 2000 on her 50th birthday, and completed on her 60th.  They narrate 1000 years of Denmark’s history, from Viking times to the present.

The Great Hall:

My sister taking in all the intricacies of The Viking Age tapestry, my favorite.

The Viking Age tapestry created by Bjorn Norgaard:

After the Royal Reception Rooms, we walked to the Royal Stables.  They have several exhibits, including a stuffed horse, and a film, but I was disappointed that we saw no live horses.  The Danish kings were known for their white horses.

One area housed all the carriages and tack:

We toured the ruins under the palace and then walked back to our hotel, just two blocks from the central train station.

It was still raining as we passed the Dragon Fountain, near Tivoli.