Dyrehaven (Deer Park) is a large, cultivated forest near Copenhagen, and very popular for nature lovers to walk, bike or horseback.

There are 13 different entrances to the park and the road goes through the famous red wooden doors. If you come from Copenhagen, there is a subway station and parking by Klampenborg station. True romantics take a horse-driven waggon to the picnic spot.

There are more than 1,000 hectares in Dyrehaven and here you can meet red deer, fallow deer and Sika Deer. In 1670 Frederick III appointed the area hunting ground for his son Christian V (not humanitarians obviously!).

In the 1760 the German forester Johann G. von Lange introduced new mixtures of trees. Many of the trees in Dyrehaven dates back to this time. Dyrehaven is known for the great plains, where you can see deers that grasses interspersed with small groups of trees of oak, beech and hawthorn.

In the garden’s southern end and within walking distance from Klampenborg Station you find Bakken. One of the world’s oldest amusement parks with both rroller-coasters carousels and a lot of other attractions as well as pubs and restaurants. Bakken is open from late March to late September.

On the above picture you see Dyrehaven on a beautiful day in September with deers in the background.

A short 15 minutes drive North of Copenhagen is the world’s oldest amusement park, Bakken. It is located in the middle of the forest and thus the location is wonderful for a visit any day. There is always entertainment and happy days, and to many Danes Bakken is the symbol of genuine Danish culture in line with allotment houses and cold beer.

Bakken has attracted people from the city for over 400 years. Originally as a Mecca for believers who thought that Kirsten Piil water source had a life-giving force. Soon all sorts of street performers and bag players lured to the pilgrimage place and eventually the numerous tents became permanent.

Pierrot was a sort of ambassador of Bakken since he arrived in 1800. Pierrot appears in front of his little green house every day in season and on Sunday he has guests on the outdoor stage.

Bakken has many of the amusement machines that other amusement parks have – like roller coasters, 5D movies, haunted house, race-cars, archery, darts, football, handball and many more things.

It is also possible to buy a picnic basket in several of the restaurants, and walk or ride a tour in the park (Dyrehaven/ deer park) with one of the horse carriages.

It is definitely worth a visit.

Price: There is no entrance fee to Bakken. But you have to pay for the amusement park rides that you would like to try.

Opening: This year Bakken opened with the big motorcycle parade on March 25 and close again on August 29. Bakken is open most days from 12 o’clock midday – midnight.

To get there: You can take the s-train from Copenhagen to Klampenborg. It is a short walk from Klampenborg station.

The official website: http://www.bakken.dk/

There are lots of beautiful things to see and visit while in Copenhagen, but if you have merely a day there are a few things I personally think you should not miss.

In chronological order I suggest that you start at The City Hall Square, in front of Palace Hotel.

If you have a lot of time you could pass by Rosenborg Castle, where the Crown Jewels are protected by the Royal Guard. Otherwise just walk down through the main street (strøget) until you get to Kongens Nytorv. Here you will see the beautiful Royal Theater, world famous for its Royal Ballet.

Go to Nyhavn which is the colourful canal district right by Kongens Nytorv. Here I suggest you take a boat tour. If you go to the boats on the right side of the canal a boat tour only cost you 30 kr (5 $) for one hour. It is really worth your while.

Afterwards take a stroll along the waterfront to Amalienborg Palace – winter residence of the Royal Family. Here we have the opportunity of seeing the changing of the Danish Royal Guard. This should be followed by a visit to the Gefion Fountain and The Little Mermaid, inspired by H. C. Andersen’s fairytale. At the moment she is, however, on vacation and not there.

Go back along the water front and head over to Christiansborg Palace, home to the Danish Parliament and the Old Stock Exchange. After that I suggest that you go to Christiania – the freetown. It’s a lovely artist village established in the 1970s where you will be able to see an alternative way of living and eat some lovely (vegetarian) food.

Tivoli Gardens is a lovely place to end the day and spend the evening.

Have a lovely visit.

He stressed, however, that it remains important to continue the fight and prioritize efforts. If the international community chooses to spend less money on the fight against AIDS, there is “a risk that we have reversed the progress of a recession,” said Ban Ki-moon as a comment to that one result of the global financial crisis is that some governments now choose to spend less money on the fight against AIDS than ever before.

But you don’t have to look out into the world to see that there is less money spent on combating the spread of HIV and AIDS. We can just look at Denmark and the capital Copenhagen which has already budgeted less money in this area.

Copenhagen Municipality health and care Committee has decided to entirely abandon the continued support for counseling for HIV-infected and their families (400,000 DKK in 2010) from 2011 – an advisory work performed HIV-Denmark.

This decision is completely counteracting a study from 2009 which shows that Denmark and Copenhagen in particular has had particular success in preventing a massive increase in the number of newly infected due to the personal counseling of the people potentially infected with HIV.

However, it is said that the politicians in Copenhagen in 2011 will continue to support distribution of free condoms. But seriously, I work within the field of HIV/AIDS and I have never noticed free distribution of condoms in Copenhagen and even if they exists it is the personal counseling of HIV that causes us/reminds us to use a condom.

I urge the politicians in Copenhagen to eradicate its decision on HIV-Danmark’s 2011 counseling work. The health of our people is a stake. Do you care?

Copenhagen Carnival is a cultural event being held every year at Fælledparken in Copenhagen. Copenhagen Carnival is a three-day music festival organized by the Fonden Copenhagen Carnival.

Copenhagen Carnival is one of Copenhagen’s largest cultural events, with the three-day festival in Fælledparken and its impressive parade, every year offers a wide and varied selection of music and experiences.

Copenhagen Carnival was expanded in 2009 with several new initiatives. Among others a club-oriented scene with a wide range of exciting names from home and abroad.

Carnival was first held in 1982 with the theme “The street is the stage and you’re the entertainer”, the time of unification “Carnival in May” (KIM). The event was later taken over by the National Association Carnival in Copenhagen (KIK), which organized the carnival until 2007.

Carnival in May was started by the resident British artist John Little in 1981. He had experienced carnival in the Caribbean and was impressed by the joy and imagination it expressed. In Denmark John started Carnival in May, (KIM) as the group was called, got a small office in Krystal gade to raise money, do PR and start local groups that were trained in samba by Simba, a carnival dancer. PR effort included the small local parades, such as the football game in the Sports Park and around the streets and a compilation of press.

The PR group expected 200,000 participants to carnival in Fælledparken in 1982, and it made all the headlines. Since the weather was good the carnival was a huge success. Aside from cleaning up which ended up costing the city a fortune due to the many broken bottles that had been used to beat rhythm with.

The following year was purchased large quantities of cheap rhythm instruments in Brazil, which the inner circle of the Carnival Committee had sponsored tickets for inspiration, take pictures, make movies and shopping together with magasin and the Brazilian airline VARIG who flew the purchases to Denmark for free.

The carnival got an explovsive growth and this culminated in 1986 when around two million people, according to police and newspapers, visited Strøget and the inner city.

In 1994 new people took over and and formed the National Association KIK (Carnival in Copenhagen), which was an umbrella organization of the samba schools, carnival groups, stage bands, entertainer troupes and other groups and associations that deal with popular culture in Denmark.

The National Association Carnival in Copenhagen, however, had difficulty in making the ends meet and had to close down in 2008.

Long it seemed that there would not be be organized carnival in 2008, but the Copenhagen samba schools entered into a collaboration and hired a professional management, with Morten Sørensen in the front, to run the carnival.

This decision proved to be vital for Copenhagen carnival. For the first time in several years the carnival came out with a surplus, despite the new leadership having had less than two months to get everything in place.

The great result created optimism in the carnival environment and to ensure continuity in the organization of the annual carnival in Copenhagen, they decided to create Fonden Copenhagen Carnival.

Fonden Copenhagen Carnival is also working to publicize the music and culture from all countries of the world through various musical and cultural events – but with special focus on Brazil and samba.

Children’s Carnival is also in Fælledparken with workshops, play areas etc. Saturday and Sunday until, at 18:00. Friday is the institution carnival with workshops and children’s performances on stage.

Over time the carnival evolved to be Denmark’s biggest festival of world music. More than 100 orchestras, groups and artists each year make a contribute to the festivities. The event is free for all, and you can experience music from a variety of scenes in Fælledparken.

This is an event you should absolutely not miss. Whether you are into music or not -it’s a perfect opportunity to meet with your friends in the park and just have a fun day out.

NB: Information about the carnival was found on Wikipedia and the picture above is from the electronic scene in Fælledparken.

Summerhouses are a core part of Danish culture. We just love them and they are an essential part of our lives.

There are 220,000 second homes in Denmark: 203,000 summerhouses, 14,000 allotments and 2,300 other types of recreational properties.

44 percent of holiday homes situated in Jutland, 16 percent of Fyn and other islands, while the remaining 40 percent is built on Zealand.

One cottage is an average of 3.5 rooms, a living area of 67 square meters and a land value of 700,000 crowns (2004).

Over half of the country’s homes were built between 1960 and 1979. It was built as many houses in 1973, where also the building of houses boomed.

Summerhouses can be divided into three groups: Over half of higher quality houses are built of wood, a quarter of the second homes are older homes in poor quality, often lacking bath and appropriate heating, while the last group consists of large and expensive homes.

6.8 percent of households in Denmark own a summerhouse. The majority of summerhouses are owned by 50+- generation – especially older couples without children.

Two out of three homes are located more than 50 kilometres from the year-round dwelling, and every third house is more than 100 kilometres away.

84 percent of second homes have a bath, 80 percent of owners can easily heat the house in the winter, almost all (93 percent) have a television, two out of three have a washing machine and /or dishwasher, and one in four have Internet in the summerhouse.

78 percent of owners have a summerhouse to get away from everyday life and relax. Therefore they prefer the house to be in nature or close to the sea.

The video above shows you my mum’s summerhouse in Ebeltoft. It is really lovely and I spend quite a lot of time there…I love being close to the sea and the house is 5 minutes walk from the beach

Source: Center for Housing and Welfare: ‘Holiday in Denmark. Who has them and how are they used?

Frederiksberg Gardens are laid out as a garden in the romantic style with lots of different paths to walk. It is located in Frederiksberg, which is inside Copenhagen and about 10 minutes from my house.

Coming from the city it is amazing to walk into a huge garden (park) with lawns full of crocuses and daffodils. At the lake is Svendsen’s boating and spectacular views up the hill with Frederiksberg Palace on top. It was from this lake that the popular Frederik VI let himself drive around the canals, while reverent subjects greeted.

Other surprises in the garden is the China Pavilion of 1799, Apis Temple from 1802, Source Grotto, Wish Hill, and the Swiss House from 1801. The buildings, which will give substance to the imagination and thoughts, are hidden in exotic locations. There is also a heron colony and a rose garden.

Frederiksberg garden is an adventure worth experiencing all year around, but right now (spring) and in the summer you will see lots of couples lying around in the sun or walking around the garden on what surely looks like a first date

Frederiksberg Castle Garden is state owned and maintained by the Palaces and Properties Agency.

Snowing in April in Copenhagen

Dear diary…While writing this to you, I hope I am still asleep and just having a nightmare. I look outside and it is freezing cold and snowing. This could not possibly be happening in April could it????

Unfortunately I am pretty sure that I am awake and not just having a nightmare. It is actually snowing outside. The picture was taken from my window (a few minutes ago)…huge snowflakes coming down.

Now I don’t know what happened with the global warming. From where I stand it feels like global freezing. I really need some sun and heat