The Copenhagen Quay

The Port of Copenhagen used to be really, really important.  Nowadays I think it is mostly just a tourist attraction.  It is really pretty, has lots of statues, and lots of green copper.  In the map above you can see the Kastillet.  The Port of Copenhagen is labeled in really tiny letters in the lower right corner and all of the see on the right side of the picture is the Baltic Sea.  This is, by the way, were the statue of the Little Mermaid is, although we never got to see it.

The main entrance onto the quay.

The entrance onto the quay has statues of two Greek gods on the gate posts.  These same gods show up all over the place, as well.  The one on the right is Poseidon which makes sense since he is the god of the sea and the Danes are right in the middle of the Baltic/North Seas.  The other, we determined from the winged helmet, was Hermes, the messenger god.  We deduced that this must be a reference to the Danish shipping industry and were later proven correct.  I guess that all of those years of picking out "My First Greek Mythology Reader" and like books from the library were worth something after all.  By the way, that is the spire of St. Alban's, behind Hermes.

Statue of Frederick IX, king of Denmark until his
death in 1972 and father of the current queen,
Queen Margaret II.

A nesting swan, under a bridge by the port.  Shortly after this, the
daddy swan came swooping in, all ruffled and apparently not
happy that a bunch of folks were taking pictures around his nest.

Jael getting in the middle of my picture of a giant anchor sitting in the middle of the quay.

The official entry buildings (or something) for the Port from the Sea side of things.  The pretty
crown on top of the near building is one of the official royal symbols of Denmark.

Look, Jacob!  Dragons are sitting on top of the light poles, holding the street lights in their mouths!
Pretty nifty, eh?