Its that time, phase two of the trip. My ride is here.
Read more: Day 4 – Frederik’s Church dome hike, boarding
Today is all about packing up then hopefully hiking the dome of Frederik’s Church.
Finally the heatwave has broken. It has been in-80s with lows in the upper-70s. Today it’s not expected to be above 73. Perfect weather for short hike.
The lineup for the hike begins around noon so I’ve got time to kill. On the first trip to Copenhagen I stumbled on this outdoor market / food court area. Seems like a perfect place to get breakfast / lunch.
Between the two food halls is space for local farmers to sell their produce and fresh flowers.
So many choices, where to go…
Apparently this is all the rage here, a piece of hardy wheat bread with mayo, eggs and shrimp – creating an open face sandwich. Think I’ll pass on that.
This will work. Bay shrimp and some marinaded diced salmon.
They kicked in the bead from the egg/shrimp thing.
After I bought this I learned they had fish and chips too; had to add it to the order.
Fork in photo to give an idea how large the portions are.
Ok, enough killing time, can’t miss my chance to hike the dome. 11:30 and I’m ready to get in line.
Apparently some little kid wanted to get baptized today so no one is allowed in.
Rude.
If all goes well I’ll be standing at the very top of the dome in two hours.
The level of detail is spectacular to this church.
We’ve got some time to kill so let’s get to know this building. Frederik’s Church is more commonly known as the Marble Church. Most architectural projects have a few hiccups along the way. This one suffered more than most. Construction begins in 1730. The original architect died in 1754 while the project was incomplete, and by 1770 the original plans had been abandoned completely. For over a hundred years, the building stood as a half-finished ruin.
In the late 1800s, Denmark’s Finance Minister sold the ruins of the church and its square to Carl Frederik Tietgen on the condition that he built a church in the style of the original plans. Ferdinand Melhdahl took over design and, due to a tight budget, was forced to swap from marble to limestone blocks in its construction. The church finally opened in 1894, 145 years after the first stone was laid. So the Marble Church isn’t actually made of marble – they just kept the name.
Here’s a view of what it looks like under the exterior skin.
Finally, 12:30 comes and the doors open. No joke, it was a cat fight as I fought off some people who just walked up from cutting in line. Only 15 people a day get to do the walk. Here’s the very non-descriptive line. If you are one of the 15 you get to pass into that closed door and on up the dome.
A small glimse is visible of the dome while waiting. Ticket sales happen at 12:45 promptly.
Yes the line was out the door of people hoping to make the cut.
#1 baby!!
1pm precisely the door opens and we head up.
They make no chances of people coming up. Behind that first locked door is a second locked door with the key resembling something out of the 1700s.
The initial set of stairs seem to have been built to allow for large foot traffic. And yes, that is a third gate which must be unlocked.
Other than missing hand railings, this seems like a simple, easy walk.
We’re now at the first landing. Here you can see various installations so I have to think visitors were allowed up here long ago. In the center of the glass is one of the windows of the lower dome.
Several men died while building the dome. Here is their grave. Names of each man is etched on the lower urn.
This is where things get really tight. The next flight of steps will take us up and over the dome so the steps and staircases get very tight and steep. In the photo below, you can’t see it but you do ten circles before coming out at the top.
A slightly better perspective of the steps we came through.
Come out of those concrete steps then you head up the spiral, steel steps.
Then you’re put into the tightest, narrowest staircase. At the bottom of the steps you see here, you make an immediate 180 degree turn and redo the same setup of steps you see.
In all, it’s a 5 minute hike. Finally, you pop out of this hatch.
And here’s your reward.
Care to see what the actual climb was like? Here’s what I saw thanks to a helmet camera.
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So worth the delay to experience this. Really need to get my bags and head to the ship. One final view of the dome I was just standing atop of.
Copenhagen decided to make an artificial peninsula to hold four cruise ships at a time. It will be interesting to see what else is build on the land here because right now it’s a spooky land of dirt.
3pm and it’s an empty terminal.
Time to set sail!