Tag: language

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Bari, Italy – Ancient City Wonder – Part Two

Bari An Ancient City Wonder

In part one was an initial take on how Bari is an ancient city built on a peninsula in the Adriatic Sea on the east coast of Italy. In this second part, some of the cathedrals and museums that are interesting and available to see upon visiting are discussed.

Museums

Of course ancient Bari has its museums, most of which record activities by humans that predate the Roman Empire. In some places in Italy and the Mediterranean Sea, one might come to the conclusion, that if one could dig deep enough one would uncover the big bang as well.

The Svevo Castle

If the Bari peninsula were to be looked at like it was a triangle, then the Castello Normanno-Svevo or Norman-Swabian Castle, would occupy the entire lower left hand angle. It is a huge building that occupies a considerable amount of real estate on that side of the old city.

Surrounded by a moat that is currently grown in, the exterior appears well kept in spots, but requiring considerable work in other places.

The Swabian Castle Museum

The museum does not contain many artifacts per se, but it does have a very good multi-media presentation and displays in some of the larger spaces.

Churches and Cathedrals

Cathedral Of Bari

The Cathedral of Bari was built mostly in the last thirty years of the twelfth century. It was built on top of the destroyed Byzantine church that used to stand, as well as older Roman ruins.

The interior is rather majestic for an ancient Catholic church and owes much to the simplicity of its architecture.

The Crypt

The church, architect and builders ensured that below this amazing edifice would be a crypt. The crypt preserves the remains of Saint Sabinus in the main altar, but there are other notable sarcophagi as well.

The Archaeological Ruins

Alongside and even below the crypt are some amazing archaeological ruins that extend all the way back to the third century. This includes some incredible mosaics, frescos and even a partial roman road, where one can even see the remains of where the wagon wheels once traveled.

The Church Museum

Finally there is a small museum showing old church vestments and other relics. Not particularly of much interest, so if you wish to skip this part you probably can without much guilt.

Though having said that, the most interesting thing I though they had were a set of old hymnal parchment rolls.

Restaurants

Ciclatera

Ciclatera, under the sea is a great spot to stop for a drink or to have a small bite to eat. Located on the Lungomare right after the Fort of San Antonio, this little cafe or restaurant has a great bar and food menu. We only stopped for a drink, but what we could see of the menu, the prices seemed pretty reasonable.

Piccinni 28

Located one block over in Murat from the old city on via Niccola Piccinni, is Piccinni 28 Italian restaurant. It appears to be a favorite for locals, since we saw numerous work groups come in and have lunch.

They offer pizza and a typical Italian menu with some Apulian twists to it. For us, it was trying something new, so we of course picked the Spaghetti All’Assassina, or assassin’s spaghetti, an overcooked spicy dish with ragu that is rather tasty.

That along with a fine glass of wine and an Insalata Mista on top makes for a great lunch, enjoy!

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Bari, Italy – Ancient City Wonder – Part One

Bari An Ancient City Wonder

Bari is an ancient city built on a peninsula in the Adriatic Sea on the east coast of Italy. It is part of the Apulia region of that country and for many centuries considered part of Southern Italy, which until early twentieth century was considered distinct from the Northern Italy.

The Italians here speak their own language, which is distinct from Italian and descended from the Neapolitan Dialect called the Barese Dialect. The differences here are also reflected in the food, pasta and other cultural areas.

The city itself has four distinct areas or sections, the old ancient part of the city is located on the peninsula. The train station is located in Murat, which may be considered the business section of the city.

Getting There

Since we are located in Northern Italian city of Turin, there are two options for us to get there, either the Turin or Milan airport. Since RyanAir has service to many small cities in Italy, Turin being one of them, they were the right choice for us. They provide a direct non-stop flight from Turin to Bari which only takes an hour and a half. It’s not cheap, but on the reasonable side. Even in January, with two flights a day, the plan was almost full.

Once we landed there were several options to get from the airport to the city. Train, bus, taxi and rent-a-car. When we can, we always prefer and ride the train. We just find it more relaxing and trouble free, but that of course depends on the country and the railroad that is available.

Apulia has its own train system, separate from TrennItalia, so we purchased tickets at the desk before entering the train station (I figure, I can always install the phone application later for any return business). The trip from Bari Airport to Bari Centrale (C.le) takes about thirty minutes with about four of five stops in between.

Where We Stayed

Frankly, I no longer care for BnBs and will take a hotel over them any day. However, given the opportunity to check other Bed and Breakfast places, outside the crap these applications serve up, we will book our stays with them, provided we have thoroughly checked them out ahead of time using other people’s recommendations as our source material.

Murex B&B

Murex B&B is a very nice modern Bed & Breakfast in the heart of the ancient city of Bari. The owners are young, attentive and respectful of our needs. The amenities that are provided are sufficient and plentiful. Our room came with breakfast each morning and other treats, that would not normally be provided at some hotels and definitely not at those other places.

One word of caution however, the staircase to enter is rather steep. So, if you require assistance with your luggage, you should ask. The owners are more than obliging to any requests and will carry it up and down for you.

Our room was La Città, it was spacious, well lit and warm. The bed was firm with a cushion top and it definitely helped me nod off.

Basilica Pontificia San Nicola

The Basilica Pontificia San Nicola was built in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries and consists of a basic architecture of a nave with neighboring aisles.

The ceiling and interior has a rarity to it, that only an ancient church can provide. The roof is made of wood and is occluded by arches buttressing the sides together, few if any at right angles to each other, giving the entire interior a rather haphazard look.

 

The Crypt

Here you can find the tomb of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of Christmas. The crypt is a beautiful room with myriad arches all of which are adorned with unique capitols.

Restaurants

Our first day here we only had time for one meal. Since we ate rather late in the afternoon, around three o’clock, we simply weren’t hungry enough for dinner later that evening.

Matiti Pasta Bistrot

This bistrot did not get very good ratings online, however we found both the food and service adequate for lunch. I ordered a glass of red Primitivo wine from the area which was just delicious, and a 5€ glass, it didn’t hurt my wallet either.

We kept things simple with a Caprese Salad, an Insalata Mista and later some pasta. After that I had an espresso and a sambuca. The total came to 62€ for two people, with two glasses of wine and coperto.

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München, Germany – Family Get-Away

After spending a week in Frankfurt, we decided to spend some time in München, or Munich, Germany. The most affective way to do this from Frankfurt is by train, particularly the ICE DB service. In three hours and some odd number of minutes, you can travel between the two main train stations in comfort.

ICE Train to Munich – Storm Front – München, Germany

With most of the family here, we were seven and traveling by train such a short distance just made the most sense, since our daughter and son-in-law had our grandson along. This gave him some added room to walk around an annoy other people instead of just us, breaking up the monotony of the journey. Not really, but it did provide him enough space to get the wiggles out, as opposed to other modes of transport, like an airplane or automobile.

München

The largest city in Bayern, or Bavaria, Munich is a large, bustling city completely accustomed to tourists and tourism. If you are a mono-lingual English speaker, you will find no problem getting around in Munich, most of the residence and restaurant staff speak fluent English.

Marianplatz

The largest and most central of the squares or piazzas in Munich is the Marianplatz. It is most likely your U- or S-Bahn destination from the Hauptbahnhof and the energetic core of the tourism industry.

The Marianplatz is girdled with high-end shopping, caffes and tourism shops. It also has many historical monuments and fountains, as well as churches and other places of interest.

Neues Rathaus and Glockenspiel

Most people will likely concentrate on the Old City, Marianplatz where the Glockenspiel plays it’s tune everyday at eleven and twelve o’clock (sometimes at seventeen o’clock in the winter).

It plays a rather long ditty that includes the operation of the top and then the bottom carousel of automatons.

Altstadt-Lehel

This region of München lies just to the north of the old city, or Altstadt. Here is where you will find the palaces, gardens and other grand accoutrements of the city.

English Gardens

A large garden located to the north of the main part of the city, it is a very nice place to visit on a sunny day. A large city park with many different things to see and experience, it even has a place that people go to surf, if one can believe such a thing can exist away from the coast in a city.

Eisbachwelle

Just on the south east end of the gardens you will discover the river Eisbach and the Eisbachwelle. This is a fast moving stream that has been conveniently modified through the use of carefully placed stones into a haven for surf-boarders. It’s amazing to stop for a bit just to see their skill and how they are able to throw their boards in and hop on in all but an instant, truly remarkable.

Maximiliansanlagen and the Isar

Another great place for a stroll is Maximilian’s garden. A very well kept park which stretches along the Isar and the Isarinsel or island that provides a cool contemplative place for de-stressing and an escape from the warm summer midday.

Here you will find the Friedensengel monument and several other interesting points of interest. The two bridges that bound it, the Luitpoldbrücke and the Maximiliansbrücke provide pedestrian friendly points of entry.

Of note are the Große Kascaden, or Great Cascades, a series of weirs and fish ladders that provide a series of small waterfalls. The Wehr WKW-Praterkraftwerk, or power station, is built into the structure to provide electric power to the city. Through thoughtful design of constructing flood control they have provided electricity as well.

Restaurants

We spent time at the following restaurants. Some are must see, even though the food will not be up to expectations. We found the smaller establishments to be better, especially the service and cleanliness.

Hofbräuhaus

Well, perhaps the largest and most well-known beerhall in München, the Munich Hofbräuhaus is as large and as busy as it will get in a place to eat. They have a gift shop to match your expectations for a large one liter glass.

The band was great and our food was okay. Service is always going to be a problem at such a large establishment, that’s why I prefer the smaller places.

However, if you can overlook the local fauna, an interesting place to eat and drink. I have found a lack of service usually indicates a lack of cleanliness; if they cannot serve you, they cannot clean properly either – just a thought. In any case, one of the go-to places and a must see. Have a drink and if the fauna bother you, avoid the rest of the menu.

Der Pschorr

Another very good place for German food, perhaps the best that we had while in Munich. The service was very good as well, they kind of went out of their way to welcome families with children. You will find the place open and inviting with a good menu and food. Jett, Meagan and Jason’s baby ate for free, something not seen too often today.

Burg Pappenheim

One of Dana’s picks and an attempt to find that authentic German restaurant look and feel. It was really close, we found only one waiter that spoke English here, the others spoke German for the most part, though I was confident they could completely understand English.

Augustiner am Platzl

Overall a good place for German food. The service is better and the staff seems more attentive to customer needs. The food is also better, both tastier and presentation-wise. They can also accommodate larger families without the squeeze. There is however no band, so if you are looking for the Umpa-band look and feel, you will not find it here.

The food and service were very good and the atmosphere a mix of old and new Bavaria. This restaurant is a bit out of the way and a bit of a walk from the city center, but worth the visit.

Zum Dürnbräu

Here we had a pleasant meal outside not far from our hotel, even though the weather was a bit questionable with rain possible. The service was a bit slow, but the food was good and we had a very good time. The sauerbraten was first rate and I got to try the Apfelküchle, or fried apple rings with cinnamon and light sugar, which I found delightful.

Tavernetta Cucina con Pizza

After some time German food creates issues that only Italian food can cure. When you come to this Rubicon, you can cross by considering a place like Tavernetta, where you can enjoy some Italian food. They have a good menu, good service and the prices are not astronomical.

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Mainz and Frankfurt, Germany – Revisiting old places

Not having an abundance of time, we decided to stay somewhat local a few times and visit Mainz and Frankfurt, both of which are but a stone’s throw away from Offenbach. Since we have been to both several times, we wanted to show other family members these two cities and will post mostly photographs without a lot of text.

Mainz

Restaurants

While in Mainz, we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants, or in this case a Wine house (Weinhaus), that our friends Karl Heinz and Isolde Seegräber introduced us to in the course of one of our earlier visits.

Hof Ehrenfels Weinstube

Frankfurt

In Frankfurt all we did was a Stadtbummel around the city and just wandered around.

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Gelnhausen, Germany – a weekend train destination

With a cohort of eight, we found it impossible with only one car to make a day trip on the weekend of August the 17th, so we took the Regional Train direct from Offenbach Hauptbahnhof (Hbf). In 25 mintues with the RE51 you can be in Gelnhausen, or with the RB51 slightly longer; both operate often and at regular intervals.

Gelnhausen

An unusual destination for non-Germans, Gelnhausen does not offer much but a change of scenery, a lazy stroll in the park and perhaps different opportunities to eat.

The town is separated into lower and upper market places, or Unter- and Obermarkt, both of which act as parking lots for locals and visitors alike. Since we took the train, the entry to the town was over the Kinzig river and through the Ziegelturm.

Walking the narrow streets of Gelnhausen the visitor will notice numerous timber houses with sayings on them. In many towns, this is an old practice which has been used probably for centuries, either to provide some humor or commentary on the events of the time.

On the other end of town, after the Obermarkt you can wander through the Holzgasse Tower to find the old town wall. Here you will enjoy a very nice park with an overlook of the town and surrounding area.

Not far from the entrance is a memorial to the fallen soldiers of the town from the two world wars.

The town also has a few other monuments or fountains worth visiting.

Restaurants

There are many restaurants in this small town, though few were open. However, from what we could tell, there would be many cuisines to choose from had the other restaurants been open.

Malamatina’s Greek Restaurant

Off the beaten path and not far from the Obermarkt, is Malamatina’s Greek restaurant. Though the sign says, Greek and German food, we didn’t see much in the way of German food on the menu..

The house wine was of a Greek varietal that I, personally have never tried, but found very interesting, served under their own label.

The food was traditional Greek, offering Gyros, Slavaki and salads.

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Budapest, Hungary – Odds And Ends

Here are some final thoughts on Budapest, that would not fit in the previous articles.

Budapest Sightseeing

Normally were are not ones for taking sightseeing ventures of most any kind, unless it is very personal and involves a tour guide with a smaller group. However, sometimes you feel you have to try something new, oh well.

Legenda River Cruise

We took this river cruise on other recommendations but were a bit disappointed. Here’s why we would not recommend them:

    • We felt that though the cruise did show you the city at night, the tour was essentially something you could watch at home on TV, in fact, you actually do watch it on TV on the boat as it cruises, while listening in your headset.
    • The video and tour were often out of sync, so you could not actually see what they were talking about, boring and unprofessional.
    • The front is rather closed in and uncomfortable. In the summer the boat has to be adapted to warmer weather, like the rear of the boat.
    • The waitress tries to remember your free-drink offer and terribly forgets. Multiple times. I wouldn’t mind so much, but some of us didn’t even receive our drinks. So don’t buy the “free drinks” bullshit line!

Aside from the above, here are some photographs.

The Metro

Budapest has a pretty good metro. Though not terribly extensive, it does not go to the airport, it does however cover a pretty good portion of the city. Each entry point is marked with a stylized ‘M’ and you will have to pay attention to the direction of travel, the end-point or terminal station. Direction of travel on most signs is noted, as well as all of the stops made by the line.

The M1 Metro Line

Clearly the oldest and the noisiest for sure. Luckily this line runs up the old Andrássy ut avenue and fairly close to where our hotel was situated; so we were able to take this line a number of times.

The Remainder of Budapest

Here are some left over photographs from our visit to Budapest.

Restaurants

Here are numerous restaurants, most of which we really liked.

Spinoza Cafe

The Spinoza Cafe was a lark, since we were just walking away from the Jewish quarter back to the hotel. It has a viable menu with very good service.

It was a bit warm outside, but we ordered something light and made the best of it.

Bestia Restaurant

A fairly good restaurant downtown that has plenty of outside seating. We did make reservations for this one, but not sure they were actually needed. However, making them ahead of time will never hurt.

Mazel Tov Restaurant

I have to say I was very surprised and delighted with Mazel Tov. Not only do they have a very good venue, restaurant saying, they also have very good food.

I ordered the soup and pastrami sandwich and was pleasantly surprised by the taste and texture, they really know how to slice pastrami, nano-thin.

 

Mystery Hotel Restaurant

The Mystery Hotel has a very good view of Budapest, for those wishing such a thing. We availed ourselves of an evening of drinks here, after a long day of sightseeing and museum visiting. Unfortunately while we were there, they had a music mixer that was definitely one-dimensional, playing the same bum-bum-bum crap that belongs more in a club venue, than a restaurant.

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Budapest, Hungary – Royal Buda

Buda – Where The Royal Life Was

Budapest is split into two parts by the Danube River. As a natural obstacle, it offered some amount of protection, or defense, against enemies or in some cases, the population. Buda is such a place. It is where the royal families of Hungary chose to build their fine castle.

Buda Castle Hill

Buda Castle Hill is mostly wooded and covers only about a third of the entire city of Budapest. Its most prominent feature is the Castle Hill, where the Buda Castle and the Church of Matthias stand.

On top of this hill sits the Buda Castle and most royal buildings. It has a very good view of the valley below and Pest on the other side.

The Underhill Hospital Museum

One of the more interesting curiosities on the hill is the Underhill Hospital. A short walk from the Budapest-Déli M2 stop through the Vérmezö Park will get you there, that is, after climbing a few sets of stairs, it is on a hill.

Unfortunately, you cannot take photographs inside, so inside will have to remain a mystery until one visits. However, a bit of history may peek one’s interest. It started as a system of caves dug out from the hill for storage and then protection. Later, it was confiscated and repurposed as a hospital during the wars. It was also used as an air-raid shelter and later efforts were made to make it into a hospital which could take patients in the event of a nuclear war. Though noble, it will become quite clear to anyone who visits that the approach, space and logistics were oversimplified and in the end – unpractical.

The Matthias Church

One can not help point out the Matthias Church [1]also known as The Church of the Assumption of Buda Castle when they reach the top of the hill. With its one tower and beautifully shiny tiles, it does not show its true age. It actually has a remarkable history which actually makes it tightly woven with all Hungarian history. Two kings had their coronation there and it has had many names in the past and has been rebuilt and reconstructed many times. Definitely worth a visit.

Széchenyi Chain Bridge

The two sides of Budapest were not formerly brought together by bridge until 1849, when the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. It is probably one of the most remarkable features of the city, just because it is so different. Happily, the Hungarians had the prescience to rebuild it after the war exactly they way it was before, preserving it character and that of the city. A walk over this bridge is actually worth the time.

Restaurants

We only ate at one restaurant on the Buda side, since there were only a couple points of interest for us on east side of the river.

Arany Hordo Cafe

The Arany Hordo Cafe might be called the Gold Barrel Restaurant on you map application, not sure why.

It is a small cafe on the corner of Tárnok utca and Anná utca on Buda Castle Hill, not far from the Matthias Church. It has nice open air seating, if you can get a table. The food is decent, as well as the service and the prices are reasonable considering the area.

We stuck to simple fare for lunch and enjoyed it immensely.

References

References
↑1 also known as The Church of the Assumption of Buda Castle
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Budapest, Hungary – Lively Pest

Pest – Where The Real Life Is

Budapest is a very clean city, with a strange, almost quiescent nature to it. For the most part there is a noticeable absence of police, yet there appears to be very little crime, or at least the appearance of no crime, unlike other countries like Italy or France, where the authorities parade around with weapons and make their presence known.

The Pest side of Budapest has most, if not all, of the hotels and many of the restaurants. It has monuments on every corner and more history than you probably want to consume. Both sides are very active, but the Pest side is the side where all the boats dock, like Viking River Cruises and others, so it can get quite busy after ten o’clock in the morning.

Though beautiful, after a while you realize, like so many other cities in Europe, it’s all about the facade. It’s all brick underneath, mortar and stone.

Parliament Tour

For anyone visiting Budapest, the Parliament on the Pest side is an attraction that must be seen. However, be careful when purchasing tickets! There are a few official looking websites out there that purchase them for you at double the price. Check and double check your search engine and map application to ensure you have the official website. It will be quite obvious if you do, since you will receive your tickets immediately, instead of waiting for them to „appear“ in your mailbox.

Looking at the front of the building from the land side, you enter from the right and below ground. There are also some interesting monuments before you enter worth seeing, so keep your eyes open for them.

The tour is rather long but very thorough. We were even able to catch a glimpse of their unicameral legislature in-session! We were actually quite impressed with the thoroughness and professionalism of the tour. Though we thought they spoke at length, perhaps too long, about the crown jewels, which of course you were unable to photograph.

Restaurants

Here are a few more restaurants we visited in Budapest, one of which I wish I never went to due to social media idiots.

New York Cafe

There is a term in America and it is quite apropos here, „lipstick on a pig“. My thoughts regarding this cafe were that it was totally over-priced for the quality of food and service received, though the interior was quite impressive

In fact, that can be considered one of the downsides to this cafe; there were so many people mulling around and taking photographs, it was actually quite annoying at times. Especially in this day of social media, where everyone has to take the so called infamous and narcissistic „selfie“ or „influencer“ pose. It makes a person like me almost puke at times.

The food was sub-par for such a restaurant; we had the Pasta Pomodoro and thought although the pasta was done properly, the sauce tasted of nothing. The wine on the other hand was satisfactory in taste, but way over-priced at 50€/bottle. It wouldn’t have been so bad, except the service was just not so great.

Pick Bistro Deli

This little bistro, on Kossuth Lajos tér, is not far from the Parliament building and a great place to stop for lunch after your exhaustive tour.

They have many great Hungarian lunch items to choose from and the staff and service were excellent for us. They also have plenty of open-air seating, which during a warm day makes the visit all that much more enjoyable.

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Budapest, Hungary – First Thoughts

Before leaving Linz for Budapest, we had to get a bite to eat. What better place is there than a Jindrak Konditorei? There appear to be satellite pastry shops of this company all over the city, including very close to our hotel.

Shortly afterwards, we were on the road for a four hour drive into Hungary. In about two hours we left Austria for Hungary and the Budapest signs started appearing quite regularly.

Budapest

Entering any city, anywhere at rush hour, is normally not a good idea, but we hardly had a choice. In any event, it went rather smoothly considering the bridges from Buda into Pest and all of the one-way streets. Soon we were at our destination, the Mystery Hotel.

The Hungarian people are extremely nice and most speak very good English. So, there shouldn’t be any issues in the immediate area.

Not far from our hotel is Liberty Square; this is where the American Embassy is located. Here you will find monuments, statues and buildings of interest.

At the entrance of this square is also an eternal flame memorial.

Saint Stephen’s Basilica

Not far from our hotel is the Basilica of Saint Stephen. Though we did not enter it, if only from church exhaustion, the outside is rather impressive and very nice to see, especially in the evening.

Hotels

There are many hotels to choose from in Budapest. We chose one that would be close to things, but not to far out from the center that you could not get to it by a tram or metro, as well as reasonably priced parking. The Mystery Hotel fits that bill nicely and is decently priced such that it should not break your bank.

Mystery Hotel

For people interested in driving or taking the train, the Mystery Hotel offers a great five star option close to the main railroad station with valet parking. It is also a few blocks away from the oldest Metro line in the city, the M1.

Since the hotel occupies an old renovated building not initially intended for occupation, the rooms are interestingly configured inside. Some even have lofts, so stay flexible, since they are well maintained and well appointed.

Restaurants

As the capitol of Hungary and at a very busy intersection of Europe, Budapest has a huge selection of all kinds of different cuisines, especially Hungarian.

Retek Bisztro

Rather pricey and on the high-end of restaurants is the Retek Bisztro. It is located not far from the basilica and in downtown Budapest. It is a very busy place, so make reservations before you leave on your trip, since it fills up fast.

The restaurants offers most authentic Hungarian cuisine, from Hungarian Goulash to Hungarian meatballs. You will notice that most of my photographs came out a bit orange, since there was a red lamp very near our table.

Along with a bottle of wine, the entire bill for four people and drinks came to 220€.

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Copenhagen, Denmark – The City and More

Below are some final meanderings about the city, several other places that we ate and a few places that we saw, that just didn’t fit in any of the former entries.

Copenhagen

Some final thoughts on the city and its location. The weather when we were here was borderline terrible. So if you plan on visiting, you should check the extended forecast prior to packing. It was August and we dealt with temperatures in the 50-60°F range with rain. After the first few days, we just had to ask someone if this what the weather is always like. We were told that the weather is extremely variable and they have even seen snow in the middle of summer! Again, be prepared. We packed both long and short pants and shirts, along with raincoats and glad we did; but only because we knew the forecast had low temperatures and rain.

Our Canal Tour

Touring a city such as Copenhagen, which has plenty of canals and waterways, would not be complete without a canal or boat tour. There are plenty to choose from and you can visit the Information Center to find our more or the city’s website. Make sure you prepare properly for the weather, few boats on the canal tours are covered and those only leave at certain times of the day, so plan accordingly, they do go in the rain.

They also go in extraordinary high tides as well. Our tour was modified because the tides had come in extra high, leaving little space under the bridges. Therefore, we could not go down some canals and I think our tour ended up a bit longer that it probably should have been.

Trinitatis Kirke

Trinitatis Kirke, or Trinitatis church, is a church built in the seventeenth century that is connected to The Round Tower. It was initially built to support the university, since it was part of the overall Trinitatis Complex. The Library Hall, which is built over one of the church’s naves dictated the size of the church when it was originally constructed. In any event, the church has a baroque look and feel to it which may be of interest to some and the organ is certainly something you should see.

The Round Tower

The Round Tower is actually an odd building for several reasons. At first I thought it was a shot tower, where they used to make gunshot or ball bearings. It just did not make any sense to me to build such a structure with a central column and a ramp for horses, unless it had some manufacturing purpose. Moreover, the rebus on the building has been loosely interpreted as Lead, God and The Correct Teaching; which also initially reinforced my belief that it had some military purpose; the telescope and Library Hall being repurposed after other ways to make ammunition came into vogue.

I surprised to find the edifice was built with a ramp inside so that the horses where able to bring the heavy equipment up the tower for the telescope installation. The central column was later intentionally used as a toilet by the staff who found it arduous to walk down the ramp to go to the bathroom.

The telescope installation was built on top of the tower some time after that was completed. The Library Hall was initially used as a library and has now been repurposed as an Art Exhibition hall.

There are also a few astronomical oddities to see, if you look up while you are waiting for the light to change to ascend to the observation lookout. They are a map of the solar system and a zodiac timepiece.

Restaurants

Some last insights into food and some places to go or avoid.

Nebbiolo

Essentially a wine bar serving Aperitivo, or charcuterie and other small items to eat while you enjoy their wine. Since we were not particularly hungry one evening, we tried this place which happened to be right next door to the Chinese restaurant we visited.

Dong Yuan

A very good Chinese restaurant right around the corner from our hotel. The place is always busy, but it does take reservations. The prices are reasonable, considering the prices in the rest of Copenhagen. They also have half-bottles of wine at a very good price, I would commend a Bordeaux.

Taste

A lunch establishment with very limited seating, so show up early if you want one. We sat inside, since the weather was intolerable and the outside seating had little, if any cover. The food is good, but a bit oily. The grilled sandwich I ordered could not be picked up, so I had to cut it into pieces using a knife and fork.

Bistro Verde

This was a quick find before we left Copenhagen for Turin. This restaurant offers a Sunday Brunch at a decent price, the only problem was, it was a vegan dish. So we just ordered a pair of normal cappuccinos and croissants and enjoyed the beautiful Sunday morning before leaving.