There will be no talks in the afternoon of Wednesday (August 22nd). Apart from using this time for scientific discussions, you can use this opportunity to explore Copenhagen and its surroundings. Here are a few suggestions
Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej
The Niels Bohr Institute still resides in its historic location c. 3 km NE of the conference venue. The grounds themselves, and the nearby park (Fælledparken) and lakes (Sortedams Sø) are lovely to walk around during good weather. Cafe 22, Søernes Ølbar, and numerous other establishments provide lakeside food and/or drinks, or you can dine in Fælledparken (perhaps get sandwiches from Quattro Fontane on Blegdamsvej).
We have arranged a tour of the Blegdamsvej NBI campus on Wednesday afternoon. The tour covers historical aspects of the Institute, including a visit to Niels Bohr’s office. The tour is free but does have limited space, so please be sure to sign up; we'll have a sheet available through Wednesday morning.
In order to reach the Blegdamsvej 17, it is either a 35 minute walk, or you can take bus 3A towards Nordhavn St, from H.C. Ørsteds Vej (400 m east of the conference venue). The easiest stop is Irmingersgade.
For more information on the history of NBI, see http://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/news/news13/niels-bohr-institute-named-historic-site/
Canal tours
Copenhagen has many canals and surrounded by water from all sides, and it is nice to see the city from the vantage point of the water. There are different ways to do this. One option is the “yellow boat bus” (from the ordinary bus public transportation www.movia.dk), which sails from the Little Mermaid to the Royal Library (including some other stops) and costs an ordinary bus ticket. The second is the so-called “hop-on-hop off” sightseeing bus (see http://www.stromma.dk/en/copenhagen/sightseeing/sightseeing-by-boat/hop-on-hop-off-boat/). With this one can get on and off as desired for a fixed price and enjoy a lot of sights, while there is no guide telling what you see. Finally, the third possibility is a guided canal tour, see
Biking around
Copenhagen is a great city to bike around (but be careful since there are many bikers). There are numerous places where one can rent bikes (just type “biking rental Copenhagen” in google maps and you will see them). It is hard to describe the ideal path, but some nice areas to cross are the city parts: Frederiksberg (see also the Green Path at http://www.kobenhavnergron.dk/place/den-gronne-stinorrebroruten/?lang=en), Østerbro, Islands Brygge, Christianshavn.
For more general info and inspiration on things to do in Copenhagen, see e.g. http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen-tourist
The Viking Ship Museum and Roskilde Cathedral
The Viking Ship Museum is located in Roskilde which is a 25 min. train ride from Copenhagen. The Museum is showing five original Viking ships found in Roskilde Fjord and excavated in 1962. Apart from the five Viking ships the museum has various special exhibitions related to the Viking age and a boat yard where reconstructions of various other Viking ships can be seen. For more information, follow the link http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/.
Roskilde Cathedral is on the World Heritage List and 39 of Denmark’s Kings and Queens are buried there. For more information, see http://visit.roskildedomkirke.dk/english/.
There are trains (regional or intercity trains, not S-trains) to Roskilde from the Central Station of Copenhagen every 10 minutes or so. From the station in Roskilde there is a 10 minute walk to the Cathedral and another 10 minutes walk to the Viking Ship museum.
Frederiksberg Have and Copenhagen Zoo
Frederiksberg Have is a nice park located not far from the conference site and next to Copenhagen Zoo. Special attractions of the Zoo are the Hippo pool, the polar bear pool and the elephant pool, of which the latter can actually be viewed from the park. The closest entry to Frederiksberg Have is at Frederiksberg Runddel (1 km from the conference site) and the entry of the Zoo is on Roskildevej 32 (2 km from the conference site).
Amager Strandpark/ The Blue Planet
Amager Strandpark is a beach park in the south of Copenhagen on the island of Amager. It has about 5km of beaches on the Øresund. If the weather is nice, the beach is used by people for walking, running, kayaking, surfing, swimming and other outdoor sports. Walking on the beach also offers a nice view of the Øresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden and on a reasonably clear day Sweden and Malmö can be seen. For more info see, http://www.visitcopenhagen.com/copenhagen/amager-beach-park-gdk414012
Just south of the beach lies the National Aquarium of Denmark, called the Blue Planet (Den Blå Planet). It is the largest aquarium in northern Europe. It houses a wide selection of aquaria and fish from all over the world. If you time your visit right you can see the piranhas or sharks being fed. Tickets are 170 DKK. Opening times are 10-17h on Wednesday. For more info see http://denblaaplanet.dk/en/.
Directions: For Amager Strandpark, take the metro towards Copenhagen Airport and get off at one of these stops Øresund, Amager Strandpark, Femøren. From these metro stations, the beach is only a short walk east. For The Blue Planet, you can get off at the stop Kastrup/Den Blå Planet (the stop before the airport). You can also simply walk from the beach to The Blue Planet and vice versa.
Faxe Limestone Quarry
South of Copenhagen is the village of Faxe in which the largest excavation in Denmark, Faxe Kalkbrud, lies. This is a limestone quarry which is open for visitors and it is famous for its fossilized coral, bryozoa and crabs. It is the only place in Europe where you can walk on a 63 million year old coral reef. If you are lucky you can find and see fossils yourself. There is a Geomuseum (and cinema) at the edge of the quarry. In this museum you can learn about the coral reef and the fossils and the 900 year history of the quarry. The quarry can be reached by public transport in 1 hour and 45 minutes from Nørreport station. Take the S-tog towards Køge and switch there to the train to Faxe Ladeplatz. Get off at Faxe Syd and follow the road north up the hill for about 15 minutes.
Visit Carlsberg museum
In Vesterbro, in walking distance from the conference site, there is the historic site of the Carlsberg breweries. At the “Visit Carlsberg” museum you can see the historic site of the first Carlsberg brewery from 1847 and learn about the history of Carlsberg, you can see what is “probably the world’s biggest” collection of unopened beers, you can meet the little mermaid’s sister, go to the stables, and finally also visit the Jacobsen brewery and bar - Jacobson is Carlsberg's brand of speciality beer which is fully recommended. The admission ticket includes two beers. In addition, one can buy a ticket for a beer tasting of the Jacobsen beers (at 14.00 and 16.00). General information is found here. You can buy tickets in advance here.
The “Visit Carlsberg” museum is located at the address Gamle Carlsberg Vej 11. Directions for walking from conference site is found here. A highly recommended detour in nice weather would be to go to “Frederiksberg Have”, which is a very nice public park. On the way is the ice-cream place “Frederiksberg Chokolade” which is highly recommended for their ice creams.
Louisiana museum
The Louisiana museum is a great modern art museum located in very beautiful surroundings north of Copenhagen. This is the place to go if you like modern art, or if you would like to drink coffee with a great view of Øresund. See here for information on the museum.
To go there, you go to one of the main train stations of Copenhagen, such as the Central Train Station or Nørreport Train Station. Here you can buy a combined ticket for both the admission to Louisiana as well as the train ride going there. See here for the location of Louisiana. You get off the train at Humlebæk station and walk from there to the museum. Usually you can just follow the stream of people going there. You can also eat a nice dinner in the restaurant inside Louisiana.
