Disneyfication of Tivoli Gardens

It's only natural that Tivoli Gardens, the old-fashioned amusement park located in the heart of downtown Copenhagen, would feature The Little Mermaid. The statue of H.C. Andersen's Little Mermaid is as much a part of the city as the Manneken Pis is to Brussels.

But why does The Little Mermaid in Tivoli's daily 5 p.m. parade remind me more of Bette Midler's Dolores Del Lago than Ariel?

Tivoli features all the entrapments for your dollars or kronor that any amusement park offers: thrill and kiddie rides, games of chance or skill, trinkets and souvenirs, and food for every taste and budget, including an American diner which only vaguely resembles one. But it also offers areas of respite, like this expansive corner of Tivoli across from Copenhagen's city hall (Rådhus) and its clock tower. This peaceful, pond-side retreat from the carnival features more than two dozen illuminated metal bowl foundations. I found it an enjoyable location for a respite from the crowds. But Tivoli's central plaza is a wide expansion of grass in front of the stage where live performances are offered daily. It's filled with comfortable lawn chairs and makes a great spot to take in the sun, and maybe some music, too. Illumination is a big part of Tivoli: there's nothing like colored lights to raise some excitement. I missed it, but there's a 10-minute illumination show just before closing time.

Here are a few more photos from my afternoon and early evening at Tivoli.

The menu features pastrami. Unfortunately it's served on a whole wheat baguette.

The daily parade is straight out of Disney.

Toddlers' play area; To the right is a whale of a pancake restaurant.

Comments

Newport: Memory of Childhood

To most the city of Newport, Rhode Island, is associated with the Gilded Age mansions lining Ocean Avenue and the Cliff Walk. For me it's the Awful Awful. The Awful Awful is a thick milkshake, but instead of being made from ice cream, milk and syrup, most of its dairy content comes from ice milk. It originated at Bond's, a northern New Jersey ice cream chain with an outpost in my home town, Elizabeth. It got it's name because it's "Awful Big, Awful Good". Drink three and get your name inscribed on the wall, plus a fourth for free. Two ice cream chains in New England took notice of the thick shake and bought rights to market it under the Awful Awful name anywhere but in Bond's home territory of the Garden State. But when one of them starting expanding, not being able to enter the New Jersey market was a major impediment, so they changed the name to Fribble. That's what the chain -- Friendly's -- continues to call its shake, though it...

A Canadian Thanksgiving

Once ashore in Halifax Monday I sought in vain to replenish my cigar supply, and pick up a Cuban or two to enjoy at sea. But it was Canadian Thanksgiving, and all stores selling decent stogies shut. Still, I wanted to enjoy a relaxing cigar after walking up and down the Spring Garden Road shopping district. I found as bench in the sun in front of the Halifax Memorial Library and lit up. Then I turned around to find Winston Churchill gazing upon me, undoubtedly as upset as when Yousef Karsh took away the PM's cigar to make his iconic photograph. I did my best to imitate the Churchillian scowl. A traveling companion from Glasgow thinks I nailed it. Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting account of the story behind the photo. The downtown shopping district of this city of about 400,000 was filled with people -- most of them tourists off the four cruise ships tied up a 15-minute walk away in the harbor, though some locals were taking advantage of the warm if overcast weath...

Nous Arrivons en France

The church and houses across the harbor are on L'Ile-aux-Marins. Permanent residents left after the electric cable was cut in 1963 and the government decided not to replace it. Summer homes remain. Today we arrived in France. The isles of St. Pierre et Miquelon, about 20 miles off the south coast of Newfoundland, are French territory, not a French-speaking part of Canada. The currency is the Euro. And the croissants and pastries are delicious. This overseas territory, which sends is own senator and deputy to the National Assembly in Paris, is the last toehold of France on the North America landmass. Although the fishing industry remains present, it has been in steep decline, as in neighboring Newfoundland. Local officials hope tourism, fueled by a brand new airport, will boost the economy, though the dream of offshore hydrocarbons is there, too. The passengers abroad the Fram welcomed the visit for many reasons, but chief among them was docking at a St. P...

Greenland Passage

Search This Blog