Woot! How time flies soooo fast! Today, I celebrate my 414th day, or 25th month and 18th day, living in the Land of the Vikings! Hurrah! I can still recall the excitement I had when I stepped out of the airport in Copenhagen. It felt like my body all the warmth in my body was drained. It was still late winter, early spring that time. 😉

So, how did I spend my first weekend in Denmark?

Carlsberg Byen or Carlsberg City is located in the border of Valby and  Vesterbro in Copenhagen, the capital city. It was the first place I visited after I moved to Denmark. I had no idea who or what Carlsberg was (I don’t drink), well, until my first weekend. My aunt invited me to stay with her, and she used to stay in an apartment really near to Carlsberg. I took the bus, then the train from Køge to Enghave station.

My aunt and I didn’t waste much time and took a stroll around the area. Carlsberg Byen was founded in 1847 and since then, served as the headquarters of the Carlsberg Brewery built by JC Jacobsen.

Let me walk you around Carlsberg:

The background of the picture below shows the Dipylon or Double Gate which serves as the entrance to the Carlsberg district from the Vesterbro side.

One of the famous landmarks of Carlsberg Byen is the Elephant Gate. It was built in 1901 on the island of Bornholm by Architect Vilhelm Dahlerup.

The guy below, JC Jacobsen, is the founder of Carlsberg Brewery. His brewery is one of the four leading brewers in the world today. I am now in front of the prestigious Carlsberg Laboratory.

JC Jacobsen named the brewery after his son, Carl, and the German word for mountain, ‘berg’, as he was a fan of Bavarian beer. Carl later built his own brewery, which accounts for the city’s Old Carlsberg and New Carlsberg. According to sources, the relationship between the two wasn’t good all those times. It is said that they would often argue on the quality of the beer they make. But I find the topic of their argument rather amusing. And the fact that JC Jacobsen named his brewery after his son meant that he was rather a sweet father. 😉

So if the Ny (New) Carlsberg has the Elephant Gate, the Gamle (Old) Carlsberg has the Lime Tower Lighthouse built in 1883.

Even though the father and son didn’t have a good relationship, i.e., according to online sources, the two breweries would eventually merge into one after JC Jacobsen’s death.

Other interesting things to see in this 30-hectare district are: the Carlsberg Museum, JC Jacobsen House, and Carlsberg Academy, AND historic gardens. It was very pleasant and safe to walk around the industrial site.

Awesome snow slowly melting on the streets….

I hope you enjoy my first post about Denmark, (a) Land of the Vikings! Cheers!