European Railroad Discussion > Train-themed Christmas in Tivoli Gardens

Merry Christmas to my TO friends and acquaintances. I am a certified professional-grade humbug, generally decrying the retail orgy that surrounds the holidays. (Ten years in retail in high school and college probaby did that.) So when I first suggested that our European trip this year center around some of the Christmas markets, I imagine it was a bit of a shock to my poor wife. But it worked out fantastically. By chance, we were in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the opening of the Christmas displays at Tivoli Gardens, one of Europe's largest amusement parks. I am not sure if it is a yearly theme, or if we were fortunate enough to pick the right year on accident, but the theme for 2019 was titled "Trainsbury" with two rather convincingly iron looking steam engine replicas carrying trams that contained some of the shops and food vendors, on either side of a building that had been purposed as the central depot, complete with the park's main Christmas Tree on top.

The main fountain area had been repurposed to contain another large Christmas Tree, and a fairly sizeable eight track loop G scale model railroad. Tivoli Gardens was actually built well before Copenhagen Central Station, which is right across the street. But the railroad theme was a pleasant surprise. More photos will follow!

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One of the features of the evening was the official lighting of the Christmas tree atop the station. That event was preceded by a lot of pomp and circumstance, including performaces by several Danish pop stars and celebrities, and the famous Tivoli Youth Guard. The entire park was awash in lights, and one of the centerpiece attractions, near the main palace area, was a glittering Swarovski crystal-decorated tree, surrounded by lights, and oggling fans. While we waited for the lighting of the tree, we walked around, shared some cups of hot, mulled Glugwine, and generally soaked in the sights.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/25/19 22:20 by F7sForever.

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We spent the better part of the evening there, and had a fantastic time. This one was honestly on my wife, as I didn't do a whole lot of research. And it just worked out amazingly. It was a memorable day, which was what it was supposed to be. I may have mentioned that my wife has some health issues. Five years before the day of our visit, she was given a year to live. So that particular day is a family holiday, and Tivoli was the first stop on a full day of celebration that included a show at the Royal Danish Opera and an amazing impromptu dinner at an italian restaurant in Christianshavn.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you and yours. I hope that the day is a memorable one, and a good introduction to the year to come. And thanks for reading these drawn out rants from our trip last month.

Jody



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/25/19 11:12 by F7sForever.

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WOW- what a wonderful place to visit-!  Hope your family is well this Holiday.  Appreciated all your European images-!

I'm glad you and especially your wife had a great time -- she deserves to be spoiled !   Hopefully one of the band / concert presentations was Lumbye's Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop, written in1847 to help celebrate the opening of the railway there.  It appears that the mock station building in your photo is a reduced size version of K. Central's predecessor, which was also located next to Tivoli, but on the northwest side, across Vesterbrogade.

With best regards,

SZ

As usual sir WOW !!!
Thank you for sharing and happy you had a great time over there !!! :):):)

Steinzeit2 Wrote:
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> I'm glad you and especially your wife had a great
> time -- she deserves to be spoiled !   Hopefully
> one of the band / concert presentations was
> Lumbye's Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop, written
> in1847 to help celebrate the opening of the
> railway there.  It appears that the mock station
> building in your photo is a reduced size version
> of K. Central's predecessor, which was also
> located next to Tivoli, but on the northwest side,
> across Vesterbrogade.
>
> With best regards,
>
> SZ

Thank you. If they played that particular piece, I had no idea. Europe is still equal parts fascination and sensory overload, and I love it. I tried to find information on the layout of the area, but didn't really fully understand what I was reading at the time, and haven't been able to find the website since I got back to the US. What you say makes sense though; I recall reading that it was the original station for the area; would make sense that I missed "modeled after". I do know this: I was absolutely smitten with Denmark, and am looking forward to going back. And it really whet my appetite to explore further into the Nordic countries in the future. Nicest people I met on the trip, AND the best coffee. Lots of selling points up there.

Thanks for your kind words. 

Hmmm....That isn't a bad replica of a DSB F class -- photo [ cropped enlargement ]  taken in Copenhagen mpd cold line in 1966.

Best, SZ

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