The palace itself was pretty cool. Turns out that this was the summer house for the Royal Family back in the day. Now it’s a museum/display house for all the fineries of the king et al. I saw the crown jewels, ‘the ivory collection’ (including a stunning ivory ship carved in intricate detail fit for a well, king), and the throne room (both of them). It was a stark contrast to the Forbidden City which housed China’s emperors. Where the Forbidden City was stark and cold, Rosenborg was rich and colourful. It had everything you’d expect from a BBC film about Danish kings – a castle, a drawbridge (which the king could operate from his bedroom), trees, and a souvenir gift shop selling magnets.
I was walking around the gardens, thinking how great it would have been to be the King of Denmark, or anywhere really (and how much better the world would be as a result), when there came an almighty crash from outside the gates. I assumed it for a fender bender for the lack of screaming, and carried on around the park. After spending some time hanging out with what turned out to be a gathering of drunken school kids (the legal age for buying booze in Denmark is 16), I gathered my bag and went to wait for my tour bus to see the mermaid.
There I saw the accident.
It wasn’t too bad, really. A taxi had tried to change lanes and crashed into another car, which was now on the side of the road. A few people stood outside the car, smoking, and one guy was laying back in the passenger seat holding his forehead (but also smoking). Soon enough an ambulance arrived on the scene. Well I say soon enough, but it was probably 20 minutes after the accident happened. Two paramedics got out and assessed the situation when another ambulance arrived. Those two paramedics got out and started pulling bags of things from the back of their van.
One of the paramedics from before got into the car and held the passenger’s head straight – presumably to prevent spinal damage. Then another ambulance arrived followed by a police car. A small crowd had gathered by now to watch (while I still waited for my bus), and people in their cars and bikes kept slowing down to look at what was happening. The policemen soon started directing traffic and inspecting the scene. Then a fire truck arrived, sirens blaring. They parked in the middle of the road (making traffic worse), and set up an accident zone barrier, so that people could interpret the flashing lights and collection of emergency vehicles appropriately. Then two more firetrucks arrived, and a gaggle of emergency servicemen proceeded to cut the accident victim out of his car and place him into the ambulance. This whole process took 45 minutes, during which time no tour bus arrived.
Looking at my brochure I saw that I had just missed the last tour bus, and thus my chance to see the Little Mermaid again. So I found a tower in the sky, and walked towards it.
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