Spiraling Into View

Saturday, April 3, 2010 (Part 9):

When we started this day, there was one place that Katherine kept telling me she really wanted to see. It was a church in Christianshavn called Von Freisers Kirke, and it is rather unique because it

has a gold spire around which there is an outside staircase. Visitors can climb the outside of this spire to the very top. And, of course, we expected the views to be rather fantastic.

So, from Rosenborg Slot, we hoped on the train (or subway, not sure which) and traveled under the harbor to the Christianshavn. We emerged from the train only sever

al short blocks from the church. As mentioned previously, it was beautiful day, and apparently many others had the same idea about climbing the church spire to take in the views. We had to wait in a rather slow moving line. It wasn't even a very long line, but the staircase up to the top is rather narrow most of the way up and so the foot traffic had to be carefully regulated. I think we waited 40 or more minutes for our turn, but it finally came, and we headed up.

It was a fun climb -- maybe about 350 or 400 steps to the top.

Along the way, we passed several areas where parts of the bell system, including various bells, were stored. The staircase was an incredible mix of sections. Some were rather normal in height. Others were perilously steep and/or narrow and felt like climbing a ladder. We finally got to the part where we emerged into the daylight and found ourselves on a circular staircase that hugged the outside of the spire. It was a little bit spooky. If someone was afraid of heights, I could not recommend this activity.

What was really odd about this experience was that most of the people who were making the climb were NOT going all the way to the top. We were very surprised by this. Afterall, getting to the very top was our number one goal. And we got there. Katherine was ahead of me. She was able to stand of the very top most step -- which was probably less than 12 inches wide. I was about two steps below her. There was another couple

who was a few steps below us, and we asked them to take our picture. Sadly, the gentleman must not have been familiar with my type of camera. I realized much later that although it looked as though he had taken our picture, he must not have depressed the button enough. There was no picture to be found on my camera. Boo hoo! Oh well, we'll just have to go back some day.

Meanwhile, once having made it to the top, and with no one crowding up behind us, we took our time and enjoyed the views for a few minutes. We also took a lot of pictures (of course).