Nyhavn and Amalienborg: the postcard and the working palace
Nyhavn's painted townhouses, the changing of the guard, and the dome at the end of the axis. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Kongens Nytorv
The metro at the eastern end of *Strøget*; M1/M2/M3/M4 all stop here. *Nyhavn* opens immediately to the north — you'll see the masts before you see the water.

2. Nyhavn
The seventeenth-century canal Christian V dug between 1670 and 1673, using Swedish prisoners of war. The painted northern townhouses are the postcard; Hans Christian Andersen lived on the southern side at numbers 20, 67 and 18 across his life. Walk end-to-end; restaurants get pricey, the walk is free.

3. Amalienborg Slotsplads
The octagonal courtyard between the four identical Rococo palaces Nicolai Eigtved built mid-18th c. for noble families, taken over by the royal family in 1794 after *Christiansborg* burned. *Den Kongelige Livgarde* — the Royal Life Guards — change at noon. Arrive by 11:50 for a clear view from the railing.

4. Frederik's Church (Marmorkirken)
The Marble Church. Frederik V laid the cornerstone in 1749; funding collapsed and the dome wasn't finished until 1894. The largest church dome in Scandinavia. Free to enter outside services; the rotunda is the spectacle, the marble itself is mostly limestone in the lower courses.

5. Bredgade
The wide street parallel to *Amaliegade*, eighteenth-c noble palaces all the way down — many now embassies or institutional offices (the Russian Embassy compound, the Medical Society building, the *Designmuseum Danmark* in the old Frederiks Hospital). Walk slowly; the buildings are the destinations.

6. Back to Kongens Nytorv
*Bredgade* lands you back at the square. Cityringen metro for the next walk, or sit at one of the cafés for lunch — *Café à Porta* on the south side has been doing the same since the 1790s.

Nyhavn and Amalienborg: the postcard and the working palace