Few things can literally brighten up the holiday season more than thousands of bulbs twinkling away to emulate that mystical star in the east, heralding the arrival of the Savior. Or for the less secular among us, one awesome light show.
Either way, Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens, which has been Denmark's best known horticultural attraction since 1843, is equally known for going full-throttle when it comes to illuminating its foliage in full Yuletide splendor.
By now, the Tivoli crew are old hands at putting on this display dubbed Christmas in Tivoli, seeing that it's an event they've hosted the past 25 years.
3 Yuletide Splendor
That expertise includes assembling installations involving some 70,000 lights, which over time has progressed from those cumbersome incandescent bulbs to the more modern, energy-efficient LED fixtures shining the surroundings. They'll be adorning a thousand Christmas trees among other structures on the premises.
2 Swarovski Crystals
This year's version of Christmas in Tivoli will see the organization teaming up with crystal product manufacturer Swarovski, which has been providing their sparkling output to the giant coniferous tree outside New York's Rockefeller Center since 1991. At Tivoli, Swarovski plans to unveil a tree featuring more than 3,000 of its crystals, worth nearly $150,000 US.
The Swarovski tree is one of several attractions to catch at Tivoli. Additional reasons to visit the gardens include a tour of the Honey Cake Castle, where a few enterprising builders from Santa's Workshop bake the succulent pastry among other sweets in front of onlookers. Other goodies will also be provided by roughly 60 vendors at the Christmas Market, where consumers can check out and purchase an assortment of gift items, snacks and beverages.
1 Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
Further into the tour is Tivoli Lake, which will get the full effects treatment with what promises to be a dazzling light show and special effects augmented by the sounds of Tchaikovsky's classic work "The Nutcracker." The final stop on the Tivoli tour is a visit to Santa Claus himself, doing his annual meet and greet, as he assesses his naughty and nice lists.
For those wanting to get into the spirit of the Copenhagen affair, Christmas in Tivoli runs until Jan. 5 from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. local time.