(Carl's wife Ottilia is now commemorated by the hip and happening hotel!)
*****
As I walked around Copenhagen the next few days with visions of trapped elephants and dusty elephant statues in my head, I encountered a variety of elephant imagery in random spots...
swimming in an underwater scene painted on a hoarding in the construction zone of the brewery district...
as a coveted door-knocker on the door of a modest rowhouse on an Osterbro street...
holding up the ends of a carved ornamental garland below an elegant stone window frame on a building near Amalienborg...
even worked into an Escher-like design on a man-hole cover, and this was spotted right outside the gates of the Danish Designmuseum!
*****
As I became curiouser and curiouser about this state of elefancentricity in a place where it was never a natural habitat for elephants, I found out that there exists a royal Order of the Elephant dating back to the 15th century that is "Denmark's oldest and most distinguished royal order of chivalry"
http://kongehuset.dk/en/menu/news/the-history-behind-the-order-of-the-elephant
Which explains somewhat the appreciation and affinity that the Danes have for this most immense and powerful and stoic of creatures...
but never too powerful even for a little dog to relieve itself upon!