Exploring Copenhagen

Jan 4th-
Happy Birthday Mom!
I woke up Sunday with a mission: explore Copenhagen. To make sure I didn't stand out like a dorky tourist, I loaded up my backpack, grabbed some bottled water, collected all my maps, put on a ski jacket and made sure my camera was easily accessible dangling from my wrist. Pure local. The first surprise of the day happened right away. A one way bus ticket from my lab to downtown is 70DKK.. excuse me, what?! The exchange rate is ~100DKK=$20 so we're talking a RT ticket that costs $28/day. I was blown away. I can't live in Copenhagen if it costs me that much to commute! The whole time I was assuming Id live in the city and commute up to work everyday (I am in a small town, residential area right now) and here I was faced with a huge dilemma. I bought the ticket and stewed over it for my whole ride down... but for the time being there was nothing I could do. Since money was flowing freely I went and bought a guiltless $5 cup of coffee. (Its just Denmark, it IS expensive.)

But back to Copenhagen.. it's a great city! I loved it immediately. The central part of the city is considered old town and right through the middle of it is a pedestrian mall called Strøget . I read that it was the first promanade ever tried (1962) and since then it's been copied all over Europe. (Rick Steves is my source of knowledge for pretty much this whole section.. I did not do that much research).






City hall is at one end of it and its just a big wide open square in the middle of some big streets. Tivoli is right next to it. Aside from being a really cool village in Red Hook, Tivoli is a big amusement park (really- rides, cotten candy, everything) right in the middle of the city. It is closed during the winter but I hear during the summer its actually quite popular. From the square you can also see the old "Weather Girls" (called the only girls in Copenhagen you can trust - thanks R.S.) These statues of women were on a track so that only one was out of the tower at a time.. and they were two ladies on bikes. One had an umbrella, the other did not. And that is how people could tell what the weather was going to be for the day! Its since broken so now you only see the umbrella girl just starting to come out, but you can still use the thermometer on the side of the building for a temp update. As you can see it was about -5C out!


I saw a great "billboard" on one of the neighboring buildings. I thought it showed the Danish optimism pretty well..

Hey, when you don't shoot too high you can't be disappointed- there's a reason the Dane's are the happiest people in the world!!

The Strøget is connected by a bunch of squares. In this particular one you have the Fountain of Charity. Its not all that overbearing or anything but I read in my not-so-touristy-to-pull-out-in-the-middle-of-a-square guide book that this statue, when first received, upset some people. It is the fountain of fertility and so it has a pregnant woman squirting water from her breasts and a little boy next to her peeing. Seems wholesome enough. But the people that got it didn't like it so they plugged the holes and put it high up so other people wouldn't notice. How funny is that? I was sure to get a zoomed in photo.





I came across a skating rink in the Kongens Nytorv ("Kings New Square").. seemed pretty impromptu, slap on your skates and go, but however its done, there were loads of people out and it just seemed like a great way to spend a winter afternoon.

When I was standing there taking pictures, there was all this commotion behind me. I looked and there were police officers escorting a parade of royal horsemen down the street. There was a horse drawn carriage with who knows inside and another pack of horses behind it. I decided it must be someone or something important so I chased down the street behind it. Trumpets were blasting and there were like 40 horses! It couldn't just be the daily changing of the guard ceremony could it? Oh probably.. wasted breath for nothing! (That's right I was literally chasing them, oh to be a solo traveler) The royal family lives together in the Amalienborg Palace. It's a big square with 4 identical mansions all around it. Cars can randomly drive though here too, I don't get it. So the barrage of horses did a little dance in the square and then marched away, I still have no idea what happened, but then I was front row for the changing of the guards. I'll include a little video I took although I have to warn you it is pretty darn boring. Somebody should write a script for what the guardsmen are saying to each other undertheir breath, because they are indeed, not talking to one another (sound is on).. quite strange. Anyhow the typical toy soldier picture is up at the start.

The harbor is right next to the palace so I took a look around. Here is the Opera House which was a $400 million dollar gift. I think it was just recently completed. Next to it is my token tourist shot.


And finally the colorful gem of the city. This harbor actually is as pretty as the pictures. This area is called Nyhavn and its an old sailors quarter. I now know why everyone has the same shots of it too. There is a picture taking platform on the bridge! Its actually just a bump out but it pretty much ensures no originality will go into this picture perfect shot. I complied.

The buildings are mostly all restaurants and bars and its a really nice place to stroll around. I really liked all of the boarded up food stands. The line of colorful little shacks is great.. and I can just picture what it must be like in the summertime!

Well, with that I headed home. It was long, bitter day to be standing out in the cold. As I made my way back to the bus stop I noticed one thing. If you're ever lost in Copenhagen just look for the H&Ms... they are the trail markers and no matter where you live they will take you home.