Scandinavia Day 14 - Copenhagen (København, Danmark)
For our last full day of the trip, we planned to explore all over the city of Copenhagen. Before my family and the rest of the city woke up, I took my camera back to Nyhavn hoping for some sunrise light and reflections on the still water of the early morning. Unfortunately, Copenhagen is (much like Seattle) often overcast in the morning--so no luck with sunrise light. But the waters were certainly still, and the reflections beautiful; the gray light is beautiful in its own way, and I think it helps paint a picture of the silence of early morning.
It was about 6am on a Saturday, so I (almost) had the whole place to myself.
It always feels a bit surreal to explore a new city when there are no people around, but especially when the scenery feels like a movie set.
My favorite vantage point was from the bridge.
I hopped on the light rail back to the hotel and picked up the rest of the family. We went to breakfast at what was likely the consensus for best bakery of the trip. The line at Juno the Bakery was long but we soon found out why and it was well worth it.
After stuffing ourselves with pastry, we began our self-guided walking tour of Copenhagen, beginning at Kongens Nytorv, the large public square at the city center.
We went to the historic Borsen building, but it was under construction. We also discovered that there was a swimming race going on within the city's harbor and canals.
We stopped at Christiansborg palace, which contains the Danish parliament, the Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court.
And the nearby Garden of the Royal Library.
We then walked down the street to Frederik's Church, also known as the Marmorkirken ("The Marble Church"), an important cultural city landmark.
From there we walked to Amelienborg Palace, the official royal residence of the Danish monarch and the royal family.
The new modern opera house across the harbor from Amalienborg:
From there we walked along the Harbor promenade, passing the David replica in front of the West Indies House,
and stopped at the Gefion fountain and St. Albans Church.
Potty humor:
We stopped at the somehow-famous Little Mermaid, which sits on a rock in the harbor. It's a neat statue I suppose.
Next we walked to Rosenborg Palace, which had really pretty gardens.
And a few others from around town:
For lunch, we had a reservation at a fancy, very Danish restaurant called Palægade, a place dedicated to smørrebrød – the traditional Danish open-faced sandwich. I think many of us considered this a favorite from the trip as well.
We then got in the car and after a quick visit to CopenHill powerplant (which was interesting but I neglected to take photos), we headed to Freetown Christiana, a neighborhood on one of the central islands of Copenhagen. Christiana is an intentional community, anarchist commune, and micronation. The place began as a squatters-rights community established in a neighborhood of abandoned military barracks. Today it is an anarchist hippy commune which lacks any corporate stores - everything for sale is handmade (or handgrown in the case of the greenery which is openly for sale). Pretty interesting place.
They even have a Thomas Dambo troll there.
For our last evening in Scandinavia, we rented an hour in a beautiful sauna on the harbor, and talked about all the great experiences we'd had over the preceding two weeks. The adjoining cold plunge was refreshing too!
From there we went to the Reffen Street Food Market again, and had dinner,
before heading back to the hotel.