Saturday, 4 June 2011

Copenhagen, Denmark


For the last 4 nights we have been staying at the City Public Hostel in Copenhagen.  After arriving to Copenhagen after a long day of travel, it was dark and rainy.  The first we saw of the city was a stretch of neon lit sex shops on the street leading to our hostel.  Interesting!  However, it was a false glimpse at what the city is truely like...AMAZING!  I can honestly say Copenhagen is a city I could picture myself living in happily.  Although the capital, it is not over populated and busy.  The danish are very laid back!


Day One - 01/06/2011
To begin our first full day in the city, we decided a Danish pastry was a MUST for breakfast.  I don't think we could have found bigger ones if we had tried!


As we strolled around towards the centre of town, we began to see how beautiful it is.  Canals are everywhere and are lined quaint, mismatched buildings.

    

Our first stop was the Design Museum Danmark, a not so big but pleasant look at world and obviously Danish design.  One current exhibit was related to the body, a theme I have worked with in the past.  However, the close up photographs on a large scale of chest hair, freaked me out a little!  I much preferred the large weave peices, and in particular the drawing of some small pointy boobs from the perspective of the owner.

 
  

We then headed towards the harbour in search of Copenhagens famous Little Mermaid.  On the way we stumbled across a star shaped island that housed the Danish resistance museum.  The grounds were really nice!


The Little Mermaid was a lot closer than anticipated, and also a bit bigger, although still only lifesize.  The weather got out to about 18 degrees so we sat around the bay for a while soaking up some rays, Which I have later came to regret due to some ridiculous tan lines!


On the way back to the hostel we stopped by the Marble Church, the first church I have been to that is completely round.


In the evening we sat on the green outside the hostel, then slept like babies!


Day Two - 02/06/2011
Day two began with yet more Danish pastries and a trip to the Rosenborg Palace.  Again, the grounds for this was place were really pretty.  Inside, the most interesting rooms had to be the mirrored cabinet and the throne room!  The King's throne is made of narwhal tusk and is protected by 3 silver lions - talk about over the top!


After visiting the Castle and it's treasury, we stumbled upon the most amazing botanical garden, where I saw a wild snake!!  This was probably one of my favourite visits during the trip in Denmark!


In the evening we decided to have a walk to the nearby Frederiksberg Gardens.  On the way we found a maze, which we obviously had to go in!


The park itself was bigger than imagined and had a Palace!

 
 

Day Three - 03/06/2011
On our last day in Copenhagen we began with The City Museum, which was right next door our hostel.  The museum wasn't very big and gave a little bit of history about the city and had an exhibiton about Mexico, which was a bit odd! 

Next, we went to The Amalienborg Palace.  This is the first Palace I've visisted that I could actually imagine people living it.  It was a lot more modern (by modern I meant it had interiors dating around the 1900s-1920s).  I learned a lot about Queen Ingrid of Sweden, who sounded like an amazing woman!


Then, we decided to do something different and so headed to the Harbour Baths, an area designed to allow people to swim in the seas channel of Brygge.  This floating wooden island was a great idea and worked really well.  The water was freezing, but sitting in the sun (this time with sun lotion on!) for a few hours was a nice rest!

 

After a relaxing time at the 'pool', we walked to Christiania.  This is a freetown within the borough of Christianshavn.  This means they have their own laws and way of life.  Photos were not allowed inside, but I have included an image from the internet to give an idea of the town.  The relaxed atmosphere, shanty housing and stoned locals were much more pleasant that you would expect! There were no cars or bikes, just lots of market stalls, cafes and art!


Although the trip has only just begun, I can't help but feel that Copenhagen is going to be a very hard city to beat!! It outweighed all my expectations and it has been an amazing 3 days!

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