Copacetic in Copenhagen

Got up early for my flight to Copenhagen...and got into the city around 10 or so. The airport is spotless. The employees speak perfect English, and are very friendly. One employee could tell I wasn't sure which train I should take into the city and helped me out. The plan was to get to the main train station and head out to the ARKEN museum and check out one of the Forgotten Giants. But it slowly became clear that since it was a Sunday, the train that normally would have gone there wasn't going. Frustrated, I sat there hoping that would change (lol), but finally gave in to reality.

I couldn't just go to my airbnb because I had told him it would be around 6-7 before I got there...so I had some time to kill. I decided to head into the city and see some of the touristy stuff. Copenhagen is frickin beautiful. Clean, modern, and beau-TI-ful. It is my last full day of walking, and my feet are KILLING me, but I soldier on.

First stop...walking through Kastellet (a star shaped park) toward the part of the North Sea that flows between Denmark and Sweden. In addition to being clean, modern, and beautiful, Copenhagen is also EXPENSIVE. I stopped at a cart for hot chocolate...and a tiny cup of instant was over $4 !! Crazy. Since Denmark is the furthest north I've been on my trip, it is also the coldest, so I needed something warm. The first tourist stop: the Little Mermaid. This is a sculpture right on the water. Not even the original. Not very big. DEFINITELY a tourist trap. There is even a whole tour bus tour based on the Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Anderson is Danish). Not gonna lie...I was THIS close to taking it so I didn't have to walk anymore.

Next up...the Gelfion fountain (named after the Norse goddess), Fredrik's Church (the "marble church"), and Nyhavn--a canal with the stereotypical buildings seen in every website about Copenhagen. Look at how BLUE that water is!

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Was able to get in touch with Birgir, the airbnb host and he said I could come by around 2. This is a room in an apartment...five flights of stairs (no elevator) up. The shower is in the VERY tiny toilet room...you have to cover up the toilet with a towel when you shower, because the floor is the drain. It is just a few blocks from the waterfront...and while it was very cold and windy, it was worth the trip to see the beautiful area. Birgir told me about a nearby cafe, so I stopped there for lunch/dinner--a REALLY good veggie burger made out of potatos. FINALLY some vegetables. They have been few and far between on this trip. A burger in America? Maybe $10. In Copenhagen, $25.

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Came back to the airbnb and went through all my stuff for the next day...planned to hit Christiania and then to the airport to go back to Amsterdam.

Next day, Birgir served a GREAT breakfast of homemade bread, egg, Danish cheese, and a smoothie. He suggested I walk to Christiania instead of using the train (which is expensive here), since it is a beautiful walk down the waterfront to get there (albeit 20 minutes long). Even though my feet hurt, I decided to take his advice. It WAS really beautiful...so much so, I even walked back too, instead of taking the train. Christiania is an "autonomous anarchist district of about 850 to 1,000 residents"...sort of a hippie commune in the middle of a super modern city. TONS of street art (and apparently, they sell weed too on the aptly named "Pusher Street"...but I was there so early in the day there weren't many people about. A lot of the artwork had a drug or Alice in Wonderland theme (no surprise I suppose, for a place like this).

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Just outside the area is the Church of our Savior, which has a cool spiral staircase on the outside of its tower that you can climb for awesome views of the city. Needless to say, I knew my feet wouldn't make it!

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Headed back to Birgir's to get my stuff, walking back along the water...and spotted a cool birdhouse collection, and a seagull who stared into my soul for awhile before flying off.

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Picked up my stuff and headed back to the Copenhagen airport. Finally, a REAL airport with real places to sit. Got my water, and ready for my flight!

Impressions:

• again, it is clean, modern, and BEAUTIFUL

• the people are super friendly and speak beautiful English (even though I was under the impression that most people just spoke Danish)

• the people are STYLISH--even if they don't think they are. Everyone looks like a fashion magazine. Even if they are just wearing jeans and a t-shirt like I was, it is all fitted and clean and has some sort of accessory that makes it look fancier. I'm not kidding. EVERYONE is beautiful here, and not just the tall, blond stereotype (didn't really see a lot of those...must be more of a Swedish thing)

• everyone seems to take pride in how clean the city is. I felt guilty slapping up stickers here (which I was doing for some friends)...so I put them up in Christiania--the only place I saw any other stickers!

#copenhagen #ARKEN #forgottengiants #littlemermaid #gelfionfountain #nyhavn #fredrikschurch #christiania #streetart #churchofoursavior #seagull