EXPLORING COPENHAGEN

Copenhagen is the capital city of Denmark, Europe’s oldest Monarchy. It is quite the amazing city, characterized by castles, Cathedrals, canals and Hans Christian Anderson-type houses. For Jeannie and me, mystery, intrigue and high anxiety have been added; namely my “donating” a wallet to a train station pickpocket plus an e-coli scare in the water system that required boiling before use (a first ever event we were told)! Sure we travel for adventure, but enough is enough!

Jeannie’s response, after realizing no credit or bank cards were lost was “It’s OK…I’m SURE he needed the money more than we do”.  So philosophical she is! Besides, it could have been far worse; we only lost $50 US and my insurance ID cards.

So, we’re here to enjoy ourselves and we will not let this minor incident ruin the rest of our trip. After all, these things happen and, while we never think it will happen to us, we DO plan for such possibilities. We bring with us copies of ALL important cards and documents we’re carrying such as passports, credit cards, insurance cards etc. Plus, I carry a “fake” wallet with old credit cards (closed accounts) and a bit of cash, a strategy that obviously failed in this case. The “lifted” wallet was actually in a lower cargo pant pocket. With its Velcro flap, I thought it quite secure; guess I was wrong!

Bicycles…bicycles…bicycles! That IS Copenhagen! We found it to be a lovely city full of friendly and helpful people. Most speak English which is helpful for mono-lingual travelers like us. The old city center is where most historical sites are and therefor is quite touristy. Nevertheless it is relatively clean with an architectural diversity reflecting its centuries-old history. Its 550,000 population make it one of Europe’s densest cities at nearly 16,000 people/square mile!

Copenhagen does have an incredible public transit system; trains, Metro trains, busses (even public bicycles). All are clean, frequent and on time. One does not need a car to get around. Of course our preferred way of getting around is on foot, and Copenhagen is very walk-able. Our hotel is about one-mile from the central core and we’re walking an estimated five miles each day.

LATTE’S…AN EXPENSIVE VICE

We DO enjoy our daily café’ lattes. OK, call it a vice…it’s our only one. REALLY! So we’re strolling Copenhagen searching for our first Denmark latte…we found a little sidewalk café, sat down and checked the menu. The price…about $8.00 a cup (US$). We almost changed to plain black coffee at $2.00 less, but at opted to pay the premium for the morning fix.

Over the next few days, we came to realize just how expensive it is here…not just in Copenhagen but in outlying communities as well.  We found prices generally about 50% higher than at home, even in the non-touristy areas. Our latte’s are averaging about $6.00…and we aren’t giving them up, just limiting to one a day.

TRAIN TRAVAILS

Copenhagen has a wonderful and extensive rail transportation system, and its relatively straightforward to use. That is unless you’re Maury and Jeannie. Yes, we know the rules…know your train number, know the departure track, remember to validate your ticket in the yellow box before boarding. Twice now we’ve forgotten to validate our ticket and we’ve had to scramble off and back on the train, coming way too close both times to missing it.

And we must confess also to twice boarding trains, getting seated and then, after reading the lighted route information inside, concluding that we were on the wrong train. We’d grab our belongings and out the door we’d go…again! Then we’d quickly realize, no…this IS the right train, and back onboard we’d go! I'm sure other passengers must have thought we were crazy!

Hardly nothing creates greater anxiety than a huge dose of uncertainty over trains. But we keep telling ourselves…how bad could it be; a citation for not having validated our tickets, or having to travel to the next stop if we board the wrong train. Neither would be catastrophic! Oh well, here's the good news; we’ve just about figured out the Denmark trains. However, the bad news is we’ll soon be in Germany; more to learn!

 

CANAL TOUR

We’re not big fans of planned tours, but we do make exceptions. In Copenhagen, the two-hour canal tour along the city’s major canals is one such exception. We find that tours such as this one are useful in getting a basic orientation to a city’s main attractions. It begins in the very touristy, characteristically Danish, Nyhavn neighborhood (Photo below left). The ground-level floors of most the buildings in this photo are restaurants with outdoor seating, by far one of the largest single attractions in the city. The tour also went through the Christianhavn neighborhood (Photo below right).

  



AMALIANBORG CASTLE

One fun activity we enjoyed was watching the changing of the guard at Amalianborg Castle, location of Denmark’s Royal Family Residence; such an impressive sight to see the guards in full dress march into and around the public square. The Royal Family Residence stands majestically in the background as the guards proceed through this daily ceremony. (Photo below right)

As we were walking to the Castle, we passed by an open garage door containing several vehicles, one of which was a beautiful black Rolls Royce Salon car. A guy was in the midst of meticulously detailing the car. One look at the license plate and we knew we were looking at the official car of Queen Margreth II! To our complete surprise, we had no problem at all capturing a photo. (Below left)

Later, while visiting the Royal Garden at Rosenborg Castle, we observed an enormous stage being set up on the adjacent grounds of the Royal Guard. Was this for some huge concert? No, a young Danish teen explained to us that Denmark was preparing to welcome home their troops from Afghanistan.  He told us the Queen would be participating, so we concluded that her car was probably being prepared for that event.

CHRISTIANIA “FREETOWN”

One of Copenhagen’s more “interesting” neighborhoods is Christiania. Freetown Christiania is a self-proclaimed autonomous community within the borough of Christianshavn, once a separate, walled 17^th century city. Much of the city wall was demolished in the 19^th century except for what surrounded the military barracks that is now Christiania. The walls are today considered among the finest surviving 17th century defense works in the world.

Christiania itself is, in essence, a “hippie-style” commune of 850 artists and non-conformist individuals that began with the takeover of the military barracks when they were abandoned by Denmark in the early 1970’s (Photo below left). Although the takeover was not necessarily organized in the beginning, some claim this happened as a protest against the Danish government and a lack of affordable housing in Copenhagen.

We walked Christiania’s main pedestrian street, “The Green Zone”, where hash and skunk weed were sold openly until 2004. We were unable to photograph the Green Zone as photos are prohibited due to fear of authorities’ attempts to arrest drug users.

The people in Christiania have also developed their own set of rules, independent of the Danish government. The rules forbid stealing, violence, guns, knives, bulletproof vests and bikers' colors. And, despite the open use of marijuana (the smells drifts freely throughout the Green Zone), the community does have rules forbidding 'hard drugs', such as cocaine, amphetamine, ecstasy and heroin. Clearly the rules allow most kinds of free expression, including painting vehicles in most unusual ways. "Sorry, Jeannie. That one's not for sale!" (Photo below)

Civic authorities have tried unsuccessfully to break-up the Christiania commune, but to little avail as the area has a unique status; it is regulated by a special law, the Christiania law of 1989 which transfers parts of the supervision of the area from the municipality of Copenhagen to the state.

COPENHAGEN’S LITTLE MERMAID

Many of you may remember the Little Mermaid movie based on author Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of a young mermaid willing to “give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince”. Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid sculpture is one of the city’s most visited sites, evidenced by the many tour buses parked nearby. (Photo below right)

We did visit the sculpture as part of our walk along the city’s major waterfront promenade. It does seem odd to us that, of all the historically significant places to see in this city, a fairy-tale based mermaid sculpture would be the big draw.

 

GAY PRIDE

Denmark has an open accepting approach to people and this was exhibited in the weekend parade & party of gay folks. Jeannie and I are always up to taking in new and different cultural activities, so naturally we couldn't pass on this event. We mingled amidst lots of colorful, happy, costumed and beer-drinking “individuals”. What a celebration...lots of street dancning and so many interesting photo ops...interesting to say the least! (Photos below)