23 September 2023

You were expecting that, right?

What a day!!!! (And for the record, Copenhagen is indeed wonderful) .

Sadly, we were a team member down this morning, as Linnea wasn’t feeling great. But she joined us later in the day and the “Awesome Foursome” were back together for the afternoon activities.

We’ve just returned to our accommodation having recorded 23,040 steps (16.3 kms) for the day. We started and finished the day under clear skies but did have to put our r#*ncoats on and off several times during the day.

After our morning coffee, Gustav, Grahame and I headed off with a rough plan of attack.

Freetown Christiana is a commune which began in 1971 as a squatted military base. It’s “Pusher Street” is famous for its open trade of cannabis (which is illegal in Denmark). Located on the island of Amager, it was on the route from our hotel into the centre of town. So in we went!

Think Nimbin!! On drugs!!!

Got the idea?? As we were there early, there was not much action, but we did see a couple of Policemen and a Sniffer Dog also out for a leisurely stroll through the neighbourhood.

It was a short walk from here to Nyhavn and the canal passing by it. There were tourists galore taking advantage of the canal boat tours, the beautiful weather and the beautifully colourful architecture. It was selfie heaven. We joined in!

We headed off down some high end shopping streets. Our most exotic find of the morning was this glass grand piano onsale, starting from 104,000 euros, excluding tax ( $172,000 AUD)

Sadly, it won’t fit in my backpack! Maybe next time!

You will be amazed, but we walked straight past Frederik’s Church (or the Marble Church) without going in!! But it did look nice!

We were on a mission to find the quintessential Copenhagen icon. And a church would just have to wait for me to visit at a later date.

Found her!

And she is little, but not as little as that little boy in Stockholm the other day. (Sweden 1: Denmark 0, on the smallest statue score card).

The building in the background is interesting and I wouldn’t mind trying to visit it tomorrow if we have time. Amager Bakke is is a combined heat and power waste-to-energy plant (Incinerator!) and recreational facility that opened in 2017. Not only does it burn rubbish to create energy, you can go skiing, wall climbing and hiking ON It!!

Gustav thought we needed to explore further along the canal in order to find another little statue…. The Genetically Modified Little Mermaid. We found her too, and I really liked her. Unlike the crowds at Hans Christian Andersons’ version, we had this one all to ourselves.

Back towards town, we accidentally happened upon yet another Changing of the Guard (Danish style) at Amalienborg Palace.

We kept an eye out for our Princess Mary, but I don’t think she was home today. We didn’t see her hanging around!

Reunited!!

To escape a sudden shower of r#*n, the four of us ran for cover, and lunch, in a huge department store, “Magazin du Nord”. It was huge! We all had Smørrebrød, or Danish open sandwiches with…. (You guessed it!!!) meatballs! Danish ones.

Our next stop was the quite amazing “Ny Karlsberg Glyptothek.” Now most who know us, know that we are not big art gallery/ museum kind of people, and tend to gravitate more towards the outdoorsy tourist sites. But Linnea’s friend had recommended this, we had already walked a long way, and there were r#*n showers about, so it kind of made sense to check out at least one art museum on our travels. The collection represents the private collection of Carl Jacobson, the son of the founder of the Carlsburg Breweries. There’s a lot of money in breweries apparently!

What an amazing place. There was far too much for my small brain to deal with. It was chockablock full of ancient sculptures dating back well into to BC’s.

In another section of the building, were some not so ancient sculptures.

I’m sure my arty friends might even recognise a few of these artists. I’m sure they can tell me about them when I get home.

My favourite?

All this “culture appreciation” was tiring work and we admitted defeat after a few hours and headed to “Bastard Cafe” for Fika. We didn’t know until we walked in, that it was a Board Games Café, and it was massive. We managed to find a table but I think we were the only ones not playing some kind of game. Rooms and rooms of people of all ages were playing games like Guess Who, Sequence, chess, cards monopoly, and every other game under the sun.

Our last stop of the day was the Bronx cafe where we bought burgers and chips for dinner. We were exhausted and needed refuelling fast.

All the ordering and paying was done from a QR code within the café. Of course, I stuffed it up and I ended up with two burgers instead of one. But luckily there were some hungry boys with us, and my mistake was quickly divvied up and devoured anyway

We walked home, tired and footsore and that little ear worm kept burrowing…

Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen!!!