Goodbye Copenhagen

The last thing Laura and I did while in Copenhagen was to visit the local hippie commune, Christiania. It was founded in 1971, and we had heard it was a venerable example of community togetherness and free-spirited living worthy of a sightseeing stroll. It turned out, however, to be perhaps the nastiest, seediest piece of earth I have ever strolled across, which is amazing given the fact that Copenhagen is an otherwise exceedingly clean and beautiful city. It was absolutely covered in garbage and seemed to have nothing to offer but the sale of chintzy drug paraphernalia. (Soft drugs were "tolerated" there until 2004, at which time the government started cracking down...probably because the place is a train wreck.) As a result, we have no pictures. You're not missing anything.

The pictures we do have are some aerial photos of Copenhagen I took from the winding tower of the Vor Frelsers Kirke ("Yet Another Church", at right) that is located right outside Christiania in the Christianshavn neighborhood of town. The difference between the two neighborhoods is like night and day. In the aerial photo below, you can't see Christiania's filth because it is buried beneath the trees.



Here you see a nice city skyline, including the Marble Church at upper right.



Finally, you can see the waterfront of Christianshavn pretty well in this one.



Laura and I enjoyed Copenhagen very much. As I wrote in the first post, it was a very regal- and proud-looking city. I also feel that the public transportation in Copenhagen, particularly to the suburbs, is unmatched in its style and comfort compared to anywhere else we've been in Europe. It was a nice visit!

Other City Sightseeing and Changing of the Guard

Laura and I spent a weekend seeing the sights in Copenhagen. Here is a recap of the best things we saw.

We visited Rosenborg Castle, the home of the most famous of Danish sovereigns, King Christian IV. He ruled from 1588 to 1648 and is remembered for his reform-mindedness. In addition to the beautifully appointed rooms in the interior, Rosenborg Castle also houses the crown jewels. At right you see King Christian IV's crown, which was splendid indeed. Below is Rosenborg Castle itself.



We also enjoyed walking the waterfront in Copenhagen. Here you see one of many ships from the harbor. The Danish flag flew proudly over all of them.



Not far from the waterfront is Frederik's Church, also known as The Marble Church (Marmorkirken in Danish). Having visited more churches in Europe than I care to count, they all tend to run together. However, this church was a welcomed change of pace with its imposing but tasteful marble interior. The words you see written on the church are Danish for "The Lord's Word is Eternal."




Not far from the church stands Amalienborg Palace (the royal residence in Copenhagen), where each day at noon there is the changing of the Royal Guard. When we visited London back in December, we missed their version because it was too cold and crowded; we found the Danish version much more agreeable.




Finally, Laura and I also spent an evening at Tivoli Gardens, the Danish amusement park right in the heart of Copenhagen. According to Wikipedia, it opened in 1843 and is thus the second oldest amusement park in the world (after another Danish amusement park). Tivoli has a nice atmosphere, and in fact a lot of people pay reduced entree fees just to walk around and enjoy the gardens and eating establishments.



We of course couldn't completely pass up the rides, which were predominantly of the state-fair-throw-up variety. Here we are about to shoot off on one of their roller coasters.