Copenhagen Day 1

Saturday 5/2/15

Bright and early ten of us caught a train headed for Copenhagen, Denmark! The train took us through Malmo and over the Baltic Sea. The Øresund Bridge goes both over the water and under! Lindsey and Ruby spent Spring Break in Copenhagen so they showed us around Christiania.

Freetown Christiania has 850 residents in 84 acres. It is considered a large commune in the city but a law in 1989 gave some of the authority for the area to the state rather than the city. The status of the area appears ambiguous and confusing. Christiania was formed in 1971 when 'hippies' moved into an old military base. Its logo is a red and yellow flag with three dots. The dots represent the 'i's in Christiania and apparently there was a lot of red and yellow paint on the base when the town was formed. Smoking weed in the area is legal and one can buy pot in the green light district although in greater Copenhagen and Denmark it is an illegal drug. There is continued controversy and conflict over this issue. The area is free from the industrialization of a typical city and it oozes art. It was a unique cultural experience.

Ruby with her weinerbröd.

Sidney, Kenzie, Becca, Hannah

Hannah, Me and Sidney outside the entrance to Christiania. 

Hallway to a restaurant in Christiania. The area is filled with art and creativity. 

On the walking path around the pond in Christiania

Looking from a bridge in Christiania at Church of Our Savior

Cars are banned in Christiania so the residents invented bicycle carts to transport goods and children. They are now an icon for the area.

Next we climbed the spire of the Church of Our Savior near Christiania. It was unique to walk up the outside of the spire and get a spectacular view of the city.

Hannah at the top of the steps. The shortened into nothing.

 

The spire staircase

My roommate Shannon Graham is studying in Copenhagen this semester. Her apartment is actually half a block from the church but we agreed to meet her at the famous Little Mermaid statue. We originally were going to bike there, since Copenhagen is the bicycle capital of the world, but we couldn't find a map or a bike rental. We got pretty lost and had no hope of getting there without a map. So we decided to take a taxi but neither of us really knew how to call one. We saw a couple hop into a taxi stopped at a stop light so when the next one pulled up we held our breath and reached for the door. After that it was easy enough.

The Little Mermaid by Edvard Eriksen. It is inspired by the fairy tale written by the Danish Hans Christian Andersen. 

Hannah 

Amalienborg Palace

one of Copenhagen's many canals

Me, Hannah and Shannon

The main walking and shopping street

A statue of vikings with bronze horns. This statue is controversial because the bronze horns existed about 2000 years before the vikings. 

Tivoli-Danish amusement park

Statue of Hans Christian Andersen

After catching with Shannon over wine, we ate dinner at a street car market and walked through downtown Copenhagen. We ended the night with a movie that I slept through the whole thing.