Fi surprised me with a trip to
Copenhagen,
Denmark for my birthday! A couple friends of ours, Brad & Sara, recently moved there from MA, & they were kind enough to offer up their home, hospitality, & schedules to us for the weekend.
Brad & Sara live in a palatial apartment on Kongensgade in a section of town called
Frederiksstaden. This neighborhood contains a number of Copenhagen's most iconic buildings. One of these is
Frederick's (The Marble) Church, which is just a stone's throw from Brad & Sara's place & makes for quite a view from their apartment windows.
At the moment scaffolding conceals much of the top half of the church, & it's a bit of an eyesore, but enough of the building's facade was visible to appreciate just how gorgeous it is. The inside of Frederick's is just as spectacular.
Further down the road in Frederiksstaden is
Amalienborg Palace, the winter home of Denmark's royal family. The Danes love their royals & the sentiment seems reciprocated, as there were no barriers of any kind in sight. Conceivably, anyone could walk up & knock on the front door. We were fortunate enough to arrive onsite as the guards were changing.
There's a pleasant view back toward the Marble Church from the waterfront just outside the palace.
Looking in the opposite direction, one can see the Copenhagen Opera House, on the island of Holmen.
The waterfront here is very picturesque. I couldn't help feeling like I recognized it from somewhere else... maybe Tony Hawk's Pro Skater?
Also in the harbor is Copenhagen's
Little Mermaid statue, which is small, underwhelming, & I gather, almost always obscured by gawking tourists (like us).
By far more impressive is
Gefion Fountain, which features an enormous sculpture of the Norse goddess Gefjun, driving her oxen. Scandinavian mythology explains that she earned the island of
Zealand from the Swedish king
Gylfi by plowing a vast expanse of territory in one night. Her fountain is the largest monument in Copenhagen & was my favorite part of our walking tour around town.
Here are a few more shots from our initial trek.
Saturday evening, after a bit of rambling around the city center, we ended up at Tivoli Gardens, the most popular seasonal theme park in the world. As is evident from the pictures I took, I still don't have the hang of night photography, but here are a few of the least offensive.
Best beer slogan ever?
Sunday morning was met with Danish pastry & more walking around town.
Eventually we made our way over to another part of town called Christianshavn.
This district is home to
Von Frelsers Kirke, a baroque church renowned for its corkscrew spire, designed by
Lauritz de Thurah. It's quite a sight.
Also resident in this part of town is Copenhagen's hippie population, who occupy a swathe of derelict Military buildings, collectively known now as the community of
Christiania. As there's all kinds of condoned law-breaking going down there, photography is expressly forbidden in many parts of Christiania, but I managed a few pix.
The rest of Sunday we spent walking through
Nyhavn, one of the more picturesque districts in Copenhagen. Through the main drag runs a canal, which floats a number of old, wooden boats. The sides are lined by tall, warmly-colored townhouses, entirely characteristic of what I was hoping to see in Scandinavia. Just gorgeous.
We stopped here for some delicious
glögg, a Nordic variation on mulled wine, which the Danes dress up with slivered almonds & plump, rehydrated raisins. So. Good.
The sun set on our trip to Denmark with a sunset over the harbour, a gorgeous site for a gorgeous weekend. Thanks be to Brad & Sara for their good cheer. I had an asbolute blast.
